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The Engadget Interview: Reggie Fils-Aime

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polg

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about Revo
Where is Nintendo right now with the development of the Revolution?
We have been sharing the controller mechanics with developers across the world. We have shipped over a thousand controller dev kits to developers so that they can begin getting experience with the controller mechanics. The response to the controller has been fantastic. Developers are truly embracing the innovation. They’re embracing the approach and quite frankly, they’re embracing our vision; our vision of creating games that are as sophisticated as the core gamer wants it to be but could also be as straightforward and as accessible as brand new gamers. And that vision, that strategy is what Nintendo is all about. We want to create a system with Revolution that appeals to all types of gamers versus going down a path that, frankly, is a bit exclusionary.

Is Revolution going to be the final name or is it still a code name?

It is still a code name.

Will you unveil the new name at E3?

Maybe
Click to expand...

about competition
I know we don’t have a ton of time left, so one of the last things I wanted to ask you about was about how Sony and Microsoft are positioning their new consoles as multimedia digital entertainment devices in addition to gaming devices, something which Nintendo has not emphasized. Sony talks about the PSP and how it can play music and video, and while the DS can have those capabilities, it's not something Nintendo talks about very much. What is Nintendo's philosophy about all this stuff going forward? Do you see multimedia as a distraction from gaming?

Our philosophy is that consumers want great gaming experiences and our passion is delivering great gaming experiences. In the home console space, we believe that the best way to do that is with a dedicated machine. In the handheld space, as you’ve said, the DS does have other capabilities in the multimedia area, but we believe it’s important to first establish its credentials as a superb game playing device.

To be perfectly clear, the Microsoft and Sony strategies are based on overall corporate objectives versus what’s right for the consumer. That’s a reality. Microsoft is essentially trying to get you to put a PC in your living room because they are fundamentally a PC software company. Sony is trying to get you to put an entertainment hub that has Blu-ray technology because that’s important to their movie business and the rest of their entire electronics business.

We are a gaming company. We are gamers at heart. We love creating great, innovative content and superbly designed hardware, that’s what we do.And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business. That’s the fundamental difference in our strategy versus our competition.
Click to expand...

link
 
To be perfectly clear, the Microsoft and Sony strategies are based on overall corporate objectives versus what’s right for the consumer. That’s a reality. Microsoft is essentially trying to get you to put a PC in your living room because they are fundamentally a PC software company. Sony is trying to get you to put an entertainment hub that has Blu-ray technology because that’s important to their movie business and the rest of their entire electronics business.
We are a gaming company. We are gamers at heart. We love creating great, innovative content and superbly designed hardware, that’s what we do.And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business. That’s the fundamental difference in our strategy versus our competition.
Click to expand...

Great and since all you care about is what is best for gamers (customers with limited earnings per month and thus would be able to play more games if they were basically free) and you are not enslaved by what is good for Nintendo Corporation and its shareholders unlike your greedy competitors, Revolution will retail for $15.99, right ?
 
Does that mean we could probably expect a third iteration of the DS about 18 months from now?

I wouldn’t say that that’s an unreasonable assumption. Look at how many times we’ve improved on the Game Boy Advance...
Click to expand...

That's it, I'm waiting on the DS Lite.
 
See, he could've sounded less like a press release with legs by saying "They're trying to sell you a PC/Blue-Ray - we just want to sell you a games machine" not "We're making awesome experiences wah wah wah". But hey, he IS marketing, so what do you expect. Why so many sites give people like him air time when all he does is talk up the same point over and over is beyond me.
 
Great and since all you care about is what is best for gamers (customers with limited earnings per month and thus would be able to play more games if they were basically free) and you are not enslaved by what is good for Nintendo Corporation and its shareholders unlike your greedy competitors, Revolution will retail for $15.99, right ?
Click to expand...

Perhaps you missed this part:

"And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business."
 
We’ve announced Metroid Prime: Hunters and Tetris DS, both WiFi compatible, both launching on the 20th of March.
Click to expand...

hmm, kinda big day for Nintendo. That'll be a good day (for americans :( )
 
John Harker said:
THOUSANDS of controller development kits?

... and no leaks?
Click to expand...

A dev on B3D talked about it briefly. He basically said he wasn't yet entirely convinced by it, that he found it tiring, but that perhaps it was a matter of getting used to it. He did say it was surprisingly accurate.
 
Well not exactly, some guys at some UK studio where quite happy to blab to us on how awesome they found the revolution and the controller.
 
We’ve announced Metroid Prime: Hunters and Tetris DS, both WiFi compatible, both launching on the 20th of March.
Click to expand...
AFAIC, I preordered both. Kinda big day for Nintendo indeed.
 
Mr Mike said:
See, he could've sounded less like a press release with legs by saying "They're trying to sell you a PC/Blue-Ray - we just want to sell you a games machine" not "We're making awesome experiences wah wah wah". But hey, he IS marketing, so what do you expect. Why so many sites give people like him air time when all he does is talk up the same point over and over is beyond me.
Click to expand...


For the same reason you clicked on this thread..... =P
 
gofreak said:
A dev on B3D talked about it briefly. He basically said he wasn't yet entirely convinced by it, that he found it tiring, but that perhaps it was a matter of getting used to it. He did say it was surprisingly accurate.
Click to expand...

link?
 
my main question is what exactly is a rev controller dev kit? the controller hardware and a GCN-Turbo devkit? The way I read that, they have not shipped a final devkit yet.
 
Pretty good interview, although I'm tired of Nintendo's idea that regular controllers are bland/not innovative/etc. Nintendo was doing the exact same thing until they were forced to change due to their poor sales (which were caused by poor software). If they were in Sony's position you better bet they'd have a regular, powerful machine. It seems like everything is fine and dandy for them until they lose control. They don't control the gaming industry anymore, and now there is no "innovative". Nevermind that the PS2 saw far more innovative games than the GC last year (Katamari, Guitar Hero, Eye Toy, Okami later this year, etc).

And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America.

EDITED for safety
 
PhoenixDark said:
And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America. If Brain Training becomes a huge hit in the US, ban me for a week. It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

um... it says SUDOKU on the box... that should help...
 
Sometimes I think Nintendo really would be better off as a third party publisher/dev house.

The industry would be at a loss if they disappeared, but I can't say I agree with their logic that gaming needs a goofy non standard alien flail-o-tron controller to capture the minds of people who don't give a shit about gaming. One could argue that Sony and MS are doing the same by providing a console that has other desirable features (like BR or whatever MS claims their box can do)... a person buys PS3 for BR and finds some games fun, and all of a sudden we have more gamers (ones who didn't necessarily think they wanted to play games). There is more than one way to get people into gaming, and I'd say that piggy-backing it into a house is the better way... You'd need someone interested in gaming in the first place for them to buy a Rev, which makes it sort of hard to expand the market. It could easily by argued that nintendo has been in last place in regards to getting new gamers into gaming.

With that said, I love Nintendo... I just think they're a little nuts and one sided in their views.
 
Trurl said:
Perhaps you missed this part:

"And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business."
Click to expand...

Right, because the other two competitors do not focus on both of those aspects ?!?

Perhaps Microsoft and Sony focus more on gamers since they sell their hardware at a noticeable loss instead of MAD profits (GBA anyone ?), is that what you are trying to say ?

I look at Microsoft, I play the Xbox 360, I use LIVE, I play XBLA games, etc... and I love the experience. I am a gamer and I feel that they DID think about me too.

I look at Sony, I play PSTwo and PSP, I play the countless games that were designed and developed by Sony and I see a quite great collection of them: I cannot see PSOne, PSTwo and PSP as not focusing on what is right for gamers and for the business.
 
PhoenixDark said:
And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America. If Brain Training becomes a huge hit in the US, ban me for a week. It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

How many sold in what period of time are you betting?

(and yes, I'm buying a copy too)
 
fronn said:
Sometimes I think Nintendo really would be better off as a third party publisher/dev house.

The industry would be at a loss if they disappeared, but I can't say I agree with their logic that gaming needs a goofy non standard alien flail-o-tron controller to capture the minds of people who don't give a shit about gaming. One could argue that Sony and MS are doing the same by providing a console that has other desirable features (like BR or whatever MS claims their box can do)... a person buys PS3 for BR and finds some games fun, and all of a sudden we have more gamers (ones who didn't necessarily think they wanted to play games). There is more than one way to get people into gaming, and I'd say that piggy-backing it into a house is the better way... You'd need someone interested in gaming in the first place for them to buy a Rev, which makes it sort of hard to expand the market. It could easily by argued that nintendo has been in last place in regards to getting new gamers into gaming.

With that said, I love Nintendo... I just think they're a little nuts and one sided in their views.
Click to expand...


I'm going to share some facts with you which might help you to better understand Nintendo's position.

I'm a hardcore gamer, I spend lots of money on games, I have most consoles, its one of my primary hobbies. BUT I have grown so tired of games to the point where I don't buy stuff like GTA anymore. I got the first one, I got the 2nd one, but I haven't even read reviews for San Andreas. Boring.

These are the kind of games which keep being churned out, more of the same only bigger and nicer looking etc but something just does not interest me. I can't really explain it.

The DS brought about a revival of some sort for me, I bought one, and I bought about 10 games in 4 months, then I bought a 2nd DS for my brother! Whatever Nintendo is doing, its working. I'm a huge Sony fan as well, I haven't gone out of my way to help Nintendo's philosophy, they just happened to tag me along the way. I don't even like my GC, I'm a PS2 gamer who'd started getting bored of the games coming out. Nintendo turned that around in a big way.

Its also kick started my PS2 purchasing as well, I have bought a few games for it lately, helped of course by some nice original gaes like SOTC and Psychonauts. But it just goes to show Nintendo isn't making excuses or being insane here, I am proof that they found something to tap into, the DS sales are proof.
 
Panajev2001a said:
Right, because the other two competitors do not focus on both of those aspects ?!?

Perhaps Microsoft and Sony focus more on gamers since they sell their hardware at a noticeable loss instead of MAD profits (GBA anyone ?), is that what you are trying to say ?

I look at Microsoft, I play the Xbox 360, I use LIVE, I play XBLA games, etc... and I love the experience. I am a gamer and I feel that they DID think about me too.

I look at Sony, I play PSTwo and PSP, I play the countless games that were designed and developed by Sony and I see a quite great collection of them: I cannot see PSOne, PSTwo and PSP as not focusing on what is right for gamers and for the business.
Click to expand...

Oh come on, when you have a business strategy you do your best to sell it as better than the competition. PR is PR you have been here long enough to know this.

Nintendo is being nuts with this taking a chance thing with strange controllers, touch screens and such so they toot it to be better for gamers... So what?

Have the NDS not open new markets with non-gamers playing with puppies and brain games? NO/YES?

-

In the same light SONY toots Graphic horsepower and the Cell chip as revolutionary
CHANG3

PR is PR
 
Smiles and Cries said:
Oh come on, when you have a business strategy you do your best to sell it as better than the competition. PR is PR you have been here long enough to know this.

Nintendo is being nuts with this taking a chance thing with strange controllers, touch screens and such so they toot it to be better for gamers... So what?

Have the NDS not open new markets with non-gamers playing with puppies and brain games? NO/YES?

-

In the same light SONY toots Graphic horsepower and the Cell chip as revolutionary
CHANG3

PR is PR
Click to expand...

PR is PR and full of hypocrisy. When I am able to see such hypocrisy, I mention it.

It is not the first time this happens: it was the same line used before "everything is fine with MS if you do it with their OS... everything is fine with Sony if you use their hardware... we focus on games and gamers alone", it pissed me off then and it pisses me off now like evry time Kaz Hirai picks up the micro-phone at E3 and starts going at it slide after slide (although in both MS and Sony conferences I have seen not as strong hypocritical attacks on their competitors and I ahev watched last year Sony's E3 press-conference like a thousand times... mostly it is like "we do it better than they do").
 
PhoenixDark said:
Pretty good interview, although I'm tired of Nintendo's idea that regular controllers are bland/not innovative/etc. Nintendo was doing the exact same thing until they were forced to change due to their poor sales (which were caused by poor software). If they were in Sony's position you better bet they'd have a regular, powerful machine. It seems like everything is fine and dandy for them until they lose control. They don't control the gaming industry anymore, and now there is no "innovative". Nevermind that the PS2 saw far more innovative games than the GC last year (Katamari, Guitar Hero, Eye Toy, Okami later this year, etc).

And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America. If Brain Training becomes a huge hit in the US, ban me for a week. It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

Holy hell dude, you are pretty... smart.
 
PhoenixDark said:
And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America. If Brain Training becomes a huge hit in the US, ban me for a week. It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

Only a week? You must not be that confident at all.
 
PhoenixDark said:
Pretty good interview, although I'm tired of Nintendo's idea that regular controllers are bland/not innovative/etc. Nintendo was doing the exact same thing until they were forced to change due to their poor sales (which were caused by poor software). If they were in Sony's position you better bet they'd have a regular, powerful machine. It seems like everything is fine and dandy for them until they lose control. They don't control the gaming industry anymore, and now there is no "innovative". Nevermind that the PS2 saw far more innovative games than the GC last year (Katamari, Guitar Hero, Eye Toy, Okami later this year, etc).

And no, Brain Training is not going to do anything in America. If Brain Training becomes a huge hit in the US, ban me for a week. It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...


if we ban you again it will most likely be perm. dont be an idiot.
 
I ever believed that DS was an experiment and Nintendo ever had a plan B (perhaps a GameBoy with 3D capabilities but with less specs than PSP) and that they (Nintendo) never expected de success of the DS.

Now they have a lot of fear, clearly the FreeStyle controller is a good idea and can give to us new genres and new forms to play to popular genres, but the industry isn´t in crisis and if Nintendo disappears all it (Videogame industry) has 3 powerful itinerations named Playstation, Xbox and PC.

Nintendo knows it and this is why they are using a Blue Ocean strategy, they need to put down things like the technical specs (because tech specs are one of the main things that the concurrency have), talking about an inexistent crisis (when at the same time they are selling crappy interactive applications like Nintendogs to an audience that never will buy games, only for an artificial boost in the sales) and driving away the needs of the final consumer. We are talking about the same people that said that the Online was unnecessary when the people wished about an online Mario Kart DD for Gamecube, the same people that has lost all the third partie support because the maniatical control over all the aspects of their platforms.

But they know that they need the third partie developers help and this is the why of all, they cannot put the control over the third partie and they are going to put the control over us.
 
kaizoku said:
I'm going to share some facts with you which might help you to better understand Nintendo's position.

I'm a hardcore gamer, I spend lots of money on games, I have most consoles, its one of my primary hobbies. BUT I have grown so tired of games to the point where I don't buy stuff like GTA anymore. I got the first one, I got the 2nd one, but I haven't even read reviews for San Andreas. Boring.

These are the kind of games which keep being churned out, more of the same only bigger and nicer looking etc but something just does not interest me. I can't really explain it.

The DS brought about a revival of some sort for me, I bought one, and I bought about 10 games in 4 months, then I bought a 2nd DS for my brother! Whatever Nintendo is doing, its working. I'm a huge Sony fan as well, I haven't gone out of my way to help Nintendo's philosophy, they just happened to tag me along the way. I don't even like my GC, I'm a PS2 gamer who'd started getting bored of the games coming out. Nintendo turned that around in a big way.

Its also kick started my PS2 purchasing as well, I have bought a few games for it lately, helped of course by some nice original gaes like SOTC and Psychonauts. But it just goes to show Nintendo isn't making excuses or being insane here, I am proof that they found something to tap into, the DS sales are proof.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt Nintendo jump started some people's gaming engines lately, but for Reggie to act like their way of getting to gamers is better is completely silly (I know its PR, but that seems to be the rationalization of the entire company). Their logic is flawed if they truly think Rev is the answer to getting to non gamers (and even your example doesn't really prove anything in the sense that you were already a gamer, and likely just needed something new to play with to get things back where they should be)... you can't penetrate a market that isn't seeking penetration, not with a product that only has one purpose (unless you market it well, which is not one of Nintendo's strengths).

As much as I am a Nintendo fan (how can I hate them after they brought me 10 years or so of gaming goodness in my youth?), I can't agree with them (of course I'll buy a rev, but I don't see it offering a patently better experience to gamers because its dedicated, nor do I see it expanding the market)... I suppose we'll see.
 
fronn said:
You can't penetrate a market that isn't seeking penetration, not with a product that only has one purpose (unless you market it well, which is not one of Nintendo's strengths).

As much as I am a Nintendo fan (how can I hate them after they brought me 10 years or so of gaming goodness in my youth?), I can't agree with them (of course I'll buy a rev, but I don't see it offering a patently better experience to gamers because its dedicated, nor do I see it expanding the market)... I suppose we'll see.
Click to expand...

Nintendo's work promoting the DS in Japan contradicts you statement. Despite the fact that the PSP is a multimedia device of sorts, the "games only" DS has cemetned itself as the machine worth purchasing, for gamers and non-gamers alike.

In the end, I believe it is games and only games that sell these machines. Certainly it was nice that the PS2 and X-Box could play DVDs, but I doubt that feature sold more machines than GTA3 or Halo did. Ultimately, people who want to watch DVDs will buy DVD players. I think a 6 DOF control device will be much more of a selling point with a louder buzz for the rev, than blue-ray will be for the PS3
 
fronn said:
I don't see it offering a patently better experience to gamers because its dedicated, nor do I see it expanding the market)... I suppose we'll see.
Click to expand...
Reggie has the edge over us as he knows the "other secret".

What does Nintendo have in the bag to unleash such bold PRs?
 
Nintendo ever wanted to create new markets for controlling them.

The only mistake that they had was the N64 because they losed the prediction against Playstation and 3D Accelerated PCs. GCN never had the objective of creating a new type of market.
 
kaizoku said:
I'm a hardcore gamer, I spend lots of money on games, I have most consoles, its one of my primary hobbies. BUT I have grown so tired of games to the point where I don't buy stuff like GTA anymore. I got the first one, I got the 2nd one, but I haven't even read reviews for San Andreas. Boring.

These are the kind of games which keep being churned out, more of the same only bigger and nicer looking etc but something just does not interest me. I can't really explain it.
Click to expand...
I share most of your concerns... I still buy many of the series I like, but a lot of my best experiences during the past years are new (or renewed) games : Pikmin, Katamari, Unison, Trauma center, even Fantavision... For these reasons, I hope revolution will bring me some new experiments.

But for more casual gamers/non gamers, it is a bit strange. I've shown Revolution stuff to some of my friends, and a lot of them really want to try it, even if they don't play videogames usually (and don't have any console). Most people who own a console decided they wanted one. I was a bit surprised to see it so easily accepted.

Nintendo still has to bring what they promised, though...
 
Will you unveil the new name at E3?

Maybe
Click to expand...

And revolution is supposed to be on track for 2006 release..worldwide? I thought for sure that they would reveal the final name at E3.

As a comparision, when did Nintendo reveal the gamecube name? It was at E3 2001 right?
 
SantaCruZer said:
And revolution is supposed to be on track for 2006 release..worldwide? I thought for sure that they would reveal the final name at E3.

As a comparision, when did Nintendo reveal the gamecube name? It was at E3 2001 right?
Click to expand...

DS wasn't confirmed as the official name til a couple of months before launch...
 
marc^o^ said:
Reggie has the edge over us as he knows the "other secret".

What does Nintendo have in the bag to unleash such bold PRs?
Click to expand...

Good point... but if they have nothing... sheesh what a mind trip

I think Nintendo is taking the biggest risk ever this time, I'm beinging to think the DS was a practice run at how crazy things will get... if they fail they are finished. I think the old head pimp founder said something like that - fall or rise to heaven or something.

Nintendo 3rd Party after rev shock? Only the secret knows



Pana: I agree with "full of hypocrisy"

most PR = hypocrisy
 
Speaking of GameCube, if you play a GameCube game on the new Revolution console, will you be able to use the Revolution controller or will you have to use the older style of controller?

Well, all of the GameCube games will be compatible only with GameCube accessories, so whether it’s a WaveBird or whether it’s a wired controller, you’ll only be able to play those titles with those accessories. Essentially what we’re saying is that Revolution titles are the only ones that will leverage the new controller.
Click to expand...


...Uh... maybe Zelda is the lone exception (which Reggie can't talk about in a pre-GDC interview), but this does pretty much stab the Revmote compatibility reason for the delay in the chest, doesn't it? (Maybe Twilight Princess will intrinsicly contain both GC and Rev boot code, but that could be a security problem if it's ripped and examined. Or perhaps it contains both a GC disc and Rev DVD in the same package, I don't know.)
 
SantaCruZer said:
And revolution is supposed to be on track for 2006 release..worldwide? I thought for sure that they would reveal the final name at E3.

As a comparision, when did Nintendo reveal the gamecube name? It was at E3 2001 right?
Click to expand...


Spaceworld '00 I think
 
PkunkFury said:
Nintendo's work promoting the DS in Japan contradicts you statement. Despite the fact that the PSP is a multimedia device of sorts, the "games only" DS has cemetned itself as the machine worth purchasing, for gamers and non-gamers alike.
Click to expand...

You're going to have to wait a couple years before you can patently say DS has expanded any markets or shown itself as the gaming handheld to end all handhelds. At the moment all it looks like is DS is still selling to the nintendo/handheld fans.
 
I'm surprised there hasn't been a leak of some sort. Anyhow, every day Nintendo keeps it codenamed Revolution I think it just needs to keep THAT name. Its somewhat catchy and it definitely makes people take note of the system. While that could pigeonhole them with people saying "wait, where is this revolution?", fuck it, keep the name and up the game!
 
Panajev2001a said:
Perhaps Microsoft and Sony focus more on gamers since they sell their hardware at a noticeable loss instead of MAD profits (GBA anyone ?), is that what you are trying to say ?
Click to expand...
Moderately powerful hardware that's the most affordable for consumers, and least hemorrhaging for the producer. Everyone wins.

PhoenixDark said:
Nevermind that the PS2 saw far more innovative games than the GC last year (Katamari, Guitar Hero, Eye Toy, Okami later this year, etc).
Click to expand...
Though it is worth pointing out that among your four examples, two of them used non-standard controllers, and Katamari would rule with a revmote.
 
marc^o^ said:
Reggie has the edge over us as he knows the "other secret".

What does Nintendo have in the bag to unleash such bold PRs?
Click to expand...

Well hopefully this "other secret" is something worth talking about. I remember when Nintendo kept a tight lid on the GC controller, and one of the great secrets was being able to click down the shoulder buttons to use as another function.

E3 is going to be awesome this year. We are going to get the unveiling of both the PS3 and the Revolution. There should not be a lack of discussion!
 
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