Friday, April 21, 2006

Nintendo wants better games for better systems

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has challenged game developers to think out of the box when creating video games. I applaud him. As good as the technology is getting with delivering graphics, the actual game play hasn’t changed much since the days of Pong.

Iwata promises to give developers all the tools they need to create new and better games, including the controller for Nintendo's next home console (code-named Revolution), which lets users control the action on their television screens through the motion of the controller itself.

The controller, Iwata hopes, will enable developers to create new kinds of gaming experiences, ones that enhance the experience for hard-core gamers while making video games more accessible and less intimidating to novices.

"This new approach is like stepping onto an unexplored continent for the first time, with all the potential for discovery that suggests," Iwata said. "No one else can match the environment we're creating for expanding the game experience to everyone. Our path is not linear, but dynamic."

  • Iwata also announced partnerships with Sega and Hudson to offer downloadable access to their classic games via Revolution's Virtual Console.

Revolution owners will be able to relive their past gaming glories from the Sega Genesis console by playing a "best of" selection from more than 1,000 Genesis titles, as well as games sold for the TurboGrafx console (a system jointly developed by NEC and Hudson). These games join Revolution's access to 20 years of fan-favorite Nintendo games from the NES, Super NES and
Nintendo 64 eras.

  • Iwata said a new game, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, would be released for Nintendo DS later this year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree. The Nintendo DS is a shining example of this. The dual screen and touch screen are great features
! The DS has had huge sales over the last year, and it not just the hardware but the GAMES. They are FUN to play! They PSP looks better, but the DS is FUN...