Nintendo’s father of modern gaming, Shigeru Miyamoto, told a Business Week reporter this week that he originally wanted the company’s new console to go on sale for less than US $100.
Miyamoto told Business Week, "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software…If we hadn't used NAND flash memory and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded…[But] we had to compromise on graphics and give up on a powerful chip."
Miyamoto was at pains to stress in the piece that the Wii is considerably faster than the GameCube.
Miyamoto went on to outline the key ‘moms’ demographic for Wii saying, “Our goal was to come up with a machine that moms would want - easy to use, quick to start up, not a huge energy drain, and quiet while it was running…it was 2003. We got game designers and engineers together to discuss the future of video games. We talked about what specs and features a console should have. But we knew we would get nowhere if we didn't get moms' approval. So we thought about what might convince moms to buy this for their kids.”
Wii designer Ken'ichiro Ashida added: “We didn't want wires all over the place, which might anger moms because of the mess”
“Moms would hate it if they had to have several consoles lying around,” Miyamoto added.
Mommy’s boys! Bless.
Miyamoto told Business Week, "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software…If we hadn't used NAND flash memory and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded…[But] we had to compromise on graphics and give up on a powerful chip."
Miyamoto was at pains to stress in the piece that the Wii is considerably faster than the GameCube.
Miyamoto went on to outline the key ‘moms’ demographic for Wii saying, “Our goal was to come up with a machine that moms would want - easy to use, quick to start up, not a huge energy drain, and quiet while it was running…it was 2003. We got game designers and engineers together to discuss the future of video games. We talked about what specs and features a console should have. But we knew we would get nowhere if we didn't get moms' approval. So we thought about what might convince moms to buy this for their kids.”
Wii designer Ken'ichiro Ashida added: “We didn't want wires all over the place, which might anger moms because of the mess”
“Moms would hate it if they had to have several consoles lying around,” Miyamoto added.
Mommy’s boys! Bless.
Companies:
Nintendo
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Comments
ozfunghi 17 Nov 2006 11:57
1/11
Well, my mom still tells me what to do...
AND I'M 28!
So yeah, i guess they have a point, lol.
AND I'M 28!
So yeah, i guess they have a point, lol.
Ditto 17 Nov 2006 12:22
2/11
Urgh.
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majin dboy 17 Nov 2006 12:31
3/11
yeah,they really didnt have to say that.
i think a sub 100 wud have been nice,but u would feel like ure next gen console is "cheep" in the bad way.180 is a great price,cuz it is a fair sum of money but still not riping u off.
i think a sub 100 wud have been nice,but u would feel like ure next gen console is "cheep" in the bad way.180 is a great price,cuz it is a fair sum of money but still not riping u off.
Joji 17 Nov 2006 13:19
4/11
I admire Miyamoto for coming out and saying this, because atleast we know Nintendo themselves could have done it cheaper. Bravo for trying.
All in all I can say I'm happy with how things have turn out and £180 is good considering you get a game with it. Last time we had a Nintendo game packed in from launch , was back in the SNES and GB days, so I'm glad to see them doing this again. I'm also pleased with the reasonable GC game pricing of Wii games, so if you look in the right places you can pick games up for £30-35.
All I ask of Nintendo now is to iron out the WVC biz, so we can atleast get U.S rom games in U.K and anywhere that knows english. I want to play Chrono Trigger again. I'd also like to see a flash like card so we can play these classics on DS legally. This would also be good for Nintendo because Sony plans this same kind of thing with PSP for PS1 games. Surely this has got to happen for DS.
Who knows, maybe Datel or someone might plug this import VC gap, if Nintendo don't do it themselves. Stranger things have happened and Nintendo don't mind us playing imports really anyway.
All in all I can say I'm happy with how things have turn out and £180 is good considering you get a game with it. Last time we had a Nintendo game packed in from launch , was back in the SNES and GB days, so I'm glad to see them doing this again. I'm also pleased with the reasonable GC game pricing of Wii games, so if you look in the right places you can pick games up for £30-35.
All I ask of Nintendo now is to iron out the WVC biz, so we can atleast get U.S rom games in U.K and anywhere that knows english. I want to play Chrono Trigger again. I'd also like to see a flash like card so we can play these classics on DS legally. This would also be good for Nintendo because Sony plans this same kind of thing with PSP for PS1 games. Surely this has got to happen for DS.
Who knows, maybe Datel or someone might plug this import VC gap, if Nintendo don't do it themselves. Stranger things have happened and Nintendo don't mind us playing imports really anyway.
king skins 17 Nov 2006 13:39
5/11
I would have been happier with something around £130. The £180 draws the system inline with the 360 core at £200 and if people compare the graphics on the two systems...
I know it's a shallow view and the Wii offers a lot more than that, but will the casual audience that Nintendo are after see past that...?
I know it's a shallow view and the Wii offers a lot more than that, but will the casual audience that Nintendo are after see past that...?
majin dboy 17 Nov 2006 13:58
6/11
point king skins.but if the casual gamer looks at a next gen machine at £99 it could put them off,because that price point could generate the attitude that"why would i pay that,it has to be s**t,its not even expensive"
pricing is a funny thing,nintendo have got it about right,maybe a smigin too high.
pricing is a funny thing,nintendo have got it about right,maybe a smigin too high.
king skins 17 Nov 2006 16:47
7/11
But casual/non gamers are far more sensitive to price, the lower the price the more you sell especially if they want women/kids and non gamers to buy into the system. Someone is not going to take a punt on a games system if its to expensive.
We will because we are gamers, but non-gamers will not and that is the audience that Ninty have been saying they are chasing.
We will because we are gamers, but non-gamers will not and that is the audience that Ninty have been saying they are chasing.
majin dboy 17 Nov 2006 18:02
8/11
i agree,but there is a danger of under pricing products ,a danger that may be realised by nintendo if the wii was under £100.
RiseFromYourGrave 17 Nov 2006 19:00
9/11
i definitely think they couldve gone down to 150
skins is right, for a lot of people (heck, one eyebrow climbs up my forehead too when i think about it) that 20 quid difference between a suped-up multicore power guzzler and a gamecube 1.5 with an interesting but probably not particularly expensive to manufacture controller, is going to bring people with even just a basic knowledge of what the two machines are capable of to question the wii's price im sure
saying that, i cant see any 'serious' gamer plumping for anything less than the premium 360 and then the gap between consoles is a little more reflective of what youre getting
even then tho, the wii still seems a few tenners overpriced in blighty
skins is right, for a lot of people (heck, one eyebrow climbs up my forehead too when i think about it) that 20 quid difference between a suped-up multicore power guzzler and a gamecube 1.5 with an interesting but probably not particularly expensive to manufacture controller, is going to bring people with even just a basic knowledge of what the two machines are capable of to question the wii's price im sure
saying that, i cant see any 'serious' gamer plumping for anything less than the premium 360 and then the gap between consoles is a little more reflective of what youre getting
even then tho, the wii still seems a few tenners overpriced in blighty
majin dboy 17 Nov 2006 20:50
10/11
£150 /£160 would be perdect.
way 20 Nov 2006 01:08
11/11
They are crazy! Sure you can ask developers what is needed in "2003" and they are going to tell you something better than a Playstation 2 (if not a Playstation) but what you get is a wee weak specification (pun intended). They should have, instead, projected the performance curve that would develop over time and aimed fro half of that. Compromising on graphics and processors below this cheap half level, is only going to leave the machine getting further behind.
Yeah, $100, that is what that unofficial specification looks like, except it needs DVD with one of mpeg4, AVC, VP7, or VP8, or DIVX for an HD mode (as used to put HD on normal DVD currently and in new HD min DVD disk cameras) as standard. One of the h264 chips is probably as powerful as the Wii, cheap and programmable, I was eyeing for a console design. A PVR media centre like Wii with some extra grunt (like the chip just mentioned) at a cheap price, could save them.
No, of course they don't want to annoy mums with lots of wires and multiple consoles, that is why they are going to force them to have a Wii, a DVD player, a actual HD video game system, or computer, so they can sit in front of their now fashionable and popular HD large screen TV, to watch rubbish interpolated SD resolution graphics (which likely will just look poor compared to the HD units).
We have been warning Nintendo for years about CD Vs Roms, DVD'a Vs cute little purple game systems suitable for doorstops, descent processing and graphics, and that HD TV's were going to be popular unlike what they insisted, by launch time. Maybe Nintendo has learned and we can play music CD's now.
Now for portable Wii's.
The other day I came across some advertisement or something, maybe it was even Wii related. It was asking what minimum was going to bring home for the kids for Christmas, I immediately thought they are going to bring Wee home for them, portable Wee ;).
What about this for a name that plays of the concept of "We", "We", that could be made into "WeeW" (silent second W) to signify unity between multiple players (but maybe We means something rude in Japanese ;).
Enough console manufacturing bashing for this week.
Thanks
Way.
Yeah, $100, that is what that unofficial specification looks like, except it needs DVD with one of mpeg4, AVC, VP7, or VP8, or DIVX for an HD mode (as used to put HD on normal DVD currently and in new HD min DVD disk cameras) as standard. One of the h264 chips is probably as powerful as the Wii, cheap and programmable, I was eyeing for a console design. A PVR media centre like Wii with some extra grunt (like the chip just mentioned) at a cheap price, could save them.
No, of course they don't want to annoy mums with lots of wires and multiple consoles, that is why they are going to force them to have a Wii, a DVD player, a actual HD video game system, or computer, so they can sit in front of their now fashionable and popular HD large screen TV, to watch rubbish interpolated SD resolution graphics (which likely will just look poor compared to the HD units).
We have been warning Nintendo for years about CD Vs Roms, DVD'a Vs cute little purple game systems suitable for doorstops, descent processing and graphics, and that HD TV's were going to be popular unlike what they insisted, by launch time. Maybe Nintendo has learned and we can play music CD's now.
Now for portable Wii's.
The other day I came across some advertisement or something, maybe it was even Wii related. It was asking what minimum was going to bring home for the kids for Christmas, I immediately thought they are going to bring Wee home for them, portable Wee ;).
What about this for a name that plays of the concept of "We", "We", that could be made into "WeeW" (silent second W) to signify unity between multiple players (but maybe We means something rude in Japanese ;).
Enough console manufacturing bashing for this week.
Thanks
Way.