Reggie Fils-Aime
Nintendo is apparently unconcerned by the emergence of OnLive, the cloud-based gaming service revealed at the Game Developers Conference last week.
“We’re not worried”, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told the Wall Street Journal when asked about the service. While "We're not worried" is the sort of thing you might expect a media-trained exec to say, it sounds like Reggie might be a bit blasé about the whole thing.
WSJ reports that he 'scoffed' at talk of OnLive, saying that while cloud-based gaming might be fine for a game like Scrabble, for a title like Crysis you might as well be using a dial-up connection.
Crysis was demoed using OnLive, while Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive, claims (as you would expect) that his service is capable of dealing with lag times.
Fils-Aime also said that Nintendo has no plans to cut the price of the Wii this year, asking WSJ, “Why would we?”
Cloud-based gaming, if you're not familiar with the concept, removes the need for expensive hardware by handling processing on remote servers.
It has emerged that Sony has trademarked 'PS Cloud', suggesting that the company may be working on a cloud-based gaming service. Similarly, Acclaim's Dave Perry has said that he is involved in a cloud-based games project.
With all this afoot and major publishers such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Take-Two supporting OnLive, it may be that Nintendo can't afford to be so relaxed on the subject. Give us your take in the Forum.
Source: WSJ
“We’re not worried”, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told the Wall Street Journal when asked about the service. While "We're not worried" is the sort of thing you might expect a media-trained exec to say, it sounds like Reggie might be a bit blasé about the whole thing.
WSJ reports that he 'scoffed' at talk of OnLive, saying that while cloud-based gaming might be fine for a game like Scrabble, for a title like Crysis you might as well be using a dial-up connection.
Crysis was demoed using OnLive, while Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive, claims (as you would expect) that his service is capable of dealing with lag times.
Fils-Aime also said that Nintendo has no plans to cut the price of the Wii this year, asking WSJ, “Why would we?”
Cloud-based gaming, if you're not familiar with the concept, removes the need for expensive hardware by handling processing on remote servers.
It has emerged that Sony has trademarked 'PS Cloud', suggesting that the company may be working on a cloud-based gaming service. Similarly, Acclaim's Dave Perry has said that he is involved in a cloud-based games project.
With all this afoot and major publishers such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Take-Two supporting OnLive, it may be that Nintendo can't afford to be so relaxed on the subject. Give us your take in the Forum.
Source: WSJ
Companies:
Nintendo
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Comments
DoctorDee 31 Mar 2009 12:18
1/10
I have 802.11n (Draft) networking at home, and Homeplug, and both of them struggle to stream HD movies from my study to my lounge.
I'm sure cloud gaming is theoreticallly possible, but I'm suggesting that we'll have network issues that prevent it becoming a reality for a good many years.
I'm sure cloud gaming is theoreticallly possible, but I'm suggesting that we'll have network issues that prevent it becoming a reality for a good many years.
deleted 31 Mar 2009 13:19
2/10
Nintendo seem to slipping back into that smug we are the best and nothing else matters b******s, lets see next gen when no wantsa Wii2 becuase its basically a Wii with better graphics like the Gamecube was to the N64,
Remember Ninty you can disapear overnight, look at sonys dominance!!
Remember Ninty you can disapear overnight, look at sonys dominance!!
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Daz 31 Mar 2009 13:35
3/10
lets see next gen when no wantsa Wii2 becuase its basically a Wii with better graphics
that true of every console really though
Tim 31 Mar 2009 14:26
4/10
I really think it can work. Let's give Onlive the benefit of the doubt. 7 years of work should amount to something. <a href="http://onlivefans.com">OnliveFans.com</a>
Joji 31 Mar 2009 15:23
5/10
Just like Nintendo to put on that face, careful now, as pride comes before a fall. I don't buy that PR face though.
I think they'll worry about anything that is a potential threat to their company. Nintendo have been so slow in getting online, way behind Sony and MS. If OnLive does come out, Nintendo can't afford to mess about and be last with a decent online service, behind such upstarts.
The space issue has now been sorted out at last with SD cards (devs, sort out Wii demos now and help sell your games), that if they end up last again, gamers might not forgive them again.
I think they'll worry about anything that is a potential threat to their company. Nintendo have been so slow in getting online, way behind Sony and MS. If OnLive does come out, Nintendo can't afford to mess about and be last with a decent online service, behind such upstarts.
The space issue has now been sorted out at last with SD cards (devs, sort out Wii demos now and help sell your games), that if they end up last again, gamers might not forgive them again.
Rutabaga 31 Mar 2009 15:59
6/10
Joji wrote:
Just like Nintendo to put on that face, careful now, as pride comes before a fall. I don't buy that PR face though.
Reggie's face certainly frightens me.
OptimusP 31 Mar 2009 17:33
7/10
Joji wrote:
devs, sort out Wii demos now and help sell your games
Actually, isn't there some research out there that actually suggest that demo's hurt game sales more then they actually help them. It's not because you want it from your high-demand but huge fringe position, that you somehow use as the only point of reference, that everyone wants it.
And this cloud gaming is certainly theoretical possible. But we'll need some more generations of wires, internetprotocols, compression and hardware to make it market feasible. Just look at Xbox Live, huge and great infrastructure, but if everyone did it, the gaming industry would crash and burn of the enormous piles of money it demands. This cloud gaming needs exponential amount of everything to even work properly.
Now if this was used in a limited, let's say MMO-context. That would be a good starting point...or Scrabble...or better yet, Monopoly!
Alex 31 Mar 2009 17:35
8/10
I agree with you Joji, he doesn't need to be so cocky. However, I believe that is OnLive was really capable of threatening console systems, Nintendo would probably survive the longest. Here's a good article explaining why: http://www.onlive1.com/showthread.php?t=15
-Alex, OnLive forum
-Alex, OnLive forum
Joji 1 Apr 2009 16:57
9/10
If OnLive does work, fair play to them. I must try to keep a more open mind on it, as we have yet to see it. I'll take a slice of humble pie, if I'm wrong.
Don't forget, Nintendo used to say they weren't competing with Sony and MS, but we all know that was more steaming horsepile PR.
Don't forget, Nintendo used to say they weren't competing with Sony and MS, but we all know that was more steaming horsepile PR.
deleted 1 Apr 2009 18:56
10/10
Joji wrote:
If OnLive does work, fair play to them. I must try to keep a more open mind on it, as we have yet to see it. I'll take a slice of humble pie, if I'm wrong.
Don't forget, Nintendo used to say they weren't competing with Sony and MS, but we all know that was more steaming horsepile PR.
Don't forget, Nintendo used to say they weren't competing with Sony and MS, but we all know that was more steaming horsepile PR.
yeah i guess they arent competing with Onlive either, from what i have read its ll based around a super algorithm which i guess if works as good as its supposed too, it could revolutionise more than just Cloud Computing and Gaming, But Movies, Music and Even Data Delivery services, which makes me wonder if this algorithm is so darn good why gaming?
a comment i read recently suggested that one server per 10 gamers would be required, how many servers would you need for 1,000,000, 20,000,000, 200,000,000 customers? remembering they must be within a 5000 mile radius of the customer, for a world wide service you need a lot of servers, baring in mind that each of those servers would cost alot of money and would require mantaining and upgrading regular its all very complicated and expensive, but i hope im worng it could be the best thing to happen to gaming ever, but then Nintendo told us that didnt they!