IWATA ASKS: Nintendo 3DS edition!

[SaviorX]

RolStoppable said:

Khuutra said:

You haven't lost anything, because this isn't a contest. You already held the position that games are the point; you just momentarily thought that a focus on visuals precluded a focus on games, which has been true in the past but isn't necessarily true in the future.

Okay.

Let's move on to a related topic, the Virtual Boy. How believable is the story Miyamoto is telling us here? Was the Virtual Boy really more of a "toy product", rather than a proper gaming platform and the successor to the Game Boy? Is Nintendo just practicing damage control here?

I think most of this story sounds believable. The Virtual Boy really is a different beast and can hardly be considered an intended successor to the Game Boy due to its not really portable nature. It was an experiment, albeit a failed one. The people in this issue of Iwata Asks also had no problem to admit that it was a commercial failure, so I don't think that we are looking at damage control here. Additionally, the claim that the marketing people portraying the device as more than it actually was makes sense as that is what those people usually do.

He is just trying to save face from that disaster. He is trying to keep his name as far away from it as possible. Bad enough he has to live with Wii Music failing :P

I understand that people are worried that 3D is Ninty's only gimmick going into the 3DS, but there is much more to the handheld then that. After 15 years of underperforming with 3D and all its quirks, they have gotta be onto something by risking their handheld line with 3D as the major feature.

In 20 years, Nintendo has yet to butcher their handheld business (jinx!), and they are having it released way ahead of any potential competition. I think the fact that 3rd parties are supporting Nintendo in flux so early on is the reason why we are all taken back a bit.