I think we all knew this. The Wii U isn't your typical home console, the U controller itself can act as a handheld, making the system a fusion of both gaming markets. This is one of the reasons why Satoru Iwata calls the system a game console rather than home console. This statement came from the investors talks of last week.
| Also, I just mentioned ‘home console’ unwittingly, but although the Wii U was announced as the successor of the Wii, I believe it will be positioned slightly different than the past home consoles. In the past, there were two categories of gaming systems, handheld devices and home consoles, and there was thought to be a great wall in between those two categories; however, the Wii U will be connected to a home TV, but it is not a simple home console, meaning it is not something ‘playable only when facing the TV.’ This is because, the controller has its own screen, so even if you are not facing the TV or the TV is occupied for some other reason, you can still use the game system. Therefore, in our release, we have written ‘a new game console’ and not ‘a new home console.’ In English, both are translated as ‘console’ and therefore, this nuance will not be expressed but, in the Japanese releases, we would like to propose the Wii U without using the term ‘home console.’ For your information, for game systems that have been sold as handheld devices, many consumers do not actually use them outside of their homes. Given this fact, we proposed the idea of carrying the Nintendo 3DS outside by enhancing the communication functionality and challenging consumers to change their usual routine but, on the other hand, there is a very high demand for playing a game system inside the house without using the TV, and we would like to answer that demand with the Wii U. In other words, since our lifestyles are changing minute by minute, I think that a play style where a person plays only when the person sits in front of the TV and has to occupy the TV is becoming less and less fitting with the times. Therefore, I would like to make the Wii U Nintendo’s new answer to the upcoming change of lifestyle. |
"Wii U Nintendo’s new answer to the upcoming change of lifestyle" <-- Japan's preference of handhelds?
Also with the recent 3DS price drop... will the same happen to the Wii U?
| With regard to the influence on the Wii U, what we have to take most seriously is that the price markdown could damage the trust of the consumers who bought the Nintendo 3DS just after the launch. I feel greatly accountable for it. Our decision of the price markdown this time has a side effect that, at the launch of the Wii U, people may feel that the price might drop in the near future if they wait. Nevertheless, we have decided to cut down the price of the Nintendo 3DS as we consider it as a necessary decision now. What we will be able to do to recover the consumers’ trust before the launch of the Wii U is very important to us. Since the Wii U we showed you at the E3 show in June was still in the development phase without very specific proposals on the software titles, we are going to announce the release date and the price next year when we are able to explain the specific proposals. Anyway, the biggest influence is on our consumers’ trust, I think. |
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This is one of my mayor reasons for holding out on the 3DS or buying tablets, etc. The Wii U can become my home entertainment system. Be it internet, games, social, etc. I've mainly used my handhelds at home now, only used the GameBoy more outside when I was a kid.
The system just needs software to embark all these areas Iwata keeps mentioning...
