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Nintendo Japan merges handheld and console hardware teams

Martin Gaston
By Martin Gaston, News Editor

Unifying hardware teams is Nintendo R&D's biggest shake-up in nine years.

Nintendo will merge its console and handheld development teams at the end of this month, as part of the first-party publisher's biggest R&D shake-up since the launch of the original DS nine years ago.

Reported by Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via MCV), the two teams will now share their expertise as they look to develop future hardware that will satisfy both its Wii and DS audiences simultaneously.

The merged team will be working out of Nintendo Japan's new $300 million R&D facility in Kyoto, which has been in construction for the last three years.

Nintendo's most recent hardware, the Wii U, has resulted in "not bad" sales over its first two months on US store shelves, according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, although the new console was narrowly outsold by its predecessor in December.

Much of Nintendo's 2013 lineup remains unknown, although many are expecting Microsoft and Sony to weigh in with their own new hardware announcements in the next few months, with recent rumours suggesting the next Xbox and PlayStation would retail for $350.

Martin Gaston
By Martin Gaston, News Editor

Martin Gaston has absolutely never at all had the song from Beauty and the Beast sung to him at any point during his life, ever.

151 comments
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xXhakuhyouXx
xXhakuhyouXx

I was pretty disappointed when the Wii U came out, and I went to test the store display when I was at the store for something unrelated one day, and there were ABSOLUTELY NO demos to play, just videos to watch. If they don't come out with some games soon, this'll be another Virtual Boy. I just would've waited to release the system until there was a huge game out. Like, do they remember something called a "launch game"? Y'know, like Super Mario Bros on the NES, or Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis/MegaDrive, or something? A game you use to sell the system? -_- I guess they don't remember that...

I've never seen a system up for display without demos, except for the N-Gage, and that's not really a system at all!!! :O

Devil_wings00
Devil_wings00

Well not a bad thing since I've enjoyed Nintendo handheld offerings more for years now then the console stuff they have churned out. Maybe some of the good idea's coming for the handheld people will rub off.

KratosHump3R
KratosHump3R

therefore we will have handheld quality games on the Wii U (which is a good thing actually)

leandrro
leandrro

compare these 2

what it says to you?

http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/39089/Global/

http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/41280/Global/

emptycow
emptycow

@leandrro yea the wiiu sale numbers for this week are  super bad  but it was also a bad week  for sony and microsoft  but not as bad as  the wiiu numbers  wiiu in the last 7 days in the u.s has sold 16,795 systems  and in  

Europe the wiiu did even worse in the last 7 days it sold  11,256 systems  and in japan it sold 20,912 systems  this is not good at all 

 

leandrro
leandrro

@emptycow @leandrro i noticed that in 2007 the just released nintendo console was putting software titles all over the top 10 top 20 etc, but now the wii u are not beeing capable of put software among best sellers, if wii u is selling people seem not to be buyng software, software sales are crucial to any console company

emptycow
emptycow

@abHS4L88 @emptycow @leandrro i think the wiiu will need a price drop its needs to cost $300 and $250  and i think nintendo will drop the price in the next 10 months 

abHS4L88
abHS4L88 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@emptycow @leandrro 

It's still a new console with a growing library, many of the biggest titles people have been waiting for have yet to come out. Remember, consoles don't have to launch all guns and blazing in order for it to be successful. 

emptycow
emptycow

@leandrro @emptycow the only wiiu games in the top 10 is mario u and the other game is nintendo land a game that comes with the wiiu  tha dont count  the wiiu at this point is doing really bad the 3ds is doing gang busters  but the wiiu is doing super super bad 

itchyflop
itchyflop like.author.displayName 1 Like

This is where you have to admire Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) he invites his customers to leave "feedback" and then makes better systems bringing him wealth and a healthy business. If i was any gaming company or console developer id be on here scanning the comments section listening to my customers, you cant please everyone but you ll get a wider picture. The wii u hasnt got off the ground yet, give it chance b4 killing it, let the handheld developers do something with the second screen

nonfanboygamer1
nonfanboygamer1

Maybe they'll revise the wii u to be more on par with the current xbox and ps. WHOAH....just kidding Nintendo fans! It...was...just..a..joke..breathe...breathe..Kidding aside,  Wii u might never be a huge hit, but with the 3ds, they'll be fine

soulless4now
soulless4now

That's good. Hopefully they'll come up with some better for their next console. 

grove12345
grove12345

I am bewildered by the choice to develop and/or buy a WiiU with such pathetic hardware specs. They release a console that will soon be totally outdone by like 4 folds within a 2 year period, and in some cases is outdone by current consoles. This is one of many situations of Nintendo developing a product and quickly abandoning it after receiving great sales. Think of all the peripherals Wii had, and we all quickly forgot b/c Nintendo abandoned them.


Huge SNES fan and huge GBA fan. But Nintendo diffenetly lost their respect to gamers. Wouldnt surprise me if their main consultant is an AI analysts program trading off innovation and respect in exchange for a quick profit.

abHS4L88
abHS4L88 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@grove12345 

Care to share this proof you have of the "pathetic hardware specs?" The only thing that will "outdo the console by like 4 folds in a 2 year period" are PCs, nothing by Microsoft or Sony will come close to that, at the most, those consoles will be twice as powerful. 

The only people Nintendo lost the respect of are the whiny bratty group know as "hardcore gamers" which is totally fine since they make up like no more then 5% of the entire gaming industry. 

emptycow
emptycow

@abHS4L88 @grove12345 the core gamer is the people who buy 4 or 5 games a year  nintendo lost most of them to the xbox 360 and sony ps3

abHS4L88
abHS4L88 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@emptycow 

4 to 5 games a year? What am I then? I think I bought around 30 games in 2012 :P

demonkingx5
demonkingx5

@abHS4L88 Most of those guys are wanna be hardcore i hate that term its ether your a gamer or your not plain & simple no matter which platform your on. but if you wanna play Hardcore than your not doing it on a console it will be done on a PC with 5 monitors running games on Maxed sarcasm, i laugh at people who say they're hardcore cause to me your just a gamer who shares the same hobby as me 

RiKanKiDD
RiKanKiDD

I'll love Nintendo No matter what i guess. Thanks for the 3DS Nintendo!

Flint247
Flint247 like.author.displayName 1 Like

I would like to see a feature where you can play 3DS games through your Wii U on the TV, similar to the Game Boy Player. That would be cool. I have seen capture devices for the 3DS and I think it can work well if it were made from Nintendo.

V3rciS
V3rciS

@Flint247 then what's the reason to buy a 3ds? To play on the tram... too overrated

Flint247
Flint247 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

@V3rciS @Flint247 Even Sony PSP could be played on TV, so I do not see how this is a bad idea. Many devices can be streamed to televisions. It would be optional.

V3rciS
V3rciS

I think Nintendo once was a facinating and awesome company... it was one of the few true and pure gaming companies out there. The rest are hybrids and bastards. Although talking about Nintendo brings glorious memories, at the moment the company is experiencing some problems! I do blame only Nintendo for that, it's no others fault. They were after innovative gaming, fair enough and I support that but they should never had dropped the hardware specs for that.
The only sure thing is that I do not want Nintendo to die, no matter how I disagree with them at the moment. And actually I'd like more companies like Nintendo to arise on the gaming market. To bad SEGA and Atari are both dead now...

HydePark1980
HydePark1980

@V3rciS While I agree with everything that you are saying, when it come to hardware there is no concrete evidence to prove that if the Wii U was much more powerful at launch the end result would not be the same.

V3rciS
V3rciS

@HydePark1980@V3rciSYou've seen what Crytek said? "We're not gonna deliver games on Wii U because we feel that the CPU is insufficient." Insufficient man... can you believe that? For a console that is on the market like what? 2 months? Sad man... really sad. And I bet sooner or later more developers will follow Crytek... Nintendo will be doing their own IPs only almost the same with Wii. And the biggest problem of that is that they're not even introducing new IPs.

alrepairs
alrepairs like.author.displayName 1 Like

@V3rciS @HydePark1980 That's incorrect.

Crytek isn't delivering Crysis 3 because of different outlooks in business drive ^^.

Crytek Engine 3 ran easily on the console, which is a good sign.

Celsius765
Celsius765 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@HydePark1980 @V3rciS Clearly you don't see how EA messes things up for everyone by buying out good Devs. Being leashed like a dog by EA is not a good thing

HydePark1980
HydePark1980

@V3rciS @HydePark1980  If you really believe that to be the real reason behind not developing the game on the Wii U that's fine.  I've been gaming for a long time so I know when a developer is throwing out a Bullshit excuse for not developing for a system when I read it.

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@V3rciS @HydePark1980 

When did they say that? Even 4A made a similar statement but almost immediately took it back. I remember Crytek saying that they'd love to bring Crysis 3 to the Wii U but EA is not supporting that decision. 

There are at least 2 new major IPs that will most likely be revealed this E3. Not everything has to be revealed right away. 

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@V3rciS 

You have to understand their situation also. When developing the Wii, their previous two home consoles were hardly commercial successes so they decided to take their philosophy of "Lateral thinking withered technology" to the extreme and came out with both the DS and the Wii and it turned out to be incredibly successful for them, giving them the financial boost to support more powerful hardware like the 3DS and Wii U. 

V3rciS
V3rciS

@abHS4L88 @V3rciS Yes but turning their consoles into casual/housewives festival is not a good approach. What did the original Wii really offered except of a stick that you swing in the air? Was it all only about motion controllers? I do like that they're pushing the innovative technology... but not the way they did. Maybe I'm exaggerating and over-reacting but I do feel that previous gen they simply betrayed us (gamers and their fans). Still as I said I am not absolutely mad at them but I'd like them to address some of the issues.

Devil_wings00
Devil_wings00

@emptycow @abHS4L88 Ya it's actually a very common trick they use in trade shows. They say it's running on PS3/360 but really it's a PC hidden away running the game. It's not elitism or anything it's just shows your game off better to have it running on the best hardware you have available. Also considering if the rumors are true about the hardware being used in the ps4/720 then it's just tweaked off the shelf AMD hardware. It wouldn't be tough to just upscale the textures and resolution to make it usable on the next gen stuff. Remember there isn't an instant shift to new hardware when new systems come out. Multiplats of games came out on PS2 for 2-3 years after the release of the ps3/360. So it wouldn't surprise me if the first round of multiplats to come out go on the PS4/PS3/360/720 because they started development on the 360/ps3.

nintendoboy16
nintendoboy16

@abHS4L88 Exactly. the sales of Eternal Darkness and Geist pretty much ruined Nintendo's chances of them trying their hand at a mature market (something they have been trying since N64 thanks to Rare with Perfect Dark and Conker) leaving a very low chance of them succeeding. Heck, if Bayonetta 2 bombs (and it most likely will after that outburst), it messes that chance up FOR GOOD!

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@alrepairs 

We'll never see an M rated game coming directly from Nintendo, T rated games are the highest rating they'll go. Although it MIGHT happen, I just don't expect it. 

alrepairs
alrepairs

@Celsius765 @abHS4L88 @V3rciS I agree,

It's time they only make 1 mario game per console, and create 2 new IPs to represent Nintendo going forward - 1 M rated, and 1 E rated.

Mario is like the grandpa of the gaming industry...they can't milk him like this.  It's destroying what quality he had in the first place.

Celsius765
Celsius765 like.author.displayName 1 Like

@abHS4L88 @V3rciS Mario is very much milked since he's Big N's mascot. We have, mario tennis, soccer, basketball, party, rpgs,2d and 3d platforming adventures. Heck theres not Mario hasn't done

emptycow
emptycow

@V3rciS @emptycow @abHS4L88 ubisoft already said watch dogs is coming to ps3,xbox 360 ,pc   it could come to other system like the ps4 ,xbox next  but they have said nothing about it coming to them i think its a sure bet watch dogs will come to next gen but  ubisoft is only talking about the current systems now

emptycow
emptycow

@abHS4L88 @emptycow  most of that video was shot with not many people on screen also  alot of what you see is small scale   another thing is that demo could be running off of a pc 

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@emptycow 

I'm currently playing AC3, Watch Dogs looks WAY better in pretty much every way. Animations are much more fluid and convincing, details are much more crisp, physics are more realistic, it does remind me of a futuristic version of Assassin's Creed though.

emptycow
emptycow

@abHS4L88 @emptycow @V3rciS  no it looks current gen its just running on the  same engine as assassin's creed  3  i guess ...it u  look at assassin's creed  then look at watch dogs  its not  a shock that watch dogs is  a current gen game  but i do think it will also be on the next sony and microsoft systems on day one 

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@V3rciS

I can understand people saying that Mario is milked (even though he's not) but Kirby? Of the 6 Kirby games released on the DS and Wii, 3 of them were highly unique titles that could've easily been brand new IPs with a different character. 

Like I told emptycow, Nintendo is currently working on 2 new major IPs, one by Miyamoto and the other by Monolith Soft. 

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@emptycow @V3rciS

I highly doubt Watch Dogs would happen on the PS3/360, it might but it would have to be scaled down. 

V3rciS
V3rciS like.author.displayName 1 Like

@emptycow @abHS4L88 Yes but watchdogs is not an option... forget about it! How about some new 1st party IP? It's think that's enough milking mario and kirby... I'd appreciate a new Zelda of course but still there's a need for new IPs by Nintendo

V3rciS
V3rciS

@abHS4L88 @emptycow it's a next gen game for ps4 and next box... doubt if nintendo could secure this game as an exclusive. It's an AAA multi plat

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@emptycow 

Pretty sure the game will appear on the Wii U, especially if it's going to be on the PS3/360, it's not like Ubisoft doesn't support Nintendo since they made ZombiU for it and will be releasing Rayman Legends soon.

emptycow
emptycow

@abHS4L88 @V3rciS nintendo should have paid  Ubisoft  to have this game as a wiiu exclusive  %s

abHS4L88
abHS4L88

@V3rciS

They still offered a wide array of games that appealed to more experienced gamers and granted, many of the best games either barely used motion controls or flat out ignored them, but they were treading into territory that has never been fully realized until the Wii so even they couldn't have predicted the results. I remember them intending on the Wii being a more "hardcore" gaming console which ended up being pretty much the complete opposite. 

As a fan, I didn't feel betrayed, I mean we got some really amazing 1st party titles along with a lot of really great (but overshadowed) 3rd party exclusives. 

Either way, the Wii is done and the Wii U is out, the direction of the Wii U is clearly meant for players of all types. 

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