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[Terrell]

They don't need to say anything. Their actions are proof enough.

Which are directly undone by Iwata saying that Miiverse and NNIDs were coming to 3DS. You can expect a unified account.

 

[thehypocrite]

I dunno, Sony has a shit-ton of development talent and resources, why was Vita's whole first YEAR nearly anemic?
There's more to the equation than just how many bodies are on hand and you know it.
.

Looking at the fact that Sony as a 1st party publisher had more support for the Vita than Nintendo for the Wii U at launch and wasn't able to get traction on the device should had given Nintendo an incentive to step it up.

Here is the list to put that weak argument to rest:

Wii U launch lineup:

New Super Mario Bros. U
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
Nintendo Land
Sing Party

Vita:
Escape Plan (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings (PSN Only)
Little Deviants
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss
wipEout 2048


I also think the Vita isn't a barometer for success, Nintendo should look at successful consoles, not handhelds to see what works in that space.

Because Nintendo loves to delay, and they will delay when they see fit, which happens to be most of the time.

This makes no sense.

 

[Tmdean]

This makes no sense.

Well, I don't think they love to delay, but I think it's true that they're much more willing than most other developers to let a ship date slip if they think extra time could benefit a game.

 

[thehypocrite]

Well, I don't think they love to delay, but I think it's true that they're much more willing than most other developers to let a ship date slip if they think extra time could benefit a game.

True and I agree with this approach in general terms, however is baffling to me how this game can be in development since 2008 and not be out by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikmin_3

 

[NateDrake]

True and I agree with this approach in general terms, however is baffling to me how this game can be in development since 2008 and not be out by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikmin_3

It started as a Wii game and then they switched to Wii U. They likely redid a lot of assets and then implemented Wii U GamePad ideas. So it wasn't just a straight port job.

How is Versus 13 or Last Guardian still not out yet?

 

[Sandfox]

True and I agree with this approach in general terms, however is baffling to me how this game can be in development since 2008 and not be out by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikmin_3

I'm guessing they encountered problems when they decided to change the platform for Wii U and assets probably had to be remade as well as new features needed to be added take advantage of Miiverse and the pad. Its annoying but as long as its out Q2 I'm ok.

 

[pieatorium]

Well, I don't think they love to delay, but I think it's true that they're much more willing than most other developers to let a ship date slip if they think extra time could benefit a game.

I would't say much more willing, Take2(Rockstar at least), Blizzard and Valve probably have even more of a reputation for missing dates/taking their time, The latter 2 rarely even give dates until the last minute anymore just so there is no date to push back.

 

[ASIS]

True and I agree with this approach in general terms, however is baffling to me how this game can be in development since 2008 and not be out by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikmin_3

They usually start with a very small team and then get bigger. I am in no way excusing them, but I wanted to clarify that point.

Truthfully, though, we should be expecting Pikmin 4 by now.

 

[AzaK]

I don't care too much about unified accounts, as I only have one Nintendo device, but all I want is my games to be tied to that account and not the hardware and I have no indication from Nintendo that this is coming at all.

 

[Zoramon089]

I don't care too much about unified accounts, as I only have one Nintendo device, but all I want is my games to be tied to that account and not the hardware and I have no indication from Nintendo that this is coming at all.

Well, only if you ignore the fact that Miiverse is coming to smartphones...unless Nintendo starts releasing their Wii U games on smartphones which I think is unlikely

 

[thehypocrite]

It started as a Wii game and then they switched to Wii U. They likely redid a lot of assets and then implemented Wii U GamePad ideas. So it wasn't just a straight port job.

How is Versus 13 or Last Guardian still not out yet?

True, but if you look at the reactions nobody is giving a pass to Nomura & Fumito Ueda was fired and now is a contractual worker. Heck with Versus 13 we know that the reason is that SE is putting all their workers on FFXIV and cheap FFXIII cash grab to keep the gears turning. I cannot say the same for Miyamoto and Nintendo. Don't see the relation besides the long development time.

I'm guessing they encountered problems when they decided to change the platform for Wii U and assets probably had to be remade as well as new features needed to be added take advantage of Miiverse and the pad. Its annoying but as long as its out Q2 I'm ok.

So it's Miyamoto's responsability then? Yep, that was my point.

 

[SmokeMaxX]

I don't care too much about unified accounts, as I only have one Nintendo device, but all I want is my games to be tied to that account and not the hardware and I have no indication from Nintendo that this is coming at all.

Well, only if you ignore the fact that Miiverse is coming to smartphones...unless Nintendo starts releasing their Wii U games on smartphones which I think is unlikely

Nintendo could easily copy the 360 model if they wanted to. As soon as they open up unified accounts to smartphones/WiiU/3DS, they can just tie the software to the accounts AND the hardware. It wouldn't be difficult to implement; they already have a record of all of your software that you purchase.

 

[Kazerei]

Official translation is up. There's some cool graphs that I don't think have been mentioned yet in this thread.

 

[StreetsAhead]

Satoru Iwata (President):

The time frame I have in mind within which to enrich our software lineup with titles that communicate better the true appeal of our hardware is not an excessively long one. Except for "Wii Street U powered by Google," which I demonstrated to you a while ago, and other titles already announced, a month or two is certainly not adequate to release a large number of titles, but we are hoping to be able to communicate to our consumers the new value of our hardware with titles that we are going to launch from approximately the second half of the calendar year toward the end. Our results so far have indicated to a certain degree that it is rather difficult to let the hardware communicate its value by itself unless we focus on this aspect and become more creative in our messaging. However, this is not to say that our existing software has been inadequate in this regard and we are certainly not thinking of a long-term scale to achieve this. In addition, I believe that we will be able to launch new software within this year that we have not yet announced at this point.

Sounds promising.

Shigeru Miyamoto (Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Entertainment Analysis and Development Division):

Wii U has a lot of attractive features, but it requires a certain amount of time for people to understand them. A common practice in the entertainment industry is to offer a new proposition whose appeal can instantly be understood, enabling it to be popularized quickly. Nevertheless, while it is perhaps strange for Nintendo to say the opposite, our belief in designing this hardware was to create a standard machine full of convenience for every living room. We would have liked to create new entertainment that instantly communicated its value to the public, but we could not. However, I am confident that we did manage to develop software that, once people have played it, does communicate its value very well. We have not yet launched many titles, but Nintendo has been striving to sell its software for as long as three years in an industry where a typical software title has only a few weeks of product life. In this sense, we are confident that even our existing ideas are attractive enough to draw people to our hardware. During development, I found myself becoming increasingly accustomed to using two screens, and now I feel compelled to take a look at the screen in my hands even if that is not necessary. While it will take more time to give shape to our new propositions that take advantage of being able to use two screens, we have various ideas already. In terms of our research and development resources, as we need more staff in response to the high performance of this hardware, we are working to recruit more people, including people from outside the company. Apart from these issues, we are working hard without becoming worried about whether we are out of ideas or the system will be accepted into people's living rooms. It seems to me that we have a larger challenge in how to have many people understand the value of this hardware through our promotional activities.

Slightly less so.

Miyamoto:

As Wii’s design concept was similar to that of Nintendo GameCube, software developers were able to focus on creating new types of game software applications. On the other hand, when we use a new CPU or a new development environment as we did for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, it takes a certain amount of time before we can start actual development of games. The integration of our hardware divisions is for the purpose of getting our core developers to work on creating actual entertainment applications, and we are not trying to develop a unified platform.

 

[Somnid]

The responses about development and hardware team integration sound much more reasoned than they do in one sentence translations.

As I thought one of the benefits they are looking to get out of a unified hardware team is that they might create more platforms outside of their typical console/handheld.

In terms of our platform integration, as I explained to you a short while ago, we are not saying that we are planning to integrate our platforms into one. What we are saying is that we would like to integrate software development methods, operating systems, and built-in software and software assets for each platform so that we can use them across different machines. This means that if we manage to integrate our platforms successfully, we may in fact be able to make more platforms. At the moment, we only have our current handheld devices and home consoles because if we tried to make more platforms, our development resources would be spread too thinly.

Actually, we believe that our in-house development teams have almost reached the next stage. It is not true that we are deadlocked with a lot of trouble in our development. Otherwise, we could not aim for 100 billion yen or more in operating profit for the next fiscal year.

Also this.

 

[Meelow]

The responses about development and hardware team integration sound much more reasoned than they do in one sentence translations.

As I thought one of the benefits they are looking to get out of a unified hardware team is that they might create more platforms outside of their typical console/handheld.

What do you mean?

 

[Kacho]

Originally Posted by Iwata:
Actually, we believe that our in-house development teams have almost reached the next stage. It is not true that we are deadlocked with a lot of trouble in our development. Otherwise, we could not aim for 100 billion yen or more in operating profit for the next fiscal year.

I'm pulling for you, Iwata.

 

[StreetsAhead]

Miyamoto on Pikmin 3:

As a side note, you can play this game only with Wii U GamePad.

Some people are going to be PISSED.

Therefore, although the name "Wii" was handed down from Wii to Wii U, we needed to hold many workshops to learn about such technologies. We already went through this initial learning phase and are now tackling how to take full advantage of high-definition graphics. In this sense, retraining our developers used to be a great hurdle.

 

[chertipros]

Miyamoto on Pikmin 3:



Some people are going to be PISSED.

Why?

 

[KarmaCow]

nevermind misread it

 

[Sandfox]

Miyamoto on Pikmin 3:



Some people are going to be PISSED.

That's just awkwardly phrased.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Looking at the fact that Sony as a 1st party publisher had more support for the Vita than Nintendo for the Wii U at launch and wasn't able to get traction on the device should had given Nintendo an incentive to step it up.

Here is the list to put that weak argument to rest:

Wii U launch lineup:

New Super Mario Bros. U
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
Nintendo Land
Sing Party

Vita:
Escape Plan (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings (PSN Only)
Little Deviants
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss
wipEout 2048


I also think the Vita isn't a barometer for success, Nintendo should look at successful consoles, not handhelds to see what works in that space.

Some of the those came weeks to months after launch. Day one for Vita was just Uncharted GA and Mingol 6. Day one for WiiU was NSMBU, Nintendo Land and Sing Party.

 

[StreetsAhead]

Why?

It implies no pointer controls, which some people love.

EDIT: Oh, hes talking about Off-TV play? Well, that makes more sense than removing a control system from E3.

 

[Aaron Strife]

That's just awkwardly phrased.

Has there ever been confirmation for off-TV play that wasn't phrased clumsily?

 

[StreetsAhead]

So, with all this talk of expansion, I had a look at NCL's recruitment page.

Seems there's at least ~24 positions related to game/engine development at Kyoto currently up for grabs, with 6 of them related to network services or online functionality. 32 position over all, at least.

At Tokyo, there's 8 positions, one of which is related to networks.

Also, in September 2012, NCL directly employed 1956 people, but I'm not sure if that's up, down, or steady and how much.