Nintendo President: 'We Have Scuttled New Hardware'

[FrankForce77]

I found this article at Gamespot.com and thought, man they must have scrapped the Wii HD. Although the article N's president say what was canned, I can only speculate that it was a new console dubbed Wii HD. One of the major reasons for this was Microsoft and Sony's announcements of their new motion controls. This move will give more life to the Wii, which could be bad or good, and give N more time to develop a better next gen console that will be groundbreaking once again like the Wii was.
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In its two-month history, the Nintendo DSi has already sold more than 1 million units. It is, by any definition, a runaway hit in the video game industry. But it wasn’t the company’s first effort at extending its lead in the handheld marketplace.
Nintendo’s global president Satoru Iwata says the company did have another handheld gaming system complete at one point in the past three years, but ultimately decided not to release it.
And it’s not the first time the company has had completed hardware that it ultimately decided to scuttle.
“In the history of Nintendo [NTDOY 33.41 0.82 (+2.52%) ] , there are several such examples," he says. "But when we are launching new hardware, the most important is thing is to sustain the momentum. If introducing new hardware won’t do anything to do that, well…"
Iwata declined to give any details about the recent cancelled product.

Jinsei Mayoibashi

The Nintendo DSi

Fortunately for Nintendo, the company can afford to blow a few R&D dollars these days. The DSi is setting sales records and the Wii is the industry’s top selling console. Wii sales have been falling sharply over the last several months, though, leading the CEO of Gamestop [GME 24.84 0.51 (+2.1%) ] and other industry insiders to express interest in a price cut by Nintendo.
Iwata, though, says that’s not likely to happen soon.
"Right now, we have no plans at all about a price cut," he says. "We are going to start launching the stronger software in the later half of the year — and we are confident [we will] regain the momentum.
"People often talk about the price cut as if it’s an almighty weapon. The fact of the matter is that what a price cut can do is rather limited. … In the long history of video games, at the time of the price cut we see a momentary hike in sales, but usually that can not sustain its momentum and it soon comes down to below the price cut level."
That said, competitor Sony [SNE 27.60 0.05 (+0.18%) ] is widely expected to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 this fall. Microsoft [MSFT 22.03 -0.02 (-0.09%) ] likely will not cut prices, but is quite likely to bundle the Xbox 360 with one or more popular games.

Both companies, meanwhile, have also announced plans to incorporate motion-sensing controllers into their consoles, which puts them in even more direct competition with the Wii.
Iwata says Nintendo is watching these, but has known for a long time that its competitors would introduce motion sensors after the Wii proved there was substantial consumer interest in the area.
The Wii controller was a part of Nintendo’s "Blue Ocean" strategy, which boils down to the idea of avoiding a feeding frenzy for a small customer base (aka, a "red ocean") when there’s a much larger, untapped one available (the aforementioned "blue ocean").

Source: Nintendo President: 'We Have Scuttled New Hardware' - All * Technology * News * Story - CNBC.com

[MasterMind]

Interesting read. I believe the hardware reference was the new DS. I completely agree with the whole HD aspect. Why introduce a more expensive system in the middle of a recession?

[Air-Mario]

Very interesting indeed. I really would llike to see what they will do now. I would think the new hardware they probably scuttled was indeed the Wii HD. Lets see what microsoft and sony will do in the future.

[FrankForce77]

Originally Posted by MasterMind Interesting read. I believe the hardware reference was the new DS. I completely agree with the whole HD aspect. Why introduce a more expensive system in the middle of a recession?

With the huge out of the gate sales of the DSi I am highly doubting that this article is talking about canning something that is already an instant success. Although this article does not say what they canned, we could make the asumption that because of the DSi's big sales that it must have been a new Nintendo console (Wii HD).

[Chipz]

Hm, that's unfortunate that they had to can the new idea. But the DSi's definitely good enough to keep some sales up. And then some.

We can wait longer for the next Nintendo system, I hope. Shoot, we still have hard-hitters to game-on with, then hard-hitters that's soon to be.

[TRICOURAGE]

Nintendo throwing new ideas under the bus. Never would have thought that they would do that. Then again I've never thought much about it.

[Jake]

Ok I knew that they took first place in the handheld gaming market place because that was all over the internet on the gaming websites like gamespot.com they had it all over their site it was crazy when they did it.

-Jake

[The Nartist]

OMG there never was a wii HD. Iwata even said it.

[Spencer]

Man, it would suck to make an entire game system just to have it scrapped because "it doesn't carry the momentum". And now they can never release it later, because the technology will be dated. I mean, imagine if you were of the system designers who helped built it. All that time, all that hard work, all that money from Nintendo (though they're so rich now it doesn't really matter), all to have it scrapped at the near-to-last minute.

One of them could of been a sequel to the Wii (which is what people are calling "Wii HD") or DS. They say that they're always developing a new sequel to the current console/handheld, even when it first comes out. It could be that they made it, didn't figure that it would be a success, scrap it, and start developing another one that they figure will be.

[Yasinali]

We Shouldnt Rush Nintendo!
but i bet they got some ideas up thier sleeves that will make the next console unique!

but 1 thing i am expecting from the next console is :

- HD
- Extremly Good Graphics
- 1:1 Motion Control as Standard
- GTA
- A Whole Bunch Of Hardcore Games
- And Some Family Games
etc

[Spencer]

Originally Posted by Yasinali We Shouldnt Rush Nintendo! but i bet they got some ideas up thier sleeves that will make the next console unique! but 1 thing i am expecting from the next console is : - HD - Extremly Good Graphics - 1:1 Motion Control as Standard - GTA - A Whole Bunch Of Hardcore Games - And Some Family Games etc

Then you'll be very dissapointed, my friend.

[Ran]

I'm interested in seeing what Nintendo does come up with as their next home console.
They've already done motion controllers. So they'll likely keep that with the next console. But how would they expand on that? Maybe they'll finally decide to reach Microsoft and Sony's level of gaming. xD (Not a fan of either.. but still)

I guess we'll probably hear about the next console in E3 2010 or 2011.