Iwata talks Virtual Console

By Games Industry.biz Published 5 June, 2006

A new biz strategy, it seems.

The Virtual Console functions of the Wii platform will enable small games to find a large audience, according to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, who says that the download system is an alternative to the "single-minded" approach of the industry at present.

Speaking to the Tech-On section of Japanese newspaper Nikkei Business Publications, Iwata addressed the merits of the Virtual Console as a platform for creating new content, not just for emulating old games - the use with which most prospective purchasers will be most familiar.

He implied that games which launch on the Virtual Console could cost as little as 500 Yen (around 3.50 Euro), a tenth of the expected retail price of new games on the system in Japan.

"When creating a packaged game to be priced at 5,000 yen, developers tend to feel the need to create a rich game," he explained. "Yet it is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three. Offering such games for 500 yen over a network could lead to a reasonable number of people purchasing it. By offering an environment that allows this, we hope to encourage more developers to pursue basic yet enjoyable gameplay."

However, Iwata was quick to point out that Nintendo will continue to develop "epic" titles as well - and that even in the firm's new vision of the future, there is plenty of room for titles such as Zelda, Fire Emblem or Earthbound.

"Content-rich games have their own merit, and I have no intention of discrediting them," he continued. "Such games are important in their own right, and will continue to be in demand. Still - think about it - eating French cuisine or a full dinner each day would quickly lead to boredom, wouldn't it? You'll want a simple bowl of rice and soup every now and then."

"Our intention with the Wii is to propose an alternate approach to gaming business," he concluded, "as the gaming industry is currently far too single-minded."

Iwata admitted to Nikkei Business Publications that Nintendo had fallen from its former position as "champion" of the console market to being a "challenger" - and that "challengers have a hard time getting the market to listen to them."

However, he believes that the success of the Nintendo DS has helped to build momentum and support for the firm's innovations in control mechanisms, which he believes will help to "propel the Wii forward" when it appears later this year.

Picture of Games.

About Games Industry.biz

Read more articles from Games by visiting the Games Industry.biz archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (36) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hog-lumps #1 6 years ago

    Yet it is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three.

    I like this kind of talk - it'll hopefully to lead to better creativity and more imagination in the long run.

  • TipTop #2 6 years ago

    ... who says that the download system is an alternative to the "single-minded" approach of the industry at present.

    Im sorry but in the world of console marketing it seems the idea 'de jour' to ignore your competitors. I would have been more impressed if he at least offered something different from the 360 service. However like Sony last week, Nintendo seem to want to be the 'first' with an online service. Do they think we live in a vacuum?

    Im going to purchasing a Wii but based on it's true uniqueness, the controller. Not this rehashed stuff.
    Edited by 4 at 05/06/06 @ 09:07

  • Hog-lumps #3 6 years ago

    I would have been more impressed if he at least offered something different from the 360 service

    Well, personally I think it is refreshing that both MS and Nintendo are embracing simpler concepts of development. The industry needs a kick up the arse in the creativity stakes, and download games could be one such opportunity for introducing greater levels of imagination.

    (edit typos)
    Edited by 2 at 05/06/06 @ 09:19

  • #4 6 years ago

    *cough*Live Arcade*cough*

  • Razz #5 6 years ago

    *cough*Wii60.com*cough* :)

    We are brothers, not in competition :)

  • Les #6 6 years ago

    if I'm not mistaken, most Live Arcade titles are ports of flash games or old titles. Mr. Iwata mentions developing new games. That sets it apart from Live Arcade, though not that much.

  • Hog-lumps #7 6 years ago

    hope that the cream of the indepentant games crop are available on Live! Arcade because of 720p.

    But doesn't worrying about the level of resolution kind of miss the point of these download games? I mean I thought gameplay was the focus and not quality of the graphics?

  • Xerx3s #8 6 years ago

    The Virtual Console functions of the Wii platform will enable small games to find a large audience, according to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, who says that the download system is an alternative to the "single-minded" approach of the industry at present.

    Wow, this is new! ;p Still, good that good ideas are followed up on and small devs get a chance. I hope this also spawns a load of crossplatform minigames.

    He implied that games which launch on the Virtual Console could cost as little as 500 Yen (around 3.50 Euro), a tenth of the expected retail price of new games on the system in Japan.

    Yeh, but what will the cost in the EU? Thats the question, isnt it?

    eating French cuisine or a full dinner each day would quickly lead to boredom, wouldn't it? You'll want a simple bowl of rice and soup every now and then.

    Ehh, what are you saying? That you will offer shit games that nobody cares about as well (like the 'spaceoccupation' games on live)? Sorry, but ill stick to that full meal every day.

  • TipTop #9 6 years ago

    Dont get me wrong, I love the idea of bite sized gaming goodness. I hope Sony follow suit (longs for the day that Defcom is available over Live!). My issue is the way in which MS, Sony and Nintendo present these features. In this case Nintendo seem to have disregarded what is already being done on another platform. Not a biggie but I would be better to make an honest statement and accentuate their uniqueness not do a Sony.

  • Steroyd #10 6 years ago

    Well, personally I think it is refreshing that both MS and Nintendo are embracing simpler concepts of development.

    don't forget Sony too... *cough* downloadable PS1 titles *splutter*
    it certainly opens the door for the same type of service on Sony's more expensive console to... and possibly streaming the game to the PSP so it's portable at the same time.

    Although where do you draw the line between a handheld title, and a small tiny downloadable game.
    Edited by 1 at 05/06/06 @ 09:54

  • kingmob #11 6 years ago

    ...control mechanisms, which he believes will help to "propel the Wii forward"

    /giggles like a schoolgirl.
    Edited by 1 at 05/06/06 @ 09:54

  • peterfll #12 6 years ago

    Make them like McMeals, £2.99 cheap and tasty.

    Mmmmm. Big Mac, Mmmmmm.

  • Steroyd #13 6 years ago

    Me thinks Sony has touched up upon this, because at E3 this year or GDC back in March they touched up about booting games straight from the HDD.

    So even if Sony doesn't present a central platform for these games to be downloadable, because of the open platform nature of the network Sony could still get these mini titles withou even advertising it.

    No way devs can ignore distributing their small titles on PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

    little investment maximum return.

  • kingmob #14 6 years ago

    according to the-magicbox:

    "- Hudson announced the first 3 titles for Wii's Virtual Console, they are R-Type, New Adventure Island and Bonk's Adventure for PC-Engine / Turbografx-16. All three titles will be available in Winter 2006."

    R-TYPE!!!!!

  • Teeth #15 6 years ago

    I have serious doubts about the possibility of Nintendo opening up their version of the marketplace to indie developers. Serious doubts. I know they've been saying it a lot, but they were saying the same thing with the Gamecube, which ended up being near impenetrable for third party developers. I'd be genuinely suprised if it were any easier to get your game onto Wii than it was with the GC, despite the ostensibly freer platform.

  • king_skins #16 6 years ago

    Where are you going to store all these games? Doesn't the Wii only have 512mb of flash RAM for storage??

  • El_MUERkO #17 6 years ago

    I think its great, I hope Sony do the same, Geo Wars is still very popular with gamers on Live, if someone develops something new and different for a Live-like service that's a success then there is a greater chance they'll be able to create a new IP full price game.

    And who here would say no to throwing loads of money and the Geo War guy?

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 6 years ago

    It does indeed have only 512mb flash. The question is, how large are the games going to be? I still wonder sometimes how much space 360 arcade live games take. I mean, the silvercreek card games are available on the PC also but with only half the size (if I remember correctly). But that is not the point.

    The wii will feature a SD card slot. Hopefully those games can be stored on these cards. The idea of just taking your games to a friend's house in your pocket seems nice but I guess there is still the 'issue' of copy protection.

  • haust #19 6 years ago

    Virtual Console seems good to me. But who wii-ll be able to create them and how ?? If I buy a Wii, will I be able to develop a VC game right from the start or will I need some specific kit a la PS2 Linux ??
    Well if someone has more infos about this subject I'd be glad to hear them :)

  • Hog-lumps #20 6 years ago

    it wouldn't hurt to give it a nice 720p polish would it :)

    Very true, cant argue with that one bit! :)

  • Sko #21 6 years ago

    "Ehh, what are you saying? That you will offer shit games that nobody cares about as well (like the 'spaceoccupation' games on live)? Sorry, but ill stick to that full meal every day."

    That not everyone wants a rich three-course meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sneaky midnight raid-the-fridge snack (uh, everyone has that last one, right?).

  • Psi #22 6 years ago

    great throw loads of mastertronic games on there at 2.99 :D happy days

  • #23 6 years ago

    Thing is, I'm sure this will be good, but as my original comment sort-of said, the kind of thing he's talking about exactly reminds me of the kind of way I digest content on my 360 already.
    Always up for a little game of Oupost Kaloki/Hexic/Geomtry Wars/Uno/Smash Brothers etc. interspliced between Table Tennis/Oblivion/COD2 (MP)/GRAW/PGR3 etc.
    Add into this AAA demos I can play a few times and, well, you know.

  • NoCodeNed2 #24 6 years ago

    @steroyd - yep, remember hearing that PS3 will be able to boot games straight off of the HDD - not sure what that offers, but people who know more about it around me seemed to think it was a good thing - anyone here know why?

  • smelly #25 6 years ago

    > I still wonder sometimes how much space 360 arcade live games take


    The maximum size of any i've downloaded is 30mb, so that's a fair few to fit in a 512mb memory card.


    Personally, i cant wait to play the old school nintendo games i missed the first time around (never owned an n64 or snes).

  • smelly #26 6 years ago

    500 yen = £2.34.

    I'd quite happily pay that for (for example) super mario world (which i missed the first time through). Hell, if they bought it out on the ds i'd pay £23 for it.

  • SlackMaster #27 6 years ago

    Yeah apparently the internal flash memory will just be a 512Mb SD card inserted in to one of the Flash slots. I would have though you could just remove it and place in a 1Gb one or something. As to copy protection you can probably only play them on your own console and the Wii may format the flash memory in a way that it can't be read on a pc without it wanting to format it.

  • Mr_Bogus #28 6 years ago

    I seem to remember reading that you could just plug in a usb flash drive and use that as additional memory...?

  • koopa #29 6 years ago

    I have some roms on my PC (sue me), these are the sizes: NES games are mostly smaller than 1 MB, SNES and Genesis games are mostly 1-4 MB, N64 games are 8-32 MB, only ones bigger are: Paper Mario and Ogre Battle (both 40 MB); Conker and Resident Evil 2 (both 64 MB).

    So on a 512 MB card you could fit around 20 N64 games, and about 80 NES/SNES/Genesis games, of course you'll need to leave some space for save games.
    Edited by 2 at 05/06/06 @ 14:55

  • #30 6 years ago

    /sues koopa
    Bad boy! On your bed!

    EDIT: Good post though!
    Edited by 1 at 05/06/06 @ 15:19

  • koopa #31 6 years ago

    Just for comparison, here are the sizes of some of the popular games, it's amazing how small some of the great games were:

    0.1 MB - Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Super Mario Bros 1/2, Vectorman 1/2, Castlevania 1/2, Megaman 1/2
    0.2 MB - Zelda 2, Super Mario Bros 3 (!), Alex the Kidd
    0.5 MB - Super Mario World, Mother (Earthbound prequel), Sonic 1, Kirby, Megaman 3-6, F-Zero, Super Mario Kart
    1 MB - Zelda 3, Sonic 2, Castlevania 4, Gunstar Heroes, Phantasy Star 3, Starfox
    2 MB - Yoshi's Island, Sonic 3, Shining Force 2, Megaman X/2/3, Secret Of Mana
    4 MB - Super Metroid, Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Secret Of Mana 2, Donkey Kong 1-3
    8 MB - Mario 64, Blast Corps, Pilotwings 64, Wave Race 64, Wipeout 64, F-1 WGP
    12 MB - Mario Kart 64, Starfox 64, 1080 Snowboarding, I.S.S. '98
    16 MB - Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie, Super Smash Bros, Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Tennis, Excitebike 64, F-Zero X
    32 MB - Zelda Ocarina/Majora, Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark, Rayman 2, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, Turok 2
    40 MB - Paper Mario, Ogre Battle 64
    64 MB - Conker, Resident Evil 2

    Now I'll get something to eat...
    Just one thought: If you want to collect all NES/SNES Marios (+Mario Kart), Zeldas, Metroids (12 games total I think) it would take up less than 10 MB.
    Edited by 1 at 05/06/06 @ 16:35

  • andrewfromdoncaster #32 6 years ago

    Are they planning on continuing to produce GC games, because I think a great addition would be to include them on the virtual console. Shame about the lack of storage capacity, then. Unless its compressable or downloadable in bits?

  • yiannis #33 6 years ago

    "I would have been more impressed if he at least offered something different from the 360 service. However like Sony last week, Nintendo seem to want to be the 'first' with an online service."

    Ok mind you Nintendo is Shouting for at least 2 years now about casual gaming.I even recall some MS exec agreeing with nintendo saying that N is suggesting the right thing while Sony friendly developers of AAA games were giving parallelisms about steaks, fries, pizzas, turkeys and whatnot.

    In effect MS and Sony later simply adopted N's philosophy. Sony even went further to adopt a bit more that that :) It only happens that MS came out first in the market giving the impression that offerring casual game downloads is their contribution to the gaming community.

  • NthSimulachum #34 6 years ago

    Well, Microsoft has always been good at stealing from others and making it better...or at least sell better.

    I hope Nintendo's Live Arcade works as well as the 360's.

  • smelly #35 6 years ago

    Ah, but nintnedo has a trump card which microsoft can only dream of, nintendos back catalog!

  • Squall7 #36 6 years ago

    Erm, Nintendo isn't claiming to be original with the concept of downloading, what it is doing, is allowing indie developers, heck even people who would only be able to program NES/SNES quality titles to develop. Some of the more popular ones may be given more and more power to become full developers, until they manage to buy development kits for the Wii (which is reportidly very inexpensive compared Sony's dev kits - something like Nintendo's £1000 to Sony's £10,000). I'm pretty sure this is the reason why more people didn't create for the gamecube - The price of the development kit was too expensive unless you're already organised. What Nintendo was refering to was the ease of using the development kits. Apparently Sony's kits were really bad to use.

    I like this idea. It means that people aren't just playing games, they can actually get involved with making them! Heck, who knows gamers better than gamers?

    Oh, I googled the conversion rate of yen to pounds. The downloads may cost as little as £2.38. I wonder if they'll have different prices for each of the consoles? I also wonder how you get to pay for these games? Will it be like a mobile top up thing that you buy from shops, or will it a be credit card thing, like paypal?