Nintendo Press Conference Results

[Jonbo298]

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made the following announcements at the news conference on the company's business strategy:

1. A GameCube version of Made in Wario (Wario Ware) will be released in Japan this October.
   
2. A new version of Donkey Kong is under joint-development with Namco, and will be released this year.
   
3. A brand new Zelda game will be released next year.
   
4. The company will be launching an 'air mile' system for Nintendo Products in Japan (already known as VIP 24:7 in Europe).
   
5. Last but not least, the company said it will announce a new Nintendo product spring next year.

http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=5126

I really hope the new product is a console. Not something cheesy that will probably only come out in Japan.

With Europe and now Japan getting a rewards deal for buying (i think only, but not entirely sure) Nintendo products, I believe the US needs one now.

Wario Ware for GC is something I will most definitely be watching. I can just imagine hundreds to thousands of fast games. I can see this game as one to support either online or the SD adaper. Either download new games on the 'Cube, or use the SD adapter to download new games from the internet. I can't see the files being too large anyways, so it might work out for both 56K and broadband people.

A new Zelda game. Hells yeah! Now we need a few teaser screens to satisfy my urge until next year. Will it be a sequel to WW or an entirely new chapter in the Zelda saga?
*SPOILERS* possibly for non players of WW yet





The King did mention at the end that Link and Tetra (the female pirate) would be the rulers of the new Hyrule.




*End Spoilers*

And last and possibly least A new Donkey Kong game. Hopefully better then DK 64. DK 64 was good, but it didn't have the same feel as the SNES ones had.

*Edit* GamerFeed clears up a little confusion I had.

Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata, held a press conference today in Japan in order to discuss future plans for Nintendo. Within the news conference Iwata announced that Nintendo is planning on releasing a new game product which will give gamers a "fresh surprise". Nintendo is calling the new product "unconventional".

"We are preparing a new product which will give a fresh surprise to consumers," stated Satoru Iwata. "I want to release a very different product, and by next spring we'll be ready to announce the details."

Expect the announcement to come at E3 2004.

Nintendo also announced a program that will reward gamers with demo discs of upcoming games and limited edition controllers. The program is called Nintendo Club and will be available to gamers in Japan and North America. The club will reward consumers with "reward points" for buying certain products. The points can be used to purchase other product. Nintendo also plans on rewarding gamers with prizes for feedback on Nintendo products. "We'll begin the new program in Japan and the United States by the end of this year. We aim to have 300,000 - 500,000 users sign up for the program in the first year," said Iwata.

Finally two new GameCube games were announced, Donkey Kong GCN and WarioWare, Inc.GCN. Donkey Kong GCN is being jointly developed with Namco and promises to be released this year in Japan. WarioWare, Inc. will also be released in 2003. Iwata also pointed out that Nintendo will expand upon it's relationships with developers but has no plans for any major acquisitions.

On a side note, a new Zelda was reaffirmed to be released in 2004.

So I guess the US is also in the Nintendo Club deal. Great news for me.

[Ginkasa]

I think the Zelda game is a direct sequel to WW. Whenever the game has been mentioned in interviews they referred to it as "Wind Waker 2."

And it sounds to me that the Donkey Kong game is going to be like the original than the Country titles. Either that or something completely different. "A new version of Donkey Kong."


*shrugs and walks away*

[CrOnO_LiNk]

The new Zelda game is driving me nuts... I have to see a screen shot of it or something. Also, I hope Namco does a better job than Rare did with DK64... Just like Jonbo said.

And the new game that is yet to be announced, damn, I can't wait...

[Jonbo298]

The new game Nintendo announces better have a more mature look to it. Nintendo has enough "bright" games made. Now they should make something a little more "life like". A good FPS would be great. It's been awhile since Nintendo has collaborated with a company to produce an FPS. (I think the last one was Perfect Dark). But I have heard of that "ghost like" game some company thats part of Nintendo is making.

[GameKinG]

Yes nintendo is hellping some company make Geist.

[Jonbo298]

Ah, yes. Geist. Now I remember. Thanks GKG. +rep

[Dyne]

This is better news than what was rumoured to be, because Skip's head was talking about a "big turnover" in his journal on his japanese website, and SSBM's director had left HAL. People thought Nintendo went third party.. but.. heh, this turned out better.

The only thing I don't see working about the points program is that I don't usually buy half my GCN games... my parents get them for me, for presents for Christmas and stuff.. I wonder if they're materialistic points?

Well.. I have a feeling Donkey Kong will turn back to his arcade roots, or something.. I mean, wasn't it Nintendo who is making a GCN version of Pac-man? Well, it'll definitely have connectivity, or something. A new Zelda.. wouldn't be suprised, the engine was already there, and EAD was probably busy with it during E3 but couldn't show anything.. as well as Mario 128.

One new product.. that confuses me, because it could either be something to counter the PSP, or their new console.. because next year, it'll be only one more year until they release the N5 console they wanted to get out in 2005, but then again, the PSP is being released later that year, the winter of 2004! Hmmmm. We'll see.

[Jason1]

That points thing sounds great. I buy enough nintendo products, now I'll be able to get free stuff for doing something I allready do anyways. Awsome. The other announcements sound great too.