Wii news: single friends code, multiple wiimote colors, more Sega support, CNN page, more

29 October 2006

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Posted by:Ferry

* The Wii will have one single friend code for all games! This was shown in the latest IGN Weekly episode. This is a big relief, because Nintendo DS gamers need to share different friend codes with eachother for each game they play, and people were worried the Wii would give them the same hassle, luckily not.

* Nintendo’s Planning General Manager Mitsuaki Hagishima had an interview with Famitsu in which he discussed the plans for Wii color(s). As of right now there aren’t any plans to produce multiple colors of Wii consoles, but they are indeed planning different colored Wii controllers. No doubt will they release a different color console later in the Wii’s life (black please!) but from what I understand they aren’t releasing more colors as they worry about shipments. To be continued in 2007.

* Sega has moved a significant number of development staff from PS3 to Wii over the Summer, reveals Edge magazine.

* CNN has signed up with Nintendo as the provider of news content on tne News Channel in American and Japan. News will be presented by category, but another way of getting to it is by spinning the weather globe to find stories in different countries.

* Edge says that Wii Sports will be to Wii what Mario 64 was to the N64. Says golf has the best single player mode (no surprise) and boxing is their favorite overall.

* Nintendo intended to bring Wii to shop shelves in the UK and US for £150 and $200, but became influenced by pressure from the larger retail chains, which raised concerns over margins and low so-called ‘basket value’ (meaning, the amount of revenue generated from a customer’s overall purchases at the till).

* Although Nintendo has removed DVD movie playback from the Wii, it plans to launch in Japan next year an enhanced Wii capable of such a feature. They did exactly the same in Japan with a GameCube that could play DVDs called the Q.

* There are plenty of Wii Channel slots remaining to be filled.

An interview with Laurent Fischer, head of European marketing operations, Neogaf summed it up into these bullet points:

* He doesn’t expect all of society to immediately jump on board with Wii from day 1. At first it will probably be mainly the hardcore and casual gamers buying it, but little by little he expects more people to come on board through word of mouth, advertising etc… much like the DS. He says word of mouth has played a huge part in the DS’s success in Europe.

* He says in Europe the DS has done a wonderful job of capturing the female gamer and the casual gamer, but getting the non-gamers still has some way to go yet. NOE’s goal is to get the DS selling as fast as it is in Japan where on a weekly basis they’re still not able to fulfill the demand, because they’re attracting such a broad audience. “In Europe I don’t expect us to be in that position for some time, but we’re on the way. It will take one year, certainly and with the Wii it will take the same time. We know it’s a long way to get out of the videogaming ghetto”

* He says when creating games Nintendo doesn’t say “this is going to be a gamer’s game and this is not.” He says a lot of hardcore gamers enjoy Brain Training, because it’s something different and another good example is Animal Crossing. Nobody at Nintendo thought Animal Crossing would be a very mass-market game. It started out as a hardcore game with people around the world going crazy for it, then it became a bridge between the hardcore, casuals and the wider population, which included females and people looking for a different concept. In Japan they were surprised by the strength of Animal Crossing’s sales and every week NOE says “WOW” at the sales. He said on the GameCube it only sold 150,000 in Europe but the DS game has already passed 850,000

* He says for months and months he had to sit and see journalists politely smiling when he told them DS is stronger than the PSP, but he knew from the start it would take off eventually, because he tested it on the people around him. He said his wife kept stealing his DS which has never happened with their other consoles and his neighbor – an awful old lady – became addicted to Zoo Keeper. She’d played Tetris long ago and now she was hooked on Zoo Keeper. “If there was one person who wouldn’t play a videogame, it was her”

* He says he’s not worried that people can download the old (Virtual Console) games on the PC. He says it’s important to be able to play them on your TV screen and doesn’t think playing a NES game on the PC is something you’ll really love. “Of course, you can play them on your PSP via emulation too! [laughs] Actually most PSP owners I know are using them for Nes and SNES games”

* Lastly, Gonintendo found a new Wii promo trailer from the Electronic Games Show in Mexico.