N-Sider had a chance to speak with Nintendo of Canada representative Matt Ryan yesterday regarding this year's E3 showing. We talk about the MotionPlus, Animal Crossing, games for "core" gamers, and even find out a little bit regarding Virtual Console and WiiWare.
N-Sider: How does the Wii MotionPlus attachment work and how do you plan on going about outlining the benefits of it to your largely "casual gamer" userbase?
Matt Ryan, Public Relations, Nintendo of Canada: Your question is really about how we're going to talk about this to the average consumer.
The technical answer of what the Wii MotionPlus accessory is is that it's an accessory that has a gyroscope in it that works with the accelerometer of the Wii Remote, for example, back and forth, in combination with the sensor bar. And that really allows us to pinpoint—at a 1 to 1 ratio—where exactly your hand is holding the Wii Remote. So, it can sense whether you're up, down. Whether you've tilted your wrist left or right. Games like Wii Sports Resort will allow you to set it up if you're left-handed or right-handed.
How we explain this to the casual gamer, or what we define as the "expanded audience," is that it is a more immersive and intense experience and a more real experience than what has been offered in the past by anyone, including Nintendo. So the casual response is that the Wii Remote, combined with the Wii MotionPlus, will tell exactly where your arm is at any given point in time and space.
N-Sider: Is the MotionPlus peripheral being used for Clone Wars, Call of Duty, or Rayman, or was that just some strange press conference timing?
Ryan: The only announcement for the use of the MotionPlus is Wii Sports Resort, at this point. But—and there is a but—once you actually play and see what the capabilities are, you'll see that the possibilities are really going to be endless with the types of games that can use this. Now, it won't be backwards compatible with any of the titles that have launched. And none of the titles that we talked about will incorporate this.
N-Sider: That was actually our next question: If it would refine or make any games more accurate.
Ryan: It could, but the games would have to be re-released and the developers would have go in and adjust accordingly.
N-Sider: Will Wii Sports Resort be a one player game? If not, do people have to buy extra MotionPlus accessories to play it?
Ryan: That's actually a good question. The answer that I'm aware of is that it is both a single player and a multiplayer game. For example, Disc Dog is a very individual thing that you do on your own. But Sword Play, you can do that individually or you can do it with another player. In order to do that, you will need another MotionPlus for the other Wii Remote.
N-Sider: And we can assume nothing has been said on pricing?
Ryan: No, nothing on pricing has been announced.
N-Sider: It's no secret that the Wii has been successful at tapping into a new market—are you at Nintendo counting on this audience wanting more of the same experience (Wii Sports, Animal Crossing) or do you expect this consumer to desire more elaborate experiences?
Ryan: Nintendo is very thrilled to see that we have been to reach out to what we call the expanded audience. People who aren't playing video games yet, people who haven't played in a while and are considered maybe a lapsed gamer, or people who are just playing casually... all of them fall into that category, no matter what age or sex or demographic. It includes everyone from 5 to 95 who currently isn't playing video games.
So we're thrilled that we seem to be making an impact out there and that our products are being embraced by families, by seniors, by females of all ages. We're definitely happy about that, but we're also just getting started. A bunch of games out there have done well with that group—Wii Sports being one of them. So, we anticipate that Wii Sports Resort, if it is an extension of that experience, will have a similar reaction.
Something else that we're noticing is that's happening is that games like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Music, which we've recently announced, have that appeal where the game is easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master for those that want to be good at them. That is the type of title that Nintendo will continue to offer. And we are just getting started. We're kind of changing the paradigm of what a product life cycle is, and what a typical video game is.
N-Sider: When will we hear more about Nintendo's strategy for the "hardcore" gamers? The press conference touched on a few things, but it did mostly gloss over it.
Ryan: Well, Nintendo defines core gamer in one way and our competitors in the industry define it in another way. So, it really depends on how you define core gamer. Arguably, Animal Crossing: City Folk is a core gamer title. It has a serious time involvement if you want to put a lot of dedicated time into playing it. There are a lot of activities of customization and communication that the core audience is really interested in, at least from what we know.
Super Mario Sluggers for the Nintendo franchise fan is essentially the Wii Sports baseball experience, but with Mario characters, so I would suggest that's a core title as well. There is functionality in it that makes it very pick-up-and-play and very easy to play for anyone in the family. And we will be going after that market, but Nintendo fans out there will love being able to smack a home run with their Wii Remotes.
And that's just Wii titles. On Nintendo DS, one of our core titles that we didn't really talk about at the press conference, but did announce a few weeks ago, is Kirby Super Star Ultra, which is a very core game. It's side-scrolling, it's Kirby being cute, but doing some damage when he needs to. It also has the cool characters like Meta Knight and DeDeDe, which the core audience is really happy about. We've got Pokémon Ranger 2 coming out. I don't think we have a time frame for it yet, but that's another where it's not as RPG style. Did you play the first Pokémon Ranger?
N-Sider: I'm not a big Pokémon person.
Ryan: It's different than any of the Pokémon games. There's still a whole lot of characters in it, but instead of actually collecting them all, leveling them up and giving them skills, you catch them with the stylus, you dodge their attacks, you basically rope them in. Then, once you have them, you can use them to help out with attacks on other Pokémon, or pass through obstacles. So, it's still a Pokémon game and it's going to be really popular, as Pokémon games usually are, but it's a different way of playing.
And then, if we have time today to show you, Wario Land: Shake It. For the side-scrolling, platforming fan, it's definitely there. Wario has a really cool, anime look to him. So, that's just Nintendo.
N-Sider: Well we did hear about Dead Rising coming to the Wii today, but at the conference yesterday we heard nothing—there was a lot of third party, but Dead Rising would have been perfect to satisfy a few people. For something that was only available on a non-Nintendo console, that would have been great to see...
Ryan: Yeah, and things are changing. What was really exciting for me, who I would consider to be part of the core audience, Clone Wars did a few great things with the Wii Remote. Separately, Star Wars: Unleashed is very high on my list. For Nintendo DS, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is going to definitely whet the appetite of those gamers.
So yeah, I agree, we just touched on it. But we just basically wanted to get the message out that the support that we're getting from third party developers is very strong right now.
N-Sider: With such an emphasis on the casual and expanded market last year, why make the games require more peripherals? The drumming in Wii Music needs a Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and Balance Board—there seems to be a lot more plastic coming into the households of these non-gamers.
Ryan: We are adding accessories as a functionality to the experience that you have with the Wii. You will find that things like the Wii Balance Board are very user friendly, and while it may be adding an extra accessory in someone's living room, the ease of use allows it to be very accessible by anyone. The MotionPlus, once it's in here, it does add an inch and a half to your Wii Remote, but after you hold this for about 30 seconds, you forget about the fact that it's even there.
N-Sider: Oh, I agree about the Balance Board. It's just kind of odd that for the non-gaming market, there's all this extra hardware, when at first it was just this little Wii with a Wii Remote... simplicity.
Ryan: But everything Nintendo has added to the Wii accessory roster has been an enhancement of the experience. When we came out with the Zapper, that allowed for Link's Crossbow Training, which is a game that is very interesting to the core gamer, but also very easy for someone who's never played before to just pick it up and start pinging off targets.
There's going to be more to come for sure and Nintendo will continue to target the expanded audience. But, you're going to see that Nintendo will put games out that are more focused on the core that will use these accessories. So will third parties.
Retro Studios, Animal Crossing, and the Virtual Console are discussed on the next page.
N-Sider: How does the Wii MotionPlus attachment work and how do you plan on going about outlining the benefits of it to your largely "casual gamer" userbase?
Matt Ryan, Public Relations, Nintendo of Canada: Your question is really about how we're going to talk about this to the average consumer.
How we explain this to the casual gamer, or what we define as the "expanded audience," is that it is a more immersive and intense experience and a more real experience than what has been offered in the past by anyone, including Nintendo. So the casual response is that the Wii Remote, combined with the Wii MotionPlus, will tell exactly where your arm is at any given point in time and space.
N-Sider: Is the MotionPlus peripheral being used for Clone Wars, Call of Duty, or Rayman, or was that just some strange press conference timing?
Ryan: The only announcement for the use of the MotionPlus is Wii Sports Resort, at this point. But—and there is a but—once you actually play and see what the capabilities are, you'll see that the possibilities are really going to be endless with the types of games that can use this. Now, it won't be backwards compatible with any of the titles that have launched. And none of the titles that we talked about will incorporate this.
N-Sider: That was actually our next question: If it would refine or make any games more accurate.
Ryan: It could, but the games would have to be re-released and the developers would have go in and adjust accordingly.
N-Sider: Will Wii Sports Resort be a one player game? If not, do people have to buy extra MotionPlus accessories to play it?
Ryan: That's actually a good question. The answer that I'm aware of is that it is both a single player and a multiplayer game. For example, Disc Dog is a very individual thing that you do on your own. But Sword Play, you can do that individually or you can do it with another player. In order to do that, you will need another MotionPlus for the other Wii Remote.
N-Sider: And we can assume nothing has been said on pricing?
Ryan: No, nothing on pricing has been announced.
N-Sider: It's no secret that the Wii has been successful at tapping into a new market—are you at Nintendo counting on this audience wanting more of the same experience (Wii Sports, Animal Crossing) or do you expect this consumer to desire more elaborate experiences?
Ryan: Nintendo is very thrilled to see that we have been to reach out to what we call the expanded audience. People who aren't playing video games yet, people who haven't played in a while and are considered maybe a lapsed gamer, or people who are just playing casually... all of them fall into that category, no matter what age or sex or demographic. It includes everyone from 5 to 95 who currently isn't playing video games.
So we're thrilled that we seem to be making an impact out there and that our products are being embraced by families, by seniors, by females of all ages. We're definitely happy about that, but we're also just getting started. A bunch of games out there have done well with that group—Wii Sports being one of them. So, we anticipate that Wii Sports Resort, if it is an extension of that experience, will have a similar reaction.
Something else that we're noticing is that's happening is that games like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Music, which we've recently announced, have that appeal where the game is easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master for those that want to be good at them. That is the type of title that Nintendo will continue to offer. And we are just getting started. We're kind of changing the paradigm of what a product life cycle is, and what a typical video game is.
N-Sider: When will we hear more about Nintendo's strategy for the "hardcore" gamers? The press conference touched on a few things, but it did mostly gloss over it.
Ryan: Well, Nintendo defines core gamer in one way and our competitors in the industry define it in another way. So, it really depends on how you define core gamer. Arguably, Animal Crossing: City Folk is a core gamer title. It has a serious time involvement if you want to put a lot of dedicated time into playing it. There are a lot of activities of customization and communication that the core audience is really interested in, at least from what we know.
Super Mario Sluggers for the Nintendo franchise fan is essentially the Wii Sports baseball experience, but with Mario characters, so I would suggest that's a core title as well. There is functionality in it that makes it very pick-up-and-play and very easy to play for anyone in the family. And we will be going after that market, but Nintendo fans out there will love being able to smack a home run with their Wii Remotes.
And that's just Wii titles. On Nintendo DS, one of our core titles that we didn't really talk about at the press conference, but did announce a few weeks ago, is Kirby Super Star Ultra, which is a very core game. It's side-scrolling, it's Kirby being cute, but doing some damage when he needs to. It also has the cool characters like Meta Knight and DeDeDe, which the core audience is really happy about. We've got Pokémon Ranger 2 coming out. I don't think we have a time frame for it yet, but that's another where it's not as RPG style. Did you play the first Pokémon Ranger?
N-Sider: I'm not a big Pokémon person.
Ryan: It's different than any of the Pokémon games. There's still a whole lot of characters in it, but instead of actually collecting them all, leveling them up and giving them skills, you catch them with the stylus, you dodge their attacks, you basically rope them in. Then, once you have them, you can use them to help out with attacks on other Pokémon, or pass through obstacles. So, it's still a Pokémon game and it's going to be really popular, as Pokémon games usually are, but it's a different way of playing.
And then, if we have time today to show you, Wario Land: Shake It. For the side-scrolling, platforming fan, it's definitely there. Wario has a really cool, anime look to him. So, that's just Nintendo.
N-Sider: Well we did hear about Dead Rising coming to the Wii today, but at the conference yesterday we heard nothing—there was a lot of third party, but Dead Rising would have been perfect to satisfy a few people. For something that was only available on a non-Nintendo console, that would have been great to see...
Ryan: Yeah, and things are changing. What was really exciting for me, who I would consider to be part of the core audience, Clone Wars did a few great things with the Wii Remote. Separately, Star Wars: Unleashed is very high on my list. For Nintendo DS, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is going to definitely whet the appetite of those gamers.
So yeah, I agree, we just touched on it. But we just basically wanted to get the message out that the support that we're getting from third party developers is very strong right now.
N-Sider: With such an emphasis on the casual and expanded market last year, why make the games require more peripherals? The drumming in Wii Music needs a Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and Balance Board—there seems to be a lot more plastic coming into the households of these non-gamers.
Ryan: We are adding accessories as a functionality to the experience that you have with the Wii. You will find that things like the Wii Balance Board are very user friendly, and while it may be adding an extra accessory in someone's living room, the ease of use allows it to be very accessible by anyone. The MotionPlus, once it's in here, it does add an inch and a half to your Wii Remote, but after you hold this for about 30 seconds, you forget about the fact that it's even there.
N-Sider: Oh, I agree about the Balance Board. It's just kind of odd that for the non-gaming market, there's all this extra hardware, when at first it was just this little Wii with a Wii Remote... simplicity.
Ryan: But everything Nintendo has added to the Wii accessory roster has been an enhancement of the experience. When we came out with the Zapper, that allowed for Link's Crossbow Training, which is a game that is very interesting to the core gamer, but also very easy for someone who's never played before to just pick it up and start pinging off targets.
There's going to be more to come for sure and Nintendo will continue to target the expanded audience. But, you're going to see that Nintendo will put games out that are more focused on the core that will use these accessories. So will third parties.
Retro Studios, Animal Crossing, and the Virtual Console are discussed on the next page.