Nintendo's Iwata Unimpressed With iPad, 3D Gaming

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Nintendo's Iwata Unimpressed With iPad, 3D Gaming



Nintendo head honcho Satoru Iwata feels the same way about Apple's much-heralded iPad as he does the prospect of 3D gaming: "Meh."

It looks like New York Times [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97846-Adobe-Blasts-Apple-Over-iPad], Nintendo chieftain Satoru Iwata said that he was frankly underwhelmed by Apple's new device. "There were no surprises for me," said Iwata, "It was a bigger iPod Touch."

It's intriguing to hear these statements coming from a Nintendo representative, given that the company has effectively been the videogame industry's equivalent of Apple as of late, preferring form and accessibility of use to raw power and customization - and profiting immensely because of it. Hell, just look at the Wii and tell me its "sleek white plastic" appearance doesn't seem like something that Steve Jobs could have first presented to the world (though thankfully, we dodged a bullet on the name iWii).

Do you know what else Iwata isn't thrilled about? 3D gaming, currently spearheaded by Sony (though not so much on Microsoft's end [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97355-CES-Microsoft-Exec-Says-3D-Gaming-Is-Way-Off]). While Iwata was positive on the idea of 3D movies like James Cameron's ridiculously successful Avatar, he questioned bringing the experience home. "I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?"

I'd be tempted to say that Iwata really shouldn't be worrying about that sort of thing given that he makes the "stand up and flail around" console, but that isn't his only hangup, either. Before Nintendo is ready to move into the realm of 3D gaming, says Iwata, it will have to study the possible health effects of long-term exposure to 3D graphics. After all, pointed out the executive, people spend much longer in front of their games than they do a two-hour movie (or hell, even Avatar).

Iwata also took the opportunity to deny rumors that his company was working on a motion-sensitive DS successor [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97277-Nintendo-New-Zelda-in-2010-DS-Successor-Motion-Sensitive] or a high-definition Wii. While he admitted that Nintendo's engineers were working on new, top-secret machines, he wasn't sure whether or not those features were things that consumers actually wanted: "I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines."

Considering that people bought every iteration of the Game Boy ever made, from original to Pocket to Color to Advanced to Advanced SP? I think that they just might be. But hey, this is why he's the head of a multibillion-dollar corporation and I'm not.

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MetaKnight19

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Chances are I would buy Nintendo's latest machines, since I have bought every one of their consoles they have made. With the exception of some of the more obscure ones.
 

Skreeee

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^Ditto up until SP. Since then I haven't bought anything handheld-wise from Nintendo. I admit I'd probably go out and buy an HD Wii if one ever came out, but that may be just because I got my actual Wii at 1/4 the cost of current retail.

That being said, if the iPad really is just a larger iPod touch (haven't been following the flow of information myself, you see), I can't see myself bothering with it. I didn't jizz myself and rush to the store every time a new nano was released when my original one is still working, so why would I for an over-sized one?
 

Discord

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Man there seems to be alot of hate on the ipad... this is a chance for Microsoft and HP's Slate to try and fill the void.
 

Rednog

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(On the topic of 3D, not the ipad cause I don't really care about apple).
Yea...I'm not going to trust "people don't want to play online games, it isn't the future" Nintendo.
Yea 3D glasses will make us look silly, not like those people who are in public and talk into their DS...
You know what, who cares, Nintendo doesn't listen to technology trends even when they are wrong, they just plug their ears and march to their own beat.
 

sooperman

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Feb 11, 2009
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"it will have to study the possible health effects of long-term exposure to 3D graphics"

I can assure you that there is no risk of long-term exposure to the Wii. Besides, Avatar was three hours long. Just have someone watch it a few times and that will be all the information you need regarding exposure.

Just go ahead and make 3D games, Nintendo; it's not like anyone is going to continue playing them after their friends leave.
 

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Rednog said:
Yea...I'm not going to trust "people don't want to play online games, it isn't the future" Nintendo.
Yea 3D glasses will make us look silly, not like those people who are in public and talk into their DS...
You know what, who cares, Nintendo doesn't listen to technology trends even when they are wrong, they just plug their ears and march to their own beat.
Gee, "being wrong" sure has worked out well for them.
 

Heart of Darkness

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Jul 1, 2009
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Tomorrow's headline: Apple Exec Unimpressedd With iPad, Loses Jobs.

And I agree with Iwata, both on the 3D gaming and iPad platforms. I mean, 3D gaming would be cool--very cool--but now is just not the right time for it. I think this article [http://www.cracked.com/funny-3862-3d-tv/] explains my sentiments better than I can.
 

Arkhangelsk

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I'm still giggling at the iWii joke. But I'm not really sold on 3D games or even motion sensors. I don't want realistic, I want to shoot an alien with a 5 ton gun that shoots doom!
 

robrob

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Wow, the CEO of a company publicly comments that a potentially competing product isn't of any interest? I mean, that's crazy. I fully expected a "this is amazing! Why would anyone want to buy a DS when they could buy this?" and "I really wish we thought of a 3D console, it will completely blow anything we're making out of the water"
 

Wolfram23

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iPad, I agree with it's stupid just a bigger iPod/iPhone, what would have actually been good is if it was a macbook iPad... fools

And 3D gaming will be epic. It's in it's infancy and the technology is a little more invasive than at the theaters but it will develop. I'm very, very excited about 3D gaming. Depth perception will bring games much closer to reality. Some games may not benefit from this a great deal, but many will. Seriously, I can't wait and I will definitly buy 3D glasses when enough media is going that route. Racing games where you can actually see the speed, how fast corners approach... there's a reason that in real life I can drive like Shumacher and first time in any simulation game I'm spinning out in most hard corners. The reason is: Depth Perception (IE: Stereoscopic vision)
 

Abedeus

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Wolfram01 said:
iPad, I agree with it's stupid just a bigger iPod/iPhone, what would have actually been good is if it was a macbook iPad... fools

And 3D gaming will be epic. It's in it's infancy and the technology is a little more invasive than at the theaters but it will develop. I'm very, very excited about 3D gaming. Depth perception will bring games much closer to reality. Some games may not benefit from this a great deal, but many will. Seriously, I can't wait and I will definitly buy 3D glasses when enough media is going that route. Racing games where you can actually see the speed, how fast corners approach... there's a reason that in real life I can drive like Shumacher and first time in any simulation game I'm spinning out in most hard corners. The reason is: Depth Perception (IE: Stereoscopic vision)
30 minutes with 3D gaming and you have a headache. Also, you need a really powerful machine for 3D, if you want to enjoy good graphics.
 

Phenakist

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I want a Gamecube 2.0, not a more annoying Wii.

But yeah, iPad really is just a bigger version of the iPod
 

Brotherofwill

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John Funk said:
"I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?"
Ahem...



He has a point though. I'm not into 3D gaming
 

DarkSaber

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Is it me or is he just unimpressed with basically anything that Nintendo haven't come up with themselves?
 

Xersues

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Abedeus said:
30 minutes with 3D gaming and you have a headache. Also, you need a really powerful machine for 3D, if you want to enjoy good graphics.
You mean a PS3? If anyone can do it Sony can. I'm not being a fanboy either. They produced a powerful console, they have the perfect set up to try. More so than any other console.

Why?

They have a very powerful and now affordable console with a good base, they have the biggest disc size, they run using HD components, all PS3s have a hard drive. They also have experience with making TVs and are a hardware manufacturer.

Assuming it's successful in it's infancy, they can sell the idea to other companies, and it can be the new standard. Remember when games all came on a cartridge? Sega and Sony broke that, only Sony was successful. It's now the new standard for consoles (See non-portable).

Now the headache thing? Yeah, that can stop a lot of people, here's to hoping though.
 

SnootyEnglishman

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I'll give Nintendo a chance if they make a 3d style gaming thing...but after i experienced Virtual BOy my eyes still need to adjust from all the red
 

Jaranja

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John Funk said:
Rednog said:
Yea...I'm not going to trust "people don't want to play online games, it isn't the future" Nintendo.
Yea 3D glasses will make us look silly, not like those people who are in public and talk into their DS...
You know what, who cares, Nintendo doesn't listen to technology trends even when they are wrong, they just plug their ears and march to their own beat.
Gee, "being wrong" sure has worked out well for them.
Nice one, Funky.

I agree with him on most things he says. The iPad is a bigger iPod touch. Without the great benefit of being able to put it in your pocket. I've never really thought of 3D being a "big" thing in games and I'm not looking forward to it. Oh well, I'll go back to my games and hope 3D isn't one of those "necessary" features in the future.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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Cant say I blame them...I cant say I am too impressed either!
 

Wolfram23

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How do you figure 30 minutes would give a headache? I watch all 2.5hrs of Avatar without issues. I realise the technology is a bit different, requiring shutter glasses, but the only real issue that should present is that your image will appear a bit dimmer and of course there's talk about how heavy the glasses are currently. Anyway, people get headaches from all sorts of things, but I'm very headache resistant (unless I drink waaaay too much) so maybe I won't be affected that way? Unless there's some conclusive evidence citing 40% of people who try them get headaches after 30 minutes, I don't believe it. There's always reasons why not to do something new and innovative, but I think this case in particular has far more reasons to do it. And as mentioned, ps3 can handle it... technically it doesn't need that much processing, since the image just fluctuates between "left eye" and "right eye" images with the refresh of your TV, and the shutter glasses go in time with that. Consider any game you play and how quickly you can switch views without any sort of stutter or lag... it's basically the same thing just really, really fast. Granted, I don't know all the specifics but I can't see it being super difficult to pull off... From what I read, they're just going to do a firmware update on PS3 and voila, working 3D technology. Since I have a new 42" Samsung, I should be all set!