Sony Exec Praises Nintendo, Owns Two Wii U's

[StewShearerOld]

Sony Exec Praises Nintendo, Owns Two Wii U's

Sony's Shuhei Yoshida says the Wii U has "plenty of wonderful games."

It can be easy sometimes to imagine an executive in the videogame industry as someone inundated in their company's products. Xbox bosses, for instance, who go home to houses painted bright green and wired from top to bottom exclusively with Microsoft gear. The reality, of course, is far less extreme. Whether you're a Q&A tester, game designer, code monkey or the CEO of the entire company, chances are you have your own tastes and fandoms completely separate from where you work.

For instance, Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, has admitted that he not only likes Nintendo but actually owns two Wii U's. He revealed this while commenting on the trials and tribulation of the Wii U in a recent interview. "The latest Mario game is really good," he said. "I think the Wii U is just getting started." He would go on to say that the Wii U has "plenty of wonderful games" and complimented the way "Nintendo helps [to] raise and [teach] the fun of games to people just starting out." He added that he personally finds that to be "a very important thing in this industry."

While such praise between companies might seem a bit odd, especially given Sony's <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124817-PlayStation-4-Game-Sharing-This-Is-How-Its-Done>lambasting of Microsoft following its initial Xbox One debacles, it's nonetheless nice to see a person in Yoshida's position feeling free enough to praise one of his direct competitors. In the least, it's a pleasant departure from the too often vitriolic tone that pervades the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129638-South-Park-Spoofs-PS4-Xbox-One-Console-Wars>console wars.

Source: <a href=http://kotaku.com/playstation-exec-owns-two-wii-us-loves-the-new-mario-1486307061>Kotaku


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[Roxas1359]

There was an interview months ago in which Yoshida said he had 2 Wii U's and that he likes to play it with his children. I see people probably forgot that. Still, I find it sad that Nintendo doesn't even seem to try to market their console, because this gen they've really dropped the ball with marketing and still haven't learned it seems.

 

[Dragonbums]

Wasn't this reported on like....weeks ago?

I'm pretty sure he said this a pretty long while ago. Unless of course he finds it relevant to state it in public again.

 

[Oly J]

well that's nice to hear, but why would you own two Wii Us? I mean, I want one, it's probably going to end up being the next console I get, but why two of them?

 

[Slash2x]

This only goes to fule what I have been saying for a while. It is Nintendo and Sony against Microsoft. They have different markets and accept this. In typical Micro$oft fashion the think they should have all the market for everthing.

 

[Roxas1359]

Wasn't this reported on like....weeks ago?

I'm pretty sure he said this a pretty long while ago. Unless of course he finds it relevant to state it in public again.

Perhaps he wants to help their console with this, mainly because it's like an endorsement. Both Nintendo and Sony benefit each other in that Nintendo introduces people to gaming, and Sony keeps them. I've seen people complain how "Nintendo only makes kiddy games" and that "Sony only makes mature games" but it never seems to cross people's minds that the two complement each other, since when gamers get older they can get games that explore more mature themes in depth while going back to play Nintendk stuff to rekindle their childhood.
The main thing I've always noticed was that Nintendo stays with the kid crowd, while Sony grew up with them. Take their mascots for example, starting out they were 2 family oriented games, Crash and Spyro. Then with the PS2 they moved up with Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter, games rated T but still cartoony and fun. Go to the PS3 and then you've got Nathan Drake and Kratos in games that are rated M.

 

[darthzew]

Well, that's good for him, but Paul has FOUR Playstation 4s.

The PS4 is doing great, so he's in a pretty good place to say nice things about Nintendo.

 

[Chris Ingersoll]

Seems like a decent guy. It's a shame that he had his head crushed by Bill Gates at a Red Robin in Colorado on Black Friday (Dec 6th).

 

[Roxas1359]

Seems like a decent guy. It's a shame that he had his head crushed by Bill Gates at a Red Robin in Colorado on Black Friday (Dec 6th).

I feel...like there is a lot of context that I am missing when it comes to your post. Care to elaborate?
Mainly because now I'm curious.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

(Sing to tune of 4 PS4's by DoubleClicks)

He has 2 Wii U's
He has 2 Wii U's
He has 2 Wii U's
And I have none.

 

[juyunseen]

"feeling free enough to praise one his direct competitors"

Did you perhaps mean "one of his"?

OT: Good. There's enough instances of companies shitting on each other. Give some compliments guys.

 

[Toadfish1]

I think its a brilliant move. By owning 2 WiiU's, Shuhei now controls 10% of all WiiU's that have been bought. Meaning that he has a stranglehold on Nintendos audience, and what games they make.

 

[Covarr]

It's cool that he has two Wii Us, but I bet he has three PS3s.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Vaccine]

Wasn't this reported on like....weeks ago?

I'm pretty sure he said this a pretty long while ago. Unless of course he finds it relevant to state it in public again.

Perhaps he wants to help their console with this, mainly because it's like an endorsement. Both Nintendo and Sony benefit each other in that Nintendo introduces people to gaming, and Sony keeps them. I've seen people complain how "Nintendo only makes kiddy games" and that "Sony only makes mature games" but it never seems to cross people's minds that the two complement each other, since when gamers get older they can get games that explore more mature themes in depth while going back to play Nintendk stuff to rekindle their childhood.
The main thing I've always noticed was that Nintendo stays with the kid crowd, while Sony grew up with them. Take their mascots for example, starting out they were 2 family oriented games, Crash and Spyro. Then with the PS2 they moved up with Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter, games rated T but still cartoony and fun. Go to the PS3 and then you've got Nathan Drake and Kratos in games that are rated M.

I think Nintendo leans towards making games that can be played by anyone, not just kids, I'm not sure if that hurts them or makes them unique in this industry.
I really wish they'd start getting someone who can better name their hardware, the WiiU should have been called something easily seen as a sequel, not a potential upgrade or half gen console for Nintendo, Wii2 would've worked.
2DS sounds like it's going backwards, it's a cute name that works but not for an uninformed consumer, because 2 is less than 3, if you knew nothing about videogames and wanted to buy a gameboy for a young child or something like that, you'd knowingly connect 3 to being the latest model, the XL is clearly just 3DS.5 because XL is connected to larger, therefore potentially just a different model of an already existing thing, like a car.
It's compounded by the fact that the 3DS and 2DS are completely different looking, so if you're uninformed.....you would definitely assume they're different models.

(Also Kratos was PS2 for the first two titles! bah!)

 

[Dr.Awkward]

I think it's gotten to the point that next console Nintendo will have to make several innovative creations, and then let other developers - developers Nintendo does not own - play around with those new creations and see which ones inspire the best ideas. After that, then they can add the innovations that have been tested and desired by developers without feeling like a gimmicky add-on to players, which tends to hurt what could have been a great game with traditional controls.

And maybe that's the other problem - How much demand is there for change in the traditional control scheme? the DS might have started the touchscreen deal, but how many times can Nintendo afford a rocky start?

 

[Roxas1359]

I think Nintendo leans towards making games that can be played by anyone, not just kids, I'm not sure if that hurts them or makes them unique in this industry.
I really wish they'd start getting someone who can better name their hardware, the WiiU should have been called something easily seen as a sequel, not a potential upgrade or half gen console for Nintendo, Wii2 would've worked.
2DS sounds like it's going backwards, it's a cute name that works but not for an uninformed consumer, because 2 is less than 3, if you knew nothing about videogames and wanted to buy a gameboy for a young child or something like that, you'd knowingly connect 3 to being the latest model, the XL is clearly just 3DS.5 because XL is connected to larger, therefore potentially just a different model of an already existing thing, like a car.
It's compounded by the fact that the 3DS and 2DS are completely different looking, so if you're uninformed.....you would definitely assume they're different models.

(Also Kratos was PS2 for the first two titles! bah!)

For the Kratos thing I know the first 2 were on the PS2, but he became more of a mascot for Sony on the PS3 what with the HD collections, God of War 3, etc. Also because I couldn't remember the main character of Resistance since I don't play them much. XD

And while Nintendo does make games that anyone can play, you can't deny that they go towards kids and children the most when it comes down to it, not that that's bad or anything. The same can be said about Sony because there are still games that everyone can play on their systems that are rated M. I mean heck Ratchet and Clank went strong on the PS3, and LittleBig Planet was great. Really it just comes to how informed you are about the systems.

 

[Covarr]

how many times can Nintendo afford a rocky start?

You might be surprised. The 3DS got off to an incredibly rocky start, but now has sold more units than the DS had at the same point in its lifetime.

Nintendo's got so much money in the bank that they could do nothing but fail for two or three generations straight, on all platforms, and still survive. Keep in mind that the only console they ever made that actually lost them money in the long run was the Virtual Boy; even so-called failures such as the awful-selling GameCube made more profit than they cost in manufacturing or R&D. A rocky start is nothing, as long as they can make it up later in the device's lifetime the way the 3DS has.

P.S. Thanks

 

[ckam]

Oh, thank goodness. At least some people in the industry are still nice to their rivals. We need more of that.

 

[Baldr]

This only goes to fule what I have been saying for a while. It is Nintendo and Sony against Microsoft. They have different markets and accept this. In typical Micro$oft fashion the think they should have all the market for everthing.

Except it will never happen without a lot of money involved. Nintendo won't work with Sony over the PlayStation One. Nintendo hired Sony to create a console that worked off of CDs. Sony pretty much broke the contract with Nintendo and created the PlayStation, leaving Nintendo to start from scratch. (Well not exactly from scratch, they "stole" the N64's design from Sega with a company called SGI.)

 

[Roxas1359]

Except it will never happen without a lot of money involved. Nintendo won't work with Sony over the PlayStation One. Nintendo hired Sony to create a console that worked off of CDs. Sony pretty much broke the contract with Nintendo and created the PlayStation, leaving Nintendo to start from scratch. (Well not exactly from scratch, they "stole" the N64's design from Sega with a company called SGI.)

Um, you have it backwards. Nintendo broke the contract with Sony and went with Phillips and created the Phillips CD-I, after Sony had already spent lots of money on R&D for Nintendo. Sony got burned and then made the PS1 after everything they had learned since Nintendo screwed them. Here's what really happened, the Playstation was the name of the SNES-CD for Nintendo, but because Nintendo went with Phillips Sony pretty much released the console themselves after the courts settled and the rest is history, as Nintendo's dominance on the home console market ended.
Basically it was licensing issues, and one thing you shouldn't do is then go and negotiate a better with the competition while you are currently in a contract.