14 DAY TRIAL // Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Capcom's chief executive officer, expressed in a recent interview his hopes for Nintendo's next handheld console, the 3DS. While he was excited about the new technology, he was concerned about the business model that Nintendo would implement with the launch of the new platform.
“Of course, [the 3D technology] allows us to do things that couldn't be done until now, so the development staff is showing great interest. But what's important is how much the users themselves want 3D content. What we're more looking forward to is the offering of a new business model. Nintendo has been in the hardware business for a long time, and I believe they must be looking closely at Apple's recent success,” he said in an interview with Nikkei.
The exec referred to the wide range of products that Apple offered through its App Store for the iPad and the iPhone and the good support for third-party developers, something Nintendo is notoriously bad at. Moreover, he praised a mobile-phone operator in Japan for its good online distribution strategy for its mobile phone, offering customers a huge number of very varied pieces of software, and recommended Nintendo to do the same. Resident Evil fans can be excited, as Capcom is planning “to do something to heat up the game series.”
The other video-game industry exec to talk about the 3DS today is John Riccitiello, Electronic Arts' CEO. Careful not to break the non-disclosure agreement in place until E3 2010, as there was apparently a lot to reveal at the convention, he just told Industry Gamers that he had seen the handheld and that it was cool. Nintendo plans to unveil its much-vaunted 3D console at next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA. The 3DS will have online functionality and will be able to render 3D images without the need for glasses. The Nintendo 3DS is set to be released until the end of April, 2011.