14 DAY TRIAL // We have already learned that Satoru Iwata, the Chief Executive Officer and the president of Nintendo, is not in the least impressed by the potential of the new iPad tablet computing solution, which Apple recently unveiled. The device was characterized as being just a bigger iPod. And it seems that the Japanese businessman is neither amazed by the 3D technology rolled out in movies and that Sony plans to translate into videogames.
Speaking with AP, Iwata was quoted as saying that “I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?” Iwata must know, considering the weird poses Wii Fit makes players adopt at times, that when gaming in the intimacy of their homes, players are pretty much uninterested in the opinion other people have of them.
The Nintendo leader is not even impressed by the Sony Arc and the Microsoft Project Natal, set to be released during fall, adding motion tracking capabilities to the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, respectively. He stated that “I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines.”
With that sentence, Iwata must be speaking more about his hopes than about the realities of the market, which say that if the two projects are successful, then sales of the Nintendo Wii might go down substantially.
For some time, speculation has been present that Nintendo is quietly working on a successor to the Wii, capable of offering High Definition support, and a new generation Nintendo DS that might incorporate some sort of motion tracking. Iwata has denied the rumors and says that his company will be focusing on offering the addictive and easy to grasp videogame experiences that have made them market leaders.