Nintendo’s Harrison: Wii to last more than five years

In an interview with GameLife’s Chris Kohler of the Wired Blog Network, Nintendo of America‘s George Harrison unveiled their views on their console’s lifecycles in contrast with the competition. According to the VP or marketing, Nintendo actually sees that the Wii could last more than the traditional five year lifecycle.

And that doesn’t include Reggie Fils-Aime‘s views on the DS and the Wii’s software lifecycles, which have been pointed out as breaking the molds of the traditional software lifecycle. The gaming community continues to speculate the winner for the first of the next-generation console lifecycle, even when faced with an extended lifecycle for Sony’s PlayStation 3.

But Nintendo also sees that the Wii could also see a lifetime of more than five years, after ascertaining the fact that this generation is no longer about leaping ahead every five years sporting a new technology to oust the competition. “We’re finding out now that the appeal of faster processors and better graphics is really sort of reaching a diminishing point,” said Harrison.

He feels that it’s becoming apparent with the PlayStation 3 – that cost versus quality issues are holding a great console back. But even then Sony is still selling so many PlayStation 2 consoles to this day, and it remains true because, according to Harrison, people are thinking, “You know what? The graphics are pretty good, the price is good, and the library is good.”

Click on Full Article to continue reading Nintendo’s views on the capturing the game market.

In an interview with GameLife’s Chris Kohler of the Wired Blog Network, Nintendo of America‘s George Harrison unveiled their views on their console’s lifecycles in contrast with the competition. According to the VP or marketing, Nintendo actually sees that the Wii could last more than the traditional five year lifecycle.

And that doesn’t include Reggie Fils-Aime‘s views on the DS and the Wii’s software lifecycles, which have been pointed out as breaking the molds of the traditional software lifecycle. The gaming community continues to speculate the winner for the first of the next-generation console lifecycle, even when faced with an extended lifecycle for Sony’s PlayStation 3.

But Nintendo also sees that the Wii could also see a lifetime of more than five years, after ascertaining the fact that this generation is no longer about leaping ahead every five years sporting a new technology to oust the competition. “We’re finding out now that the appeal of faster processors and better graphics is really sort of reaching a diminishing point,” said Harrison.

He feels that it’s becoming apparent with the PlayStation 3 – that cost versus quality issues are holding a great console back. But even then Sony is still selling so many PlayStation 2 consoles to this day, and it remains true because, according to Harrison, people are thinking, “You know what? The graphics are pretty good, the price is good, and the library is good.”

Harrison seems to suggest that the Wii follows the PS2’s footsteps and has come to the conclusion that the Wii itself will also continue to do well way beyond its normal lifetime. He also adds that the Wii could allow Nintendo to reach a point where it would sell about 40-45% of its hardware, breaking the sales level of its predecessor, the GameCube.

But they eye an even higher level of success, especially if Sony and Microsoft continues to serve only the core market. Harrison explains:

If they only focus on the Grand Theft Autos and the Halos and things of that nature, they’re focusing on a very tiny part of the market. The overall market is growing so dramatically that they’re going to miss out on the opportunities that we’re seeing in the expanded audience.

Analysts and academics believe that the broadening of the market will really help the game industry as a whole, and many of the major game publishers have already come to the conclusion that there is great potential in the casual and overall market, prepping their own casual games and broad market titles together with their mainstream.

And that’s not saying that Microsoft and Sony can’t compete. It’s just as well, however, that they did try with titles such as Viva Piñata, but didn’t come close to attaining its “Pokemon killer” title. Harrison explained why the competition will have a hard time threatening Nintendo, saying, “Part of it is, I think it’s not in their DNA. They’re really good at reaching a certain customer, and have a real difficulty understanding how we succeed with the customers that we have.”

Via GameLife