Jun 11 2009
The articles that incited this bitter post are as follow:
“How Nintendo’s Boss Rewrote the Rules of the Game” by Nigel Kendall for the UK Times Online
“Nintendo’s Iwata to Rivals: ‘Welcome to the motion control world’” by Chris Graft for Gamasutra.com
“Nintendo: Wii Motion Plus Not Delayed” by Brian Ashcraft for Kotaku.com
President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata is one smug guy. In an interview for the UK Times Online, he was asked for a reaction to Sony’s and Microsoft’s presentations of motion-control peripherals at E3. In short, he called them late to the party. “I’d like to say to them, ‘Welcome to the motion-control world!’is the quote that has been floating around. What a set Iwata must have. The Wiimote for the Wii set the standard for motion control, when it was released years ago. When Iwata greets Sony and Microsoft to the “motion-controlled world”, I do not see a company ahead of the curve so much as an old man about to watch the young run on by. Nintendo has been in the “motion-control world” for years, and its latest offerings are a vitality sensor, like the ones you find on treadmills, and the Motion Plus, which was developed to fine-tune the Wiimote, a fix more than an innovation. The UK Times Online article describes the audience reaction to the vitality sensor as “astonished”, I am sure in the pejorative sense rather than excited. I expected more as well. And according to an article by Brian Ashcraft on Kotaku.com, the Motion Plus is suffering difficulties in development. The greeting into the “motion-control world” would mean more if Nintendo had its shit together.
The Sony’s motion control system does not have a proper name and I am sure Project Natal is far from finished as well, but they are already more exciting than the Wii motion control. Heck, Project Natal even appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Wii has made plenty of public appearances in the media, after it was finished. Sony and Microsoft may have viewed motion control as a gimmick when the Wii was released, but if E3 has proven anything, it is Nintendo that is becoming the novelty.
