1P Start

Nintendo has come under a lot of fire for their announcement that they will not be able to meet demand this holiday for the Nintendo Wii, which was released a little over one year ago. In an interview with Next-Gen, Nintendo’s George Harrison finally talks about the reasons behind the shortage of Wiis.

“It takes about five months for us to increase the actual monthly rate of production… We’re at a rate now worldwide of about 1.8 million Wiis produced every month, and that’s going to sustain itself until we get on top of this.”

Harrison went on to explain that the 1.8 million completed consoles are divided up between markets based on demand.

The interview itself is very interesting, with Harrison touching on the Wii’s continued success, momentum going into the holidays, the DS, and developers lessening reluctance to develop for the Wii.

Certainly there’s a strong lineup of third party titles, and we’re trying to encourage them to make them. But we’re also trying to encourage third parties to take the time and effort to make something unique, not just to sort of throw something out on Wii because the Wii’s the fast-selling system.

[Next-Gen]

Nintendo, Wii, DS, George Harrison

In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun (best name EVER) regarding the Half-Life 2: Orange Box, Valve’s David Speyrer revealed that Valve is aiming high on Half-Life 2: Episode Three.

In the interview, which is a pretty fascinating read in itself, Speyrer noted that they’re “going to try and do something pretty ambitious” for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. He went on to explain that the ambition of the guys at Valve, plus the added room to freethink was why there was no trailer for Episode Three at the end of Episode Two.

…considering how Episode Two ended, if Episode Three doesn’t bring the house down I’m going to hunt every single Valve employee for sport.

Predator-style.

[RockPaperShotgun]

Valve, Half-Life 2, Episode Three

In an interview with Next-Gen.biz, Infinity Ward’s top dog Grant Collier has let it be known that he believes this generation of gaming will last until the beginning of the next decade.

I think COD4 is the first game of the second wave of next-gen titles, as COD2 was the first of the initial wave of next-gen games. When the games first started coming out I remember thinking, ‘oh my gosh, they look so realistic, they can’t possibly get more lifelike than this’, but then if you look at the games coming out now the photorealistic quality of them is so much higher that I’m kind of amazed.

I definitely think we have another three or four years left in this cycle, with people making games for the next-gen platforms.

Interesting. We are well aware of Sony’s desire for ten-year console cycles (as the PS2 obviously shows), and Nintendo has previously stated that they will not begin work on a new console until they feel they need to. As for Microsoft, rumors have been swirling since the summer that Microsoft has already begun the R&D on their next console.

[Next-Gen.biz]

Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 4

It’s certainly possible, if you believe Assassin’s Creed director Jade Raymond. In an interview with German website Gamers-Spirit, Raymond did say that it would be possible to make a Wii port of Assassin’s Creed. However, because of the Wii’s unique characteristics (or as I call them, gimmicks), Ubisoft would have to completely change the gameplay mechanics to make the game work on the platform.

[A Wii port] would be possible, but would require a complete gameplay change, like the DS version. But it would not be the same game experience. Unfortunately, it has just not nearly the same performance as the PS3 and the 360.

So, Nintendo Nation, there you go. Assassin’s Creed on the Wii? Possible. But not very likely.

[Gamers-Spirit]

Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed, Jade Raymond, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Sony, PlayStation 3, Nintendo, Wii

Let me start by saying that I am by no means a post-N64 Nintendo fan, but as a Gamer I found this somewhat insulting to my intelligence. In an interview with Advertising Age, outgoing Nintendo marketing executive Perrin Kaplan made the rather questionable comment that, before the Wii, gamers were getting bored with the industry.

A major insight that Nintendo had early on was that they saw that gamers were getting bored, even though they didn’t know it yet.

That’s a pretty big statement to make, especially when, before the Wii, gamers were seemingly growing bored with Nintendo, not gaming (and a million fanboys spat acid at their monitors). The Gamecube was what many considered a colossal bust for Nintendo while the PS2 sold over 100 Million units worldwide. When you look at the numbers, it certainly doesn’t seem like gamers were getting bored, now does it?

[Next-Gen]

Nintendo, Wii, Perrin Kaplan

You know, with all the Wii love being passed around the gaming industry, it’s practically unseen that someone would come out and dare to say something negative about Nintendo’s new cash cow.

Yet, in an interview with GameTrailers, that is exactly what Epic Games’ Mark Rein did.

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When Tomonobu Itagaki talks, the gaming world listens. Why? Who knows. Respect? Admiration? Fear? Whatever you want to call it, Itagaki never disappoints in one area: Amusement. He’s just fun to listen to. In an interview with Gamasutra following the Tokyo Game Show, Itagaki explained why he prefers working with the Nintendo DS over the PSP.

Because the DS is different.

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GamesIndustry.biz is reporting today, that acclaimed technology peripheral manufacture, Logitech, has decided to move into the ever popular Wii market.

In an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry, Logitech’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, Chris Spearing, revealed hopes that the first of Logitech’s Wii accessories will hit the market before the end of the year. Spearing praised Nintendo for their unique business model with both the Wii and DS platforms, but emphasizes that although the current devices from Nintendo are functional and innovative, there is always room for expanding the possibilities.

Regarding Logitech’s ever expanding line of accessories for video games, computers, home theater systems, and more, Spearing noted, “If you couldn’t improve on it, we wouldn’t be in business, and that’s the same for all products.”

No exact details have been revealed concerning Logitech’s first entry into Nintendo’s territory, however knowing Logitech, and the consistent quality of their products (I have only ever used Logitech keyboards and mice for the past 9 years), there is no doubt in my mind that whatever it is will be great.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

Logitech, Wii, Nintendo, GamesIndustry.biz, Wii Accessories

Here at 1pStart, we were recently given the opportunity to interview two of the developers of the new mobile phone game God of War: Betrayal. Although the interview was not exclusive to 1pStart, we were one of 6 sites lucky enough to have this opportunity. Upon responding to our questions, I have finally been able to compile a list of the questions we asked that were answered, as well as a few we didn’t ask, that we felt our readers would be interested in as well.

1pStart would like to sincerely thank Phil Cohen and Brad Spahr for taking the time to answer our questions, and wish them success with this game, and all of their future projects.

To view the interview, click here, or click on the banner at the top.

According to “semi-official” Sony blog site, Three Speech, SCEE president David Reeves claims that this upcoming holiday season is not “necessarily the most critical one” for Sony…Bwha??

Reeves goes on to state his belief that the Playstation 3’s popularity will hit like a tsunami; slowly building force in the beginning, becoming stronger and stronger as time goes on. He goes on to say that he thinks the critical holiday season for Sony will be Christmas 08, as opposed to this year’s quickly approaching holiday season.

This statement comes as a shock in my opinion, as Sony is currently getting dominated by both the Wii and Xbox 360 in just about every territory. Even in Japan, Sony’s home turf and a major market in their overall business plan, sales of the PS3 are extremely slow, to say the least.

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The Katamari series; you either love it, or hate it. Personally, I love it, but the developers are going to have to add a lot of features to keep my interest. However, from the looks of what is promised in this video, online multiplayer, a new soundtrack, co-op, and the many new and different stages are really starting to catch my eye.

Beautiful Katamari is just one example of a title that was once a PlayStation exclusive, and is now coming to the Xbox 360 as well. It’s a shame that Sony keeps losing this one of a kind exclusive franchises, but thats what happens with you don’t sell consoles.

Beautiful Katamari is scheduled to be released this holiday season on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously.

It’s one of the greatest trademarks the video game industry has ever seen. The small device that singlehandedly created and maintained the entire handheld video game market for close to twenty years. Of course, the device I speak of is none other than Nintendo’s console-that-could, the Game Boy. Now it seems, that it might be time to bid our beloved handheld adieu forever.

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In an interview with Reuters last Friday, Satoru Iwata - Nintendo’s fearless leader - set some pretty lofty goals for his company’s hit console the Wii.

Iwata-san claimed in the interview that he believes that the Wii is fully capable of outselling the legendary Playstation 2 in total lifetime sales. While of course, Iwata doesn’t expect this to happen any time soon, the comments seem to be a bold step forward for Nintendo who has, in recent years, lagged behind their rival console makers.

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Mr. Jack Tretton, SCEA Vice President, took a beating on CNBC when he was asked whether or not the PlayStation 3’s price drop had anything to do with a huge loss of predicted sales. He replied by saying that they are in it for the long run of 10 years with their console, and that this is just the beginning. Sorry to break it to you Mr. Tretton, but as things are going, it seems as if two new generations of gaming will happen before the advertised PS3’s life is up. Hopefully the next two installments of the Xbox and Nintendo’s new consoles will remember to visit the PS3 in a retirement home in the upcoming years, because everyone else will have forgotten about it by then. Blu-Ray what?

GameTrailers has the inside scoop behind player choice and enemy involvement in the wet upcoming Xbox 360 and PC title, BioShock. The developer promises multiple endings, and many different non-linear ways to play the game. This title has some of the best looking graphics and water physics yet, and some of the most unique styles of gameplay.

BioShock will ship later this year, with collectors and regular editions for the Xbox 360, and just the regular edition for the PC. I have been told that if you become too anxious and can’t wait any longer to play BioShock, then just take a cup of water and splash it on your face, it’s just like the real thing. Ok, well, maybe not, but you will sure look funny doing it.