at 19:33 on November 9, 2006, EST.
By NEIL DAVIDSON

MONTREAL (CP) - Nintendo may be the last to bring its next-generation gaming console to market but the president and CEO of Nintendo of America says the Wii is leading the way compared to Microsoft or Sony.

Reggie Fils-Aime believes the manufacturers of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are offering little new. "Our competition are both going down the same path," he said in an interview following a speech to the Montreal International Game Summit on Thursday. "Prettier pictures, higher graphical horsepower. Very expensive."

"And in our view that's not the way to grow the industry. That's a way to drive the industry to be more and more secular and more and more focuses on the same things."

Nintendo's focus is to "satisfy the core (gamer), grow the casual (gamer)."

"As it becomes clearer and clearer how we execute that in the marketplace, it certainly looks and feels very different than what our competitors are doing," said Fils-Aime. "And we revel in that difference."

The Wii does not enter the high-definition world of its competition. But it does offer a unique motion-sensitive controller that allows the gamer to hit a tennis ball on the screen with a swing of the arm or hook a fish by jerking the controller up.

It hopes to attract new gamers, offering new content and emphasizing touch over sight - the way that its DS handheld portable system has via games like Nintendogs and Brain Age.

The Wii (pronounced we) is also the cheapest of the three next-generation consoles: ($279) compared to the Xbox 360 ($399 and $499) and the PS3 ($549 and $659).

Nintendo's new console comes out Nov. 19, two days after the PS3, with four million units slated to ship by Dec. 31. The Xbox 360 was the first out of the box, released last November.

Manufacturers traditionally lose money on new gaming hardware, until scales of economy kick in. But Nintendo says it won't be in the red.

"Video games are all we do," said Fils-Aime. "And so we have to be profitable, our shareholders demand it. So we can't take the approach of a Microsoft and lose billions of dollars on hardware as a way to seed a broader corporate strategy."

"Similarly from a Sony perspective, their ability to invest and go negative from a profitability (standpoint) in the hopes of introducing some new technology down the road, we can't do that and so we will be profitable in everything we do from a Wii standpoint right from the get-go."

Fils-Aime doesn't buy the notion that the Wii will be seen mostly as the second console of choice for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners.

"I absolutely object to it," Fils-Aime said.

"In the end, as we look over the next five-, six-, seven-year time period, we"ll see what history writes. But in our view, we have a proposition as a mainstream gaming device and we want to be the first system in (consumers' homes). And we think we have the capability based on software and value to make that happen."

Canadian gamers will have to wait for a Wii version of a hockey game, however. And Fils-Aime knows what a hockey game in Canada can do, noting that the reason that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue game debuted at No. 3 on U.S. sales charts but only No. 7 in Canada was because the year's new hockey titles were released at the same time.

"We'd love to have a hockey game for the Wii. Certainly I'm trying to seed that effort with EA (Electronic Arts) and other companies who do fantastic hockey product. We need it here in this marketplace, we recognize that."

Fils-Aime, who has sold everything from Guinness beer to Chinese food and pizza in past jobs, knows that the Nintendo brand loyalty is something special.

"I think it's because Nintendo is the soul of gaming. We've been in this business for a long time. . . . And so gamers, core and casual, recognize that. They recognize our passion, they recognize that this is the only industry we're in. We don't have sibling business, if you will, to offset mistakes that could be made."

Nintendo is ushering in the era of the Wii with a nifty ad campaign that shows two Japanese men in a Smart car visiting families, good old boys, singles and others with the Wii - winning all of them over in the process.

The Wii has also got a helping hand from the animated TV show South Park, with an episode showing the character Cartman in front of a store waiting for the Wii three weeks ahead of its release date.

"It's like waiting for Christmas, times a thousand." Cartman says.


©The Canadian Press, 2006

$279 is cheap for a game console ??? My goodness, by the time i have kids they'd probably be saying that $1,000 is cheap for a game console!!! I can see it now, PS14 costing $1500!!

i bought my bootleg PS2 with two used games and an extra tv adapter for under two hundred bucks. the console has only made my electricity go out like four or five times, so i think it was a real value. i don't visit my circuit box often enough anyway.

Anx said:

I'm gonna get this for my nephews, but it's staying at my place.

the Wii looks bulky and fuckin dorky as hell, its not even a decent controller playing zelda you'll look like you're havin a seizure n shit doin the windmill to save hyrule.

IAintTheOne said:

What the fuck are you saying?

The wii is the smallest of all consoles, by masses. It's the height of a dvd case and the width of 3. Its controller is tiny. It's so far from dorky it's not true.

That was so ignorant.

Spookymuffin said:

ez emo boy dont wanna make you all depressed n shit and wear girl clothes

IAintTheOne said:

so mature. nice mental age you're tending to there.

You wanna talk bulky, time travel back to 1994. SEGA had the Genesis, then the SEGA CD attachment for it, then the 32X attachment. By the time you had this thing all connected together, it was a huge mess of wires and adapters, it looked ridiculous, LOL.

Tom said:

best console ever!

Aw, I miss my Sega Genesis! Sonic was the best!

GENESIS OR MEGA DRIVE...

As we called it was a heckuva machine.

Haven't seen u around here for ages, VR.

theVelvetRoper said:

papaa said:

remember the old hack, where if you pulled a cartridge out while the machine was still turned on, then plugged it back in, it would sometimes trigger the foreign versions of the games, different logos, and such. Sometimes it would even unlock hidden features, like in Thunder Force II

I'm still perfectly happy with my still working suddenly retro:


[Edited 11/10/06 19:24pm]

IAintTheOne said:

PS fanboy

I can't wait for the PS3 to trounce everything else. This is where the anti PS people start spewing every reason under the sun why it won't, but rest assured.....it will.

jerseykrs said:

You have your numbers America... I have The numbers.



bwah ahah ahah ahaha hah ha ha ha ha ha eyuk eyuk ha ha ha

Side by side comparison of the PS3, Wii, and 360






I think the PS3 doubles as a panini press, so it has that going for it.
[Edited 11/10/06 14:03pm]

Speaking of the Wii, has anyone seen the last two South Park episodes?

a few months ago i was undecided at which console i wanted.
Im going for the PS3 now..better the devil you know an all that shit.

Nonsense

I kind of wanted to post on the what color do I see when I bang my head thread, but because it was nonsense to you, and you locked it, I can't express my color.

This thread is complete nonsense to me, even though it seems it is not to others. I guess it's all in a matter of perception.


oh just blah, edit...
[Edited 11/10/06 20:30pm]