Iwata: Wii'll give you something new every day

June 2nd, 2006, 16:27 Posted By: wraggster

In an E3 presentation positively rammed with new titles, information and three grown men prancing around the stage with wands like fairies, one of the most exciting announcements at Nintendo's press event concerned WiiConnect24. However, such was the sheer reckless pace of the conference, we didn't really get to learn as much as we'd have liked.

Now, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has divulged a few new snippets of information concerning Wii's permanent internet connection, speaking to Japanese website TechOn.

Previously, we'd known that WiiConnect 24 could be used for things like enabling other visitors to scope out your Animal Crossing village while you're tucked up in bed, but now Iwata has revealed that the company plans to offer new content for both Wii and DS on a regular basis.

Iwata explains that Nintendo intends to make games last beyond their normal shelf-life by adding new content to its titles regularly. His hope is that by offering new content, people will slap on a game every day to see what's new, expanding its life way beyond the initial period after purchase. Elaborating further, Iwata says, "To lead users to do that, we need to offer something new each day. That is why we thought of a system that would allow us to change our offerings during the night.

"I feel that allowing the system to stay connected to the Net throughout the night is a valid application of semiconductor technology."

What's more, Nintendo also suggests it will offer downloadable DS demos, which will arrive automatically overnight on Wii (you'll know you've got new content if the special front-panel LED is on when you wake up in the morning). The demos can then be transferred over to the DS and, presumably, played around on the tube to work. Hoorah!

"This will, of course, be possible in gaming stores too," Iwata states, "but I think users will enjoy being able to do this within their homes. The key merit here is having promotional material delivered to your home, instead of having to go collect it yourself..."

Perhaps even more interestingly, Iwata gave what could be considered an indication of how much games on the Virtual Console might cost. "When creating a packaged game to be priced at 5,000 yen, developers tend to feel the need to create a rich game. Yet it is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three. Offering such games for 500 yen [2.40 GBP approx] over a network could lead to a reasonable number of people purchasing it. By offering an environment that allows this, we hope to encourage more developers to pursue basic yet enjoyable gameplay."

Having said that, Iwata is still keen to point out that there's still a place on Wii for traditional console games with plenty of depth: "Such games are important in their own right, and will continue to be in demand. Still - think about it - eating French cuisine or a full dinner each day would quickly lead to boredom, wouldn't it? You'll want a simple bowl of rice and soup every now and then."

Needless to say, every time we hear more about what Nintendo's got in store for Wii, we get increasingly excited. November, if the latest Wii release rumours are to be believed, can't come soon enough as far as we're concerned.

Via CVG

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