Thursday, July 20, 2006

Nintendo not at TGS, SpaceWorld 2006 likely



The Tokyo Game Show keynote speakers have just been announced on the Japanese TGS site and Nintendo will not be speaking. Instead, Sony Computer Entertainment´s Ken Kutaragi and Square Enix´ Yoichi Wada are occupying the opening keynote slots.

Since Nintendo is also not an exhibitor at the show, there will be no Nintendo related announcements or news at TGS 2006.


This piece of news will probably send shockwaves through the Nintendo community, since most people were expecting the Wii´s launch date and price to be announced at TGS. This is out of the question now.

So where will Nintendo make the announcement? Obviously, they need to wrap the announcement in a big event to maximize media coverage. There is no big gaming event other than TGS that would fit such a purpose (Germany´s Games Convention is the only possible contender, but Germany is only the third most important market for videogames). So, this proves to me that Nintendo is planning to stage their own show. Get ready for a SpaceWorld this year.

EDIT The good people over at GoNintendo have picked up on this story and my comments concerning a SpaceWorld. Go check it out.


Source: Japanese TGS site
Thanks to: SPOnG

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

whoops, sorry, that first post was an mistake. could someone delete it please?

hi falafelkid.

was makes you so sure that a spaceworld might be happening this year? the chance that a "small evelt" like the ones fpr the ds will happen in september. but i would think a bigger event like the spaceworld would get much more attention than a small evgent to announce the launchdate for wii!

Anonymous said...

One would assume that there will be a space world if Nintendo will not be at TGS or they must be planning a unique and intense advertising campaign. More then likely both, but it still would not surprise me if they skipped the whole show idea all together this year. One reason for this would be that shows such as TGS and E3 only reach core gamers and not the more casual public (target audience for Wii).

Just my opinion

Anonymous said...

Oh, good. I was really hoping to see another SpaceWorld this year! Have any predictions as to what will be announced/talked about/shown at said SpaceWorld, Falafel?

Falafelkid said...

Well, the bigger the event, the bigger the media coverage. If Nintendo simply plan to make a public announcement, how are they going to secure coverage by general interest media outside Japan? Remember that general interest is the main focus of the console.

Think about it this way: I am a German television news editor (which is true, as you know). How will Nintendo make sure that I am able to include the news in our program? They have to make sure that the big agencies and networks are at the event: Reuters, APTN, CNN, at the very least. And how do you make sure that those companies will free resources and attend? By staging a big show. A simple press conference simply won´t do.

Falafelkid said...

I have compiled some info I found about the previous SpaceWorld events held:

SpaceWorld 2001
August 23-26
Makuhari Messe, Tokyo
GameCube launch

SpaceWorld 2000
August 24-26
Makuhari Messe, Tokyo
GameCube debut

SpaceWorld 1999
???
???
Development of new handheld announced

Please add information. When was the first SpaceWorld held? Were the ones prior to 2000 also held at Makuhari Messe (the location where TGS is held)? And what dates where the SpaceWorld events held before 2000? Hope you can help.

Shoxware Games said...

Yeah... a SpaceWorld is very likely. Matt Cassamassina of IGN almost confirmed it in his Blog.

Anonymous said...

The first Space World was held in 1995, this is when they premiered the Nintendo 64 and its controller. I am not sure of the location of the expo.

Anonymous said...

Falafelkid,

Have you heard anything concerning Wii specs?

Anonymous said...

I smell an European release of an major nintendo console here. (?)

That would be something. Europe have almost always been the last frontier. I remember how long I waited for the Secret of Mana (SFC) to came out in those 16-bit years. :[

So it would be huge goodwill for them to launch the Wii here first! :P

/M

Falafelkid said...

Hi Anonymous with SpaceWorld info. Thank you.

Hi Anonymous.

Have you heard anything concerning Wii specs?

No, I am afraid. All I can do is hassle the good people at Nintendo of Europe and they might not know much more than we do...

Anonymous said...

Hi Falafelkid,

I was just wondering if you could imagine that people who run sites
like spong,eurogamer,joystiqu etc. read your blog and the comments section!?

Could you even imagine them contributing anonymously?



-Charly

Anonymous said...

Don't only developers come on the list who have actually reserved space and get playable games at the event? Was Nintendo on the list last year? (don't just assume they were because the held a speach)

Anonymous said...

Shiggy said no Nintendo at TGS in an interview at this years E3. He did however state that 3rd parties will obviously attend with a strong Wii presence(TGS). I personally believe there will be a major announcement at Liepzig(spl) this August. Just a feeling.....

Anonymous said...

udyoJust because Nintendo is not at TGS, doesn't mean there will be no Wii news! Many third party developers have Wii games on the go, and many of them may make an appearance at TGS, and may have features that tell us more about Wii. Square Enix has a keynote speech, and we know they have some Wii titles to show. Namely Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The first Wii screenshots we saw came from Ubisoft, not Nintendo, so Nintendo obviously doesn't mind letting 3rd-parties release info. In fact, I seem to remember Nintendo saying information would be forthcoming from 3rd-parties.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but i must make something clear, first of all , it bores me, to read the whole time about release dates, technical specs or some analyst shit. Stop demanding too much from Nintendo, because they have delivered us so much joy and respectful things, that they have enriched the gaming industry in a such unbelievable way!
I mean, i would even pay 5000 bucks to play only the new Zelda on a new Nintendo console! Such games arent only created to entertain you or to make huge sales, no, these games are full of creativeness !! Zelda, alone, beats every other game, in every aspect !
Think of Mario, Link and Samus, every time when i hear these names, my heartbeat goes over 100 !! You know why ? Because every game of them was high quality !!!
Therefore, i do not care about release dates, analyst comments or amazon preorders !
My last comment :Thank you Nintendo!

Anonymous said...

Wii Star Wars?...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC3bqyq9QQY

Anonymous said...

HEROES footage, just thought you guys might want to see it, looks pretty cool by the way.

http://www.thewiire.com/news/371/1/Heroes_First_Footage_and_Details

Anonymous said...

There is no question about that the Wii will take the lead. The price, the games and the whole hype will allow that the Wii will be successful like the DS. The people who are talking negative about the Wii have not understood the intelligent strategy that Nintendo is using. I can only repeat myself: The Wii is the DS for TV !!!
Under these circumstances, Nintendo will marketing the Wii like the DS and also bring the same games for the Wii, like Nintendogs ! Such games will help to accelerate the success of the Wii in Japan. I mean look just to the Launch games : there is Zelda and also a mysterious Dragon Quest ! Just think about the Dragon Quest hype in Japan ! Not only traditional games will help the Wii to become the most selling console but furthermore the mini games or games which are special like : Brain Training,Nintendogs,Wii Sports and more !
The Wii is the only console which allows to create many extraordinary games with no limits ! The creativeness has no limit !
Now i want deliver some comments about the technical aspect, because some people are complaining about not having HD or a super processor !
The Wii do not need such things, why ? Because there is no HD ! The Wii can concentrate the whole power to delivering superb graphics ! I think also that Nintendo has spent most of their graphical abilities of the Wii in Anti-Aliasing ! Enabling full picture AA will deliver better pictures than the HD consoles ! Not so sharp, but the picture will be cleaner and therefore nicer.
There is also one mystery that remains, which is, why is nintendo showing few pictures of the games ! I have no answer !
You can belive me the Wii is going to bee the biggest success in the gaming history, you know why :

Just look to the DS !

Peace

Anonymous said...

Rumor

http://gonintendo.com/?p=3974