Friday, September 09, 2005

THQ president: "Nintendo is waking up."

IGN has interviewed THQ´s president and asked them about the Rev. Good stuff, read on!
IGNcube caught up with company president Brian Farrell and quizzed him on Revolution plans. Farrell did confirm that THQ is developing "games for Revolution." Providing more details than that, Farrell indicated wide support for all the next-generation consoles including Revolution, saying, "THQ's plan is to serve gamers no matter what platform they are on." Backing that up, he also firmly stated, "We are commited to Nintendo's [Revolution]."

However, when asked about what plans Nintendo has laid out for THQ, Brian was hush-hush on the matter. But he claims that based on his discussions with the hardware giant, he feels that "Nintendo is waking up."

Finally, when confronted with the question of whether or not THQ was in possession of development hardware, Mr. Farrell declined to provide specifics due to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). All he would say was that "We're seeing more from Nintendo now [for Revolution] than we have an any other Nintendo platform."

Good news. All developers that have said something about the Rev have only been very positive about it. I have full confidence in the company now. So much so that I bought a dozen Nintendo shares. I do expect the Revolution to be a groundbreaking console and I do ecpect their shares to rise significantly. If any of you have any spare money to invest - I would suggest you look seriously at buying their stock, too.

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news- this is the best thing a developer has said yet, I think. And NDAs, oh boy!

Anonymous said...

Good news indeed...
But is THQ that big of a deal ? I mean, what were their good games lately ?

Anyway, ran into some blog :

http://nintendo-r.blogspot.com/

I don't have words for that. It's... far, far, far beyond what my mind can comprehend. :)

Falafelkid said...

THQ is not unimportant. Okay, so they have a lot of cartoon licenses from Nickelodeon, but also big PC games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that might get ported to consoles. THQ is definitely a publisher to be reckoned with in the merket and their support means something.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for clarifying that.
I actually wasn't aware of it.

Anonymous said...

This isn't a surprise is it?

THQ have been tight with Nintendo for awhile. It would have been more surprising if they weren't onboard.

Expect to see EA and Activision pledge full support too.

Falafelkid said...

If Nintendo get full EA support, they are at least half-way there.

Anonymous said...

hah. EA. i could easily own a Rev and never look at an EA game. or THQ. but this is just me.

good news about the stock too. its on the rise. do the stockholders know the secrets of the rev? could that be pushing it up?

Anonymous said...

Gibts irgendwelche Anbieter, bei denen man sich ein kostenloses online konto anlegen kann oder so was und dann ohne Zusatzkosten auch Aktien handeln kann? Würd gern so 1000 € in Nintendo AKtien investieren, aber hab mich damit noch nie auseinandergesetzt.

Nice to hear another developer talking about the Rev. Would be fanf'ntastic if Nintendo could surprise us all with many many 3rd party games rdy in early 2006.

Anonymous said...

Btw, Nintendo would need full EA support for the NA market and Europe and Square for the Japanese market. Then get Sega completely in the boat with exclusives and genesis downloads and get some good capcom stuff and all the RE's and along with the Nintendo titles you would have EVERYTHING you need.

Anonymous said...

so people actually play EA games? im mentally running through mine and my mates games and i cant think of any.

Nintendo has always been about 1st party. but i dont know now, it seems like its become a different company with the Revolution and all that. I think we will see more 3rd party games. just hope these developers actually make something good, bring the quality back to multi console games.

Anonymous said...

THQ...i dont realy like thier gamev everythign iv played has seemed shallow and short but still casual gamers will buy that shit. As for EA jay you and your friends must not like sports games or somthing cus EA Sports is definetly what i think of when i think console+sport game, EA would bring alot of sports fans to the rev just like it did with xbox, sports games+online play sells. If nintendos online is as good as xbox's (which i doubt seeing how its free) i think it would help alot

Anonymous said...

lol @ the guys who think they're so cool trying to downplay EA.

I know Winning Eleven is the big shit overseas (dunno what FIFA does in europe, prolly better than in the states) but here in the States we got this particular title that is somewhat of a juggernaut, maybe you've heard of it or some of your friends like play it: MADDEN.

Get over it, guys. Madden isn't going anywhere and it doesn't make you some kind of indie-rebel to hate on it. It's like you guys do this "I gave my money to the multi-billion dollar corporation that makes Zelda instead of the multi-billion dollar corporation that makes a football game. Me=a winner." lol not quite guys.

I don't really care if Nintendo gets every single sports game.. I don't really care about the NBA or soccer. But I'll admit that I will be fairly disappointed if there isn't a top notch football and baseball game on Revolution.

And just a note for the guy who brought up Nintendo getting Sega onboard..

this pains me to say, but I think right now that's just a pipe dream. People get hyped because Sonic sold so well on GC. But Sonic and Super Monkey Ball were pretty much all Nintendo got. No Jet Set Radio Future, VF4 Evo, Panzer Dragoon Orta for cube owners. Chrome Hounds is gonna be xbox exclusive, there was no mention of the next gen Sonic being on Revolution. It might get announced when Rev is announced, who knows.

But I think Sega will give most of its support to Microsoft. They have a long history of working together going back to even the Saturn. Hell Lindbergh is basically just a crazy suped up Xbox (nVidia + intel) with a lot of RAM. I don't think Sega is completely opposed to multi-platform developing.. but I dunno if they have the same attitude as alot of these other more established third parties. Square is about the only 3rd party I can think of that would have the same type of brand loyalty that Sega does. I think they'll do like Square and kind of keep most of their important games on one system to kind of bring most of their fans to that platform.

We'll see though. Hopefully I'll be wrong and Nintendo will get lots of Sega titles. Cause if they don't, I might take a pass on the Rev.

Anonymous said...

I don't think we can predict Sega's actions. They're just too random. Sonic Adventure Battle 2 has outsold every single XBox game they've worked on combined, I believe, and yet Microsoft has got all those games' you've mentioned. Of course, there were also those doomed Monkey Ball ports which were a pathetic failure, despite recieving a decect advertising campaign. We cannot begin to comprehend the logic behind such decisions, and so attempting to must be folly ;)

EA support is important because without it Nintendo will have a really really really hard time in North America and Europe. A really hard time. I don't usually touch their games either, but games like Madden are extremely popular, especially amongst the casual crowd.

EA could realistically attempt to scuttle the Revolution by not supporting it. Their lack of support helped kill off the Dreamcast, and they've only grown more important since then. Of course, Nintendo's fanbase is probably too strong for such a move to work, but having them on board is extremely important anyway.

Anonymous said...

Was die Aktien angeht, du hast doch bestimmt ein Konto bei deiner Hausbank, da fragst du am betsen mal nach einem Wertpapier-Depot und lässt dich gleich mal ein bißchen beraten, wie das alles mit dem Wertpapier-Handel funktioniert... die Depots bei Hausbanken haben meist den Vorteil, das sie für Schüler und Studenten (ich denke du fällst in die Kategorie) was die Depotführung angeht kostenlos sind und man hat meist jemand den man ansprechen kann. Nachteil sind oft (im Verhältnis) hohe Transaktionsgebühren und Gebühren für Zusatzleistungen wie limits oder stopps (lass dir das am besten gleich miterklären)... Onlinehandelsplattformen, also vom Internet aus kaufen und verkaufen sollte dabei zum Standard gehören.. und wenn du dich ein bißchen besser auskennst und mehr handeln willst, kannst du dir dann entsprechend einen online-broker suchen (wie z.B. Cortal-Consors oder Nordnet oder...) der eher deinen Wünschen entspricht... beachten solltest du allerdings, dass Gewinne aus Kapitalangen (in diesem Fall Aktien) nur dann Steuerfrei sind, sofern du die Aktien mind. 1 Jahr gehalten hast ansonsten müssen Gewinne wie Verluste nach dem Halbeinkünfteverfahren versteuert werden sofern deine einkünfte insgesamt über dem Steuerfreibetrag liegen (auch hier mal den man Berater deiner Hausbank ansprechen)...

yes, good to hear that all.. there is something cooking in the background and it smells really good...

Anonymous said...

You really couldn't just type that in english?

Anonymous said...

It's the answer to the anonym guys question above.. he asked how to buy stocks and what banks offer god terms for their accounts... nothing direktly related to nintendo and I thought to answer in german because he asked in german...

Anonymous said...

sorry

Anonymous said...

There's rumor floating arround that Seriousgamer007 is indeed an employee of etrafficjams.com
http://www.zogdog.com/theboard/
viewtopic.php?t=6969

if this marketing campaign was original initialized by nintendo (if it is the case that sg007 is working for etrifficjams)is an other question...

Anonymous said...

Madden is this whole other thing in the States.

American football is so ridiculously popular right now. Every team (except like the Cardinals) sells out every game. Waiting lists for season tickets are backed up for like 40 years. It isn't like that in the other sports in America.

Combine that with the fact that madden from 2002 to up to now has simply been head and shoulders the best sports game period (note, the only soccer games I ever played were like fifa 95 and fifa 2005 so obviously i'm not including soccer in my opinion, sorry euro dudes).

So it's like, good gameplay, deep franchise mode (a little too deep for me to be honest) and the fact that alot of people in America know about football so they can immediately relate to what's happening in the game. The controls are nice and simple and the football action is well designed. Madden is very good from a basic gameplay perspective.

I guess the one legit knock on it is that the series hasn't made as big a leap from 2004-06 as it did a few seasons before. Which kinda sucks.. but it's not like they can go crazy with it since in the end the rules of american football and how it's played is not up to EA.

Anonymous said...

About the Sega thing:

First, Chrome Hounds is not developed internally by Sega, they are merely the game's publisher. So this does not count against their record.

And as for the Sonic announcement? Kinda tough for them to announce a game for Rev when on this very blog, we saw quotes from Yuji Naka saying they were under strict NDA as well. This NDA likely extends to game announcements as well. Remember the RE5 debacle? With THQ being in a similar position, gives a lot of credence to this (despite the fact that Naka's quotes were taken down). For them to announce nothing for a system that Sonic cut his 3rd-party teeth on, makes you think that this announcement isn't quite so black-and-white.

And when you have a quote from Simon Jeffrey, head of Sega of America, openly admitting that Sega's Xbox support didn't pay off in the slightest and voicing strong Revolution support, kinda makes you think.

Sega might have a lot more support for Revolution than any of us can anticipate.

Anonymous said...

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/2159/revprot26mj.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/2986/revprot14cl.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9835/revcardb91ut.jpg

Anonymous said...

Falafelkid: could you please ask more developers about the Revolution? It seems that each time we hear positive reactions of the developers, someone had to ask them first. And IGN aint gonna do it.

(note: I'm not asking you to ask what the Revolution is, just to know wether developers think Nintendo is going into the right direction)

Anonymous said...

Excellent news, great to hear it. I'm starting to feel a lot mor confident on good things to come.

Anonymous said...

funny actually, an army of game makers do not like EA. its a sweat shop. they treat their employees terribly, if the numerous blogs out there didnt show that then the low moral does.
i honestly dont know any people who play sports games, unless you call racing games sports. they're just not that big with the people i know in real life, online, at college and university, neighbors, etc.

i doubt they would have a hard time in Europe. we're just not a big sports playing continent.
in the US sure. but here, we like different kind of games it seems.

Sega would be best to get onboard. but even then. there hasnt been a decent sonic game since the Mega Drive (thats Genesis to the US).

CK said...

Stabby: "note: I'm not asking you to ask what the Revolution is, just to know wether developers think Nintendo is going into the right direction)"

They do, Nintendo showed off the Revolution controllers to 3rd party developers a few months ago, and most were impressed by the functionality.

Anonymous said...

source: www.igncube.com

"This week's question:
Nintendo has stressed time and again that Revolution's most innovative element is its still-unshown controller. However, what's to stop competitors from simply copying the device?

Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, Nintendo of America:
The entire controller will be remarkably innovative. We're working on something that truly will provide a unique gameplay experience. That's our goal -- to not only have a unique controller, but introduce a new way to enjoy games. We'll have to see if its innovation inspires others to creativity as well. And remember, we are securing the appropriate intellectual property rights for the product."

Anonymous said...

somthing interesting that i think iv noticed here and on some other forums is that most people who like nintendo right now don't realy care much for sports games

Anonymous said...

but thats not saying they wont help

Falafelkid said...

@Stabby: It´s hard for me to approach developers via mail and there are no fairs or events comnig up that I will be present at. Save X05, of course. But that´s beginning of October, so by then we´ll all be in the know anyway.

Concerning EA: I understand why some people don´t like the company and diss it. But every time I play on our newsroom consoles with other people who aren´t hardcore gamers, we end up playing ´FIFA Street´ and ´Burnout´. Do not underestimate their portfolio - they are the market leader after all. And despite all the rumours about how they treat their employees (which seem to be true), they are more than a money-making machine. Alongside publishing a Madden and a FIFA every year, they actually invest money in projects like ´Black & White´ or ´Spore´. Okay, so they are not independent titles, but they still present significant risks, which EA is willing to take. Just consider that.

About SEGA: True, as far as home consoles go, SEGA could have done more for the GameCube. Yet without SEGA, the DS would not have had such a brilliant start. SEGA was the only third party properly utilizing the DS´s capabilities. Financially speaking, this was a significant risk for the company. So don´t underestimate the special relationship between SEGA and Nintendo. The Rev will introduce some unique aspect to gaming which may not need to be programmed for specifically. But I am sure it will also make sense to develop games which are dedicated to the Rev and its unique features. And SEGA will be one of the first companies to pick up on that, I am sure.

Falafelkid said...

@Anonym: The question about buying shares has already been answered pretty much. I paid €20 to open a portfolio and another €20 for the transaction. My wages just came through as well, so I am seriously looking at buying another dozen. If you purchase online you can half the transaction costs, by the way. This information is probably only relevant to Germany, though.

Anonymous said...

OMG FAKEE!!!11 Nah just joking =P


Thats good news. And who cares what games are they making?! The idea is what means.

Anonymous said...

How can you buy shares in a company if you are not in the country they are listed? How easy is it?

Anonymous said...

You can buy shares of some foreign stocks at the stock exchanges in your country (e.g. nintendo is also listed at some stock exchanges in the US and also in Europe) or at foreign stock exchanges (the fee for transactions than is higher...)

e.g. look at (US)
http://money.cnn.com/
and search for NINTF or nintendo

or
look at (DE) e.g.
https://www.cortalconsors.de
and search for 864009 or nintendo

but if you really want to trade stocks I advise you to go to your preferred bank and ask an advisor how to open an account and how to trade,...

ok?

Anonymous said...

RE to above

My bank does offer share dealing solutions. How much is a sensible ammount to deal with in this kind of situation? I know this is based on very sketchy information, but i understand that its unlikely i lose a huge ammount of money.

If you know, although im not going to take anyones word too seriously, how much it is worth investing with nintendo at this moment, could you please give me a figure in USD$

Thanks. I think this could be fun, but i dont want to get ahead of myself.

Falafelkid said...

Hi. Good question. My current financial situation allowed me to invest roughly $1200 and I may even invest the same amount again tomorrow. I would strongly advise everyone to consider the risks this way: What would your financial situation be like if you lost all money invested? That is always the worst case scenario - and if that would bakrupt you, don´t do it. Even if, as is the case here, the shares can only be expected to rise.

Anonymous said...

Generally I think it is inadvisable to invest much less than 1000 USD.
You want to invest money, because you want it to increase.. so if you pay 20 USD to open an account and 20 USD to buy stocks and at the end pay again 20 USD to sell them, your stocks have to raise at least 6% just to come up for the costs,...
also you have to look at how much you get for 1000 USD if you let them on your bank account.. e.g. 2,5% so with no more costs you get +25 USD at the end of the year.. so in this example at the end your stocks has to raise more than 8,5% just not to lose money and to get more back than you would get back in the case you let them on your bank account... and 8,5% is not an ace despite what you might have heard (it is just an example but calculate this with your account and transaction fees...)

and one more thing...
NEVER buy stocks on credit... (how can I make NEVER bigger?... I mean really big :) )
this is rule number one... whatever you think how secure your investment is, there is always the possiblity it is not secure...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the info Falafelkid and thats for the adive Anonymous guy. I think it may be too late to buy any, sadly, so im a little annoyed that i didnt think of this before. I have been wanting to invest some money to see what its like for a long time and this would have been the perfect chance. Oh well.

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Hey I was trying to contact Falafelkid, but could not find an email so I thought I would just post it here. I just recently headed over to ign cube to see if there were any updates. The main article on the page was about the Revolution FAQ with a subtitle indicating that there were updates. I looked and the only thing I could find that I did not remember reading before was this.

Further, Revolution's controller will very likely make use of motion-sensing technology. Leaked documentation shows that players may be able to twist and turn the device in order to twist and turn objects and characters in Revolution games. Nintendo has dabbled in this type of technology in the handheld sector with such games as Kirby Tilt 'N Tumble.

I did not see any articles about this new "leaked documenation" nor do I remember ever seeing anything about it. I just thought Falafelkid might know what documentation they are refering too.

Anonymous said...

oops its me from above, that quote is taken from page 2 of the revolution faq aproximately half way down the page

Anonymous said...

Hey I was trying to contact Falafelkid, but could not find an email so I thought I would just post it here. I just recently headed over to ign cube to see if there were any updates. The main article on the page was about the Revolution FAQ with a subtitle indicating that there were updates. I looked and the only thing I could find that I did not remember reading before was this.

Further, Revolution's controller will very likely make use of motion-sensing technology. Leaked documentation shows that players may be able to twist and turn the device in order to twist and turn objects and characters in Revolution games. Nintendo has dabbled in this type of technology in the handheld sector with such games as Kirby Tilt 'N Tumble.

I did not see any articles about this new "leaked documenation" nor do I remember ever seeing anything about it. I just thought Falafelkid might know what documentation they are refering too. This can be found on the second page of the revolution FAQ

Anonymous said...

thq is important because the produce wrestling games, and they are BIG sellers anyway good news let just hope tgs has some news to get us over the dissapointing news of zelda.

Anonymous said...

ys everyone think that retro games gas mask picture is from metriod when it says "NEW FRANCHISES REVEALED AT 16 FOR REVOLUTION" right above it..... -.-

Anonymous said...

at the okasaka blog

Anonymous said...

I bought cardboard back when it was 13 cents a ton...Now it's 16 cents, and I bought 2 tons of it, so that's... well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

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