Issue 120 | The Hound: George Harrison on the Nintendo Revolution Page 1

Issue 120 | The Hound: George Harrison on the Nintendo Revolution

James Temperton :: Issue 120 :: 23rd April 2006

Industry analysis with added bite.

I don't normally do things like this, but nobody else wanted to go through what is one of the most epic interviews in gaming history, so I've lumped myself with the dubious pleasure. It rolls in at 13,051 words and it hurts my eyes just looking at it, but I am going to attempt to pick out the most important morsels. Well, they don't call me News Hound for nothing...

The interview itself was conducted by Game Informer and a lot of it is quite Red Steel centric. In this article I'm stripping out all the Red Steel stuff and most of the DS, GameCube and Game Boy stuff. The main focus of this article is what Harrison has to say about the Revolution. Some of it is totally new, some of it is personal response and some of it is hugely intriguing and secretive. Despite his reputation as a well-oiled Nintendo-talking-machine, Harrison is remarkably open, which leads to some rather interesting bits of info...the crafty old bugger...

The main thing the interview emphasises for me is one key element for Nintendo; change under changing circumstances. Harrison jumps straight into the spaghetti-o-bowl-of-fun with a very factually based comment. When asked about the ideas behind the Revolution, and what it 'grew out of' Harrison had this to say:

"So the thinking went back to throw on more basics. And starting with the market in Japan, which has been kind of soft for many years, at least since 1997, the question is what are they going to do to revive the market in Japan? They started with basic facts like the shrinking of the gaming population

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HazukiSan 23.04.2006#1

Harold Cuthbert Hound, great stuff. Love ya.

nin10do 24.04.2006#2

Good stuff James, I'll read this properly tomorrow and try to remember a comment too Smilie

Barry Lewis [ nin10do :: General Writer :: Feature Writer :: Fountain of Industry Statistics ]
"We're mentalist psychic Scots, which means we can read your mind. If you're lying, your head explodes and we laugh."

jesusraz 24.04.2006#3

He also mentioned how EA definitely has stuff ready for the Rev, and discussions have taken place with Rockstar.

A port of its table-tennis game perhaps? Or maybe a future GTA...I'd say a DS GTA is more likely first.

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses

MattEvansC3 24.04.2006#4

The revo controller was made for ping pong, it was not made for lawsuits from Jack Thompson.

Matthew Evans [ Writer :: Moderator :: King of Impartiality :: Lord of the 15min Thread ] As the wind blows the sand to cover the camel's tracks so does time move to cover the Lord's.
Rejoice for the Lord will taketh his quarter and give much back to his followers.

HazukiSan 24.04.2006#5

Matthew Gastrian Evans said:
The revo controller was made for ping pong, it was not made for lawsuits from Jack Thompson.

Bottom line is that Rockstar would help bury the kiddy image and shift consoles. Revolution is about all access gaming, and that includes those who like GTA.

MattEvansC3 24.04.2006#6

Bottom line is that Rockstar would help bury the kiddy image

under a hundred tonne stack of lawsuits.

xeke 24.04.2006#7

Any publicity is good publicity.

Gods in His Heaven. Alls right in the World.

Revelade 24.04.2006#8

As a citizen of Europe's mightiest nation, England, the issue of worldwide launch is always going to be important. Of course, doing a Microsoft and releasing an over-priced, randomly exploding, error-ridden, under-prepared XBOX 360 is not an option for Nintendo, as Harrison points out in a somewhat sharp little dig at the competition.

I don't see why that's needed. Long writes although.

To be open-minded, one must admit the possibility that anything and everything is wrong.

OLU1701 24.04.2006#9

Seems to me as though Nintendo are pressing all the right buttons. I'm really excited about the Revo. Even more so that i was when i played the Gamecube a few weeks beofre it was offically launched here in the U.K.
They actually spoke to Rockstar? wow. I'm going to support Nintentendo no matter what and fans under pressure from they're playstation only buddies show stay true and do the same. I have a feeling that if Nintendo get they're ducks in a row, this next gen there's going to be a huge and unexpected upset.

jb 24.04.2006#10

I really do hope this is the generation for Nintendo. The Revolution, from what we've seen and heard, seems like a very strong contender.

It appears to have reasonable specs and a strong concept in what it's capable of doing. However, we can't really say whether it'll be a major sucess or big flop until we've seen more on what it does and even given it a go.

Good to see Nintendo getting out there and seeking opportunities and deals with different developers, and it's always nice to read about some developer or other saying positive things about the Revolution.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

Mr. T 24.04.2006#11

The thing about England was just a joke, that's just how Hound is written. Don't take things so seriously Smilie

Yup, Rockstar and EA are also mentioned in the interview, I would have shoved them in the article, but I was running out of patience and the points he made about them were a bit tedious and vague. Still, it all makes for interesting reading and opens up some big questions to be answered at E3!

Trying to think of a witty signature after 'Hacker-gate'...

Ski 24.04.2006#12

Cheers Hound, nice read 'dawg'.

Badger 24.04.2006#13

Very good article their James, its nice to see that for once nintendo is being realistic, understanding the problems and taking a nintendo approach to it.

Just thinking about some of the above comments, would it be so good if RockStar made GTA games on the revo? I don't think it would bury the kiddy image nintendo has, and even if it did would this be a good thing for nintendo?

Nobody who wants GTA is going to get it on a nintendo console, if you want GTA you go PS3. For example, the xbox versions of vice city and Gta III didnt sell amazingly well.
Also if nintendo did manage to shake the childish image, that'd mean it'd isolate nintendo in a position of no casual gamers wanting the console as before, and now the image of it being a safe console that parents may want for the very young children perhaps would be lost. Looks like a lose-lose situation to me.