Nintendo President says VR is not fun

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I watched A video on IGN today that quoted The president Of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-aime on his thoughts about Virtual Reality. Basically what he said was he wasn't impressed with VR and thinks it takes away from the social aspect of gaming.

I'm ok with Nintendo skipping VR with Codename NX as long as they make it powerful with minimal gimmicks
as well as having a traditional online experience(but we will see how that goes).
What do you all think about Virtual Reality?
I'm still definitely going to try project Morpheus when it comes out on PS4.

It's Nintendo. There will be a gimmick. No idea WHAT, but it'll be there. Hell, at this point, I cant remember the last time they DIDNT use a gimmick. No, wait, it had to be the Gamecube, right?

Either way thought, honestly, I'm not impressed with VR either. If I have to wear some damn silly helmet or visor or whatever, well, I'm really not interested. All it is is just another bit of evidence that the industry has gone down a path I hate, further and further with the all-consuming obsession with graphics. I'll just stay away from it, I think. Unnecessary.

I won't care about VR until we have real life Holodecks.....

Actually every Nintendo console has been hated for having a gimmick by developers and many consumers...


Gimmicks on each Nintendo System:

NES - D-pad and A/B buttons
They were decried as gimmicks because it was vastly different than what Atari and the rest were doing)

GB - Monochrome screen and only TWO buttons... Remember how Sega and Atari's handhelds were going to crush it because they were in color with better specs and more buttons.

SNES - Triggers and diamond placed ABXY face buttons
SNES was made fun of for having too many buttons and forcing them on consumers who didn't want them!

N64 - Analog stick, 3D graphics, Z-trigger, C- buttons, expansion port on the controller and RAM expansion port.
Developers and gamers were decrying the Analog stick as stupid gimmick that would not catch on and ruin games
They also state there was no need for Z-trigger and C-buttons, because it made the controller too complex
Also 3D graphics weren't well received by a large amount of developers and consumers.

GBC - It had a color screen!

GBA - it was primarily a 2D system, GCN connectivity, still used carts, had no XY buttons, no rumble.
Despite being killed after the 3rd year due to the impending PSP, it went down as the kiddiest GB ever and developers didn't like developing for it.

GCN - mini discs, GBA connectivity, clickable analog triggers, face button layout, the position of the D-pad and Z-trigger.
It was mocked for the kiddy sized discs, GBA connectivity (which PS3 had with PSP and it was seen as a great leap forward). Also people didn't like the clickable triggers and hated the controller as gimmicky.

DS - Dual screens, full backlit screen, lack of rumble, N64+ graphics, dual screen play, no analog stick, no rumble, used a variation of SD cards, while PSP used superior optical discs and graphics.
PSP was expected to crush DS because it was true next gen technology while DS was hated for focusing on gimmicks!

Wii - motion controls, SD graphics, SD card slot, USB ports, pointer controls, controller layout, split controller, controller accessories, dual disc reading drive (it had special disc drive in the first two models that allowed GC discs to be read), Miis, etc...

The Wii was hated from hell and back for all of it's gimmicks, library (which had less casual software than PS2 and loads of decent mid tier games), controller, use of a DVD variation (despite Xbox 360 doing the same), lacking of AAA/hardcore games.

3DS - 3D, analog slider, still using a variation of SD cards, the OS, system wide friends codes, still having dual screens etc...

3DS was hated for being a hugely gimmicky system and was expected to lose to the traditional/hardcore Vita!

Wii U - Gamepad (Despite having all the traditional controls + screen), Pro controller (yeah this is considered gimmicky), headphone jack on the gamepad (yeah PS4 and Xbox One copied this), NFC, speakers on the gamepad, off-TV play, camera and mic in the gamepad, TV controller function, TVii, Miiverse, Nintendo Network IDs (yeah these are considered gimmicky rip off of PSN), etc...

As of right now nearly all of Nintendo's gimmicks have become industry standards and incorporated by the competition, including Motion and Touch controls!

The only gimmicks that haven't been adopted are NFC readers, built in camera and mic, TV controller function, TVii, true off TV play, true off TV play (Sony's version requires good WIFI connection and ISPs), and true dual screens.

So yeah ever Nintendo system to date has been belittled and hated for having gimmicks.

Sony's gimmicks:

PS1 - CD audio play (yeah Sony marketed PS1 as a full quality CD player), copy of the SNES controller, controller with 1 analog stick followed by the first dual shock (yeah PS1 had 3 controllers by 2000!)

PS2 - DVD playback (yeah Sony sold the system as a true DVD player with gaming functions), dual shock 2, PS2 external HDD, PSEYE, Toy Story Graphics!

PS3 - Blu-ray playback (yeah Sony advertised this as the first console that was true HD multimedia player rarely mentioning games), PSN, PSN+, Sixaxis, lack of rumble, 1080p gaming, etc... Hell PS3 had two controllers in the end.

PS4 - 4k content (marketed as a complete HD multimedia player despite lacking the features), lacks CD audio playback, touch panel on the DS4, headphone jack on DS4, Off-TV play using Vita and your internet connection, Streaming from your PC (it can do it now!), removable hard drive, SEN, PS Vue, PS Now, etc...

PSP -UMDs (optical discs), PS3-PSP connectivity (they claimed it was the first time a console and handheld did it), PSN, console gaming on the go

Vita - touch panels on the back, dual analog, proprietary memory cards (different from PSP), video cam built in, dynamic friends list, Near, PS3 games on the go, etc...

Sega's gimmicks:

Master System wonky controller

Genesis/Mega drive - tons of accessories including a CD player, banana shaped 3 button controller, second controller featuring 6 buttons arcade style, headphone jack on the first model, blasting process, etc...

Saturn - dual processors, USB controller (They existed), two different controllers, too advanced hardware, LAN play, etc...

Dreamcast - used a special format for games, came with Windows CE, expansion ports on the controller, second screen on the memory cards (VMU), mini games to play on the VMU, online play, DLC, the first console MMO, etc...
Dreamcast was ahead of it's time on many fronts.

Microsoft's gimmicks:

Xbox - first console to have a built in hard drive, XBL, DLC, etc...
Xbox 360 - first to have downloadable games, party chat, Kinect, proprietary hard drives and memory cards, first console to have multiple SKUs at launch, first console to be in full HD, etc...

Xbox One - Kinect voice commands and video chat, Windows OS kernel, first console to run full Windows (this year with 10), first console to actually be an all in one entertainment system, $100M spent on a true next gen controller (yeah they spent that much on the Xbox One controller), the first console to have a modable controller (Xbox Elite at $150), other digital features etc...

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As for VR it is currently extremely expensive and relatively solitary experience with little developer support.
Most VR sets use motion controls for their input method...
They also require extreme high end PCs to run them.

Morpheus requires PS Move controllers, PSEye camera, and I think something else to operate it.

Will VR be dead on arrival? No, it just won't take off big for gaming, it will find it's place in certain industries.
There is no way in hell all those gamers who opposed motion controls will finally accept them to play VR.

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As for Reggie FOR THE UPTENH TIME HE IS NOT PRESIDENT OF NINTENDO OF AMERICA!! !
He is merely COO of Nintendo of America and was demoted during the Wii era to that post.

THE CURRENT PRESIDENT OF NINTENDO OF AMERICA IS Satoru Iwata who is also the President/CEO of Nintendo as a whole!

So the title is horrible wrong!

....ugh. You're right. I hadnt really thought of it like that. I'd totally forgotten about the things like the weird GBA connectivity with the Gamecube thing. I remember that. And the less said about the N64 controller, the better. I never really disliked the thing when using it, but still, I always wondered just how they came up with it.

And I'm curious, what are the sales numbers and such of the 3DS VS the Vita? I hear all the time about the actual consoles and how that competition is going, but I dont recall hearing much (at least not recently) about those two.

3DS = ~52M as of April 1st (Nintendo is having their year end shareholder meeting on June 26th Japan time)
Vita = less than 8 million worldwide in numbers shipped, probably closer to 4 million in total sales.
SCEA and SCEE refused to push and support it, hence the bad sales (memory card prices didn't help either).

N64 controller was created the way it was to give developers the option of existing 2D controls and the option of using 3D analog controls.
So if 3D and analog failed, Nintendo could fall back on D-pad.

I would also prefer not to wear goggles or a helmet while I play games. It doesn't sound very relaxing, although I suppose I can understand the appeal of increased immersion.

I guess your right I just don't Know what Nintendo could possibly come up with next.

Hey sorry XenoCity Didn't realize Reggie was only COO of Nintendo of America.
Didn't' mean to upset anyone.

I'm not upset, just annoyed!

Nintendo promises they are working on something completely new!

I remember back in the 90s, virtual reality sounded super awesome. I always had that image from the movies, where VR would be integrated onto the Internet, and you would have your own avatar and literally explore cyberspace. Sort of like Johnny Mnemonic mixed with The Ghost in the Machine. Maybe that's what Reggie was expecting too (hence, the "social" aspect).

I've never heard that one before, GBA is actually super easy to develop for.

Just because a platform is easy to develop for, doesn't mean developers like developing for it.

Developers purposely avoided the GBA because it was perceived as kiddy system next to the hardcore PS2.

Frankly, as good as video graphics have become, VR just won't be a selling point until it can at least match the graphic experience of monitors. Get a huge flat-screen and good headphones, and it's pretty immersive.

Coming from the head of the company that brought us

The GBA has a pretty big software library for a system that was avoided by third party developers. If you compare it with the Sega Game Gear or the Atari Lynx or even the N64 or the Dreamcast, the GBA has a very impressive catalogue.

And one of the things that makes Nintendo great is that they don't follow the crowd. They stay behind and do things their way.

In its present implementations I find nothing compelling about VR; but I do look forward to seeing what it has to offer in 5-6 years.