For all the talk about Microsoft's Project Natal, one man isn't impressed -- in fact, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told the Financial Times that he's quite literally seen it before. Or, at least, he's seen motion-sensing cameras before.

Iwata told FT that Nintendo had previously experimented with camera-based motion sensing, but found better results with the accelerometers that became the basis of the Wii Remote. "Until they say when they're releasing it, how much it costs and what software it comes with," Iwata said, "we won't know whether that is the route we should have taken. However . . . I think they couldn't choose to release exactly the same thing."

Of course, it must be noted that pretty much everyone has seen motion-sensing cameras in games before, because Sony sold a lot of them starting in 2003. The idea isn't new, and thus it's not at all surprising that Nintendo has tried it. It's even less surprising that Iwata is psyching out Microsoft by downplaying the technology.

[Via Seattle PI]

Nintendo's strategy for the DSi has evolved from "one DS per household" to "one DS per person." This slide from Satoru Iwata's fiscal year 2008 financial results briefing demonstrates just how frighteningly close Nintendo has come to that goal in Japan.

According to the chart, 26.1million DS systems have been purchased in Japan, or 20.5% of the population of the country. That means that if each DS belonged to one person, one fifth of Japan would own a DS. Of course, each DS doesn't belong to one person -- people who bought DS Phats re-bought Lites and then DSis; and no doubt many people bought second systems for a new color scheme or a limited-edition, or to replace a broken system. Regardless, the DS has undeniably made its mark on Japanese society.

The US and Europe, on the other hand, have almost reached ten percent market penetration each. Just ten percent? That's merely outstanding -- what a disappointment for Nintendo.

[Via Kotaku]

Satoru Iwata has announced both Japanese and Western release windows for Wii Sports Resort, and thus we can assume for the required MotionPlus peripheral as well. The sequel to the Wii launch title will be out in Japan this June, with an "overseas" release the following month, according to Reuters' account of statements made at a lunch meeting. No pricing was announced. The July release is completely in line with the rumored European date called "rumor and speculation" by NoE.

The Nintendo president named Wii Sports Resort as a measure to combat the Japanese Wii market's current slowdown (a situation he described as "the most unhealthy situation since its launch in Japan.") He denied that Nintendo would cut Wii prices in order to increase sales, saying, "If our products are not much different from competitors', price cuts would generate significant fresh demand. But video games are just not that kind of product."

Nintendo's latest Iwata Asks interview puts the surprisingly small Rhythm Heaven team in the universally awkward position of being interviewed by their employer. The five-person team turns out to be every bit as quirky as the game.

Project lead Kazuyoshi Osawa, for example, said he "agonized" over the DS control scheme for about six months. Apparently, he wasn't exaggerating -- other team members noticed. "Yeah, he was in grueling agony for quite some time," said Kou Takeuchi. Osawa said that Masami Yone helps him cheer up by sending him pictures of kittens (an unauthorized use of company e-mail for which the two were semi-jokingly admonished by Iwata).

Oh, and there's also a lot of discussion of the Game Boy Advance, arcade, and DS games and their development, including details of producer Tsunku's involvement. But the adorable interaction between the team is the real draw here.

At his GDC 2009 keynote, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will announce, Apple-style, that a Wii Shop Channel update will be available to all. We ran over to the Wii and began the agonizing update process to discover -- an "SD Card Menu" ...? Yes, it would seem that the vaunted "storage solution" has arrived.

"Welcome to the SD Card Menu! Here, you can launch channels saved on SD Cards by temporarily utilizing the Wii System Memory." CONFIRMED. That's right, launch from SD.

If your system memory is full, you still have to delete stuff, but there's now a streamlined, automated process to do that from this new SD Card Menu. It will even choose stuff for you, if you want.

Update: The new Wii system update also adds support for SDHC cards up to 32 GB -- that's alotta Virtual Console games folks!

Last month, Nintendo announced the formation of Project Sora, a new studio created from the combination of Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai's Sora Ltd. and a pile of Nintendo's money. This week, the new company took out a full-page ad in Famitsu seeking new employees.

The ad reiterates that Sora is working on "something that Nintendo can't create by themselves." Nintendo president Satoru Iwata also has quotes in the ad, which provide one small detail: "I am asking for something special here, something that isn't Smash Bros.," Iwata says. While it's entirely possible Sora or another studio is also working on another Smash Bros. title, the mysterious game that the developer is focusing on right now is something else. We don't even know which system it will involve!

As of the end of last year, the Nintendo DS had sold 96.22 million units around the world. Since it continues to sell, it should be no surprise, then, that the handheld has now achieved the ginormous 100 million milestone. According to a press release sent out today by Nintendo, the 100 millionth DS system was sold on March 6. Did you buy a DS on March 6? You could have a piece of history! And you'll never know.

The worldwide DSi launch next month should only speed the rate of sales for the handheld. That number is only going to get crazier. It seems likely to pass the PlayStation's 102 million this year, on the way to overtaking the Game Boy/Color's 118 million!

Update: after the break, a graph of worldwide DS sales, sent along with Nintendo of America's press release about the milestone.

Though the DSi's inclusion of music playback functionality and a digital camera may make it seem like Nintendo is attempting to compete with other multimedia devices (particularly ones whose brand names begin with a lowercase 'i'), this really isn't the case. At least, that's the sentiment of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who recently talked up the re-redesigned handheld in the latest installment of "Iwata Asks."

Reaffirming a similar statement made around the announcement of the DSi, Iwata said Nintendo "doesn't have any intention of directly competing with existing products" such as cell phones or iPods, adding that the media has a tendency to make up inter-corporate rivalries that don't really exist (Panasonic vs. Atari! More at 11!). Sounds like Nintendo, the undeniable big fish in the small pond of handheld gaming, is hesitant to enter the vast, lucrative ocean of multimedia gadgetry.

[Via 1UP]

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has no problem admitting Wii Music didn't live up to the company's expectations, but he doesn't want you to consider it a failure, either. During a recent Q&A session, he spoke about the company's hopes regarding Wii Music, as well as the difficulty Nintendo has had with consumer reception.

"There are people who highly appreciate it and those who do not appreciate it at all," Iwata said, adding that perceptions can be changed. It's all about word of mouth to him, as he said, "A cycle is born where people who have hands-on experience can immediately understand its appeal, easily explain the positive experience they had to those around them, who then spread that information to the others." That works, unless you're a blog who pretty unanimously hated it and told everyone how you felt.

With Wii Music, the company was never able to achieve this "positive cycle," and Iwata says Nintendo now needs to "reevaluate" why it hasn't been able to "clear that hurdle." Nintendo, here's a protip from us: Emphasize that it has a dog suit and beatboxing. You might sell a few extra copies if you push that.

Following last week's Nintendo financial report, the company has just posted a translation of the investor Q&A session with president Satoru Iwata. Iwata had plenty to say -- there is a very high ratio of A to Q.

Talking about the downward revision of sales forecasts, Iwata classified the Japanese market as "?the least robust market in the world today with regard to home console systems," due in part to an "an overall lifestyle shift where many forms of entertainment are enjoyed while on the go or during spare time."

Moving on to the worldwide market, Iwata expressed an interest in developing new products to appeal more to Western interests. He revealed that Nintendo is "working on U.S. and Europe-originated Touch Generations products, which may have a smaller demand in Japan than overseas." "One or two" of these new games will be out this year. He also revealed that the hit Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode would be released internationally.

Iwata confirmed that the DSi will not sell for the same price as the DS Lite in America and Europe, citing "current foreign currency exchange rates." He did not identify specific prices.

The SD storage update, which allows downloaded content to be saved directly to SD, is still on the way in the spring, but Iwata did not date it. He said that the program Nintendo announced for Japan, offering 500 Wii Points to customers who help friends take their Wiis online, would start concurrently with this update.

If the standard laws of the five-year console cycle apply to Nintendo's money-printing handheld, then said laws would dictate that the lifespan of the Nintendo DS (in its many, many forms) is nearing its end. The system's current install base of 84.1 million across the U.S., Japan and Europe is hardly anything to scoff at, and would certainly earn the device some form of lifetime achievement award at its retirement gala -- but according to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the DS will break the standard five-year cycle, and further expand its install base in the years to come.

Iwata claims that should interest in the DS expand in the U.S. and Europe as it did in Japan (where nearly one in every five people currently tote the handheld), the system's install base will nearly double -- his estimate for the handheld's final tally is a nice, round 152.2 million units. That's ... a pretty specific number. We're not usually one for conspiracy theories, but we're wondering if that estimate isn't, you know, time machine-assisted.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata will be putting his oratorical skills to the test, delivering a keynote entitled "Discovering New Development Opportunities" at this year's Game Developers Conference. There are no other details provided, and trying to discern any surprise announcements based on that speech title is pretty much a fruitless endeavor.

Iwata last gave a GDC keynote in 2006, when he showed Brain Age and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Company man Miyamoto gave the 2007 speech and revealed ... the Everybody Votes Channel. As for last year, the House of Mario's presence was limited to a handful of sessions. Get your bingo cards ready, Iwata's keynote is set for Monday, March 25 at 9 a.m. PST (that's noon, Joystiq Standard Time).

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has dispelled rumblings that the global games market has become over saturated with the DS Lite, hence the roll-out of the DSi. In an interview with Japanese paper Daily Yumiuri, Iwata pointed out that, for example, only 18% of people in Japan own a DS.

"Some say the market for the DS is saturated, but I disagree. In Japan, a country with a population of 127 million, we've sold 23 million DS units," he told the paper. "The United States is inhabited by over 300 million people, and there are more than 490 million people in the European Union. Sales of the product could grow further in foreign countries considering their populations." That's a big blue ocean.

So then, DS won't die until every last man, woman, and child on Earth owns one. Or something like that. Oh, and a DSi. Iwata's dream is of a world where "each family member will have his or her own DSi with their favorite software installed." That's a big dream.

[Via Edge Online]

Behold what the Wii can do when it's actually available to shoppers. During last year's Thanksgiving holiday week, the console shifted 350,000 units in the U.S., even though shortages were pretty major at the time. With more Wiis in stores this year, that number jumped to 800,000. In a single freakin' week. To put that in perspective, Nintendo sold 803,000 Wiis in the whole of October. Italics. Yikes.

Satoru Iwata broke the happy news in an interview with Reuters, adding that "When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wishlist. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list. Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list." That's a pretty sizeable "nyah!" to the competition.

[Via Joystiq]