Future console planned, but life in Cube yet

News - Reports of hardware-withdrawal prove wrong

Reports emerging in the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun appear to have been more than a little exaggerated - jumping on comments made by Nintendo's Satoru Iwata that "Customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current model," and that other GameCube peripherals are Nintendo's focus for the next couple of years. The press seized this information and have since been circulating stories claiming that Nintendo have withdrawn from the hardware market - something the firm was quick to refute.

"We are staying in the hardware business. We're working on our next generation console system and it will launch it at the same time as our competitors," commented Nintendo of America PR director Beth Llewellyn. "We're in this business for the long term. We're not getting out of the hardware business," she also told GameSpot.

"Other companies aren't expected to come out with next-generation consoles until late 2005 or 2006, and Nintendo will be launching its next-generation unit around the same time," added Llewellyn's Japanese counterpart Yasuhiro Minagawa.

So, Nintendo have been quick to deny this report, stating that "much of the Nikkei article is speculation," and that a launch around 2006 is still likely, despite the company confirming their "focus remains entertainment and gameplay versus chasing after technology that doesn't truly enhance the gameplay experience". So, nothing has changed basically, and we were all getting excited over nothing. Ho-hum.

On another topic which was more than a little lost amongst future console conjecture, was Iwata's comments upon peripherals Nintendo plan on launching to expand the life of the GameCube. No specifics were confirmed, but rumour has it these additions will add to the gameplay, and may even include further GBA-linking peripherals and something involving the Nintendo DS. Whatever they be, these new gizmos are planned to launch in 2005 and may well be confirmed at E3 in May. More news as we get it.