Nintendo: We Would Be Embarrassed To Be Sony, Microsoft

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The (in)famous Reggie Fils-Aime, CEO of Nintendo America, sat down with blog Kotaku and gave a candid interview on his opinions on the PlayStation Move, Xbox’s Project Natal, and the possibility of a high-def variant of the Wii coming anytime soon. While Nintendo is interested in high-def video, Reggie says, that “high definition by itself is not the next frontier.”

Reggie says that for Nintendo to work on a new console, it would need something new to create a compelling user experience. He admitted that some important people at Nintendo, namely Satoru Iwata (Nintendo’s president) and Shigeru Miyamoto (Famed Nintendo developer behind Mario, Zelda, others), have voiced an interest in a high-def console.

Despite that, don’t expect a high-def console anytime soon. Mr. Fils-Aime: “[But] to be 120 percent crystal clear, HD by itself in our view is not enough to go for a new console past the Wii.” He says that Nintendo’s next console will be something “consistent with what we brought to market with Wii and with DS.”

Of course, Sony and Microsoft have been moving in on the motion-control market. The PlayStation Move, Sony’s Wii-like motion controller add-on, was unveiled last week at GDC. Project Natal, Microsoft’s controller-less motion control add-on, has been demoed and rumored forever and is expected to be released this holiday season.

On the Natal and Move, Reggie said: “I think a hallmark of Nintendo is that we are constantly trying to innovate, I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing.”

Definitely some candid comments from the Nintendo boss. The rumors of a Wii 2 or Wii HD have been circulating for a while, and I think Mr. Fils-Aime has just put them to bed.