When will Nintendo join us in enjoying the clarity of high-definition? While it's had impressive, money-printing success with the Wii, twice as powerful as any GameCube, it's going to have to step things up graphically at some point. Right?
Nintendo execs were asked when the company plans to make the move to high-definition graphics, joining the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in pushing more polygons, more pixels and more everything else. Not surprisingly, Nintendo is taking things cautiously, trying to find the balance between SD and HD content.
First to weigh in is Genyo Takeda, general manager of Nintendo's Integrated Research and Development Division. He says his group has been "reviewing and developing a number of hardware [options]... including HD and SD."
"However, we have not come to the stage where we can announce which is the most appropriate means," Takeda says."Since an increasing number of the TV sets at home around the world are becoming HD today, it will be natural for a machine to be able to generate graphics that people will be accustomed to see on HD televisions."
He adds that "moving to HD appears to me a natural flow."
Famed game designer Shigeru Miyamoto also offered his opinion about entering the HD era, implying that the decision is game dependent.
"Regarding the question of SD or HD, it must depend on each software," Miyamoto said. "For example, we have to ask ourselves if HD is really necessary to develop Wii Fit. Won't HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make."
The full response is an intimidating wall of text, from Takeda, Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, one that may be designed to confuse rather than inform. If you can decipher it, let us know what their plans are, OK? Thanks.