Nintendo discussed at a corporate briefing last week their views on high definition graphics and development costs for the future. While accepting that HD is becoming a standard, Nintendo acknowledged the strain it is putting on development.
This along with other subjects were discussed at their semi-annual financial results briefing on October 30th. The briefing transcript was originally only available online in Japanese until Nintendo’s full translation became available today.
Past partial translations from places like the NeoGAF forums gleamed small details on subjects including Nintendo an HD game development in the future.
It was previously reported that Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t believe high definition graphics were appropriate for all games. “It must depend on each [piece of] software,” he said regarding HD and SD graphics.
“For example, we have to ask ourselves if HD is really necessary to develop Wii Fit,” Miyamoto said. “Won’t HD be better for the games like Pikmin?” he said on the other hand.
Nintendo’s official translation has added that they intend to simply make it easier for developers to make that choice. “To Nintendo, our theme is how we can prepare the SDK library to cater to the needs of the developers, with which the developers can more easily develop their games.”
Might Nintendo simply offer developers a choice between HD and SD on future hardware instead of requiring HD like Sony and Microsoft have?
An Xbox360 developer confirmed to site develop that Microsoft recently lifted their minimum mandate of 720p resolution and 2x AA for Xbox 360 games.
All of this from Nintendo was in response to questions at the briefing suggesting that HD development was getting too expensive. Nintendo was asked if they might simply create SD games and upscale them to HD in the future.
Nintendo Integrated Research and Development General Manager Genyo Takeda said that they want to find a balanced solution.
“We have not come to the stage where we can announce which is the most appropriate means,” he said. “If we can find out the most appropriate medium, between SD and HD, and flexibly move around them depending on the game’s contents, it will be good, I think.”
Nintendo however also accepts that pretty soon HD will become an undeniable standard.
“Since the ordinary TV programs are now shifting to HD, moving to HD appears to me a natural flow,” said Takeda.
“We probably cannot swim against the tide,” Miyamoto said. “When the majority of people around us say it is OK, we are content with the situation.”
