Ninty wants WoW factor on Revolution

A Nintendo executive has started hinting that the company wants World Of Warcraft-style massively multiplayer online games to appear on its next-gen console, Revolution.

"I hope [MMOs] are really explored on this system. That's a genre, from the home console standpoint, that really hasn't been explored very well," Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, told CNN recently.

And while Reggie was daydreaming so publicly about getting the big N on the net, his boss was also talking to CNN about pushing Ninty into areas where it doesn't normally venture – first-person shooters.

"I was a developer for many years before my current role, but I've never been a very good gamer," confided Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. He continued, "I've never been able to control a first-person shooter, but as soon as I used the Revolution controller, I found it very easy to control the game. So, I think that's a genre that's particularly well suited for the controller".

Which, if you can get past the fact that the head of one of the world's largest software companies is bobbins with a pad, again hints that Nintendo is looking to make another move into almost uncharted territory with Revolution.

All we need now is for someone to say 'realistic racing game' and the whole gaming world will probably burst into flames, and then fall over. But don't rule it out because, as Reggie says, "It's fair to say that we have a number of things that we will begin unveiling leading up to next year's E3".

Nintendo will release Revolution in 2006.