E3 06: Iwata: First-party Revolution games <$50, hints at HDD

When it unveiled the pricing scheme for Xbox 360 games, Microsoft confirmed many gamers' fears that third-party games for the console would cost $59.99. However, the company marked down three first-party games--Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero, and Kameo: Elements of Power--keeping them at the traditional price point of $49.99.

Now, Nintendo executives have revealed that they will also be keeping the cost of their first-party next-generation games below $59.99. Speaking with CNN/Money, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said he "cannot imagine any first party [next-gen] title could be priced for more than $50." The company has already said that its next-gen console, the Revolution, will be cheaper than its rivals.

"In the US, we're going to see the next-generation cost an awful lot," Iwata told the site. "I really don't think that there's going to be a lot of acceptance by current customers of the $60 price tag. They may allow that for a limited number of premium titles, but not all."

During the interview, Iwata also touched on worries about the Revolution's very limited built-in storage capacity. In its current form factor, the console will come with only 512MB of flash memory. Nintendo intends to digitally distribute games from its classic NES, SNES, and N64 consoles, the largest of which clock in at around 70MB in size, but has not announced plans for a hard drive peripheral.

Iwata told CNN/Money that concerns over the Revolution's built-in storage capacity would "be addressed" at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, he pointed out that the console has slots for SD Cards, which can currently store up to 4GB of memory apiece. He also reminded interviewer Chris Morris that the console has several USB ports, meaning an external hard drive is a distinct possibility.