E3 2010: Techland Interviews Nintendo President Satoru Iwata

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What do you see as Nintendo’s mission as a content creator?

At Nintendo, we believe our mission is to try to expand the gaming population. In order to expand the gaming population, I think several things are necessary. These are the Nintendo challenges: To those who have never played with video games, we need to make experiences that [will make them] interested.  And for those who are not very good at video games even though they’re playing them, we need to make it so that they can become better and better. [so] they feel like they can play with veteran game players together in the same game.  And eventually, we want them to be skillful, to become the veteran game players.  And for those lapsed players, those who used to play before but who are not playing anymore, we need to interest them into become gamers once again.

(More on Techland: Jumping to a New Level: Techland Reviews Super Mario Galaxy 2)

Of course, it’s the consumers who are going to decide whether or not they are willing to take up Nintendo’s efforts, but we don’t want to stop these efforts to expand the gaming population. By doing so, we hope the consumers are going to think of Nintendo as the company trying to continuously provide them with some innovative ideas and proposals. The term “innovative” or “innovation” is often vague or ambiguous.  But in our definition, innovation means to make something which people think impossible possible.

I want to talk about 3D a little bit. Do you feel like there might be cultural differences between America and Japan about how the consumer desire for 3D? Is the Japanese film industry as crazy for 3D as Hollywood is here?

I think the business success of Avatar actually set off the Japanese movie creators’ spirits and a lot of them are now saying that, okay, this is the year for the 3D movies.

Okay, but do you feel like the Japanese consumer is excited as well or you think it might be different here in America?

I think that 3D itself has definite appeal to anybody.  It [acts on] a kind of instinct [inside of us].  But Japanese households in general are much more smaller than your houses.  And because of that, our houses are not very good for the huge screens that are better for the 3D viewing.

But, as for my objective view as to when 3D TV sets are going to become widely available at general households, I have to say it is going to take some  time. It’s one of those typical controversies, I guess.  On one hand, the hardware manufacturers probably may be complaining about a lack of 3D content, while the software manufacturers might be complaining about a very small install base of 3DTVs. And adding to that is the issue of the special glasses.  The Nintendo 3DS is actually a combination of a gaming device AND a display which supports 3D viewing. We’re offering this kind of integrated system without the need to wear any special glasses and I think it’s one of the answers for that issue. We think Nintendo 3DS can be an instant 3D solution that has the possibility of widespread availability [compared to] the possible spread of 3D TVs.

If it’s okay, I’ll end with a personal question.  Will you be getting a 3D TV in your home? Are there any in the offices at Nintendo?

Actually, we’ve installed a 3D TV set in one of our headquarters’ conference rooms that I often use.  At my home, I have not purchased the 3D TV yet, but I’m one of those guys who are interested in purchasing anything new on the market.  So I think in the near future, I’m going to buy one.

(More on Techland: Would You Read Books In 3D?)

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