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Miyamoto: Link's Crossbow Training is FPS Training

Now that Link's Crossbow Training is coming out in the region that matters (Japan), Nintendo has begun promoting it with one of their "Iwata Asks" interview series. This time, Shigeru Miyamoto is back in the hot seat -- and at the beginning of the interview, he expresses surprise that producers Takashi Tezuka and Eiji Aonuma aren't there as well.

Right away, the surprises begin. Describing his motivation for Link's Crossbow Training, which he sees as an introduction to the FPS genre, Miyamoto reveals himself to be an FPS fan: "I've always been into first person shooter (FPS) style games, 3D games in which you can walk around freely and see things from your own point of view. " He describes the perspective as "more comfortable, more natural," and then upturns the interview's tea table, saying that he originally wanted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to be in first-person.

Since this is an interview between Iwata and Miyamoto, you know that can't be the only awesome quote. There's a bit in there about explaining Link's gun use with a Terminator-esque story. You should really just go read the whole thing.

Iwata on Microsoft's rumored Wiimote rival: 'Pft.'

Speculation that Microsoft may be about to launch a rival to the Wii Remote started early last month, yet Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's thoughts on the matter have only publicly emerged now. His verdict? A resounding, distinctly unimpressed "Meh."

Well, we're paraphrasing a bit there, but it's more or less what he meant. "We are not concerned about what other companies may do," Iwata told an audience of investors. "[We're] rather more concerned with presenting [...] new ideas to our customers based on the prospect that our existing customers will surely get tired of [gameplay] enabled by the Wii Remote if we do not try to improve the experience."

Rather than fret over what Microsoft and Sony get up to, Iwata says he'd prefer that Nintendo concentrated on producing more "new surprises" for consumers. Or, to put it another way, keep one step ahead of the competition, and they'll never catch you.

[Via Develop]

Iwata: We're looking into the Flash Memory situation

Yes, you read that title correctly. The dire situation regarding every Wii owner not having enough storage space is being considered by the Big N, so you can all bet we're happy campers. While Nintendo president Satoru Iwata doesn't come out and say that Nintendo is working on a hard drive for the console, or some other solution, he does say enough to get our hopes up for some sort of memory expansion (or support for external hard drives through USB).

"Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory," says Iwata. "However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience." Interesting bit in that last line, if we may say so.

We all know that being able to re-download something just isn't a good enough solution because, well, it's a total pain. But, if Nintendo can come up with a solution to our storage space issues that doesn't provide us with a hard drive to buy or support for USB external drives, we'll be fine with it. We just need something to help us eliminate the chore of moving things around each and every week.

[Via IGN; Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

World: 'How about a Wii price cut, then?' Nintendo: 'Ahahahaha'

Looks like we'll be waiting a little while longer for any price cut on the Wii. As in, until 2009. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has revealed to analysts that no price cut is planned for either the Wii or DS this year, and while both consoles are selling out pretty much everywhere, we can't say we're bowled over by that decision.

As yesterday's financial report demonstrated, Nintendo's practically bathing in money, and it expects to make plenty more over the coming twelve months -- $5.14 billion of it, to be precise. If you are still searching for a Wii, looks like you won't even have the consolation of paying a non-launch price!

[Via Joystiq]

Iwata Asks: Mario Kart Wii


After Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii has become the latest title to appear in the excellent "Iwata Asks:" series of interviews. Featuring producer Hideki Konno, Wii Wheel project leader Kenichiro Ashida, and Shigeru Miyamoto (in fully relaxed, shirt-open mode) getting grilled by Satoru Iwata, it's a treasure trove of information for Mario Kart enthusiasts.

Alongside an enjoyably lengthy dissection of the series' history, there's also discussion about Mario Kart Wii's online play. The online matchmaking in particular sounds a treat, in that it allows players to join a race once it's finished, thus avoiding races becoming one-on-one affairs (as so frequently happened in Mario Kart DS). Players can use the Mario Kart Channel to check which of their friends are currently playing online, and even join them instantly.

Producer Konno and Miyamoto also explained the decision to include bikes in this game, with Konno admitting that his own hobbies influenced the choice, and Miyamoto stating that the bikes are there to "make the world of Mario a little more for boys [by] adding an extreme-like element to the game." (Apparently, the title was originally known as "Mario Kart X," with the "X" taken from "extreme")

Finally, we hear more on the Wii Wheel, and the reasoning behind it. As expected, the peripheral is designed to make Mario Kart more approachable than ever before, and project leader Kenichiro Ashida reportedly created "about thirty" prototypes (many of which you can see in our gallery). Oh, and he even made gold and black versions -- just for the hell of it. Do want!


Gallery: The Evolution of the Wii Wheel

Iwata asks about Wii Fit, Volume 4

The fourth and final segment of Iwata Asks deals with an often overlooked part of gaming -- sound. The interview also focuses on the design and planning of Wii Fit.

Three of the people Iwata questioned had previously worked on Zelda games, which (as you can imagine) are completely different than Wii Fit. Toru Minegishi talks about the challenges when making music for Wii Fit as opposed to Zelda, which was our favorite part of the interview.

For some interesting anecdotes, and to know what some of the developers' favorite things about Wii Fit are, make sure to hit up the last Iwata Asks, Wii Fit edition.

Gallery: Wii Fit

GDC08: Ubisoft treated like an internal Nintendo team

Apparently, developing a "strong, obvious, and accessible" game for the casual crowd will get you treated like an internal team by Nintendo.

GameDaily BIZ reports that Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoru Iwata, two of the biggest Nintendo bigwigs out there, showered praise on Ubisoft for My Word Coach. When the game was still in development, Fils-Aime told the French company, "You got it. You guys got exactly the type of game we want for this machine." It was Iwata, though, who told Ubisoft that they would be treated as an internal team from now on.

While we're happy for Ubi, we're not sure what to think about Nintendo's enthusiasm. Yes, we get it, they love the casual gamer. But how about us crusty, old, core gamers? Show more developers some appreciation for creating great, non-casual games, please -- or we might just get a complex.

[Via Joystiq]

Iwata Asks Wii Fit: Volume 3

For those of you who just love the interviewing skills of one Nintendo pres Satoru Iwata, then you should know the next segment in the interviews revolving around Wii Fit has gone live. This time around, Iwata chats with Hiroshi Matsunaga and Tadashi Sugiyama, two folks who oversaw the software development of the game.

As you might imagine, the interview not only focuses on the introduction of the title from a developer's standpoint, but also fleshing out Miyamoto's idea to something more than an application for weighing yourself every day. Oh, and did you know that Wii Fit was originally planned as a DS game?

Iwata Asks about the Balance Board


For the second installment of Iwata Asks (the Wii Fit version), Iwata gets the nitty gritty from the developers of the Balance Board. It's pretty interesting to see what the board could have ended up looking like. Take, for example, the crazy octogan-shaped thing about. Also, whenever reading about a development process, it's almost scary to know all the problems and obstacles that the makers run into.

Of course, the developers prevailed and the Balance Board was born. From Sumo wrestlers to Miyamoto slamming a table, the interview has some nice insight on what it was like to make the unique peripheral. As per usual, click the picture or the "read" link to check it out for yourselves.

The skinny on Wii Fit is that it won't make you skinny

Once Iwata's Brawl interviews ended, we started having severe "Iwata Asks" withdrawals. Yet, we're glad we waited before turning to heroin, hash, or horse tranquilizers to fill the voids in our hearts.* Our patience was vindicated, and a few days ago Iwata once again started up his Q&A segments, this time questioning Miyamoto about Wii Fit.

If you were hoping that Wii Fit would be the answer to your love handles or scrawny limbs, though, think again. Wii Fit isn't a get-thin-quick plan, it's a life lesson. As was clarified by Miyamoto in the interview, "I don't think Wii Fit's purpose is to make you fit; what it's actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body."

Since body awareness is part of attaining a healthier lifestyle, don't be too deterred. It's possible that Wii Fit can still get you on the right track to becoming fit, if you let it. Still, at the end of the day it's just a video game, not Richard Simmons.

*Seriously -- don't do drugs. [/Public Service Announcement]

[Via CVG]

Iwata Asks Miyamoto about Wii Fit

The Iwata Asks interviews with Masahiro Sakurai were interesting not just because of the revelations about Smash Bros., but also because they reminded us that Iwata was once just some normal guy who programmed video games for HAL Laboratory. We were pleased to see another Iwata Asks so soon -- and he's interviewing Shigeru Miyamoto this time about his latest project, Wii Fit.

As usual, Wii Fit was born of one of Miyamoto's hobbies. Seeking a new, healthier way to relax, Miyamoto quit playing pachinko and took up swimming. He then started graphing his weight daily. This was the basis for the "Wii Health Pack" project, which, at first, didn't have any design specs except measuring weight on a graph. The actual game, then, came from the need to integrate exercise with a device that measured weight. This began with an experiment with balancing on two scales.

The old rumor that Nintendo would be designing a new Balance Board for our big American clown feet is also called into question by the fact that Reggie and other large-footed staffers were brought in to test the Japanese board.

Iwata on Wii party culture, Wii Ware, and changing the world

Gamespot's question-and-answer session with Satoru Iwata is rich with (written translations of) excellent sound bytes. For example, about the risky change in strategy that brought about the DS and Wii: "I worked under the assumption that if five years went by and the world didn't change, I could kiss my job good-bye." Luckily for Iwata, the world did come along right about when the DS Lite came out.

Iwata expresses his surprise with the success of the Wii several times. As he puts it, the DS was easier to share and thus drive further sales, but showing off the Wii requires someone to visit your home. "In retrospect, the U.S. culture of the house party played a major role in spreading the value of Wii to a bigger circle faster than we ever predicted." He attributes the Wii's meteoric rise in the U.S. to this cultural difference, while Japan has gone more for the DS.

But by far the most interesting part of the discussion is about the upcoming Wii Ware service. Surprisingly for someone with such an interest in casual games, Iwata sees download services not as the entire future of gaming, but as a breeding ground for experimental game design: "When making games, though, you come up with a lot of fun ideas that could sell for ¥500 (about $4.70). Well, if there were a forum for releasing that ¥500 single idea into the market now, maybe the idea would grow into something that could be used as a full packaged game in the future."

[Update: Sonic_13 points out Iwata's claim in this interview that more than 10 million Virtual Console games have been downloaded worldwide! Go old games!]

Iwata Asks Sakurai: Volume 7

We've been told that all good things must come to an end, and this unfortunately applies to Iwata's informative interview segments with Sakurai (no one ever expects a Sakurai inquisition!). So, what better way is there to end things than to talk about the beginning?

In this installment, Iwata questions Sakurai about the roots of the Smash Bros. legacy. While the original idea (Dragon King: The Fighting Game) sounds like it'd be a good time, we're really glad that Smash Bros. became what it did. To think, the game almost didn't have Nintendo characters in it (gasp, shock, sound of horror)!

As we always say, you can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been -- so, head on over to the interview and read about the beginnings of Nintendo's beloved fighter in the final segment of "Iwata Asks."

Gallery: SSBB gallery three


Gallery: SSBB gallery two

Iwata Asks Sakurai: Volumes 5 & 6


Looks like we missed an update in the on-going series of discussions between Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Smash Bros. Brawl. dev lead Masahiro Sakurai. This latest portion of their discussion centers around some of the new features that made the cut into the latest Smash Bros. game. Things such as the decision to include Final Smashes into the mix, as well as the almost limitless supply of trophies in the game are discussed.

Today's portion of the discussion focuses on the music of the game. With over thirty different games to pull tracks from, the music in the game is almost as important as the character roster. And with new arrangements of classic tunes, as well as the option to pick from multiple tracks on each stage, we imagine the task of incorporating what Sakurai felt to be enough music was brutal, to say the least. Still, we're glad they put the effort in, because that surely means this will be the greatest game ever made.

Gallery: SSBB gallery three


Read - Iwata Asks Sakurai: New Smash Bros. Brawl features
Read - Iwata Asks Sakurai: Music

Iwata Asks Sakurai: Volume 4

Another day, another portion of the discussion between Satoru Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai. And today's focus is on the single-player experience in Brawl, which has gotten a lot more love from Sakurai than from those who've worked on previous installments in the franchise.

Essentially, he describes the single-player campaign as a completely different experience than that of the tried-and-true multiplayer game, citing differences in both character movement and the "basic game system." On top of that, it will offer players a more fleshed-out and digestible storyline, instead of just tossing the player into a scenario and asking them to complete it.

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