Iwata interviews Wii development team Part 2 & 3

[Dante]

Vol2. Part 1: Controller.

Detailed summary courtesy of Aussie-Nintendo.com

 

Nintendo of Japan has, via its official website, commenced a series of interviews, in which Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, and various employees of Nintendo, discuss the development of the Wii console.

 

Volume 2 is now underway and the first part has been published today, with the team joined by Shigeru Miyamoto to discuss Nintendo's revolutionary Wii-mote.

 

You would probably list the Wii-mote as the biggest merit of the console, says Iwata, with Genyo Takeda continuing by stating that the Nintendo DS and its innovative features had a large influence on the controller's creation.

 

Because the DS was so well accepted, it was decided that the route it opened would be maintained. Many expected the Wii controller to feature a touch panel, and in essence that is what the pointing device of the Wii-mote acts like.

 

A small team was formed inside of the company to directly research interfaces, and Takeda explains that when developing a game machine, taking the interface between the person and the machine into consideration is absolutely necessary.

 

He continues by talking about how software, in the past, has birthed such peripherals as the Donkey Konga Bongo Controller and the Dancing Stage Mario Mix Dance Mat - this same principle is also what gave life to the Wii-mote.

 

Ikeda, who managed the development of many peripherals and handheld gadgets previously at Nintendo, says fundamental components of the motion-sensing Game Boy games, and even devices such as the Pokemon Pikachu, were adopted for the Wii-mote.

 

Iwata asks him if, at the time of developing the Wii-mote, there were any keywords in mind. 'Simple' and 'comfortable', he replied. He wanted to create a controller that everybody could touch and that would not be regarded as 'hostile'. The Nintendo DS achieved this with its stylus because many people were able to relate to it on television or in magazines, as the concept of a writing tool was familiar.

 

Ikeda has been involved in the creation of Nintendo's controllers since the time of the Super Nintendo, and he describes the general process involved. Initially, styrofoam and clay models are used to develop a controller shape, and in laughter, he says that Mr Miyamoto, as a member of the game designers, helps to develop it further.

 

Some of the employees studied and specialised in industrial design, and they say that at Nintendo, designing a controller is unlike designing any other product. There are tremendous concious decisions that go into the creation of one and these are very heavily impacted upon by the software. Difficulty in this area was encountered with Wii because the software could be so varied and subsequently there was no visible standard.

 

Miyamoto acknowledges that both players and game designers alike have long been accustomed to traditional video game controllers and the hurdle of how to persuade uptake of the Wii-mote became a problem - "This was the tremendously high hurdle." Involving industrial designers became difficult also, because these people had been working around the traditional controllers for such as long time that they've become very attached to the current state and arguments certainly arose, says Miyamoto.

 

Nintendo's past consoles have always centred around a controller, says Iwata, and all the way from the NES to the GameCube there has been an evolution, with each generation introducing new features. However, the manner of development for the Wii-mote was fundamentally different - due to the radical new motion capabilities - and various game designers who specialised in various genres were involved. They say that they'd like to show the controller mock-ups that were made, but there was a truly enormous amount.

 

Iwata then asks what the turning point in the creation of the controller was and Asida says it was the splitting of the controller into two, so that a more traditional play style could remain while there is the option for new, more casual one-handed play.

 

Difference is a quality that Nintendo praises and is precicely what the controller introduces, the team says. Iwata says, looking back, the controller was born entirely by fusing ideas of the team, who all collaborated to bring their own unique imagination to the table.

[DCK]

I'm sorry Dante. I doubt anyone in the world can read that.

[Ten10]

Yeah I kinda skimmed through, and kinda ended up with no information from it.

[Konfucius]

I didn't find it that hard to read actually - much better than most of my Latin translations.

 

But I agree with Ten10, there's not really much "valueable" information.

[Dante]

Vol2: Part 2

Summary

"The controller that everyone can use equally"

 

Miyamto's keywords for Wii controller were "The controller which won't scare anyone", and also, the new controller have to have a capability of controlling the games they made before. While seeking for the new controller, the concept of "it is OK to reset the rule of both-hands-control" came along, and this encouraged freewheeling thinking. But "extremely-eccentric" controller(for example, no-hand control or head-coupled control) cannot be standard.

 

First, Takeda came up with the idea of "pointer". Then, Ikeda came up with the "stick-like" controller, and Miyamoto praised this idea and he wanted the new controller to be something like "cell phone" or "car navigation systems' remote". They once made a prototype of a controller which looks like a classic, both-hands controller and has a pointer in the middle of it. They called this "Gunpei".

 

But Miyamoto realized, "If we transform the controller into the form of the stick just little by little, we can't find the answer. The-form-of-the-stick should come first, and we should transform the stick into the controller." Ultimately, the controller looks just like a stick, Miyamoto said jokingly in this interview.

 

This "stick-like" controller solved a lot of problems. They had a realization that they found the correct answer. When Iwata played a pointer demo, he felt confortable because of its quick response. Takeda is the keyperson of this feeling. He formerly had a quiestion; it is standard that data is transmitted 60 times per second, but is this enough? Then, he found the technology of the pointer's senser that can transmit data 200/300 times per sec. He recommended Ikeda this technology and this allows quick-responce.

 

This controller is not built up by one great idea. The idea of "pointer", the idea of "stick-like controller" and "200 transmission per sec" ,etc. Combination of a lot of ideas made this controller.

 

There are many games that cannot be played by this simple controller(GC softwares, VC softwares, FPSs...etc), and this is where the idea of "controller-expansion"(Nunchuk, for example) came from. This idea solved some problems. Wii is wireless, so peripheral devices of Wii have to be wireless, and it may cause the high-price of these device. But if these can be connected to Wii Remote, transmision-receiver for these device won't be needed. This will help these devices's prise to be much cheaper.

 

Nunchuk controller came along at later stages of the development. This idea came from "software-with-peripheral" project for GameCube. Takeda recommended this idea to Ashida, and there was a request of brand-new-both-hands-control from the development team of Metroid Prime. In the customary manner, Ashida starded to made a prototype. "Nunchuk" was a codename, but this name got a popularity, so it became its official name. The main controller was once codenamed "Core/Core Unit", but this name may scare some people. Iwata insisted on calling main controller "Remote". He want this controller to be used by all people in the household, just like a TV remote.

 

Miyamoto often think "if there are more buttons..." when he is developing Zelda. But, there are the premise; the controller should be the thing that everyone can use equally. In past years, only controller of conputer games was keyboards. Gaming console like NES made computer games populer, because NES's controller was much easier to play and everyone can play NES games. If you press "RESET", the game will be reset, if you press "START" the game will start. It is very simple. In a sense, developing Wii is getting back to their basics, said Miyamoto.

 

IGN's summary

Iwata Asks More Questions

Miyamoto and others answer questions on the Wiimote.

by Anoop Gantayat

 

September 12, 2006 - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata keeps on asking questions to his underlings, and we keep on translating away! The latest in Nintendo's "Iwata Asks Wii Project" feature has Iwata asking Miyamoto and the likes more questions on the Wii's controller.

 

Miyamoto was first asked what keywords he had in mind when development on the controller first started. "Not scary," responded the super creator. "Something that doesn't make you uneasy when you see it, but something that, from the moment you see it, you want to try out. However, I myself have been making games for a long time, so I wanted to make sure that past software would properly work with it."

 

Miyamoto shared a passage from early in the controller's development where Iwata said that it was okay to make a controller that's not held by both hands, or something that resets the very concept of a controller. "It was great to be able to come up with ideas freely," said Miyamoto. The freedom allowed the development staff to potentially come up with ideas like something that doesn't use hands, or something that attaches to your head.

 

Iwata then asked Miyamoto to explain how the controller ended up with its current shape. The idea of a pointing device was offered up by Genyo Takeda, head of Wii development, answered Miyamoto. Following this, Akio Ikeda, the man in charge of the controller sensors, offered ideas on making the controller into its current rod-like shape. "This 'rod' area is where Ikeda and myself fully agreed," said Miyamoto.

 

The rod-shaped design went through a few changes. "During meetings," recalled Ikeda, "Mr. Miyamoto often held his cell phone and asked, 'is something like this okay now?'." Miyamoto recalled having even brought in a car navigator. Iwata himself recalled the creation of a demo unit which would be held by both hands, with a pointing device located in the center. Demand for this particular shape was so high that the development staff even gave it a special name, the "Gunpai," and tested it out heavily.

 

Eventually, the staff decided to start off with a rod-shape and slowly convert it into a controller. This lead to the final controller's shape. "When it finally became rod-shaped," said Miyamoto, "and was to be controlled by one hand, numerous problems were instantly solved." This is often the way in which difficult problems are solved, commented Iwata.

 

Miyamoto noted that it's often the case that once something is created, it's shown to other people, with the idea of getting positive and negative feedback. With the Wii controller, rather than wondering what people would think having seen the controller, the staff finished the design and wanted to go about convincing people of its merits.

 

Iwata recalled the time when the pointing device was first demoed in a meeting. "Ah, it feels good," was his first thought. "I'd tried out pointing devices before, but most often, the response is bad, and more often, rather than feeling good, they feel unsatisfying. The pointer idea was of course good, but the way it was put together, or perhaps the feel of the control, was extremely good."

 

Takeda commented on some problems he had with gaming prior to the Wii Project, particularly doubts about the 60 times per second update that's aimed for by most games. For pointing devices, updating the signal 60 times a second is insufficient, and "the feel of tracking is inadequate," said Takeda. "We were able to read at 200 or 300 times a second using sensor technology, so we decided to give it a try."

 

Summing up the previous commentary, Iwata noted that rather than the Wii controller coming together exclusively as one idea, it was the amalgamation of numerous ideas, including the rod-shape, the 200 times per second response and the pointer. Iwata then moved the dialogue over to the controller's second main component, the expansion units.

 

Commenting on the initial development of the expansion units, Kenichiro Ashida, who worked on design for both the system and controller, noted that standard games cannot be controlled with the remote controller by itself. "Wii has backwards compatibility with the GameCube, and it also has the Virtual Console framework, so we had to make it so that you could play Famicom era games. Also, looking at the overseas market, we had to work with FPS games. From that came the idea of using an expansion connector to attach various controllers to the main controller."

 

Miyamoto echoed previous statements about the expansion idea, noting that it solves cost problems, as the pricey wireless transmission technology can be kept in the main remote control unit. "Even if you have something like a mat controller that's used by laying it flat on the floor, the remote control can be plugged into the mat. If you have something like a tarukon controller, it's okay to plug in the remote control."

 

Nintendo's internal developers were excited about the nunchuck expansion. Ashida noted that the Metroid Prime developers were anxious to use a new type of control. Other developers also voiced their favor.

 

The name for the nunchuck controller came from overseas, and ended up sticking -- a rarity for a project code name, Ashida said. The remote controller device was, according to Ikeda, initially known as the Core Controller or the Core Unit. "'Core Unit' is a little scary," commented Miyamoto, noting that Iwata had a strong desire to call it by the current Remote Control name. Explained Iwata, "The big concept when developing the Wii was why does the entire family use the television remote control but won't use the game controller. So, I said repeatedly that 'it must be Remote Control!'"

 

In the next update, Iwata will be quizzing his staff on the sensor bar that sits under your television and receives signals from the controller.

[Twilight]

NoE has updated their Wii page with "Iwata asks" section. So, it´s now officially in English!

 

link

[Helmsly]

I'm not sure if its been posted somewhere else but there are now 2 more parts: Volume 3: Wii Channels parts 1 & 2

 

http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/?site=v3_01.html&l=enGB

 

Kuroume: Exactly, that's the kind of process we're talking about. Wii's Channels won't end with the first 12. Up to 48 channels can be added at the moment, meaning that the user will be able to download more Channels.

[Dante]

English site Updated

[Charlie]

ARgh, they cut it off at a bad time, they didn't say who updates the news

[Dante]

TURNING THE TABLES: Asking Iwata

 

Little part of Ask Iwata Interview.

 

Iwata Although we're putting a huge amount of energy into Mario and Zelda, since those games don't feature that much at the Wii Preview events, they don't seem to be the main pillar of Nintendo's strategy. Is that what people are saying?

 

Nagata Yes, it seems so. How can I put this? I understand it on an intellectual level. When I hear you say that there is no future in simply continuing in the same way, I think you're right. But even though I can see that, the more a gamer understands that reasoning, the more they feel excluded by it. It's not that they don't understand what you are doing, it's simply how they feel on an emotional level. (laughs)

 

 

Iwata It does seem that there is a level of misunderstanding among some people. I am concerned about this. It's true that Nintendo is reaching out to non-gamers, but this does not mean that we are ignoring game fans. I believe that if we don't make moves to get people who don't play games to understand them, then the position of video games in society will never improve. Society's image of games will remain largely negative, including that stuff about playing games all the time badly damaging you or rotting your brain or whatever. If that happens, then even people who enjoy games will start to feel a strange guilt when they play them. If people who haven't played games up til now start playing them, and appreciate how enjoyable they are, it is highly likely this situation will change. Society will be more accommodating towards people who play games, and it will become even easier to produce "traditional" games. In reality, while Nintendo is looking to reach out to people who don't play games, it's not as if we've become less committed to Zelda. On the contrary, we've invested four years and a huge amount of effort into developing the new Zelda. There's no question that we are passionate about it. For the people who are willing to wait for them we will absolutely continue to produce games like that. But I think if we don't also develop things for non-gamers, the future for game fans will become bleak.