GS: And so as someone who knows the hardware very well and has an eye for what would work on it, what do you think developers are struggling with right now on the 3DS?
SM: One thing that you often see with new hardware is that for any developer there can be challenges of how you get the most performance out of the system. And there are certainly developers that are able to kind of do that on their own. But I think there's also maybe a subset of developers that are waiting for Nintendo to provide some service to help them better understand how to do that.
I think what you've seen initially in the launch window are generally games that people worked very hard on over a short period of time to prepare for the launch. So I think that as we get into the next wave of titles, you'll start to see games that are doing a better job of taking advantage of the system. For example, I think
I've got the courage to say that Mario Kart is going to be running at 60 frames a second when they release it. It feels really good.
GS: Now because of your position at Nintendo and the fact that you oversee so many projects, where is your passion right now? Do you like making 3DS games? Do you like experimenting with the new stuff? Do you like thinking about stuff in the Virtual Console space?
SM: What my passion is, or really what I want to do, is to really try to blaze a trail for where video games can go in the future, especially, right now, in looking at Wii U. Obviously the Wii was a device that was something most people had in their living room, and that's definitely what we want Wii U to be, and to be a device that everyone in the household can interact with. But at the same time, we wanted to unite that concept with more traditional video game experiences and bring those together on a single console.
When I'm thinking about that, I'm also working very hard on Skyward Sword, playing the game every day, rewriting the text, changing enemy abilities and things like that. So I'm having a lot of fun kind of working on the minute details of games as well. And sometimes it feels like, when I'm working kind of at that more granular level, that it's really kind of taking advantage of where my real skill lies. So it's a lot of fun.
GS: Is there any interest in bringing Virtual Boy games to the 3DS?
SM: Well, that's not my exact plan, but something like that could happen. I can say that in my photo album on my Nintendo 3DS, there is a photo of a Virtual Boy. So that says that I do have a Virtual Boy at my disposal. [laughs]
GS: How involved were you with the new controller and its development?
SM: Well, I've been most involved with deciding the direction for the new controller and what features it would include. But then in terms of how each of the individual development teams are going to take advantage of that functionality and create games that leverage that, I've really given that responsibility up to each of the directors working underneath me.
And then the other thing is that ever since the NES days, the game console has always been this thing that kind of attached itself to the TV and lived off of the TV. But we really felt that it was done to the point where it was time for the game system to have its own screen so that you can interact with the system regardless of what's going on the TV.
GS: How important is hardware power to you these days? It seems like you're more about ideas, concepts, and experiences than making sure that you can count all the hairs in Mario's moustache.
SM: Nintendo is an entertainment company. We're very sensitive to pricing because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they'll devote to entertainment. And if you're talking about parents buying something for kids, there are certain price points where parents may be willing to or not willing to purchase a certain product.
Nintendo needs the Wii U to be powerful, but also affordable.
But at the same time, you have these technological advances, and you have the needs of being able to take advantage of that technology, and those result in increasing costs and things like that. And so I think that in terms of companies that really look very carefully at what is the best balance between price and possibility in terms of the hardware, Nintendo is the company that's going to probably pay the most attention to striking that right balance.
So when you look at what we're trying to do this time, which is I think maybe to a certain degree somewhat reckless, because we're trying to include this somewhat kind of tablet-like device--this controller with the screen. We're trying to do that by finding the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, the graphics processor, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system, and wanting to do the most that we can on that front as well.
We're very sensitive, of course, to trying to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don't know that we would be able to sit here and say that it's going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It's part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique.
Full interview here
SM: One thing that you often see with new hardware is that for any developer there can be challenges of how you get the most performance out of the system. And there are certainly developers that are able to kind of do that on their own. But I think there's also maybe a subset of developers that are waiting for Nintendo to provide some service to help them better understand how to do that.
I think what you've seen initially in the launch window are generally games that people worked very hard on over a short period of time to prepare for the launch. So I think that as we get into the next wave of titles, you'll start to see games that are doing a better job of taking advantage of the system. For example, I think
I've got the courage to say that Mario Kart is going to be running at 60 frames a second when they release it. It feels really good.
GS: Now because of your position at Nintendo and the fact that you oversee so many projects, where is your passion right now? Do you like making 3DS games? Do you like experimenting with the new stuff? Do you like thinking about stuff in the Virtual Console space?
SM: What my passion is, or really what I want to do, is to really try to blaze a trail for where video games can go in the future, especially, right now, in looking at Wii U. Obviously the Wii was a device that was something most people had in their living room, and that's definitely what we want Wii U to be, and to be a device that everyone in the household can interact with. But at the same time, we wanted to unite that concept with more traditional video game experiences and bring those together on a single console.
When I'm thinking about that, I'm also working very hard on Skyward Sword, playing the game every day, rewriting the text, changing enemy abilities and things like that. So I'm having a lot of fun kind of working on the minute details of games as well. And sometimes it feels like, when I'm working kind of at that more granular level, that it's really kind of taking advantage of where my real skill lies. So it's a lot of fun.
GS: Is there any interest in bringing Virtual Boy games to the 3DS?
SM: Well, that's not my exact plan, but something like that could happen. I can say that in my photo album on my Nintendo 3DS, there is a photo of a Virtual Boy. So that says that I do have a Virtual Boy at my disposal. [laughs]
GS: How involved were you with the new controller and its development?
SM: Well, I've been most involved with deciding the direction for the new controller and what features it would include. But then in terms of how each of the individual development teams are going to take advantage of that functionality and create games that leverage that, I've really given that responsibility up to each of the directors working underneath me.
And then the other thing is that ever since the NES days, the game console has always been this thing that kind of attached itself to the TV and lived off of the TV. But we really felt that it was done to the point where it was time for the game system to have its own screen so that you can interact with the system regardless of what's going on the TV.
GS: How important is hardware power to you these days? It seems like you're more about ideas, concepts, and experiences than making sure that you can count all the hairs in Mario's moustache.
SM: Nintendo is an entertainment company. We're very sensitive to pricing because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they'll devote to entertainment. And if you're talking about parents buying something for kids, there are certain price points where parents may be willing to or not willing to purchase a certain product.
Nintendo needs the Wii U to be powerful, but also affordable.
But at the same time, you have these technological advances, and you have the needs of being able to take advantage of that technology, and those result in increasing costs and things like that. And so I think that in terms of companies that really look very carefully at what is the best balance between price and possibility in terms of the hardware, Nintendo is the company that's going to probably pay the most attention to striking that right balance.
So when you look at what we're trying to do this time, which is I think maybe to a certain degree somewhat reckless, because we're trying to include this somewhat kind of tablet-like device--this controller with the screen. We're trying to do that by finding the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, the graphics processor, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system, and wanting to do the most that we can on that front as well.
We're very sensitive, of course, to trying to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don't know that we would be able to sit here and say that it's going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It's part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique.
Full interview here
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