Dean Takahashi from The Mercury News has caught up with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata before he takes the stage for his keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference. Iwata is queried about what we can expect during the speech. An excerpt of the interview is below:
Q: You're going to save your information on the Revolution until E3?
Iwata: Your prediction is correct.
Q: What will you talk about there?
Iwata: Our objective for E3 is to have a lot of product to experience things such as the controller. At the Tokyo Game Show last year, we showed video of the controller. A lot of people were surprised, pleasantly I hope. With E3 we want to take the experience of the video and show people what it's like to hold it in their own hands. That is where were will do more talking.
Q: Nintendo stands for first-party innovation. But what about innovation for third parties (those independent companies who make games for Nintendo's platforms)? Larry Probst, the CEO of Electronic Arts, said that he believes Sony and Microsoft are fighting for the largest market share. But he said he didn't think Nintendo cared about market share and it is comfortable with its niche. As a result, EA will invest heavily in Sony and Microsoft platforms, but it will be more selective about investing in games for the Revolution.
Iwata: Anytime you introduce a new game machine, there are new ways of providing content. Someone needs to take the lead to show the developers what to do. When 3-D graphics hit, someone had to show how you could do 3-D in a console game. Super Mario 64 did that. It became the starting line for 3-D. We need to continue to do that in a number of different ways. We need to stimulate the development community in ways the other consoles don't. I think the idea that Nintendo doesn't care about market share is a misunderstanding. Market share is a way to sell your innovative content. It's a means. It is not an end. If we create innovative and unique software, we use the market share to deliver it to the widest audiences. That unique and innovative software drives hardware sales. With the GameCube model, we weren't able to execute on that. This time around, with Revolution, I don't think that will happen.
It was about three years ago that we were thinking about the DS and planning Revolution. The Japanese game market was continuing to decline. We were sensitive. We saw if we have 100 percent market share, it doesn't do any good if the market keeps declining. So we are looking at ways of expanding the market...
Q: Why didn't you choose to support high-definition TV with Revolution?
Iwata: If you look at HD in the long term, you'll see the number of TVs will shift. In the short-term, the percentage is low. Compare with what it takes to create a game with four times to six times the memory, similar factors of higher processing power. Developers are required to make those assets. For us it was more important to create this interesting new interface with the controller. In the future Nintendo will release a console that does take advantage of HD. At this point, we'll have other functionality in the Revolution. There are other issues with HD. Now, you have a wide variety of resolutions. As we see the formats evolve, we will get a stable technology. NTSC is a stable format. It's a matter of taking advantage of HD technology once it becomes more standard. Our focus is always next on what we can do to surprise the consumer. HD is not the best weapon. Only a small number are there...