nintendo-people

"Joy-Conに関して、お客様にご迷惑をおかけしていることをお詫び申しあげます。製品の改良については継続的に取り組んでいますが、Joy-Conは米国で集団訴訟の対象となっており、係争中の案件になりますので、具体的な対応については回答を差し控えたいと存じます。"

"I shrink it down by myself, actually. It's up to the schedule, so... If the artists or programmers say "no", then that's the answer. So it's kind of a mix. I always try to push a can-do attitude with them, you know?"

"These are all concepts. I make a lot of ideas and inserts. And this is what I just created. I don't write the map by hand anymore; I use illustrator instead to do the map. It has about five layers."

"So I come up with some ideas for the programmer to work with, and they decide what's good and what's impossible to implement, based on schedule or programming difficulty."

"I always think about all the different elements of what makes something fun."

"I don’t play a lot of video games outside of work because for me video games are work. There are a lot of things I choose to do with my free time besides play games. But whenever I do hear about something interesting – if there is a new game that has a particularly interesting hook – that is something I will want to spend some time playing. But when it comes to genre, I definitely don’t specify one particular genre that I’m interested in. I’ll absolutely play anything in regards to genre."

"it is a big challenge to localize a game of that size with voice acting in particular. But always, from previous titles in the series, actually being able to allow fans to experience The Legend of Zelda in their own language is something we really care about and something we've regarded as an important thing to achieve. Of course we have our localisation processes in place and having talented staff to work on that was very important, and we're very happy to have achieved that goal, so Zelda in various different languages will be a reality for fans when they play the game."

"I don't think it's reasonable to make someone pay for a game and then make them prepare a network connection and charge a monthly fee"

"There is a vast amount of energy which disappears inside organisations, or is expended going in directions which don't end up leading anywhere. If all that energy is properly directed, it can add up to a huge amount of power that can be used to produce visible results. That's why I think that over the last three years, as the level of awareness shared by the staff has increased, each individual's understanding has also developed. I believe this has meant that the total amount of energy in the company has increased more than it would have by simply increasing the number of staff. That is to say, the overall potential within the company has become more fully realised."

"Although many believe that technology automatically enables more realistic expression, I believe that is just not correct."

"Even if we come from different sides of the world, speak different languages. Even if we eat too many chips, or rice balls. Even if we have different tastes in games. Every one of us, here today, is identical, in the most important way. Each one of us has the heart of a gamer."

"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer."

"Some argue that our success is short-lived and temporary. So, we now need to make efforts to constantly expand the player base by offering services and titles that can appeal, not only to those who have never played games, but also to those who play them hard."

"I've never once been embarrassed that children have supported Nintendo. I'm proud of it. That's because children judge products based on instinct. Everyone wants to appeal to people's instincts, but it's not easy. That doesn't mean we're making products just for children. We believe that there's interactive entertainment that people in their 60s, 70s and 80s can enjoy, so we're doing various things."

"Talking about the definition of the niche, or niche market, I really have the completely opposite opinion. The people the other companies are targeting are very limited to those who are high-tech oriented, and core game players. They cannot expand beyond that population. We are trying to capture the widest possible audience all around the world. In other words, we are trying to capture the people who are even beyond the gaming population. So for that kind of company, we don't think the term 'niche' is appropriate."

"Of course, we are applying advances in technology. But when you use those advances just to boost the processing power, the trade-off is that you increase power consumption, make the machine more expensive and make developing games more expensive. When I look at the balance of that trade-off -- what you gain and what you lose -- I don't think it's good. Nintendo is applying the benefits of advanced technology, but we're using it to make our machines more power-efficient, quieter and faster to start. And we're making a brand-new user interface. I think that way of thinking is the biggest difference."

"Please understand, I am not saying that technology is unimportant. I understand that technology is important. But if we are just focusing on technology and investing in an IT manufacturing plant to come up with higher performance processing [chips], we will not succeed."

"Our competitors are always saying that Nintendo is just for children. To counter that, what we really need to do is explain to customers and potential customers [that we do not just make games for kids]."

"And my name is Iwata. I'm about making games and I'm about playing games. Last night, I played Super Smash Bros. That's my game. I kicked some... you know what and I took his name. His name was Reggie. As Nintendo president, I'm also all about asking questions. So Reggie, I have a question for you: Who's your daddy?"

"We're working to overcome the overly macho nature of the current online console game world, where a handful of the high testosterone crowd fight for supremacy, while the mass of casual game players stay away."

"The key here are two little words: the word 'or' and the word 'and'. Nintendo is not an or company, with games devoted to just this group or that group. We're an and company, with games for this group and that group and for groups that don't even call themselves gamers yet."

"Do you know anyone who's never watched TV, never seen a movie, never read a book? Of course not. So let me ask you one more question. Do you know someone, maybe even in your own family, who's never played a video game? I bet you do. How can this be? If we want to consider ourselves a true mass medium, if we want to grow as an industry, this has to change."

"DS not only changes Nintendo, it changes our industry."

"I like to think of it like buying a car. Admit it. Your left brain looks at a vehicle in terms of the numbers. What's the horsepower? The towing capacity? The 0-60? That's our competitor's approach. But your right brain is different. There's only one question out there: sitting behind the wheel, where will this baby take me? In other words, do you want to go just a little bit faster, down the same streets you've always driven, or down a new road, to places you've never seen before? That's the difference with Nintendo DS."

"Mario sees himself in Nintendo DS, and he feels like flying."

"Nintendo DS is not standing still. As a tenth serious competitor decides to make a run at Game Boy, DS raises the bar on portable gaming, before they even get started."

"To date, global sellthrough for Nintendo DS stands at over 5 million, or more than twice the level for the PSP. Now, I know what some of you are thinking: "Well, the PSP hasn't arrived in Europe yet." So we got there when we said we would, and they didn't. You know what? That's Sony's issue, not my problem."

"Prepare to let your right brain run wild."

"You came to LA this week to peek into the future. But if all you want is next generation, you're in the wrong place. Because what you'll see from Nintendo is not just 'next'. Instead, it's what's absolutely new. What we're unveiling is the next leap in gaming; to a place where playing is no longer just about looks--it's about the feel. Where it's no longer confined to just the few--it's about everyone. And most of all, the next leap is not about what you see, because what you see is not always what you get. The next leap is about playing, because playing is believing."

"Let's face it. The bottom line of every E3 is simple: what's hot and what's not. Here's our take. What's hot is the feel of the game, the look is secondary. What's hot is the next leap, not just a small step. It's hot if it's disruptive, it's not if it's predictable. The future of our industry is inclusion, not exclusion. It's about the heat of emotion, not the chill of technology. We know that the future is right here. Wii and the DS represent the same thing: risk."

"Wii Fit is it."

"My body is ready."

"Are my competitors making some mistakes? Yes they are. But I'll tell you this: Sony is a formidable company and I respect them and I don't take them lightly. We have to do what we need to do, let them do what they're going to do. If they continue to make mistakes, that's their problem, not mine. We are focused on making sure that we are going to be successful."

"One of our competitors is a manufacturer in Japan who wants to capture every one of your entertainment dollars transporting all your content between all of your electronic devices on their memory sticks. We are not that company. And there is another company out there who doesn't care what you do, as long as you do it on their operating system. We are not that company either."

"If competitors don't like our two to one advantage, dominating market share with both SP and DS, well, I've got bad news. Because we just made it two and a half to one."

"That's Sony's issue, not my problem."

"I'd much rather have the consumer buy a Wii, some accessories, and a ton of games, vs. buying any of my competitor's products."

"Shortly before Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote was about to start, Reggie himself was taking the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures, when one gamer shouted out something from the crowd."

"We want to thank everyone who wrote good things about it the day you heard it--both of you."

"Part of my job is finding a way for you, the game experts, to have fun."

"My name is Reggie, and I, am happy."

"The graveyard of any industry is filled with the headstones of companies who decided to keep doing things the same old way. Playing only on the margin, making things just a little bit better. That strategy works....for a while, but ultimately it's fatal. Over the years our industry has come to accept progress simply by what’s on the screen."

"The game is fun. The game is a battle. If it's not fun, why bother? If it's not a battle, where's the fun?"

"The fans are great, you know, I have to tell you a story. After E3, I immediately go into interviews and other meetings. I get a phone call from my son, who is now 16 years old, telling me, "Dad, you're famous. You got all these things on the web!" And I'm, like, "You're kidding me!" I didn't know what was going on. And we had all these fansites and all this information floating around. They called it the Reggielution and they called me the Reggienator. It was pretty fun."

"My name is Reggie. I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games."

"Don't make me do it. I'll take your name."

"Mr. Iwata, perhaps this year I can just take the names and you can kick the....you know..."

"At least I don't need a sword to kick ass and take names, alright"

"There's been nothing proven that violence in video games has an impact. As a parent though, and I'm a parent for a 20-year-old, for a 16-year-old and for a 10-year-old, and so, you know, I make choices everyday for my kids as to what games I think is appropriate for them to play. And, you know, in the end it's up to the parents, it's up to the gamers themselves working with their parents, if they're under 21, to make the smartest choice for the games they play."

"The government is already involved from an entertainment standpoint. I mean, they regulate a large part of our entertainment. What we're trying to do as an industry is be proactive and drive it much more positively, much more effectively, than the government can, and that's what the ESA is all about[....]We think we're doing a pretty effective job, and certainly from an Nintendo perspective, we think the ESA is the way to go."