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Today, from the wonderful world of Japanese translations, we have an interview conducted a week ago by Hiroshi Sone of the Asahi Shimbun with Mr. Satoru Iwata, some guy from Hokkaido who also happens to be Nintendo's current CEO.

You can probably guess what the interview's about: exactly what makes the DS and the Wii such successful consoles? You may know the answer already, but check below the cut to hear about it in Mr. Iwata's own words, as well as some information about how he came to become president of Nintendo and their plans for the future of the DS.

Q: Why do you think the Wii and the DS have become such big hits?

A: I think our strategy of trying to use both systems expand the the audiences of our games just turned out to be the right one. Over the last few years, the number of people who play games has been fewer and fewer, and people have started saying a lot of negative things about them, like "They interfere with studies" and "They lead to criminal behavior." When we released the DS in '04, our aim was to make a system that no one could dislike.

Q: What was your general strategy for that?

A: If you ask someone why they don't play games, the answer that you usually get is that they're too hard, or too time-consuming. So we tried to create a gaming system with simple controls, that you could play and finish in your bits of spare time like on the train, with software that would interest people who were previously indifferent to games. Maybe you can't handle complex button controls, but everyone can write with a pen. With that, "Adult DS Brain Exercises" became a social phenomenon, and the Wii becoming a hit is tied into that too.

Q: Did you expect it to be this much of a hit?

A: Not at all. It's amazing that it did, but you need to keep your customers surprised if you want them to buy your games. If you don't, then logically, you can't create a hit, and then it's just a matter of time until you give up. So now I'm really feeling the pressure to create something that will sell even more than both of those systems.

Q: So you sold the Wii on the basis of it being a form of game playing where you move your body around.

A: The simplicity of the control method was a natural extension of the DS, but it's different in that you can put it in your living room. With bigscreen TVs getting more popular, we had to make the decision of what kind of game system we should make. You can make the decision to go for more detailed graphics and bigger stories, but that won't increase the number of game consumers out there. So the answer we came up with was to make more physically-oriented games, that would put you into the screen and moving your body as if you were really playing sports.

Q: And it's not just individuals, but familes who are enjoying it.

A: The image of the whole family sitting around the TV in the living room is the archetypical image of the 20th century. Then the Famicon came along, and the family would all pass the controller around to one another. It was a joyous age brought about by gaming. But then at some point the controllers became more complex, and mom and dad were left behind. What the Wii proposes is a return to that sort of image in the 21st century, a new lifestyle built with games at the center of a family laughing and talking with each other.

Q: That image of typical family life has changed now, too.

A: It doesn't have to, if you can come up with novel forms of entertainment for them. Even though everyone's a lot more busy nowadays, we want to make games that will make people say "oh, okay, I can play this." Most hit software has the power to inspire communication across the world, so we wanted to inspire conversations between the grandchild and grandparent who had never really spoken before now. If we can get mothers who used to hate games to start taking initiative in buying them, then the future of the industry will be bright indeed.

Q: Nintendo has a very different philosophy from other companies.

A: We have a few of that rare kind of person who has a special sense of what will surprise and delight people, and we give those individuals a lot of power. That might be one way we differ from the general manufacturing industry.

A: However, to create a program and turn it into a sellable product, it's also important to have a lot of people working on it to pull out all the bugs and problems one by one. So you can't actually make great games unless you have the power of the individual and the power of the group working together. One of the great things about Nintendo is that we don't worry about age or experience, just that they respect the abilities of all the people in the company, and put all their power into working as a team.

Q: Having joined the company part way through, what did you bring to Nintendo?

A: I had the advantage that I know what Nintendo looks like from the outside. They needed a manager with a point of view that wasn't limited to Nintendo, and since they didn't have a lot of people who had come from outside the company, when it was time to pick from the new managerial candidates, I was selected. There are some things I've changed to correspond to the internet and the modern day environment, but even though I was to coming in from outside and bringing in new ways of doing things, I had to preserve what made Nintendo itself so great.

Q: Your management style seems to have a lot in common with the American company Apple, which produces the iPod.

A: I personally am very fond of Apple's products, but as a manager I didn't use any particular model. Both companies do have a few philosophies in common, like "Appeal to collectors," "Design simple equipment," and "Be surprising and create a new lifestyle." But I think that's just the result of Apple as and electronics company, and Nintendo as a game company researching what they should do, and organically arriving at those conclusions.

Q: Cell phones and games technology are both quickly acquiring higher functions. Do you think you'll become rivals soon?

A: They have a lot of points in common, like the network functionality. But cell phones are trying to be all-purpose devices: phones and e-mail and games and TV all in one. As a result, the instruction manuals end up being really thick, and only people with engineering backgrounds like me could understand all the functions. The DS can be used without ever consulting an instruction manual, though. Nintendo's strength is making games that are easy to understand and play without difficulty.

Q: What surprises can we expect for 2008?

A: We're going to make use of the DS's wireless functions, make them into information terminals. 2 million people in the country have them, so we're not just limited to games. For instance, we're thinking of making it so that when you get off the train, you'd be able to use your DS to download information about stores and sites in the surrounding area. Right now we're working on setting up DS networks in areas in stations, underground cities, and eateries that

already have wireless LAN functions.

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