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Iwata Talks Revolution, DS, Violence

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo Company Limited recently spoke to the Taipei Times about a few topics, including the Revolution's controller, the DS and its Wi-Fi feature, and violence in games.

First, Iwata spoke about the Revolution's controller, saying that Nintendo wants to have a controller that everyone can use, and a controller that people will want to use. "There are too many buttons and sticks on controllers for novice players, which is likely to discourage them from ever playing games at all. We want the Revolution's controller to be relevant to everybody and we really want people to feel like they want to touch and play with it," Iwata told the newspaper.

Iwata also spoke about online. Iwata said that he does not see Microsoft's Xbox Live as a success, because only a small percentage of Xbox owners actually use the service. Speaking about the DS, Iwata says he wants everyone to take advantage of the Wi-Fi. "If Nintendo sells 5 million DS [units] with Wi-Fi capabilities, then we want 5 million people to play with Wi-Fi," Iwata said.

Iwata also mentioned Nintendo's focus on family-friendly gaming, and its aim to make games that all can enjoy. Iwata also mentioned that Nintendo isn't going to simply follow suit and make only games that appeal to the mature, hardcore gamer. "Nintendo is very good at creating games that can appeal to the whole family... There have been a lot of games created around excessive violence in the past few years and it seems to be escalating. From the business point of view, it doesn't make sense for us to follow suit. We cherish our hardcore gamers, but we always try to attract as many people as possible and expand the existing gaming population," Iwata said.

The Taipei Times also made note of Nintendo's plans to remain a leader in the handheld gaming sector. The newspaper mentioned these words, from Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime: "For 16 years, Nintendo has owned the portable game space. We created it, and we're not moving out."