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Nintendo Talks More Zelda, 3DS in Post-Conference Footage
In some bonus footage that streamed on Nintendo's website following its press conference, president and CEO Satoru Iwata hosted a special edition of his popular "Iwata Asks" web series. Through a number of short segments, he had conversations with some of Nintendo's top producers and creators. Starting off, Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto reminisced about the many attempts to create 3D games in the past, dating back to attempts on the NES and the ill-fated Virtual Boy.
Miyamoto commented that 3D will make Mario games easier to more people, as it gives an added depth of vision for performing jumps in a fully three dimensional environment. He also said that past attempts at 3D failed or were scuttled in development because they used peripherals or glasses. He commented, ""If you don't include the accessory from the outset, only a small segment of customers will buy it." [Don't tell him about the Wii Motion Plus! - Ed]
In the second segment, Miyamoto, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, and Iwata talked about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The most interesting tidbit came when Aonuma said that he had once pulled the Wii Motion Plus' one-to-one swing motions from the game because they weren't playing well. Later, he said a Wii Sports Resort producer came up to him and asked why he wasn't doing true swing mechanics in Zelda since they had worked so well in Wii Sports Resort. Aonuma said that convinced him, and then Miyamoto laughed, revealing that he had actually put the Wii Sports Resort producer up to it. Clearly, Miyamoto is a puppet master not to be toyed with.
The third segment was very revealing, as Iwata met with Mario Kart producer and Nintendo EAD Group 1 head Hideki Konno. Konno revealed that the 3DS actually grew out of an experiment he had attempted on the GameCube with the game Luigi's Mansion. He said that they had a fully playable 3D version of Luigi's Mansion working with a special LCD display. However, at the time, the LCD technology wouldn't allow for the system and the display to be packaged together.
He also revealed some interesting features of the 3DS. The internal gyroscope will allow the camera view to be manipulated based on how you hold the system. For example, hold it above your head and you will look towards the sky, and so on. He said the gyroscope will be used for many gameplay activities, such as "steering" like a car wheel or using it to look around like a pair of binoculars. He also talked about how the on-board, user facing camera will be used in Nintendogs + Cats, allowing the animals to react to the tilting of your head, expressions, and hand gestures.
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