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Iwata interviews Wii development team Vol 2 Part 2
More Wiimote talk from Iwata, Miyamoto, and the gang. You can click below to read the Japanese or Google translated version. Thanks to Youwei for the heads up.
Thanks to Okok for the translation!
“The controller that everyone can use equally”
Miyamto’s keywords for Wii controller were “The controller which won’t scare anyone”, and also, the new controller have to have a capability of controlling the games they made before. While seeking for the new controller, the concept of “it is OK to reset the rule of both-hands-control” came along, and this encouraged freewheeling thinking. But “extremely-eccentric” controller (for example, no-hand controller or head-coupled controller…) cannot be standard.
First, Takeda came up with the idea of “pointer”. Then, Ikeda came up with the “stick-like” controller, and Miyamoto praised this idea and he wanted the new controller to be something like “cell phone” or “car navigation systems’ remote”. They once made a prototype of a controller which looks like a classic, both-hands controller and has a pointer in the middle of it. They called this “Gunbai”.
(What is Gunbai? Links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunbai
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000BX67RQ.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1137755029_.jpg)
But Miyamoto realized, “If we transform the controller into the form of the stick just little by little, we can’t find the answer. The-form-of-the-stick should come first, and we should transform the stick into the controller.” Ultimately, the controller looks just like a stick, Miyamoto said jokingly in this interview.
This “stick-like” controller solved a lot of problems. They had a realization that they found the correct answer. When Iwata played a pointer demo, he felt confortable because of its quick response. Takeda is the keyperson of this feeling. He formerly had a quiestion; it is standard that data is transmitted 60 times per second, but is this enough? Then, he found the technology of the pointer’s senser that can transmit data 200/300 times per sec. He recommended Ikeda this technology and this allows
quick-responce.
This controller is not built up by one great idea. The idea of “pointer”, the idea of “stick-like controller” and “200 transmission per sec” ,etc. Combination of a lot of ideas made this controller.
There are many games that cannot be played by this simple controller(GC softwares, VC softwares, FPSs…etc), and this is where the idea of “controller-expansion”(Nunchuk, for example) came from. This idea solved some problems. Wii is wireless, so peripheral devices of Wii have to be wireless, and it may cause the high-price of these device. But if these can be connected to Wii Remote, transmision-receiver for these device won’t be needed. This will help these devices’s prise to be much cheaper.
Nunchuk controller came along at later stages of the development. This idea came from “software-with-peripheral” project for GameCube. Takeda recommended this idea to Ashida, and there was a request of brand-new-both-hands-control from the development team of Metroid Prime. In the customary manner, Ashida starded to made a prototype. “Nunchuk” was a
codename, but this name got a popularity, so it became its official name. The main controller was once codenamed “Core/Core Unit”, but this name may scare some people. Iwata insisted on calling main controller “Remote”. He want this controller to be used by all people in the household, just like a TV remote.
Miyamoto often think “if there are more buttons…” when he is developing Zelda. But, there are the premise; the controller have to be the thing that everyone can use equally. In past years, the only controller of computer games was keyboards. Gaming console like NES made computer games populer, because NES’s controller was much easier to play and everyone can play NES
games. If you press “RESET”, the game will be reset, if you press “START” the game will start. It is very simple. In a sense, developing Wii is getting back to their basics, said Miyamoto.