Wii Development Team interviews – Part 3 – Wii Channels Volume 1

1 June 2007

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Posted by:Josh

In this series of interviews with the Wii Development Team, done by their boss and Nintendo head honcho, Satoru Iwata, the team discusses the system load-up screen for the Wii, which of course is the Wii Channels, and what lead them to the idea of creating “channels” for a game system.

Previously the team discussed the Wii Hardware, and in this interview they talk about how they wanted the Wii to focus on the family (one of the members noticed how he always seemed disconnected from the world when he’d play a game) and how, as a result, the Wii Remote belongs on the coffee table, or wherever you keep the TV remote, so that it can be easily accessed by all. They didn’t want any family member to feel like the Wii had nothing to do with them. You’ll hear about where the term “channel” came from and how the menu screen is supposed to resemble that of multiple TV’s lined up. Iwata delves into his long-considered idea of “price variety”, which gave rise to the various cheap prices for Virtual Console titles and they all discuss what channel is their favorite.

They even talk about the Wii’s Play History, which keeps records of how long you’ve played each game, and how originally it was set-up for parents so that the console itself would turn off after a specified amount of time each day! And how it evolved into what it is today, and why the Play History cannot be deleted.

Part 1 – Fun For the Entire Family

Iwata – Lying at the heart of Wii are the “Channels”, a concept unexplored by any other console. I’d now like to discuss the background behind their development, but rather than start by discussing individual Channels, I’ve gathered three of the people who helped to lay the foundations of this project. Gentlemen, please introduce yourselves briefly. Starting with you, Aoyama-san.

Aoyama – Thank you. I manage a development group within IRD. Although this division is normally responsible for the development of hardware, my particular group is in charge of developing the equivalent of what would be called the OS on a PC.

Iwata – Here at Nintendo, this is what we call the IPL, or Initial Program Loader, isn’t it?

Aoyama – That’s right. I was in charge of the team that decided what IPL features and system functions would be contained within Wii.

Iwata – I’ll ask about your team in a little more detail shortly. In the meantime, Kuroume-san, please introduce yourself.

Kuroume - Certainly. I oversee the user interfaces of all software in EAD. In short, I’m responsible for the software menus and user interface design.

Iwata - In other words, if someone is creating some kind of menu, they’ll come and talk to you. You’ve also handled the startup screens of a number of consoles, haven’t you?

Kuroume - Yes. Wii is the third one I’ve worked on after the GameCube and Nintendo DS.

Iwata – So, your job is to deal with the first screen that is displayed when you start up the console. Finally, Tamaki-san.

Tamaki – I was in charge of the direction of the Wii menus and the “WiiConnect24″ project. I also helped manage projects concerning system functions.

Iwata – You were conceptualizing Nintendo’s next console release well before the Wii project officially started, right? It might be fair to say that you’ve experienced more Wii presentations, both internal and external, than anyone else!

Tamaki - You’re probably right! (laughs)

Iwata – Broadly speaking, you three are the core members of the IPL project, which determined what kind of functions would be contained in the console. First, however, it might be somewhat confusing for readers accustomed to existing game consoles to understand what we mean by a “system function”, so Aoyama-san, could you please give us a brief explanation?

Aoyama – Certainly. When talking about the IPL, it might help to imagine the screen displayed by the Nintendo DS immediately after it starts up. Software inserted in a Nintendo DS won’t load right away. Instead, the user will be taken to a menu where they can choose to load a Nintendo DS title, a Game Boy Advance title, or the pre-installed PictoChat program. This kind of system software, used to start other programs, is known to us as an IPL, or Initial Program Loader. As I said earlier, it’s equivalent to a computer’s OS, containing system settings such as the clock etc. For all systems up to and including the GameCube, IPLs worked in the background, and were simply used to start up software or configure the system. With the DS, however, because it included the “PictoChat” software, the user became more aware of the IPL’s existence. So, it might benefit the reader to think of the Wii IPL as a greatly expanded version of the DS’s.

Iwata – In other words, the Wii console itself has a variety of built-in functions. We created a cross-departmental team to determine each and every one of these functions, didn’t we?

Aoyama – Yes, Wii’s system functions could not be clearly defined as strictly “software” or “hardware”, so we assembled as many as 25 experts from a whole host of divisions, and… well, we had meeting after meeting.

Iwata - I also did my best to attend the meetings. When was it they started?

Aoyama – It must have been around October of last year. The development of Wi-Fi Connection was coming to an end, and until then, the system function issue had been discussed independently by each division. We thought of bringing order to this discussion by making it into an official company project. That’s how the meetings started.

Iwata – Aoyama-san, you were appointed leader of this project. How did you feel when you were given this responsibility?

Aoyama – Well, I remember thinking to myself, “this is going to be tough!”

All – (laughter)

Aoyama - Not only was it without precedent, we were faced with the formidable prospect of discussing the very framework behind this concept from the ground up. Later, when it was decided that Wii would “never sleep”, then we had to discuss what such a console should be able to do, and immediately came across the problem of providing tangible services, and establishing a network infrastructure and servers.

Iwata - What specific task were you assigned when the project started?

Aoyama – Umm… what was it now? (laughs) Er, well, I always had a hundred different things on my mind, so umm… I can’t really say anymore! (laughs)
IGN demonstrates the Wii Channels

Iwata – Oh, really? (laughs) Tamaki-san, Kuroume-san, how about you?

Tamaki – My first task? Let’s see… There was a heck of a lot going on back then, wasn’t there?

All - (laughter)

Tamaki – I mean, I remember us all talking about what we wanted to do, but my very first task…?

Iwata – (laughs) Kuroume-san, how about you?

Kuroume – I haven’t a clue anymore!

All – (laughter)

Iwata – Well, let’s just say that you finally settled upon the current features after a lot of hard thought. (laughs) Kuroume-san, you’ve worked on a number of IPLs. What is it that sets Wii’s system functions, now called “Channels”, apart from previous consoles.

Kuroume – Needless to say, when I started working on the Channels I had absolutely no idea what form they would eventually take. With the Nintendo DS, I clearly remember struggling to identify strictly what must be and can be included and to cut out all the other features. For Wii, however, I had to organize the features without knowing where any of this would lead. The only thing I really understood was how big a responsibility this was!

All – (laughter)

Kuroume – Going back to the initial days of development, I remember receiving a variety of proposals from Tamaki-san. He’d be saying, “make it something like this”, or “perhaps you should do that”… He was always so passionate in his advice! (laughs)

Iwata – So, Tamaki, you’re very “passionate”? (laughs)

Tamaki – Man, this is so embarrassing! (laughs)

Iwata - Nonsense! I think your passion contributed greatly to the Wii project. Share with us some of your initial suggestions.

Tamaki – Well, this is going back a bit, but when I first entered the company I often said that I wanted to make the sort of games you could play with your grandmother. I had an image of games not feeling out of place in the living room. Of course, this could have been around the fireplace, at the dining table, the coffee table, or anywhere. I just wanted to make a game that would be fun for the entire family. Recently, I’ve found myself sitting all alone, starting up a game and feeling a bit cut off from the world. I wanted to change this. That is, I wanted to make gaming a little less lonely. In my mind, the Wii Remote belongs on the coffee table. I spent a long time discussing with a whole range of people about what we could do to achieve this. For the system function project, we were discussing a similar vision.

Iwata - In the meetings to determine the system functions, where did your discussions actually begin?

Kuroume – We started by talking about everything! (laughs) One of the things we had to sort out was deciding what kind of style was best for character input. So we tried out the system used in Animal Crossing, we tried displaying an entire keyboard on-screen, and we even tried a mobile phone-style keyboard…

Tamaki - We also talked endlessly about technological issues, such as the simple question of whether we could get the IPL to start up faster, didn’t we? Like, how many seconds could we save on a certain screen, that kind of talk.

Aoyama – As we talked, the concept of “fun for the entire family” gradually took form in our minds. We didn’t want any member of the family to feel left out, either through not understanding the Wii or feeling it had nothing to do with them. An all-too-common trend in gaming is for the user to play a game they like for hours and hours until they complete it, and then never touch it again. This was something we wanted to avoid.

Tamaki – A game won’t be accessible to all the family if it’s only one family member playing it all the time. At the end of the day, the other members of the family who aren’t playing never get a chance to be drawn into the action.

Aoyama – Therefore, our working concepts were “fun for the entire family”, and “a console that will be used every day”. We tried to make sure that our discussions never strayed far from these concepts.

Iwata – Can you remember which of the current features was the first to take shape?

Kuroume – I can’t be absolutely sure that this was the first feature to take shape, but I remember that the Forecast Channel was finished in order to clearly show that Wii would be on 24/7. You wake up in the morning, switch on Wii and the weather forecast will be updated. This was an invaluable resource in explaining Wii to people unfamiliar with the concept.

Iwata – The News and Forecast Channels certainly convey our “entire family” and “something new every day” messages in an understandable way. So, next I’d like to ask how the individual Channels came into being.

Part 2 – Redefining the Game-User Relationship

Iwata – Development started on Wii’s Channels even before their ultimate form had been fully conceived. How did they come to take their present shape?

Kuroume – The more system function meetings that we held, the more ideas that were raised. Of course, a lot of ideas were discussed in those meetings, but we’d also bring a lot of them back to our respective departments and brainstorm further, thereby coming up with even better ideas. Looking at these ideas in relation to the “fun for the entire family” concept we mentioned earlier, we realized that it would be difficult to cater to an entire family with a single piece of software, or with a single approach. That’s when we decided to incorporate a large variety of features.

Iwata - In retrospect, that seems very obvious, doesn’t it? If you want more people to use your console, then you’ve got to provide them with more features. The drawback, however, is that it’s harder to present everything in an understandable manner, isn’t it?

Kuroume – Exactly. What we wanted to avoid when we incorporated more features was making things harder to understand. One thing that really clicked in our minds when we were talking over how to make things more understandable was the image of rows of TVs in an electronics shop. Lots of screens, lots of channels, all lined up. This is easy to understand and exciting on a really simple level. This gave rise to our Menu Screen, which consists of rows of panes.

Iwata – Is that when you decided to use the term “Channel”?

Kuroume – We decided to use the term “Channel” at about the same time we decided upon the panes. We were having some difficulty in pulling together all the different ideas suggested to us by each department. In fact, we were more or less at a dead end. And then someone proposed that we try lining them all up. Right then, someone casually said, neither as a complement nor as a criticism, “That’s a TV channel,” and that’s when it clicked. I mean, at that moment, the atmosphere was electric. When I first heard the word “channel”, it enveloped the whole idea, even though I wasn’t fully aware of its appeal. Looking back, I think this is when I first realized that these “panes” would play a leading role in our interface.

Iwata - That’s always how it happens when a decision is made, isn’t it? Someone makes an offhand comment, and it instantly takes root, especially when you’re having trouble coming up with an idea.

Kuroume – Yes, that’s exactly how the decision was made.

Iwata – Looking at the panes used for the Wii Channels, developed with such difficulty, the creators’ attitude can be clearly seen in the way that the three rows of four Channels are treated equally. Normally with a console, you would want to make the “Disc Drive” Channel for a game inserted in the drive larger than all the other Channels, wouldn’t you?

Kuroume – Absolutely. Given that Nintendo’s core-business has traditionally been making games, some might consider it strange that the “Forecast”, “News” and “Game” Channels are given equal weight. Our team, however, had few doubts about this. The main reason I can give for our conviction was the “fun for the entire family” concept. Another big factor was that the Nintendo DS had been well received by so many people.

Iwata – The release of the Nintendo DS was based on our own beliefs concerning what people wanted, and the DS clearly resonated well with consumers. This success spurred us on to form our next set of beliefs about the market for Wii.

Kuroume – Yes, the Nintendo DS proved that it’s okay to have a variety of software, rather than just conventional games. This proved to be a major consideration when creating Wii’s Menu screen. We felt that people who want to play games should be able to do so, while people who are interested in other features should be able to enjoy those Channels.

Aoyama – This vision was pursued with absolute conviction, at least by the people that attended those system function meetings. It’s true, however, that there was initially a divergence of opinion with some members of the company who hadn’t yet had access to all this information. Whenever that happened, Tamaki-san would scramble into action to shed some light on our vision using that “passion” of his! (laughs)

All – (laughter)

Tamaki – Well, of course, it was difficult for them to tell just how interesting the individual Forecast or News Channels would be by simply looking at the completed Menu screen. I guess this reaction was only natural. I mean, looking at just the news or weather on their own, you will question how interesting they’ll be, won’t you?

Iwata – In actual fact, the Forecast and News Channels include ideas unique to the Wii. We’ll explain these another time though. One obvious argument against these Channels was that the news and weather can be checked using a computer. Some people said that Wii was becoming more like a PC than a games console. What conclusions did you draw from this?

Tamaki – This kind of overlaps with what Kuroume-san said earlier, but I was very aware of the fact that people obviously have a wide variety of interests. Looking at Nintendo DS software sales alone, you can see that while non-conventional games such as “Brain Age” are flying off the shelves, more conventional games like RPGs are also selling well. To be honest, we did contemplate making the Disc Channel button stand out more when we first started planning the Wii Menu screen, but in the end, we felt that this kind of thinking was too orthodox. It’s no different from the logic stating that if you release a top-class game, everyone will play it. However, we hoped that by equipping Wii with a variety of features catering to a host of people, then Wii could be the point where all these overlapping interests would converge. I think we ended up with the broad principle that the Menu should be full of variety, since the age and interests of each family member also vary. That said, I’m not sure that everyone would agree with me, but when deciding upon the features, however, we were completely confident in our conclusions.

Aoyama – Rather than us being uniquely far-sighted, I think we were simply fortunate enough to have had the chance to develop this concept before anyone else. Speaking personally, Wii has changed my preconceptions of what a console can do, and I am convinced it will change other people’s preconceptions, too. Being a collection of experiments, Wii may initially bewilder people, even make them feel uneasy. But when these people actually try it out for themselves, it will soon seem natural. Perhaps Wii is more about “experiencing”, rather than “understanding”?

Iwata – Perhaps some people will take longer to get used to Wii than others. Kuroume-san, when were you convinced that you had come to the right conclusion?

Kuroume – When was I convinced…? I’m not sure if this will answer your question, but at some point in the future, I’d like to try designing a completely new Channel for Wii myself. When I first felt this urge, well, I think that’s when I first felt confident about Wii’s Channels.

Iwata – Because you’ve got such a wonderful box, you want to make something to put in it.

Kuroume - Exactly, that’s the kind of process we’re talking about. Wii’s Channels won’t end with the first 12. Up to 48 channels can be added at the moment, meaning that the user will be able to download more Channels.

Iwata – We could have gone on creating Channels forever, so we eventually had to draw the line somewhere. But we’ve actually got a number of great Channel ideas in the pipeline already, don’t we?

Kuroume - Yes, we’re still holding planning meetings and still talking about what we can do. I think this is only possible because of our confidence in Wii’s Channels.

Iwata – So, with that, I’d like to ask a question to you all. Which of the existing Channels appeals to you the most? Starting with you, Tamaki-san.

Tamaki – Hmm… Well, it’s not yet the official name, but I personally like the so-called Shopping Channel. Put simply, this Channel allows the user to purchase a variety of software via their Wii, starting with Virtual Console titles. In other words, they’ll be able to purchase titles that they may have played on past Nintendo systems, like the NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64. It’s conceivable that Wii-dedicated software will eventually be available, too, and I personally feel that this Channel will pave the way for a new kind of game development. In fact, there’s a phrase that Iwata-san mentioned before that caught my attention; it was the issue of “price variety.”

Iwata – Ah… software prices.

Tamaki – Yes, your idea of having various software prices.

Iwata – Well, allow me to explain, since this is something I started. Basically, I want to expand the range of prices at which games are sold. For example, Nintendo’s approach until about 5 years ago, was to generally sell software at prices around MSRP of 4800 yen for handheld games and about a MSRP of 6800 yen for home console games. Now I think that this approach might have been wrong. Frankly speaking, if all home console titles are sold at a MSRP of 6800 yen, then a simple game like Tetris would never see the light of day on this format. I mean, I don’t think our customers would shell out up to 6800 yen just for Tetris. So, can we justify selling Tetris at this price by adding thirty new game modes, or by adding some fancy movies? In short, we can’t, and that’s a problem. Another issue was, development costs naturally vary depending on the size of the team and time period needed to develop a game, and money people are willing to pay for a game varies depending on the total play time and difficulty level, but the game price points were more or less the same all the time. Of course, some people think that the price of software should decrease over time. However, long-term price cuts aside, if you lower the price of your software in too short of a cycle, people who have already purchased that software will feel cheated. This is something I want to avoid. In that sense, I feel it would be better for softwares to be released at a range of prices that’s appropriate for the software right from the start. Nevertheless, you’ll never be able to set a price lower than the standard if you try to sell a game using existing means of distribution. That is, as long as this is a business in which you have the added cost of making ROMs and discs to sell. Shops won’t make a profit if you make your title too cheap, meaning that they won’t stock it, and at the very least, the maker can’t set the price lower than the cost of the media format. There are little games which are great fun but don’t take long to complete. As things stand, it’s impossible to, for example, sell these for 1000 yen. These ideas just die on the vine, and I’ve always wondered if there might be some way to save them. Although we’re currently trying to introduce a variety of MSRP prices into the Nintendo DS line-up, this is really something that I’ve been talking about within the company for a while, isn’t it?

Tamaki - Yes. To be honest, I only came to understand this way of thought when I started working on Wii’s system functions. But like we’ve said, when you think of the variety of individuals that make up a family, and their range of interests, you understand that variations in price are only natural. There are people who won’t hesitate to purchase expensive products because they like them, and there are people who will scour flyers and coupons everyday for a good deal. Just as it’s only natural for people to frequent different kinds of restaurants, it’s only natural for products to be sold at a range of prices. The Shopping Channel is full of potential in the sense that it will allow us to sell software and expand our user-base, outside the bounds of the traditional software pricing framework. Needless to say, products distributed by conventional channels of distribution are still important. However, if the Shopping Channel makes it possible for simple ideas and small experimental titles to be sold at a lower price, I think this would greatly expand the possibilities of what developers can do.

Iwata - It’s even conceivable that we’ll take titles that have been popular on the Shopping Channel and further polish them up to be sold as a packaged software with the MSRP accepted in the existing distribution channels. Talking of potential, we may even be able to create an opportunity for amateur developers where they can release games that they have made, although this will be hard to do in the immediate future. The mechanics of the games industry at the moment doesn’t allow games to be sold unless they’re widely advertised by major publishers to earn greater profit. This seals off gateways into the game industry for new talents.

Tamaki – That’s right. Maybe the Shopping Channel will open up some doors.

Iwata – I see. Kuroume-san, tell us what Channel appeals to you.

Kuroume – I’m quite intrigued by the Internet Channel. This Channel allows you to view the internet using a browser called Opera. I feel that being able to browse the internet via your TV is quite a big deal. While you might still read blogs using a computer, the fact that you can quickly look up something that catches your attention while watching TV is very convenient.

Iwata – Certainly. I think the convenience that stems from being able to use the internet while watching TV is something which depends on the environment of the user. For example, for someone living alone, they might very well say that they’re already doing this, since it’s quite common for their TVs and computers to be located close to each other. Even someone living with their family can use the internet while watching TV if they have a laptop connected to a wireless network in their living room. Bearing all this in mind, the potential I see in the Internet Channel lies in the fact that the internet, which has until now been viewed alone, can now be viewed by everyone. With a computer, even if you have people peering over your shoulder to see the screen, the limit is pretty much two, with four or more people looking at the same screen being totally out of the question. With the Wii, which is connected to the living room TV, families will be able to enjoy the internet together. I don’t know what lies ahead, but I think this has the potential to change the way we live.

Kuroume – In the end, all of the proposals we made for Wii were related to lifestyle choices, redefining the relationship between people and their consoles. I believe that all the thought and effort we’ve put into developing the system functions is ultimately related to this.

Iwata – I agree. And finally, Aoyama-san, what Channel are you keeping your eyes on?

Aoyama – I also think that Opera’s browser is shaping up nicely. That and the Wii Message Board, although this is, strictly speaking, not a Channel.

Iwata – Ah, we must talk about that as well!

Part 3 – Wii As A Shared Space For All the Family

Iwata - Let’s discuss the Wii Message Board. Tamaki-san, you are the most familiar with the presentations on this topic, so could you please explain what the Wii Message Board allows you to do?

Tamaki – At the risk of oversimplifying, it is a system that allows messages and memos to be posted on the calendar. It can therefore be used without even being connected to the network. At its most basic, it is a place you can write memos. For instance, a mother might simply stick a message like “The snacks are over there!” onto the Wii Message Board. It’s basically like sticking a message on the door of the fridge. You enter these messages in the calendar on whatever day you want. Messages from the game you’re playing can also be put on the Message Board. For example, if you’re playing “Animal Crossing”, a message like “Concert next Saturday in town” will automatically be posted on the Message Board. The user doesn’t even have to be playing the game. Or take a game like “Brain Age”. You could post your results on the Message Board: “Today, your brain age is 50!”, or something like that. I envision the Message Board helping everyone in the family communicate with each other. These days, because everyone is so busy, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to take the time to sit around the table and chat. That’s where the Wii Message Board comes in. Even when families can’t spend time together because everyone is always coming and going, a quick look at the Wii Message Board will allow the family members to feel the presence of the others, even if only slightly. You know, the father has maybe gone out after work, but when he gets home he can see that his wife has been keeping up the “Brain Age”. I really hope Wii will prove useful in providing chances for this type of interaction between family members.

Iwata – We wanted to make it collect memories over time, recording what different family members have done.

Tamaki – That’s right. We really wanted it to be a console that would store your personal memories, something that people could grow attached to. At first, we thought of having the Message Board and the Calendar as separate functions, but we realized that the end result would be closer to what we originally had in mind if the messages were recorded on the Message Board. That’s how we came up with the concept of having memos and messages stored according to date, which is how it is now. As its design is very simple, you can even use it like a diary by just filling in the day’s events, and your game records are entered automatically too. It is a tool for preserving memories as well as linking family members together in an inconspicuous way. And it’s not all one-way: the console is also capable of interacting with the user. That’s the concept we had when creating the Wii Message Board, but what we’ve spoken about up to now is just its offline functionality, when Wii is not connected to the network. Once the console is online, it can also be used to share all sorts of information with friends. That isn’t to say, however, that all of your information is available to other people. I should just stress the point, in case anyone gets the wrong idea, that this network basically works in the same way as the one for “Animal Crossing” on DS. That is, connection is not possible unless both users register each other. That means there won’t be any unwanted communication from strangers, like harassment or suspicious spam messages.

Iwata – It can be fun to be connected to the network, but it can be stressful or frightening if you are interacting with people you don’t know.

Tamaki – Exactly. Basically, we’ve designed it so that you can exchange information with your registered friends. I’ll give an example of the kind of information that could be exchanged. Let’s say someone buys a new game. When they switch on their console, a question could appear on the screen: “Do you want to let your friends know you have bought this game?” If you select “Yes”, the message “X has bought the game Y!” will pop up on your friends’ Message Boards. You can send messages like that from within the game, or you can make your own message to send to your friends. Actually, the example I just gave is still under discussion and has not been finalized yet. But I think it gives you an idea of the kinds of things that would be possible.

Aoyama – It’s not a system like email, designed for constantly exchanging messages. However, we hope it will allow a relaxed style of interaction, allowing the user to feel that there are other people out there, connected to the net.

Tamaki – On top of that, with the Wii Message Board, users can exchange game data or screenshots. Emails can also be exchanged between mobile phones and Wii. Sorry to keep using families for all the examples…! (laughs) But imagine the father is working late at the office. His family can send him messages via Wii from the living room. Then he could reply by sending a photo. We’d like people to think of Wii as allowing them to feel they are connected, in a loose, relaxed way, with their friends and family.

Kuroume - With the Wii Message Board, people can see that there are other people out there. It allows friends who might be far apart to be aware of what the other is doing.

Tamaki – That’s it. We thought that this kind of loose, relaxed connection was ideal. Since the Wii Message Board uses WiiConnect24, that loose connection can be maintained round the clock. I’d love it if users turned on their Wii, just like they turn on the TV, thinking “I wonder if there’s anything good on…”

Iwata – I see. I think you have explained the Message Board’s features pretty thoroughly! Anything else to add?

Tamaki – No! (laughs)

Iwata – In a way, I feel that the Wii Message Board is the most complex aspect of the console, and which has the most unexplored possibilities. I have a feeling there are a huge number of applications which we just haven’t come up with yet.

Tamaki – I would agree with that.

Iwata – Precisely because of those unexplored possibilities and its vast potential, the Wii Message Board has not been limited to being just one of the Wii Channels. We decided to keep it separate from the Menu Screen, didn’t we?

Kuroume – That’s right. Initially, we included the Wii Message Board along with the other Channels in the Menu Screen panes. However, the Message Board has so many applications, and it can be used along with all the other Channels, so we thought it would be slightly misleading to line it up alongside the other Channels. In the end, to represent the way that the Message Board is working behind the scenes of the other Channels, we designed it so it would appear by sliding the entire screen. This means that when you turn on Wii, it’s very quick and simple to see the Message Board.

Iwata – Thinking about this function, it might have seemed more obvious to make it an e-mail option rather than a Message Board. So why did you decide to go for the Message Board?

Kuroume – We spoke about it earlier, but the reason lies with the kind of communication we were aiming at. Rather than individual users directly exchanging email-style messages, we thought it much better to have a message board which lets users notify others of their presence. Something Tamaki-san spoke about from the start was the idea of a noticeboard in a university campus. When I heard him say that, I got it right away. That’s why at the start we experimented with using a wood-grain design for the Message Board, or having the messages attached with a pin. In the end, though, we decided to make the Message Board match the overall design scheme.

Tamaki – Something which people often ask when they first see the Message Board is whether we couldn’t have made it so that you can specify which member of the family the message is for. In other words, wouldn’t it be better if each family member could have their own Message Board? However, the fundamental concept was to make the Wii Message Board more like a mailbox with several postcards in it than the inbox on a personal mobile phone. When you look in the mailbox you can see how many postcards have arrived, and you can see, for example, that “This one’s for Dad!”

All – (laughter)

Tamaki – That becomes another opportunity for communication. The son or daughter goes to the mailbox and brings the postcards into the living room. On the way there, they casually glance at it and see that it is an invitation to a school reunion addressed to their father. Maybe they’ll think, “Wow, Dad was young once too!” Of course, we had a fair number of discussions internally about, for instance, whether the whole family should be able to read messages from friends. But what we were aiming for was not an e-mail function. The idea of users having their own private space on Wii clashed with the overall concept of the console. That’s why we did away with using the word “mail” altogether and decided to stick to the Message Board.

Kuroume – If we chose to, we could allow each family member to have their own account. But that just isn’t what Wii is about. To give a very straightforward example, we’re aiming at a console for everyone to use, but if we allowed everyone to have their own account, you would need to enter a password to use the console. To switch on Wii and be presented with a screen asking for your user name and password…well for me, that would have been unacceptable. In discussions, pretty much everyone agreed on this point.

Iwata – I think that’s right. Everyone felt it would go against what Wii stands for. After all, the whole company was straining to get the console up and running as fast as possible after the power is switched on. If we had put in a screen asking for user names and passwords…well, that would have been out of the question…

Aoyama – Besides, everyone would see you entering your password on the TV anyway!

All – (laughter)

Iwata – That’s why the more we thought about it, the more clear it was: Wii is a shared space for all the family. I think that some really fun stuff will come out of it precisely because it is shared by everyone, family and friends alike.

Tamaki – Just as we want the Wii Remote to sit on the coffee table for everyone to share, and just like your favorite Channel and your mother’s favorite Channel are found on the same menu, we want the Wii Message Board to be somewhere where the family can easily share and exchange ideas. Everyone’s entries in the calendar will go from being future plans, to becoming everyone’s memories. With a device like that in the living room, I hope people will say “Wii is just like a member of the family!”

All – (laughter)

Iwata - Listening to the discussion reminded me of another function which was discussed in a similar manner, and about which similar conclusions were reached: the “Play History”. People tend to be very surprised when shown this function. Kuroume-san, can you tell us more about this?

Kuroume – Sure, it’s really quite simple. Wii automatically records details of what game was played, when and for how long. This is called the Play History. There’s nothing controversial about that, but what did cause discussion was the fact that the Play History cannot be deleted. It’s not that we couldn’t change it if we wanted to, but at the moment it is not possible to delete it.

Iwata – I think it’s best if I give a little background for this one. I’ve said this countless times already, but when developing Wii, I thought constantly about what we could do to stop games being regarded with hostility in the family. So I came up with a suggestion, perhaps a rather outlandish one! (laughs) What I thought was that if a parent said that their child was only allowed to play games for one hour a day, how about making it so the console actually turns itself off after an hour? I realize the head of a games company shouldn’t think things like that!

All – (laughter)

Iwata – Of course, the console would save the game data before it switched itself off! Even so, it’s a pretty extreme solution…but I was actually serious! (laughs) I knew it sounded awful! But it’s only by throwing out wild suggestions that real debate is sparked, and new ideas are born. At least I think there’s value in being aware of that during discussions. Those discussions were, predictably enough, rather heated! (laughs) Some people were adamantly opposed to the idea, while others thought that without such an extreme solution, mothers would always hate computer games.

Aoyama – It was a nightmare! I don’t just mean the discussions, but also the technical difficulties involved…

Iwata – Yes, it must have been. Especially since it was an order from the president! (laughs) I asked them to carry out research on whether it was possible for the console to save all the data after an hour, and what would happen when the console was turned on the next day. They explained to me in great detail how many difficulties the whole enterprise would present. They also told me that there were better ways to achieve the same goal than making the console switch itself off. That’s why I eventually gave up on the idea!

All – (laughter)

Kuroume – What finally came out of those discussions was the idea for a Play History, which recorded the total time a particular game had been played. Rather than the console turning itself off automatically to ensure it is not played for more than an hour a day, it seemed much better to allow parents to use the Play History to discuss with their children how much they are using the console. The decision to make it impossible to delete this data was a separate subject for debate.

Aoyama – Even if a kid wakes up in the middle of the night and sneaks down to play games, that will show up on the Play History! (laughs)

Tamaki – Ultimately, the Play History fulfills the function of telling parents how long their kids have been playing, as well as being an interesting talking point. It’s just really fun for users to be able to see the record of how long they played. That’s why we decided to make the Play History impossible to reset. You can imagine users saying: “I didn’t realize I’d been playing that game so much!”… Or, in the future, we could make it possible to plot on a graph how much you’ve played. Also, with users’ cooperation, we could compile data on which game was the most played that year. I think all of these kinds of fun ideas show that it was better to make the Play History into a permanent record.

Iwata – It all started from my rather outlandish suggestion, but we ended up with a lot of worthwhile ideas. Although I’m sure the idea got up some people’s noses…

All – (laughter)

Iwata – To wrap things up, if there is anything you find particularly appealing about the Channels that we haven’t yet discussed, now is your chance.

Kuroume - Well, on the Wii Menu Screen where the Channels are listed, each Channel icon has its own unique and exciting animation. However, these animations do not necessarily stay the same. Some Channels will have a different animation depending on the circumstances. For example, the icon of the Forecast Channel might show that it is going to be sunny and 28 degrees today, so if you just want to know about today’s weather, you can easily tell by looking at the icon. These things, I think, are a part of Wii’s unique appeal.

Tamaki – This is a bit technical, but by using the + and – Buttons on the Wii Remote, the user can scroll through the Channels without having to return to the main Menu Screen every time. Each Channel actually has its own particular chime which sounds when you switch to that Channel. This means that simply flicking through the Channels becomes fun! (laughs) It’s as if the Channels are welcoming you! We’ve put a lot of Channels on Wii and I think we surprised even ourselves by how much we were able to accomplish. I think just flicking between the Channels looking for something interesting is great fun, and I want as many people as possible to get their hands on Wii and just give it a go!

Aoyama – This is getting away slightly from the discussion of Wii itself, but just as Kuroume-san said earlier, I’d love to design my own Channel for the console. There are a lot of people in the company who have the same ambition! (laughs) Even people who aren’t involved in software development are talking about Channels they’d like to see. I think that demonstrates perfectly the appeal that Wii has. I doubt any previous game console has inspired that sort of response. The Channel system, and the network infrastructure of WiiConnect24 behind it, have got people thinking. I have a feeling that even those who are not involved in the making of games will come up with unique ideas for Wii. I really think that Wii is a device offering a vast range of possibilities.

Iwata – Summing up my feelings, I would say that in all honesty I did not expect to see the hopes that I had for Wii in the beginning so fully realized in the finished product. While developing Wii, I felt that if the ideas I had could be made reality, then this could really change the relationship between people and games. I felt that this would add a new dimension to families’ everyday experience of using the internet and playing games. I thought it might change people’s lifestyles, as families gather around the TV to enjoy a new type of entertainment. Now I can hardly wait to see how people respond to the console. I don’t mean whether they like it or not; I mean it in the sense of wondering what uses people are going to find for Wii. I think we’ve really come up with something pretty special.

Tamaki – Can I just add something?

Iwata – Be my guest! (laughs)

Tamaki – I want to see families fighting over the Channels!

All – (laughter)

The next volume will be posted tomorrow in which the Wii Development Team will discuss, in more detail, the individual channels themselves. – via Wii.Nintendo.Com