1. The Gyro Sensor: A New Sense Of Control
Iwata:
Wii Sports Resort has not been developed solely as a game, but rather as part of a set in conjunction with Wii MotionPlus. For this reason, I’m planning to do two interviews: one with the team responsible for developing the hardware, and another with the team behind the software. I'm going to start with the hardware team. Would you be kind enough to briefly introduce yourselves?
Takamoto:
My name is Junji Takamoto and I work in the Development Group No.3 of Integrated Research and Development Division. On the Wii MotionPlus project, I was the project leader on the hardware development side.
Iwata:
This is the second time you’ve taken part in an Iwata Asks interview since the original Wii hardware interviews, isn’t it?
Takamoto:
Yes, that’s right. It’s nice to be asked back.
Wakitani:
My name is Noboru Wakitani and I work in the same department as Takamoto-san. I was responsible for mechanism design on this project.
Ito:
My name is Kuniaki Ito and I work for the Development Group No. 2 in the Integrated Research and Development Division. On this project, I was responsible for the electrical circuitry side.
Ota:
My name is Keizo Ota and I’m in a different department from everyone else. I work in the Entertainment Analysis and Development Division, Design Technology Group. I was in charge of developing the SDK for this project.
Iwata:
I should explain that the term SDK which Ota-san just mentioned is an abbreviation of “Software Development Kit”. Could you briefly explain what exactly it is?
Ota:
Put very simply, an SDK is a component used to develop games. I worked in a position where I acted as a liaison between the hardware team and the software dev teams. So my job was to produce the kit needed for game development and to then make this available to the software dev teams.
Iwata:
But that’s not all you did, is it?
Ota:
You’re right. The accessory we’re discussing today has its own unique and extremely interesting features. But it has its fair share of idiosyncrasies too, so I was required to come up with a lot of ideas to try to deal with these.
Iwata:
We’re going to have the opportunity to hear all about that very shortly. But firstly, Takamoto-san, could you tell me how the idea for Wii MotionPlus came about and when development got under way?
Takamoto:
Well, development got properly under way at the very start of 2008. It was the head of my department, Genyo Takeda, who got the ball rolling when he said: "How about connecting the Wii Remote to a gyro sensor1?"

Iwata:
When he made that suggestion completely out of the blue, weren’t you rather at a loss as to how to respond? After all, you’d just struggled to finally get the Wii Remote Jacket distributed worldwide and here you were being ordered to add a gyro sensor!
| 1 | A gyro sensor is a measurement device. Its uses include calculating angle and rotation speed and controlling position. The term "gyro" refers to a "ring" or "rotation". |
Takamoto:
Well, yes. And what’s more, we had to come up with a completely new jacket for the Wii Remote.
Iwata:
You did, didn’t you? And what name did you come up with for this new Wii Remote Jacket?
Takamoto:
We called it the “Long Jacket”.

Iwata:
Well, that’s pretty self-explanatory, at least! (laughs)
All:
(laughter)
Takamoto:
In order to use the Wii MotionPlus accessory you have to exchange the existing jacket for the new “Long Jacket”, which is something I can well imagine will seem rather bothersome to some of our customers.
Iwata:
But it does ensure safer use, after all…
Takamoto:
Oh yes, I would certainly urge everyone to make use of it. In particular when playing games like Wii Sports, where there may be large numbers of people playing together.
Iwata:
Since this accessory can detect different movements than the original Wii Remote, in addition to very fast movements, there needs to be even more attention paid to ensuring safe usage. This is why we would urge all users to be sure to attach the “Long Jacket” when using Wii MotionPlus.
Takamoto:
Absolutely. And this is where the decision to combine the “Long Jacket” and the Wii MotionPlus accessory came from.
Iwata:
So in other words, the Wii MotionPlus accessory and the “Long Jacket” are not going to be released separately…
Takamoto:
No, the intention was to integrate the two from the very start. This is why when we use the term Wii MotionPlus, we are referring to the accessory with the "Long Jacket” attached.

Iwata:
So tell me why you decided to go to all the effort of developing Wii MotionPlus in the first place?
Takamoto:
It was because the original Wii Remote could only detect movements along straight lines.
Iwata:
This is to say that the accelerometer2 in the Wii Remote only responded to movements that were along straight lines - such as waving, thrusting and pulling.
| 2 | An accelerometer is an electrical circuit element that can detect changes in speed. The accelerometer in the Wii Remote can detect the rate of acceleration in three dimensions. |
Takamoto:
That’s right. To put it in technical terms, it detected acceleration along straight lines on the X, Y and Z axes. So for instance, when you play golf on Wii Sports, it can detect a swing along a straight line but…
Iwata:
But it’s not able to detect the angle of the club’s face.
Takamoto:
Precisely. This is why it
couldn’t distinguish between hooked or sliced shots. But when you combine the Wii Remote’s accelerometer with a gyro sensor, it can detect movement along 6 different axes. This means that it won't only detect movements along straight lines, but also movements like rotation and twist. This makes it possible to reproduce the movements of the player very faithfully, which is why we thought a gyro sensor would offer such huge advantages.

Iwata:
I suppose the obvious question is: if it offers such huge advantages, why didn’t you use it in the Wii Remote from the very start?
Takamoto:
We actually looked into the idea of including a gyro sensor at the very start of the Wii Remote’s development. But the idea was rejected due to issues of both space and cost which attaching a gyro sensor would entail.
Iwata:
I see. But gyro sensors are measuring devices that have actually been around for a considerable amount of time, aren’t they?
Takamoto:
That’s right. They were originally called gyroscopes and were used to measure angle and rotation speed in rockets and the navigation systems of ships. But they were very bulky instruments indeed.
Iwata:
They’re fitted in the noses of aeroplanes as well, aren’t they?
Takamoto:
Right. That’s the sort of size we’re talking about. And let’s not forget that they were also extremely expensive. However, with advances in MEMS technology, they have become smaller and smaller while at the same time becoming cheaper...
Iwata:
You used the term MEMS just now. Could you explain what that means?
Takamoto:
It stands for “Micro-Electromechanical Systems” and refers to micro fabrication techniques that use applied semi-conductor technology to produce extremely small mechanical structures.
Iwata:
So thanks to MEMS technology, it has become possible to put a gyro sensor inside a small remote control. As I recall, WarioWare: Twisted!3 also made use of a gyro sensor.
| 3 | WarioWare: Twisted! was the third in the Wario series, released for the Game Boy Advance in October 2004 in Japan. |
Takamoto:
Well, that was a piezoelectric gyroscope and was a little different in nature from the one we’re using now. The impetus for the rapid increase in the use of gyro sensors actually came from their use in video cameras in order to correct camera shake. But there was no way the gyro sensors in cameras could simply be transferred across to be used in a Wii Remote.

Iwata:
This is something Ota-san mentioned at the start of the interview, but the gyro sensor has its own idiosyncrasies…
Takamoto:
Yes, it has its share. It’s always been known as quite a tricky piece of kit to work with, but when Takeda-san first mentioned it, I must confess I had no idea that it would prove to be quite this awkward.
Iwata:
So the gyro sensor really was an awkward customer to work with…
Takamoto:
Well, to say it has its idiosyncrasies is putting it mildly…
2. Combining Two Sensors
Iwata:
So we’ve heard that the gyro sensor has its own idiosyncrasies but could you tell us precisely what made it so difficult to work with?
Takamoto:
Well as we’ve said, the device can measure twisting and rotation. But having said that, once it goes outside the area where you can actually observe it, there are times you can’t be sure that you’re receiving reliable data.
Iwata:
So that means that if you wave the Wii Remote in a large movement, it could go beyond the limits of the area the sensor can detect and the movement wouldn’t end up being reflected in the gameplay.
Takamoto:
That’s it.
Iwata:
Let’s ask Ito-san, who was in charge of the electrical circuitry, to explain how you managed to overcome that problem.
Ito:
Certainly. Well, we increased the sensitivity of the gyro sensor for Wii to five times the level of a normal one. After all, the gyro sensors used in video cameras can only detect a rotation of about 300 degrees per second, which makes them pretty slow...

Iwata:
300 degrees per second doesn’t sound slow to me! (laughs)
Ito:
But there are people who make incredibly quick movements when they’re playing games.
Iwata:
So you mean that if the sensor could only detect a rotation of 300 degrees per second, there would be cases where the limit of the sensors would be exceeded and any movement beyond that would be cut off.
Ito:
That’s right. Which is why we designed the sensor so it could detect 1600 degrees of movement per second.
Iwata:
Which is about four and a half complete rotations. For a person to rotate their hand that much would demand quite an effort!
Ito:
Right. So by doing that, we made sure that fast movements would be detected. But then we had to discuss the need to detect slow movements.
Iwata:
It sounds like there’s a contradiction here. After all, if you ensure it can detect quick movements, common sense would tell you that its sensitivity when it comes to detecting slow movements would decrease.
Ito:
That’s exactly what common sense would tell you! (laughs) But we really wanted to do what we could to make it detect slow movements as well. I had repeated discussions with Ota-san about this.
Ota:
We had a fair few discussions about it, didn’t we?

Iwata:
So, Ota-san, how did you solve this issue?
Ota:
We designed the sensor so it would have two modes: one for fast movements and the other for slow movements.
Iwata:
And what precisely are those two modes?
Ota:
Well, as the data from the sensor is sent wirelessly, the resolution of the data is already determined. Let’s imagine there are ten bands at which data can be sent. In reality, there are more than this, but I’m using this example to make it easier to understand. So if you have ten bands, this means that you can only send data signals ranging from zero to nine.
Iwata:
So let’s say that data resolution is fixed at ten bands, you can't simply increase it to twenty, can you?
Ota:
That’s right - you can’t do that. Let’s use the speed of a car as an example. With a car that can travel at speeds of up to ten kilometres per hour, data about its current speed would be sent in units of one kilometre per hour. That is to say, each band corresponds to one kilometre per hour. However, if we increase the maximum speed we can measure to one hundred kilometres per hour, each unit would then become ten kilometres per hour. This would mean we would become unable to detect low speeds such as two or three kilometres per hour.
Iwata:
So if you adjust the settings to let you measure high speeds of up to one hundred kilometres per hour, the data will be measured in increments of ten kilometres per hour.
Ota:
Correct. This is why we equipped the sensor with two modes: the low-speed mode where the data is sent in ten bands, within a range of up to ten kilometres per hour; and the high-speed mode where the data is sent in ten bands, within a range of up to one hundred kilometres per hour.
Iwata:
So by having two modes, you’ve made high-sensitivity to small movements possible while at the same time allowing detection of more dynamic movements.
Ota:
That’s right.
Iwata:
So that's how you made the sensor so it was able to respond to slow movements. But it wasn’t just that which made the gyro sensor hard to handle, was it?

Ota:
No, it wasn’t. The sensitivity of the gyro sensor’s detection ability could be adversely affected by changes in the surrounding temperature.
Takamoto:
The “M” in MEMS does stand for “mechanical”.
Iwata:
So precisely because it is mechanical, it meant that could occur.
Ota:
Normally, if something is not in motion, the data being sent back should read zero. But in the case of the gyro sensor, even when it’s perfectly still, data that reads one or two will start to be sent back after a while.
Iwata:
So although no one is touching it, it’s behaving as if it were in motion.
Ota:
The technical term for this phenomenon is “temperature drift”.
Iwata:
So what’s happening is that as the temperature changes, the point that should be zero drifts out of place.
Ota:
It’s not just temperature that can do it: humidity or sudden impacts can have the same effect. So we discussed ways of achieving our aim of somehow getting a sensor made where this problem didn't occur...
Iwata:
But isn’t that…
Ota:
…Impossible! But there is a way of getting round the problem. All you have to do is include a completely separate sensor that adjusts the point of zero, let’s say.
Takamoto:
But we weren’t allowed to ramp up the cost unnecessarily.
Ota:
This is why our only option lay in trying to find a software-based solution to the problem. We tried a range of solutions - it was a process of trial and error.

Iwata:
This meant that you had no choice but to figure out some method of detecting that the Wii Remote was not currently in motion.
Ota:
And the first idea we came up with was an accelerometer. We thought we might be able to use it to detect whether or not it was moving but…
Iwata:
But it didn’t work, did it?
Ota:
No, it didn’t. The gyro sensor is much more sensitive than the accelerometer, meaning that there were cases where even though the accelerometer was indicating zero, the gyro sensor was moving.
Iwata:
That’s no use, is it?
Ota:
So ultimately, we made it so that the gyro sensor is actually able to detect that it is not currently moving.
Iwata:
So even with fluctuations in temperature and humidity, the gyro sensor is able to function correctly.
Ota:
That’s right. We included software which made that possible.
Iwata:
So Ota-san, while you were trying to tame that hard-to-handle gyro sensor, you were also developing the SDK - that is, the kit for software development. What new directions in game development do you think were opened up by the combination of the accelerometer and the gyro sensor? I’d like to hear your considered opinion as someone who has been involved in the development of a wide variety of game titles.

Ota:
I think the single biggest development is that Wii MotionPlus will allow game developers to get a sense of the player's feelings.
Iwata:
The player’s feelings?
Ota:
By being able to detect rotation, the movement of the Wii Remote in the player's hand and the movement of the object on screen have been made to match in real time. That's something that everyone has always dreamed of realising.
Iwata:
That’s undoubtedly true.
Ota:
But it was by no means easy to achieve that. The measures we’ve just spoken about, such as broadening the range of the speed detection or increasing the sensitivity of low-speed detection, was not enough by itself.
Iwata:
There was also the problem of temperature drift.
Ota:
Also, because the data is being transferred wirelessly, there was the possibility of some data not being received. All of which meant that while you were moving the Wii Remote, it became slightly out of synch with the movement of the corresponding object on screen.
Iwata:
How did you resolve that problem?
Ota:
Using the gyro sensor alone, we couldn’t find a satisfactory solution to that problem, but the accelerometer proved very useful in correcting it.
Iwata:
So this was something that neither the accelerometer nor the gyro sensor could achieve alone. But by combining both of those sensors, you were able to achieve what you had always wanted – to be able to take account of the way the player was feeling.
Ota:
That’s exactly right.
3. Easy To Hold With Both Hands
Iwata:
So while you were engaged in a bitter struggle with the gyro sensor, tell me how you decided on the shape that the Wii MotionPlus accessory would take.
Wakitani:
At the start of the development process, it looked like this.

Iwata:
It's very different from the design of the finished product.
Wakitani:
The first thing we thought of was naturally how comfortable it would be to hold. That was why we chose to make it as compact as possible. But in the end, to prevent the Wii Remote slipping from players' hands when they are waving it energetically, we slightly expanded the bottom to give it a kind of skirt shape. On top of that, safety considerations led us to combine Wii MotionPlus with the "Long Jacket".

Iwata:
The idea of combining them to ensure safe usage was something that came about after E3 2008, wasn’t it?
Wakitani:
That’s right. But the prototype we put together at that point had a skirt shape with a very gentle curve, meaning that it could become detached very easily.
Takamoto:
And from the point of view of maintenance and repairs, we were unable to use any adhesive to secure it.
Wakitani:
That’s why we made the skirt wider so it was a kind of flange shape such as you would get when fitting a car tyre to a wheel. That’s how the final shape ended up like this.

Iwata:
You really did combine it very snugly with the "Long Jacket", didn’t you? (laughs)
Takamoto:
By making the skirt wider, it makes it much less likely to slip out of your hand when you shake the Wii Remote vigorously. This was a very important consideration.
Wakitani:
It’s a little like the grip end of a baseball bat.
Iwata:
That makes sense. And out of interest, what do you make of the fact that the length of the Wii Remote has increased?
Takamoto:
Well, it has made it very comfortable to grip with both hands.
Wakitani:
I think that games where you hold the Wii Remote with two hands, such as golf and baseball, have become a great deal easier to play.

Ito:
Though with the original Wii Remote, there were players who swung the bat using only one hand! (laughs)
Takamoto:
That’s why we thought we could have afforded to make it even longer! (laughs)
All:
(laughter)
Iwata:
So while the electronic engineering team were doing battle with the gyro sensor, the mechanism design team also had some awkward problems to contend with.
Takamoto:
Yes, you could say that! (laughs) Since we’re on the subject of connecting the accessory, the bottom of the Wii Remote has an external extension connector for connecting the Nunchuk and other accessories. On either side, all you have are holes.

Iwata:
Yes, there are two holes to lock accessories to the Wii Remote.
Takamoto:
So we thought about using these two holes and tried to secure the Wii MotionPlus accessory using hooks. But those holes were not originally designed with the purpose of connecting Wii MotionPlus in mind. They were actually designed for a separate purpose, which was attaching accessories in a less secure way.
Iwata:
So the designers hadn’t envisaged something like Wii MotionPlus which would be attached firmly to the Wii Remote.
Takamoto:
Moreover, they hadn’t envisaged that the area where the devices were connected would be gripped tightly and shaken repeatedly.
Wakitani:
That’s why we had cases where there would be temporary disconnection of Wii MotionPlus during use.
Iwata:
So the accessory would disconnect from the Wii Remote just for a brief instant.?
Wakitani:
That’s right. So at that point we looked to investigate further by trying to reproduce this temporary disconnection by twisting and turning Wii MotionPlus. But it wasn’t something we could do by only twisting it slightly.
Takamoto:
Without shaking the Wii Remote tens of thousands of times, this temporary disconnection wouldn’t reoccur.
Iwata:
But you weren't really going to shake it thousands of times to test this, were you? (laughs)
Takamoto:
Well, at the start I gave it a go, but after a while the skin on the palm of my hand felt like it was peeling away.

Wakitani:
And that’s when the gloves went on.
Iwata:
You really went that far? (laughs)
Wakitani:
But doing it that way would have been far too time-consuming. So it was at that point that we decided to borrow shop-front display models for Pokémotion4. (laughter)
| 4 | Released by the Pokémon Company in Japan in August 2003, Pokémotion was a “communication tool” shaped like a glow stick. By utilising flashing LEDs, it left images on the eye allowing users to see various Pokémon and words when it was waved rapidly. |
Takamoto:
That’s the shop display where the Pokémotion is swung like a metronome.
Iwata:
Ah yes, I remember that.
Wakitani:
We scraped together all the models we could, from our Okayama office and various departments within the company, and then used them to carry out tests.
Iwata:
It’s lucky there were still so many left! (laughs)
A Wii MotionPlus test conducted using the Pokémotion shop-front display model.
Wakitani:
The conclusion we came to was that the plug for Wii MotionPlus was attached completely rigidly to the connector on the Wii Remote.
Iwata:
So it was attached very firmly with no room for give.
Wakitani:
Right. Which is why after waving it repeatedly, it inevitably placed a strain on the connector.
Takamoto:
If you were to connect it to any normal peripheral it wouldn’t be a problem, but in the case of the Wii Remote, because it’s a product where you actually grip the connector and wave it repeatedly, it was impossible to avoid a heavy strain being put on it.
Iwata:
Which is why this temporary disconnection occurred.
Wakitani:
We experimented with a variety of possible solutions, such as putting oil around the connector or leaving a small gap open but...
Iwata:
But you kept hitting dead ends.
Wakitani:
Yes we did. So we experimented with redesigning the Wii MotionPlus connector plug so it fit more loosely into the connector as a way of avoiding placing strain on the connection.
Iwata:
So it was a bit like fitting the plug with suspension.
Wakitani:
The technical term is a “floating structure”. We used the trial equipment to carry out tests on that structure and the rate of temporary disconnection declined dramatically. So we felt we were on the way to solving the contact problem. But then, just at that point...
Iwata:
What happened at that point?
Wakitani:
The connection hooks used to lock Wii MotionPlus into the holes at the base of the Wii Remote snapped.
Iwata:
I see… Up to that point, the accessory had been connected in three places: by the plug and the two hooks. But once you’d redesigned the plug so that it was a floating structure, too much strain ended up being placed on the two hooks.
Wakitani:
That’s exactly it. So we thought there was no solution except to reinforce the strength of the hooks.

Ito:
That’s why we used steel hooks.
Iwata:
Steel hooks?
Wakitani:
But we went a bit over the top in reinforcing the hooks’ strength...
Takamoto:
...And this time the holes in the Wii Remote broke!
All:
(laughter)
Iwata:
So even those steel hooks didn’t end up working out for you! (laughs)
Takamoto:
It was at that point that someone suggested adding a tray-shaped section on the reverse side to integrate the Wii MotionPlus accessory and the Wii Remote more fully...
Iwata:
It sounds like a splint for a broken bone! (laughs) But by doing that, wouldn’t you make it more difficult to hold?
Takamoto:
Yes, it becomes too bulky.
Iwata:
So how did you finally resolve this one?
Wakitani:
We decided to use a type of plastic which was very durable and could withstand the repeated strain.
Takamoto:
The cost of the materials increased, but we were all able to breathe a sigh of relief at that point.
4. Why We Needed A Pressure Cooker
Iwata:
But I've got a feeling that there were still plenty of difficulties to come, weren’t there?
Wakitani:
(looking through data in front of him) Do you want me to start?
Ito:
Or should I go first?
All:
(laughter)
Iwata:
So you’re telling me that there were still plenty of trials and tribulations in store for both of you. (laughs) Okay, let's start with Ito-san. Tell me about the problems you ran into with regards to the electrical circuitry.

Ito:
Okay. Well, there were a lot of things we had to contend with. For instance, when the gyro sensor’s casing absorbed moisture from the air, it would affect its sensitivity.
Iwata:
Could you explain a bit more about the gyro sensor’s casing?
Ito:
This is the material that contains the gyro sensor. Although it was made from a plastic epoxy resin, if it absorbed so much as a tiny amount of water, it would swell up and put pressure on the sensor which would prevent it from functioning properly.
Iwata:
Plastic products should be completely free from moisture, shouldn't they?
Ito:
That’s right. It’s the same as when you deep fry food with a high water content and it bursts open. If even a little water gets into the casing, when it’s soldered, the sensor can split. In order to prevent that, you have to ensure that when it's being manufactured, it is in a completely dry environment. But even if you do that, it’s inevitable that when players use it, it will absorb some moisture. Even the epoxy resin will expand if it absorbs any moisture.
Takamoto:
At the start we tried various ways of ensuring that moisture couldn’t get in, such as using a coating.
Iwata:
And even then, moisture got in.
Takamoto:
Whatever we did, moisture would get in.
Iwata:
How did you manage to solve this tricky issue?

Ito:
We made it absorb moisture right from the start, but in a controlled and efficient manner.
Iwata:
So if it's going to absorb moisture anyway, you might as well let it absorb it right from the start! (laughs)
Ito:
So we boiled the entire circuit board.
Iwata:
You boiled it? You’re telling me you really tried that?
All:
(laughter)
Iwata:
Circuit boards aren’t normally something you boil, you know! (laughs)
Takamoto:
There are ways to get plastic to absorb moisture so that it becomes stable. One of those ways is to boil it.
Iwata:
Well I never…!
Ito:
So we went and bought a pressure cooker...
Iwata:
A pressure cooker?
Ito:
Er... And we put it on expenses. Sorry about that!
All:
(laughter)

Takamoto:
It actually takes an extremely long time to get the plastic to absorb the required quantity of moisture.
Iwata:
Which makes mass production impossible, right?
Takamoto:
That’s why we needed to make it absorb the moisture in the shortest time possible.
Iwata:
Which is where the pressure cooker came in! (laughs)
Takamoto:
In the end, we didn’t actually use it.
Iwata:
I suppose it would have been a little odd to have had a row of pressure cookers on the assembly line.
All:
(laughter)
Takamoto:
We also purchased things like an ultrasonic washing machine used for spectacles...
Ito:
We also researched the steamers that are used for steaming buns...
Takamoto:
We'd be looking at things and going: “We might be able to use this!”
Ito:
We really did spend a lot of time searching for the right one, didn't we?
Takamoto:
We certainly did!
Iwata:
And? In the end what method did you use for adding moisture?
Ito:
We placed a normal humidifier in a room and then used a heater to adjust the temperature.
Iwata:
If that’s all it took, you didn’t need to go and boil anything in a pressure cooker! (laughs)
Takamoto:
Well, yes. That's true... (laughs) But we were looking to get it to absorb the moisture in the shortest time possible.
Ito:
Even using a humidifier, it takes over 48 hours.
Takamoto:
So you leave it to sit for two days... It's just like making a curry!
All:
(laughter)
Iwata:
With Wii MotionPlus, people might think that we've just tacked on a gyro sensor, but in fact it was a product that necessitated a huge amount of trial and error, whether it was collecting Pokémotion shop displays, making steel hooks and breaking the Wii Remote or simmering the components in a pressure cooker. You really put a lot of effort into this one! Now, just to wrap up, could I ask each of you to give a final message?
Takamoto:
Up to now, the Wii Remote could only detect movements along straight lines, which may have led game developers to feel some dissatisfaction at times. But with Wii MotionPlus, because we have made it so it can detect rotation, I would like to ask developers to bring out lots of games that utilise this advantage for our users to enjoy. Oh, and there’s just one more thing I want to mention: there's a bit of a trick required to attach the Wii MotionPlus accessory to the Wii Remote.

Iwata:
I was at something of a loss as to how to attach the first time I attempted it. It was a bit like struggling to figure out puzzle rings. (laughs)
All:
(laughter)
Takamoto:
That’s why we wanted to explain it in precise detail in the instruction guide. But Iwata-san put his foot down.
Iwata:
Well, it’s not as if every user is going to read the instructions in any case. Plus it’s very difficult to work it out by just looking at diagrams.
Takamoto:
That’s why we decided to put the instructions in video form which you can see when you start Wii Sports Resort. All you have to do is watch that and you’ll soon get the hang of attaching Wii MotionPlus.
Iwata:
Once you've got the hang of it, it’s actually very easy to attach. Okay, over to you, Wakitani-san.
Wakitani:
Just speaking personally, I'm actually a huge fan of tennis, so I’m really looking forward to games coming out that allow unparalleled realism in their racquet control. I would urge all game developers to produce great new games, the likes of which we haven't seen before.

Ito:
I have just one thing to say to all of our customers. With Wii MotionPlus, the feeling of being at one with the game - or rather the fact that you can move in exactly the way you want to – makes the concept very simple to grasp. So I would ask all of you to understand and appreciate what we were going for with Wii MotionPlus.

Ota:
I'm also going to speak about something personal. Watching my daughter playing New Super Mario Bros, when she was jumping and wanted to go a little further, she would actually stretch her body with all her might.
Iwata:
I think we all do that! (laughs)
Ota:
Those kinds of movements that players make completely naturally couldn’t be picked up with the control systems that have existed up to now. But with Wii MotionPlus, a control system is now possible that can detect how the player is feeling and respond accordingly. That’s why I'm anticipating games which take the enjoyment to a whole new level, even beyond the fact that the Wii Remote’s length has expanded. And finally, I have one more thing to say to the game developers. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to get in touch!

Iwata:
I’m sure they’ll be reassured to hear that! (laughs) Finally, a few comments from my side. Since the decision was made to bring out Wii MotionPlus, there has been one thing I have looked forward to with a huge amount of anticipation. We have received positive feedback from many people concerning the brand new data input device which is the Wii Remote. I can actually still remember perfectly the first time I was able to play the prototype software which would become the basis for the tennis game which Ota-san developed for Wii Sports. That’s why at E3 in 2006, when the Wii console was unveiled, we decided to make Miyamoto-san, Reggie5 and myself playing tennis into the centrepiece of our presentation.
But while the Wii Remote may have made things incredibly accessible and open to everyone, in terms of depth, there were limitations. As the Wii Remote could not fully detect how the player had moved it or twisted it, game developers had to make games while all the time coming up with various ideas enabling them to interpret what the player had done: "At this point, the player’s going to be sure to want to do this.” By coming up with various elaborate ideas, game developers were able to produce games that even complete novices could enjoy. But it is also true to say that, from the perspective of people who are very passionate about games, we got feedback along the lines that: “Yes, the games are very accessible and allow a fresh kind of enjoyment, but there is something shallow about them at the same time.”
But now Wii MotionPlus can detect a wide variety of movements perfectly, which makes me wonder how that will change the games that come out now. They will still remain as accessible as ever, and the unique point that anyone can pick up the Wii Remote and play still holds true. But I feel that there will be a huge shift in terms of the depth of games that come out from now on. So what I am really looking forward to seeing is how Wii MotionPlus will add a new level to gaming enjoyment for both experienced players and novices.
But while the Wii Remote may have made things incredibly accessible and open to everyone, in terms of depth, there were limitations. As the Wii Remote could not fully detect how the player had moved it or twisted it, game developers had to make games while all the time coming up with various ideas enabling them to interpret what the player had done: "At this point, the player’s going to be sure to want to do this.” By coming up with various elaborate ideas, game developers were able to produce games that even complete novices could enjoy. But it is also true to say that, from the perspective of people who are very passionate about games, we got feedback along the lines that: “Yes, the games are very accessible and allow a fresh kind of enjoyment, but there is something shallow about them at the same time.”
But now Wii MotionPlus can detect a wide variety of movements perfectly, which makes me wonder how that will change the games that come out now. They will still remain as accessible as ever, and the unique point that anyone can pick up the Wii Remote and play still holds true. But I feel that there will be a huge shift in terms of the depth of games that come out from now on. So what I am really looking forward to seeing is how Wii MotionPlus will add a new level to gaming enjoyment for both experienced players and novices.

Next time, I’ll interview the team behind Wii Sports Resort to find out what kind of games can be enjoyed using Wii MotionPlus.
| 5 | Reggie Fils-Aime, President of NOA (Nintendo of America). |





