Satoru Iwata Would Like Miiverse to Become a "Game Diary"

As more information continues to arrive in the final days before Wii U hits stores, additional Iwata Asks transcriptions are arriving in English to spread the word. One of the more recent additions features the Nintendo boss interviewing the developers behind Miiverse, a team with extensive experience in web design, particularly.

After talking in detail about the challenges of creating Miiverse and the importance of Mii characters in creating empathy and personality, the team spoke about what how they'd like the platform to evolve once it's in the hands of gamers. As well as the planned move to bring Miiverse — and Nintendo Network as a whole — onto PCs, smartphones and tablets, the potential for social interaction and the concept of a "Cloud Game Diary" were discussed.

Iwata: Kurisu-san, would you start us off saying what it is that you hope will happen once Wii U goes out into the world?

Kurisu: Sure. After release, we eventually plan to make Miiverse accessible by PC and smartphone. While you're out, you'll be able to check what games you've played at home and set times for playing with your friends, so I hope that will spread.

Iwata: You won't only think about video games when you're in the living room. It's often said that smartphones are a rival to gaming devices, but I think there's a way they can be friends instead of rivals. This is an attempt in that direction.

Kurisu: Yeah. Hatena's main business has been making services for PC and smartphone sites, so I hope that we will be able to make use of Hatena's true strength as Miiverse spreads.

Iwata: How about you, Motoyama-san?

Motoyama: I usually make online Web services, and I've always wanted to create something online that would make real-world communication richer. If you're always using Miiverse in separate places, you may be like, "Next time, let's gather at my house!" I hope it will create opportunities for people to actually meet.

Iwata: It would be nice if there are more chances for learning that acquaintances are playing the same games. Kato-san?

Kato: This overlaps what Kurisu-san and Motoyama-san said, but there's a lot to enjoy for people who aren't playing with Wii U. We plan to sometime make it so that people who are playing and people who aren't can communicate, so I hope it becomes a format that will make people who aren't playing say, "That looks fun!"

Iwata: All right, Yuzawa-san?

Yuzawa: A lot of people use PCs or smartphones for lifelogging. Miiverse isn't exactly a "game lifelog," but I hope people will use it as a sort of diary to record things like "Today I cleared this."

Iwata: It would be nice if it becomes a kind of cloud24 game diary.

Yuzawa: Yeah. I think Miiverse will help people become friends and battle each other wirelessly, and bring more diversity to gaming. For example, you can post comments through Miiverse when a game ends, and since the results of battles post automatically, you can look back over the log and discuss that. I hope that Miiverse will permeate video game life.

It seems that the success or failure of Miiverse could come down to how gamers use it, and whether it therefore evolves in interesting ways; access on other devices certainly wouldn't do any harm.

Earlier in this Iwata Asks there's also a humorous section where an early mock-up of the GamePad is shown to Satoru Iwata. It's made out of cardboard and has a slot to slide paper into the screen area.

Iwata: Oh, it's made out of cardboard! (laughs)

You can see the images below and, as always, we recommend that you read the full Iwata Asks to learn more.