Miyamoto: People will come to depend on second screen
"There was a period when we first released the Nintendo DS that people would say there's no way people can look at two screens at once," Shigeru Miyamoto told CNN. The DS was released in 2004, and slowly grew to sell over 153 million units worldwide (as of December 31).
"I almost feel like, as people get more familiar with Wii U and these touchscreen interfaces, that there is going to come a point where they feel like 'I can't do everything I want to do if I don't have a second screen'." The trick, of course, is getting people familiar with Wii U, something Nintendo has yet to accomplish judging by hardware sales.
"I feel a device like Wii U, with its ability to continue to offer new features and that network connection and the connection to the TV and the interface, really makes it feel that it's more than just a game machine, but something that offers a lot of practical use and practical purpose in the living room," Miyamoto said.
Miyamoto reiterated plans to update the firmware to make it "a little more stable, a little bit more convenient to use from a system standpoint." He's also working on figuring out how to "convey the usefulness of Wii U" to potential owners through games. "For me as a game developer, obviously I look at Wii U from the perspective of what games I can bring to Wii U."
