Iwata talks third parties on 3DS, online functionality in investor Q&A
Nintendo showed off an impressively diverse lineup of first- and third-party 3DS titles at E3, including games like Metal Gear Solid and Dead or Alive that don't usually show up on Nintendo consoles. An investor asked Nintendo president Satoru Iwata about the new variety of content on the 3DS during an E3 Q&A, and Iwata revealed that the graphical capabilities of the system brought new opportunities for third-party games.
"When we took the new Nintendo 3DS hardware and showed it to (third-party) publishers and developers, their feeling was that much of their content was something they could realize on the Nintendo 3DS system," he said, "and that's why we were able to announce the lineup that we did yesterday." If you build something with nice graphics, Hideo Kojima will appear eventually.
Iwata also elaborated a little on Nintendo's plans for new "always-on" online functionality in the 3DS. It sounds like the whole online concept for the system is built around the Dragon Quest IX/Nintendogs "tag mode" idea, in which data is passively sent to the device when in contact with a Wi-Fi signal.
"So up until now, much of the digital distribution focus has been on more of a 'pull type' where the consumer goes out, gets the content and pulls it to themselves," Iwata said. "With Nintendo 3DS, we're looking at a model that would be more focused around the 'push type,' where we're able to push information or content out to the device. And with a model like that, what it means is that because the consumer doesn't have to actively seek out the information themselves, it gives us a venue for creative new ideas of our company or of our developers to reach consumers much more easily."
