Video Interview: Satoru Iwata

Exclusive and extensive interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata on Nintendo DS, PSP, Shigeru Miyamoto, Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo Revolution.

When he took presidency at Nintendo Co. Ltd almost exactly two years ago, Satoru Iwata wasn't doing the same job he's now admired for. Back then his job was to sell GameCubes and GBAs. Now he is charged with the massive task of making Nintendo viable against living room behemoths Sony and Microsoft in the next generation. And never have we been more confident that Nintendo and its fans are in safe hands.

How does he plan to do it? By doing what Nintendo does best - innovating. This much we know from his speech at Nintendo's E3 briefings this year and last. But is that enough? Find out in this exclusive video interview.

Satoru Iwata discusses:

•   Nintendo DS and its E3 showing and software line-up.

•   The delay of Nintendo DS in Europe - an official apology!

•   Relationship with developers and how they could be improved.

•   The next generation Nintendo home system.

•   How will the next generation battle take place?

•   Why Iwata believes there won't be a bright future waiting for Microsoft or Sony in next gen.

•   In strategic terms, how will Nintendo compete with Xbox 2 and PS3?

•   On Sony PSP - will it succeed and will DS compete?

•   Hiroshi Yamauchi - his current role at Nintendo and his surprising level of involvement with Nintendo DS.

•   Shigeru Miyamoto - what does his new role mean, and how much involvement does he have in specific projects?

•   Mr Iwata also discusses his new responsibilities and his own personal involvement in current projects.

•   Nintendo's current financial position.

This extensive interview is presented in usual the Kikizo style with hot clips of Nintendo DS and brand new GameCube titles. It's packed full of hot details and tidbits all worthy of individual news articles, but here you get the entire package.

In kicks off Kikizo's massive E3 2004 video coverage, which includes our usual 'video blowout' of all the best games at the show, at best quality and all in one place, along with an abundance of further video interviews including Yuji Naka, Kaz Yamauchi, Toshihiro Nagoshi and Sega-AM2.

This rare 1-1 interview with Mr Iwata is translated by Yasuhiro Minagawa, NCL's Head of PR and surely a world class Japanese-English interpreter. It offers a glimpse into the mind of one of the most important people in the industry, a man full of ideas guaranteed to surprise fans over the coming years. We'd like to thank Iwata-san for his time and we hope to speak with him again.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo

Update: In addition to this very enjoyable video feature, we are now providing a full transcript of the interview here.