Motion control in a handheld is trickier proposition because, of course, you're manipulating the thing you're supposed to be watching. So offhand, an accelerometer seems like a no-brainer. And Shigeru Miyamoto himself referred to it as far back as 2004, before the original DS's debut.

An accelerometer would enable tilt-steering for a racing game, for example, plus shaking or waggle controls. It's not hard to imagine a game in which players tilt or flip their characters/vehicles/puzzle pieces back and forth across two screens.

But Iwata specifically told the Asahi Shimbun the device must have a sensor to "read the movements of people playing." Something like WarioWare: Snapped already uses the DSi's camera to recognize player motion independent of the device, through capturing a player's hand as a silhouette, for example. Maybe the DSi successor would improve that.

Finally, what will this thing be named? The DSe? The DS2? The DX? The Dii? Nintendo had some interesting working names for the DSi LL, maybe one of those could be recycled. The company would likely only break from the DS branding if it were a radically different device. Well, Iwata referred to successors of the handheld in dismissing speculation that Nintendo would not implement cellular functions or monthly service plans for connecting to a gaming service. And the DS is absolutely a proven winner. So something different sounds unlikely.

We've asked Nintendo for a clarification of their plans for a DS successor device, but haven't heard back yet. Until we hear something, let's put it to the mob: What can we expect to see? What DS franchises and hits can most benefit from motion controls? What does motion control on this platform offer that it doesn't on something like the iPhone - or even a console? We've got the rumor - let's start the speculation!

Just days before the official start of the E3 gaming trade show that year, Nintendo's chief game designer provided me a private demonstration of the then unreleased Nintendo DS. He introduced me to the system's dual screens, touch screen and microphone. And he told me the feature that Nintendo omitted.

As I wrote in The New York Times back then:

To keep costs down, Mr. Miyamoto said, some features were left out of the DS. Maybe next time, he said, he will be able to include a tilt sensor for gyroscopic control. For now, he is focused on double screens.

Nintendo had experimented with tilt controls previously, including a motion sensor in the cartridge for the Game Boy's 2000 game Kirby Tilt 'N Tumble. In 2004 Nintendo would release Wario Ware Twisted, a Game Boy Advance game with a cartridge containing a rotation sensor.

Iwata told the Asahi Shinbun this week that a DS successor would need motion detection: "[It will have] highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing."

Current Sony and Nintendo handhelds do not detect motion. The Apple iPhone does.

Just as some other long-discussed Nintendo projects such as Miis have come to fruition in recent years, now it seems that a motion-controlled Nintendo handheld may be upon us.

Kotaku has requested clarification on plans for a new motion-sensitive handheld and will update you if we find out more.

[PIC: Cropped photo of the DS, as it looked when it debuted at E3 2004 via Wired... The DS was redesigned prior to release]

And there's a lot more where that came from, courtesy of the scanning prowess of Zelda Power, which looks to have each and every Nintendo designed card, from Animal Crossing to Pokemon to Professor Layton and beyond. A few other Japanese developers from Capcom, Konami, Square Enix and elsewhere also took part, which can be seen in the gallery at Zelda Power.

Nintendo Dream: Developer New Years Cards 2010 [Zelda Power]

There are more fun facts from this talk (translated from Japanese; the English transcript is not up yet.) Evidently Nintendo had been working on a DS Lite with 3.8 inch screens (the LL's are 4.2 inches, the Lite's are 3 inches, DSi is 3.2). It backed off because of manufacturing cost and the success of the regular flavor DS Lite. It sounds like they also wanted to do a simultaneous release of the DSi and DSi LL but it never came together.

Andriasang has more (in English) about the discussion.

The Other DSi LL Names [Andriasang via VG247]

The BBC put the question of why Nintendo's games have a stylized look and not photo realistic graphics to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. His response:

Our company makes games of several different styles but we always try to be different, whether it's video game or animations there are always trends. For example, in the video games industry, it seems that the majority of companies are heading in the same direction, taking advantage of identical technologies. They are simply trying to be better than their rivals. But my idea is pretty different. We try to be unique and different and try not to depend on the techniques of others. We try to be as uniquely creative as possible, and that's got to have played a part in making our games look different.

That's fine and dandy. But HD Wii? Please?

Miyamoto [BBC via Industry Gamers]

"Well, I called him 'Mr. Video'," Miyamoto said in the recent Iwata Asks feature on Nintendo's official site. "My plan was to use the same character in every video game I made."

Miyamoto was confident that he had come up with a solid character. "That's why I decided a solid, imposing name like 'Mr. Video' would work best," he added. "But thinking back, I don't think I should have gone with that name." Good thing someone at Nintendo of America came up with the name Mario. "If he had been called "Mr. Video," he might have disappeared off the face of the earth."

The idea to put Mario in multiple games wasn't simply clever branding on Miyamoto's part: he was influenced by Hollywood film director Alfred Hitchcock. "I thought the way Hitchcock cropped up in all the films he directed was really cool!" Miyamoto was also influenced by manga artists like Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) and Fujio Akatsuka (Tensai Bakabon), who put their characters in multiple works. And now you know!

Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii [Wii.com]

In a Q&A session posted on Nintendo's site, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that Mario 64 had, at one stage during development, a significant multiplayer component.

Iwata: Ever since Mario Bros., you've had your heart set on making a multiplayer Mario game. You've tried each time, but it's never quite come together… Even with Mario 64, it started with Mario and Luigi running around together, didn't it?

Miyamoto: That's right. The screen was split and they went into the castle separately. When they meet in the corridor, I was incredibly happy! (laughs) Then there was also the mode where the camera is fixed and we see Mario running away, steadily getting smaller and smaller.

Iwata: Yes, that's right.

Miyamoto: That was a remnant of an experiment we did where Mario and Luigi would run away from each other but you could still see them both. But we were unable to pull it off…

Course, he now says with Super Mario Bros. Wii he has pulled it off, but...it's not the same. Wonder if it's something they could include with Super Mario Galaxy 2...

A Medal for Skilled Players [Nintendo]

In this instance, the fact that in the 80's, Miyamoto thought seriously about patenting the idea of a jumping platformer.

Iwata: Donkey Kong involved jumping, as did Mario Bros., so you felt that Nintendo were the real originators of this kind of game.

Miyamoto: I did. I went as far as thinking that jumping is an original idea and that it should be patented! Anyway, I thought: "Right, I'm not going to let those other games top us!" (laughs)

Imagine if he'd tried it. And gotten away with it. And then been able to charge a fee every time somebody wanted to make a character jump in a platformer. You think they're rich now!

Letting Everyone Know It Was A Good Mushroom [Nintendo] [image: fanboys]

"Nintendo has become one of those companies that graduates from colleges and good universities really want to work for," Miyamoto told Edge in its latest issue (via Eurogamer).

"Because of that, the competition's really become so fierce for positions. And that means that a lot of the recent recruits for Nintendo have tended to have the higher degree from the prestigious colleges and universities and whatnot. I often say to Mr Iwata: 'If I was applying for a job here today, I, with my actual college degree, would probably not have been employed by Nintendo!'"

So Nintendo's current hiring practices are a bad thing, no?

Miyamoto: I wouldn't get a job here now [Eurogamer]

Miyamoto tells the Official Nintendo Magazine of the UK that he "cannot tell" whether the Super Guide's hand-holding assist will be included in Super Mario Galaxy 2. But the tech will be implemented in Nintendo games "wherever and whenever appropriate."

Personally, the option somehow seems more appropriate in a multiplayer-skewed game like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, even though the side-scrolling entries in the Super Mario Bros. series have typically been the more challenging of the lot.

If you're on board with this Super Guide thing, are there any Nintendo titles that you think warrant it more than others?

Mario Galaxy 2: Will It Use The Super Guide? [ONM UK]

Nintendo execs were asked when the company plans to make the move to high-definition graphics, joining the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in pushing more polygons, more pixels and more everything else. Not surprisingly, Nintendo is taking things cautiously, trying to find the balance between SD and HD content.

First to weigh in is Genyo Takeda, general manager of Nintendo's Integrated Research and Development Division. He says his group has been "reviewing and developing a number of hardware [options]... including HD and SD."

"However, we have not come to the stage where we can announce which is the most appropriate means," Takeda says."Since an increasing number of the TV sets at home around the world are becoming HD today, it will be natural for a machine to be able to generate graphics that people will be accustomed to see on HD televisions."

He adds that "moving to HD appears to me a natural flow."

Famed game designer Shigeru Miyamoto also offered his opinion about entering the HD era, implying that the decision is game dependent.

"Regarding the question of SD or HD, it must depend on each software," Miyamoto said. "For example, we have to ask ourselves if HD is really necessary to develop Wii Fit. Won't HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make."

The full response is an intimidating wall of text, from Takeda, Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, one that may be designed to confuse rather than inform. If you can decipher it, let us know what their plans are, OK? Thanks.

Investor Relations: Corporate Management Policy Briefing / Semi-annual Financial Results Briefing Q & A [Nintendo]

"The mood of the market got colder than expected," said Iwata, "and there was a miscalculation." This comes as Nintendo records its first decline in profits in six years.

Iwata disclosed that there were no extra resources in the company that can combat the slide in profits this year — Nintendo is aware of the weak 2009 software releases. Iwata did mention that the Wii Vitality Sensor will be out in 2010 and stressed that it is more than a simple heart rate monitor and that it will actually be fun.

"Now, we are preparing for next year and thinking about what to do the year after next," said Iwata. "We're thinking about our best chances for success." For some this signals sequels and perhaps new hardware from Nintendo.

When asked if Nintendo was worried about increased portable gaming competition from the iPhone, he replied, "In the marketplace, our presence is growing."

任天堂社長「見込み違いがあった」 [経済ニュース] [Pic]

At a Nintendo meeting today, Kotaku has learned that it was announced that, yes, Shigeru Miyamoto has a cat. Nintendo typically keeps Miyamoto's hobbies secret because they sometimes end up as the inspiration for new games.

Currently, Miyamoto is working on the new Zelda Wii title, which will sport swordplay with the MotionPlus feature. He is also working on a "DS game to play at home" and is interested in how the DS can be used in "public spaces".

Nintendo mentioned that the company was not against HD, and Miyamoto pointed out that a title like Wii Fit would not benefit greatly from HD, but the Nintendo creator added that a game like, say, Pikmin would.

While the majority of Shigeru Miyamoto's works enjoy huge success in Japan, there is one franchise that has been steadily declining in popularity. Miyamoto spoke to Multiplayer about the sad decline of the Star Fox series.

I'm a big fan of the 'Star Fox' games. Every time we make a 'Star Fox' game I'm hoping people will enjoy it as much as I do. Of course the goal every time is to try and make it more and more fun but, at least in Japan, the people that purchase the 'Star Fox' games has decreased over the years. But we still try to make them more fun and hopefully people will see the appeal in those games.

Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that there hasn't been a full-on flying Star Fox console title since 1997's Star Fox 64? Star Fox Adventures for the Gamecube was a rather huge deviation from the winning formula, and while Star Fox: Assault did have ship combat, it was watered down with sloppy on-foot missions. Give Japan an all-flying, all-shooting Star Fox title for the Wii and the fans will come.

Mario Creator Talks Disappointment With 'Star Fox' [MTV Multiplayer]

During a roundtable discussion earlier Thursday, Croal asked Miyamoto, straight up: "Where were you when you heard that Captain Lou Albano passed away, and what was your reaction?"

As Destructoid notes, for most of the discussion Miyamoto was able to respond to most questions without a translator. For this, however, Nintendo's Bill Trinen had to step in to translate. Miyamoto processed the question, and this was the reply:

"You're the one who just told me."

Former Journo Tells Miyamoto that Mario is Dead [Destructoid via Go Nintendo]

But it's 2009. Soon it is 2010. We are living in the future. The number of HD televisions continues to grow — yet the Wii is not HD.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with pretty graphics, and if I'm a consumer that has an HDTV, I'd want to be able to play my games with nice graphics too. And I think as we've seen the penetration rates for HDTV increase, we're going to see video games and Nintendo's games move along in step with the progression of technology," said Miyamoto.

"But what I don't think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that's going to make the gameplay experience better. So we're still going to focus on the gameplay, but we'll take advantage of the technology as it comes out."

Lots of mixed signals in what Miyamoto is saying: Pretty graphics are nice, people with HDTVs want pretty graphics, number of HDTVs increasing, Nintendo will move with technology, graphics don't make gaming experience better, Nintendo still focusing on gameplay, but will take advantage of the tech "as it comes out".

It's already out. Get on with it!

Miyamoto on HD Graphics: Nintendo's Games Will Move Along with Progression of Technology [IndustryGamers] [Pic]

Says Miyamoto: "I've always enjoyed guessing the lengths of objects, which is why I carry a measuring tape around with me." To which Iwata replies: "Really? That one's new to me too!"

Continues Shiggy:

For instance, I might guess that the table in front of us is about 1.2 metres long. Then I'd actually measure it with the measuring tape to check. If I got it right, I'd think: "I'm on form today!" But if I missed the mark by a long way, I'd think: "I've been slipping a bit recently!" ... And it's not just length: I also really enjoy predicting the weight and other measurements of things. So for instance, I'd pick up a chair and think: "I wonder how many kilos this weighs." Or I'd wonder how many grams a weekly manga magazine weighs.

Iwata says he'd need a set of scales to satisfy that curiosity, not as portable as a tape measure. Miyamoto agrees:

That's why I've always thought that using the Wii Balance Board to play a weight-guessing game would be great. For instance, we could make it like a school sports day. Get ten people together and hand out cards to each person. Then for instance, Iwata-san, you might get a card that reads "12 kilos" and I might get a card that reads "3 kilos". Then we'd all split up and go around the school …

Iwata: … And we'd each have to bring back something which weighed that much.

Miyamoto: We'd each put the object on the scales and the person who got closest to their target weight would be the winner! (laughs) Doing something like that would be great fun, wouldn't it? You don't think it would be fun?

Iwata: Um … Sure!

And thus, "while it's not exactly the same," that's why a similar weight-guessing game is included in Wii Fit Plus, Miyamoto says.

Iwata Asks: Wii Fit Plus [Wii.com via CVG]

We don't know. All we know is that the manager of Japanese shop Games Maya quotes Miyamoto as pointing out, "Even if a year passes, Mario is still sells."

If past Mario titles are anything to go by, Miyamoto isn't probably right — he is right.

伝わってきました〜♪ [**店長からのメッセージ**]

But there was one thing that always brought us together: Difficult video games.

In the 70s and 80s, the heyday of gaming's explosive appearance in homes and arcades, playing a video game with your brother usually meant taking turns. Or, if you were the younger, less-skilled brother, it meant asking for help, learning from your older sibling.

It was, at least for us, one of the few ways we could bond openly.

Nintendo's latest innovation in gaming, the Super Guide, could throw all of that out the window by enabling the game console to take over the role of big brother, big sister, father, mother, role-model and play the game for you, virtually holding your hand when things get tough.

The Super Guide will make its first appearance in November when Nintendo releases New Super Mario Bros. Wii for their console. In the familiar game, players run and jump through the Mushroom Kingdom, avoiding pitfalls and cartoon enemies on their quest for the perpetually displaced Princess Peach.

One of the twists (the game also introduces the ability for four people to play the game at the same time) is that if you get stuck, failing at a level eight times, the game will offer to play through the level for you via the Super Guide.

If you accept the offer, the single-player-controlled Mario is replaced with a Wii-controlled Luigi who then plays through the level on his own. The play-through will actually be a recording of a developer's imperfect, survivable play-through of the game. At any time the player can take control back from the guide, but once they do they can't relinquish control again without starting over.

Ian Bogost, associate professor at Georgia Tech and author of several books on games, most recently Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System, likens the Super Guide to the video game equivalent of fast forwarding a movie or skimming a book.

"Games are long, too long perhaps," he said. "Designers have combatted this problem partly through shorter games, like casual games and minigames, particularly on the Wii. But such games also can't carry the sort of longform spatial or narrative experience that we're used to from games like Super Mario Bros."

The problem, though, is that it undercuts one of the things that makes video games unique as a medium: How interactive they are.

"It certainly makes a game more passive. It does violence to the experience. It strips out the challenge and accomplishment that characterizes some games," Bogost said.

This first implementation of the Super Guide seems stripped of some of the potential found in the original patent filed for the system back in January. The patent also talks about the ability for gamers to save and share their own play-throughs of the game, making the hand-holding a bit more communal. It also allowed a gamer to bring up on-screen hints and skip to specific scenes of a game to play.

Developer Kellee Santiago, co-founder and president of ThatGameCompany, calls the concept an interesting potential solution to a problem that continues to plague the industry: How do you make a game that satisfies the increasingly separate groups of hardcore and casual gamers?

"There have been some rumblings from the hard-core community that games have gotten a little too easy as they've attempted to gain a larger audience," Santiago said. "It makes me think of watching a horror film and closing your ears and eyes during the really scary parts. Personally, I don't know why people would do this - I watch horror films because I like getting scared. If I didn't like it, I'd probably just not go see horror films. But there are people that still want the experience of sharing the experience of watching a scary movie with friends, and so they 'cheat' by tuning out the really terrifying parts. It's possible there's a gaming audience who will also enjoy playing hard games, and just skipping over the actual interaction of the really tricky sections.

"My concern as a developer is that this could lead to some lazy game design. Instead of addressing what could be some serious design flaws, they could rely on this system to simply show the player what to do."

Bogost raises the same concerns. And, he says, the Super Guide could be considered the byproduct of what philosophers Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer termed the culture industry, essentially popular culture mass produced to pacify, not enlighten or intellectually stimulate, the masses.

"I do believe that dynamic difficulty adjustment in general undermines the art's ability to produce unfamiliar and disturbing experiences in favor of giving the player just what he wants when he wants it... It's a computationally automatic version of Horkheimer and Adorno's critique of the culture industry."

And would beating a game with something, not someone, playing for you, be as fun?

At least when I handed the controller over to my big brother I got something more then a false sense of accomplishment out of it. And I'm not sure how much I want to bond with my Wii.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.