Iwata on the need for a social component in single-player, Miiverse made for “social graph”, more
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has sounded off on social gaming for Wii U and the Miiverse.
Iwata feels that gaming is now in an era “where even a single-player game experience can have a social component”. For Miiverse, Nintendo wants to have “a gaming platform as the place to create that ‘social graph’ for folks who are in gaming circles”. He also hopes it’ll allow those who are playing alone to not actually feel like they’re playing by themselves.
There’s lots of commentary below from Iwata concerning social gaming and Miiverse – be sure to check it out.
Iwata on the need for a social component in single-player experiences…
“We have reached an era where even a single-player game experience [can] have a social component that is very important. And I think, again, that social component is mandatory.
“Early on, when I played a Mario game, it was really fun for me to sit and chat with my friends about, ‘Hey I found coins over here, there’s a hidden place.’ [or] ‘This is how far I got.’ That interaction was great. It was really a lot of fun, and I think you’ll agree that [it was also great] to help your friends in playing a Zelda game by saying, ‘Hey, this is how you get past this boss or solve this puzzle.’ Of course the Internet does provide a lot of that interaction, but it’s not built for that purpose. For example, Facebook is something that connects you socially with a lot of different folks, but that doesn’t guarantee that the people you are going to have interactions with via Facebook are interested in games. And what I’m saying is that I don’t believe that the life experiences that you have—and those might be with the people you are connected with on Facebook—are not equal to the gaming experiences you might have with a lot of different folks.”
Iwata on Nintendo’s ambitions for Miiverse…
“I feel that we need to create—or present—a gaming platform as the place to create that ‘social graph’ for folks who are in gaming circles, I guess. So that’s kind of the reason for creating Miiverse.”
“When we looked at the timing of how we are going to be implementing it, [we said], ‘Okay, when are the best points when people want to have social interactions and makes them want to reach out and say, “Me too,” “I did that,” “I feel the same way,”?’ I think, on a very human level, that is what will give them a sense of satisfaction.
“If you look at gaming services, for example if you look at Xbox Live, one of the more traditionally or generally accepted features of the gaming service is the ability to play with folks at different locations at the same time. On the other hand, you’re not always going to be available at the same time to play with each other. And of course we’re going to have that service of head-to-head [multiplayer, when you are] on at the same time playing games against each other, but what we really want to do is create a place where folks who are playing by themselves will not feel like they are playing by themselves. They’ll be able to share those experiences and have that empathy that we mentioned earlier.”
Iwata noting that online service announcements will be made in the future…
“We will be making announcements as we are talking more about specific software and we’ll ask you to wait for those announcements of how we are implementing it with those software titles,”
