Konno: 3DS Tag Mode for Animal Crossing/Mario Kart, Tag Mode Viewer planned, motion controls like MotionPlus, more
Hideki Konno on how the 3DS’ screen works…
“The basic technology is quite old. For example, like a lenticular sticker where you shift it left and right and it shows different pictures. If we simply prepare a picture for the left eye, and a picture for the right eye, and the eyes each see a separate picture, it looks 3-D. The theory is the same, although it’s not a lenticular screen.”
Konno on why no one has used that technology in a videogame system before…
“We have been doing these experiments for a very long time, starting from the NES era. We also tried with the Virtual Boy. And even for GameCube, with the development of Luigi’s Mansion, we were thinking of developing a 3-D version of it. However, at that time it was very difficult to realize it as an actual product on the market, because of the resolution of the screen and the separate costs of the console and screen…We have been waiting, going to tech shows and seeing the latest 3-D technology and devices that support those features. We started to have more confidence that this might be a good time to bring 3-D back to Nintendo.
Konno on the slide pad…
“There is no direct relationship; it’s not that we created the slide pad because the system supports 3-D. But I have been developing console games for a very long time, and I think analog control is necessary. I want to have Mario Kart with analog control. Not only myself, but also Mr. Miyamoto was insisting that our next handheld have analog control.”
Konno on the 3DS’ Tag Mode…
“In the hardware, we have the capability that when you first play a game that supports Tag Mode, it will save to a Tag Mode data slot in the hardware system. We are planning to support multiple games at the same time: Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, etc.”
Konno on managing/deleting Tag Mode data…
“Yes, we’ll prepare a Tag Mode Viewer, where if you look at the viewer you’ll be able to see that, for example you were able to connect with 50 people in Nintendogs and got their data, or got 100 people in Animal Crossing.”
Konno on the Tag Mode extending game life…
“Yes. We would like to create Tag Mode so that it will bring consumers a sense of wanting to play a game again, after they get new data from games that they’d forgotten about.”
Konno on whether the 3DS will have a downloadable library…
“I can’t talk about specifics today, unfortunately, but like WiiWare and DSiWare there should be downloadable content for this platform.”
Konno on whether he sees a shift in how people will buy software with the 3DS/whether he sees more people downloading versus buying games at retail…
“This is my own personal opinion, but although I sometimes download music, when it’s game software I prefer to actually go to a store and get the product in my hands. However, I don’t think we can stop the era of downloadable purchases from coming.”
Konno on whether the accelerometer/gyroscope is like what MotionPlus does…
“Yes, the same type of motion sensing is possible…First of all, 3-D is not the only feature that we are pushing toward with this hardware. We think that there will be software that will emphasize motion control using the gyro. During our experiments, we have found that in a first-person shooter, we can use the sensor to move the aiming and the pointer. In that case, your line of sight is still quite rigid, your eyes are pointing at the screen, and so the 3-D effect won’t be diluted. So there is the possibility that both 3-D and motion control could be used in the same software.”
Konno on why there’s an extended stylus…
“We couldn’t make it longer because the stylus slot is vertical, so we needed to have it collapse so we could make it longer.”
Konno on who’s manufacturing the graphics chip…
“We can’t announce specific partners at E3, but in the near future that specific information will be updated.”
Konno on whether the design of the 3DS will change…
“You can take this as the final shape.”
