Iwata:

  We are not allowed to freely decorate our buildings here in Kyoto. The size of the signs on the walls of buildings is limited and illuminated signs are even more strictly controlled. This is because people cherish the history and traditions of Kyoto. We would like you to understand that we cannot do business in Kyoto that would violate these restrictions. We understand that your question implies that Nintendo should do more promotions, and we will study how to advertise our business in a larger variety of places.

Iwata:

  "Even the best entertainment is not known to everyone" is the very biggest challenge for us. To expand the gaming population, we have to break through the barrier of encouraging non-gamers to play video games. For example, most men cannot memorize a brand name of a cosmetic for women nor understand its effects no matter how many TV commercials on it they watch. The same is true for video games. It is hard to have those who are not interested in video games to see the fun of a video game with a number of TV commercials on it. The greatest obstacle to "gaming population expansion" is, so to speak, people's lack of interest. The best measure to overcome this obstacle is a recommendation from someone close to them: families, friends and relatives. What you mentioned are some typical examples of word of mouth. Video games will not become more popular without such cases. In usual cases, furthermore, word of mouth will not easily spread except among those who are of the same generation and gender and belong to the same organization, school or office. We are focusing on increasing the number of people playing with our video game devices in a family where word of mouth could spread, thereby breaking down the barrier of generation and gender. For example, when a wife gets interested in a game her husband is playing, she might say to her friends, "The video game my husband is playing recently is unexpectedly interesting." In this way, some of Nintendo's products could partially breakdown the barrier. This is why Nintendo DS and Wii were made popular to some extent among those who had not been interested in video games before. As you suggested, our PR activities have not fully penetrated this barrier yet. At the same time, PR efforts with an infinite budget for a marginal increase in sales would be off balance. It is very challenging for us to come up with a method to efficiently convey the charm of a product to those uninterested. Taking the example of Nintendo 3DS, it would be difficult to promote the attractions of 3D play without the need for any special glasses through TV, newspapers or magazines. We therefore are thinking of letting people experience Nintendo 3DS in various places at the time of its launch. Thank you for your advice.

Shigeru Miyamoto (Senior Managing Director):

  To tell the truth, I am so busy with the launch of Nintendo 3DS that I have no time to ponder. But an idea sometimes comes into my head all of a sudden. It is not until I face the pressure of a deadline that I have a brainwave. The busier I am, the more inspirations hit me. I am now in a very good condition in that sense. Among the unveiled projects, I know that we have to complete the new Pikmin and I can tell you that development is going fairly smoothly. And the new Nintendogs, announced at the E3, features cats, and I now own a cat. Reporters often ask me, "What is your hobby?", which could potentially relate to the theme of the next game, so I am told by Mr. Iwata to keep it a secret. I mentioned my cat about one year ago for the first time, and we announced the related game the other day as planned. Nintendogs+cats will be completed soon. I am enjoying various activities in good spirits, say, continuing to swim regularly and interacting with local elementary school students as a volunteer juvenile counselor. We can probably give you something new again next year. I am still very active in the field of developing games. I hope you will look forward to the next product. Now might be the time to create some new characters because the most recent character, Pikmin, is no less than ten years old soon. That is all for me here.