Nintendo's annual shareholder meeting produces plenty of speculation fodder.
Nintendo held its annual shareholders meeting on the June 29, and there were plenty of interesting comments made by top Nintendo brass. The following is a wrap-up of information gathered from Sankei Shimbun, an attendee blog that detailed the event, and some other information gathered by Andriasang.
Miyamoto's Comments
- Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned that "it's about time" for a new character to be introduced, and speculated that it might happen next year.
- He noted that it had been 10 years since the company introduced Pikmin, and that he would like to get a new Pikmin game out "quickly".
- Miyamoto was asked what games he's working on, and he noted that his outside interests tend to make their way into his future games. On that note, he said that he has been swimming a lot lately, and is spending lots of time with school children as part of a "guidance organization".
Nintendo 3DS
- Miyamoto also stated that he is currently busy with Nintendo 3DS software development.
- The 3DS may be given functionality that displays "play time" like the Wii console.
- A question was asked about a successor to the Nintendo 3DS, and the company line of "we're always thinking of the next system" was given. However, they revealed that they were thinking about the 3DS as far back as six years ago.
- The Nintendo 3DS was demoed for the shareholders in attendance, with a large group of Nintendo employees handling the demo units. The demo had various items displayed in 3D for viewing, such as Smash Bros.-style character trophies.
- It was asked whether or not the 3DS version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time would have the same "polygon visuals" as the Nintendo 64 version, and the Nintendo representative seemed to indicate that they would be improved somewhat thanks the better graphics capabilities of the 3DS.
Miscellaneous
- A shareholder asked if Nintendo would ever consider making making games for devices like the iPad, and Iwata said no. He cited the fact that Nintendo makes its own hardware, and that other devices do not match Nintendo's values.
- Nintendo has no plans for a theme park, and if they ever built one it would not simply be a normal theme park with Nintendo characters.