2. Hearing is Communication

Iwata - (Yoshio) Sakamoto-san, was your involvement limited to guidance when necessary?

(Nintendo) Sakamoto - Yes. At first I left everything up to Satō-san.

Iwata - Satō-san is extremely curious, which makes it easy for him to dig himself pretty deep into a hole, so actually I thought about watching over him as well. Although on the other hand, it may have been specifically because I didn’t get in the way that he was able to take his time in pursuing sound.

Satō - Yes. I continued digging for about half a year, and there was even a period where I didn’t make contact with anyone at all (laughs). But I kind of got scatterbrained, so I went to Sakamoto-san for advice on what the base should be. And when he said, “You should create an easily understandable framework around Noise-kun and the Ear Pros,” all of the pieces began to fall into place.

Iwata - You had all of this interesting material, but there was a period where you were lost as to how it should all fit together, wasn’t there?

Satō - Yes, I was pretty lost. Even after the framework was created it had stewed for a bit, but I thought “There’s still something about it - it’s still not fun enough”, so I went to Sakamoto-san again, at which point he gave me great advice that paved the way for me.

Iwata - There was a nice division between Satō-san, who was thinking about the day to day, and Sakamoto-san, who was always a bit separated from the project, and would come in every now and again to think about what a customer’s first impression was going to be.

Satō - Yes. But the advice I got at that point was a shock. “What if you wrote that this isn’t single player, but a multiplayer game on the package?”- saying something that I never would have imagined (laughs).

Iwata - In other words that you can’t play alone. I remember thinking myself, “What an absurd thing…” (laughs).

Satō - I thought he was joking at first. But there was something about it that made sense, and so I went and discussed it with the team. Then… they all laid in to me (laughs).

Iwata - Well, usually you need to be able to enjoy a game alone, as it were.

Satō - Right. So in the end it was made so that you could play it alone, but it’s clear that it’s more enjoyable with more people around. That’s why, at the beginning, Noise-kun says, “Play with a bunch of people, OK?” Thanks to Sakamoto-san pointing us in that direction, to insist on playing together, that afterwards, I was able to finish up development without faltering.

Iwata - The important thing about this software is the idea that you should bring other people to play, even if they don’t have Wii Remotes.

(Nintendo) Sakamoto - Indeed. Of course, the double-edged sword to “It’s more fun together,” is that it might be bothersome to those who aren’t participating. That’s why I thought the game design should involve people first understanding that it’s meant to be played with all kinds of people participating

Satō - By putting it to that extreme I was able to focus on that direction, and we were able to include even more elements that multiple people could enjoy.

Iwata - Even then… Satō-san made this between two polar opposite Sakamoto-san’s, didn’t you? (Laughs)

Satō - Yes (laughs). Although it’s also the case with Nintendo’s Sakamoto-san, Oto Designers’ Sakamoto-san is an incredibly passionate person. He was always saying, “Communication is incredibly important all around the world. Enough so that I want this game billed as improving communication ability through ears!”

(Oto Designers) Sakamoto - Well, putting it that way would make it difficult to prove, academically speaking, so we couldn’t make that the catch copy - but I do hope that the software will help those playing it in communing with others. Hearing is important in communication not just with humans, but with various things in nature and environment as well.

Iwata - Ah! I can really relate to that thought. Communication ability tends to be pegged as “speaking ability” or “presentation ability,” but I feel that “listening ability” is really important as the foundation. It’s because of that that you’re able to properly communicate with others, and from there you’re able to initially have the other person empathize with you, resulting in higher presentation skills on your part.

(Oto Designers) Sakamoto - Right. On the other hand, since it’s a game I felt that I didn’t want the atmosphere to feel like study. That’s why I spent a lot of time discussing with Satō-san about how we could get people to hear the sounds of the game coming from somewhere and turn towards it with interest.

Satō - There are five different Noise-kuns in the game, each with different information removed from a normal voice, making them harder to hear. Actually, the brain automatically compensates for those portions of information that have been removed, based on your own vocabulary and experiences. That’s why you should be able to have a much easier time comprehending something another is saying by putting yourself in their shoes. For instance, since Noise-kun is a grade school character, you can hear and understand what he’s saying better by keeping in mind how a grade schooler might talk.

Iwata - Wow.

Satō - For instance, starting with “On the test…”, even if you can’t make out what the last half is, everyone would assume it would be something like “I got a good score”, or “I didn’t do well.” I think that part of it should help people empathize when listening to others.