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Iwata Asks: In Commemoration, Part 9 - And-Kensaku

And-Kensaku, Part 8: Not the Kind of Quiz Game Where You’re Competing With Knowledge

by the NWR Staff - September 2, 2016, 1:05 am EDT

Part 8 of And-Kensaku.

8. Not the Kind of Quiz Game Where You’re Competing With Knowledge

Iwata - And so, after theee long years of blood, sweat and tears, “And-Kensaku” is finally being released into the world. I’d like to finish up with each of your thoughts on why people should play this game. Let’s start with Yui-san.

Yui - My child just graduated from kindergarten, and recently talking to the different mothers who’s kids go to the same school, I’ve heard that not all of them actively boot up their Wiis. I think with this game, though, we’re providing an experience where people like that can enjoy something together as a family, so I certainly hope people try it out.

Iwata - Ok, Soya-san, if you please.

Soya - This is going to sound pretty similar to what Yui-san said, but once “And-Kensaku” had started to take form, I began to feel that it’s the kind of game that can appeal to anyone - young and old, male and female.

Iwata - So anyone can enjoy it, regardless of their age, gender, or amount of experience with games.

Soya - Yes, really anyone can enjoy it. Since this game uses words in particular, I think there’s a part of it where people’s life experience is reflected in the game. As such, perhaps older people will have more of an advantage. In some ways, it’s a consensus of human opinion, or rather, the goal is to figure something out based on a collection of everyone’s thoughts, so I think anyone can enjoy it. Furthermore, although the most predominant factor is search using the internet, there are a lot of less digital, more analog elements to it - while playing, what you’re actually thinking about is news, thoughts and opinion based on humans. The punchlines from He-Who-Wishes-To-Remain-Anonymous are in there as well. I’d love for people to enjoy that human element of the game.

Iwata - Ok. And finally, Nishimura-san.

Nishimura - Although Soya-san just mentioned the internet, I’d like to make it clear that you can play this game even if your Wii isn’t connected to the internet. If that leads to people gaining an interest in search, and made them feel more familiar with it, nothing would make me happier.

Iwata - It also functions as a way to become more familiar with search, then.

Nishimura - Yes. Because this game isn’t the kind of quiz game where you’re competing to see who has a larger volume of knowledge, rather, you select words and combinations - which anyone can do. Nothing like this has ever been made. I’d love for lots of people to play it and see.

Iwata - What’s important to realize about this game is that it’s not simply what you know and how much you know about it, but how people behave and what it is that they’re interested in knowing - that kind of will of the people.

Yui - Right. So I hope people that have a vendetta against quiz games use this to get their revenge.

Iwata - I see (laughs). With that, I’d like to leave a few words. Just prior to the release of the DS and Wii, Nintendo made its company slogan, “Expanding the gaming population.” That meant that we wanted to make products that anyone could enjoy, regardless of their age, sex or experience with games. But that’s easier to say than do. In this game, if you have a certain level of knowledge and ability to think, it’s enjoyable on multiple levels. The person with the most static knowledge isn’t necessarily going to be the victor when playing this game, and you can play it together with all kinds of people. Due to these factors, I think “And-Kensaku” is positioned in a very interesting spot as a product. Of course, it is a game, but it’s not something that requires you to be good at sports, or simply compete based on knowledge alone.

I think that people might play this game, and may start to understand better how people think, or learn about certain Google search functionality they didn’t previously know about, and so the result might be that they may feel that they’ve benefitted from playing this in some small way.

It took three whole years to complete this game, but I think the result was something very unique, and I think it would be interesting if this game lead to instances where people may learn to think in new ways, or perhaps realise why something is the way it is, or even just feel relieved to learn something they’ve always wondered about.  

In that sense, I think that this product fits nicely with “expanding the gaming audience.” Thank you all for all of your long, hard work.

By the way, have you all become trivia experts through developing this game? 

Soya - That goes without saying (laughs). There’s all kinds of things I could spout off, even while out drinking with people.

Iwata - (laughs)

Soya - In the beginning whenever I learned something I’d relay it to everyone, and the reaction would typically be, “I see” or “Wow”, but by the end everyone was an expert in trivia, so they would just say, “Yeah, I know already.”

Iwata - But if you go one step outside of that circle of people…?

Soya - I’m sure it would be, “Wow, that’s something!” (laughs)

Yui - That’s why I plan on actively seeking out every opportunity I can to drink in all kinds of social circles.

Everyone - (laughs)

Images

Talkback

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)September 02, 2016

This game is crazy! (Overview video)


Awesome work with the translation as ever Matt!  :cool;

Thanks bro! Glad people are enjoying them. ^^

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