August 24^th, 2002 (12:00am) - He’s been keeping quiet as of late. But don’t thing the Immortal ex-president of Nintendo ain’t working. Ahead is a interview published in the Nihon Kezei Shimbun. Not much new is told but still a good read.

About three months have passed since Nintendo’s new management structure was established.

Yamauchi: Nintendo doesn’t have many options in terms of management. The company will continue to focus on software, and the new management team has no doubts about its policy. I haven’t attended any management meetings, which are held twice a month, since I resigned as president.

What type of company will Nintendo become under the new structure?

Yamauchi: Nintendo will continue to seek to create only fun and entertaining games. We hope the company can develop excellent games as a result. The company may see a decline in sales, which can’t be helped. Current President Satoru Iwata used to be in charge of developing game software. As a result, he will create entertaining games by adopting the ideas of talented engineers not only within the company but also from other firms.

Iwata has pointed out the limits of software development that depends heavily on the latest technologies.

Yamauchi: The entire game software industry is facing a shortage of materials to develop new games. And now smaller manufacturers that lack funds are having a tough time surviving.

Game makers have lost a lawsuit involving sales of used game software. What’s your stance on the issue?

Yamauchi: Game makers make profits by selling software, and I think people who buy the software are free to sell it or throw it out. Software developers need to develop products that can entertain users for a long time.

How will you, personally, be involved in the game industry from now on?

Yamauchi: I hope to establish a special school that teaches how to use computer graphics. I want to make efforts to develop software with a higher level of originality by using the ideas of young people, without focusing on making profits.

I am also interested in finding excellent games that remain relatively unknown. For example, we can offer a prize for game creators. Then we can invite bids for games that win awards, enabling software makers to commercialize and sell their games.

That’s all folks!!!