Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata recently talked to reporters from Japanese magazine Tech On!, about the Wii, and its impact on the next generation of gaming, and Nintendo’s approach for the upcoming console battle. Interestingly, the fundamental technological research for the Wii controller started three years ago, and had a focused task force created 2 years ago. Nintendo continued to tweak the controller late into its development cycle, with the last minute addition of the speaker.

Also interesting is Iwata’s statement that the Wii is not a “next generation” console; that’s not to say that the Wii isn’t an improvement over the Gamecube, but Nintendo’s interpretation is that “next generation” implies an extension of what has come before, and they want to push the Wii as something totally different. Taking the offerings from Sony and Microsoft as an example, the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 are generally considered the next version of the previous consoles, and Nintendo clearly would like to distance the Wii from the Gamecube, both in the eyes of gamers and non-gamers alike.

Iwata also briefly touches on what Nintendo’s goals are with the Internet for the Wii. With the introduction of WiiConnect24, the hope is that Wii consoles will be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, and will be able to receive updates at any time, and allow users to share game content even when not playing. Gamers could look to Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS for some hints to this. On the DS, when users connect to friends, they can also get content from Nintendo at the same time. A theoretical Wii version could do the same on a larger scale, allowing content downloads overnight, and allow friends to visit other towns even when the user isn’t playing the game at the same time, allowing for a broader range of interactions.

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