It's not so often that Nintendo makes its leader Satoru Iwata, who's been president of the company since 2002, available for interviews, so it was with much enthusiasm that we happily accepted Nintendo's offer to meet with the man during E3.

Although our time was limited, and half that time was devoted to translation, we did manage to get some interesting comments on the new Wii MotionPlus, continued supply issues for the Wii, Nintendo's approach to character IPs, and Mr. Iwata's own concerns about online safety and his admission that Nintendo's system using friend codes is by no means perfect.

Here's the Q&A;:

GameDaily BIZ: Considering their similarity to Nintendo's Miis, what is your reaction to Xbox Live Avatars?

Considering how profitable Nintendo is, you'd think he'd have a huge grin on his face.

Satoru Iwata: Let me refrain from making any comments on that. I'm more interested in how the industry watchers or people in this industry have felt about that.

BIZ: Nintendo for a long while struggled with supply and demand for Wii. How has that situation changed today?

Iwata: In the spring of this year, we announced that starting from this summer (2008) we would have a monthly maximum production capacity for Wii of 2.4 million, and we are working with that schedule right now. We are [continuing] to increase the maximum production capability... However, the expansion of the market for potential customers, the number of people who are waiting to purchase Wii, is beyond our expectations right now. So for the time being, I really do not think that the imbalance for supply and demand can be solved immediately. For example, when we look back at the whole history of video games, in the past it was unthinkable that other than during the November – December time period we would have 700,000 monthly unit sales in U.S. alone.

BIZ: Regarding the new Wii MotionPlus attachment for the remote, where did the idea come from and how long has it been in the works?

Iwata: The idea [for Wii MotionPlus] is something we've been contemplating for quite a long time. My understanding about the timing, the reason we are announcing this kind of attachment right now, is because we have come to the stage where we can purchase a significant amount of the gyroscope technology at a reasonable price point, and the stability of this kind of technology itself has been confirmed, so that's why we're making this announcement today.

BIZ: Is this kind of functionality what Nintendo really wanted to launch the Wii with from the get go, and now you're finally realizing that complete design?

Iwata: As a matter of fact, this kind of design was first conceived only after the initial Wii Remote design had been completed. And of course, as Wii Sports has already proved in the marketplace, the Wii Remote itself is pretty interesting [to consumers]. But as we came up with a great idea like Wii Sports, every other software producer and creator started to think about something more. That's the reason why internally they started to demand that some more technology be brought to the Wii Remote.

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