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http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st91/interview5.html
Ny Iwata Asks-intervju (22 september) med Noriko Kitamura (till vänster) och Masaru Nishita (till höger). Tongivande personer i båda DBB-spelen som reflekterar över hur releasen gick med mera. Mest handlar det arbetet med de låtar som folk själva kunnat skicka in. Finns flera intressanta grafer också :).

Fanns redan en intervju med delar av utvecklingssteamet från juni. Men denna var kortare så vågade mig på att översätta den. Översättningen är lite godtyclig här och där så fråga gärna eller rätta om något ser underligt ut. "Scramble plan" är jag särskilt osäker på, men fattar det som någon sorts snabbt sammansatt "krisplan"...?



Part 1: Scramble Plan

Iwata: Well, I thought I ought to tell the readers about the response after the release of Band Bros DX. This is the first time I have done an "Iwata Asks" interview after the game is released. There are two people here. First, Nishita-san please introduce yourself!

Nishita: Yes. I'm Nishita at SPD (Software Planning and Development). This time I was at a bit of a distance from the game development. In Band Bros DX you can download 100 songs of your own choice. However that includes not only songs made/prepared by Nintendo. One special feature is that you can also choose among songs contributed by users, given that these songs fulfill certain requirements. I was in charge of managing our contacts and cooperation with JASRAC and Japan Broadcasting (NHK?) regarding the song contributing and download system.
[JASRAC är ungefär som STIM och NHK som Sveriges Radio... förmodar jag]



Iwata: For the first Band Bros (released in december 2004), Nishita-san was hands-on in the game development as the director. This time as a producer you coordinated the work with JASRAC and NHK, that's also quite important.

Nishita: That's right. This time I entrusted the development to Kitamura-san (director for BBDX).

Iwata: What happened just after the game's release. Can you tell us about that?

Nishita: The submitting of songs began just as the game went on sale. For the thursday the game was released and the following friday the number of contributed songs went according to the plan, it was a good start. I looked forward to a calm weekend. But...

Iwata: The weekend was quite...

Nishita: A great number of songs were contributed on saturday...it was like we were flooded by a tsunami. It soon became monday morning, and I then contacted Iwata-san: We're having a "Scramble plan" (?)

Iwata: I saw the events unfold during the weekend from home. If we would continue the same arrangement/process for inspecting the contributed songs, it seemed like the contributor would have to wait for one or two months before seeing the result of his/her contribution. The people who enthusiastically/feverishly contributed songs would by no means accept to wait that long, I thought.



Nishita: Just to input the song takes considerable work, and anyone just can't do it that easily. Therefore, we assumed that 100 songs per day would be the maximum, and set up the inspection procedure so it would handle that.

Kitamura: However, just in the first weekend, we recieved more than 1000 songs:


Nishita:
It was only monday, but already an unbearable situation.

Iwata:
We launched a scramble plan, in order to get on track with the inspection procedure for the submitted songs. Inside Nintendo there are many in sound staff, which also had the critical experience.

Nishita: Thanks to these people we got a lot of needed help.

Iwata: But, that had an influence on their work with making music to other games... (laughs)

Nishita: I'm very sorry for this...

Iwata: Just for the information, can you give a short explanation of the inspection procedure?

Nishita: It consists of three steps. The first step is that the songs are checked automatically by a computer.

Kitamura: It is for checking that the song correspond to the correct JASRAC code. This is made in an automated way.

Nishita: In the second step the songs are checked in collaboration with NHK. Because of the multitude of songs in the world, no one person knows all contributed songs. At NHK there are people with a specialization in various genres. To check that the contributed song accurately represents the original recording, they listen to it by ear.

Kitamura: NHK has a really large CD library.



Nishita: From that library they find the original song, and listen to both that and the contributed song side-to-side. And in that way find out if it should be approved or not. Finally, for the third step, we do a final check at Nintendo.

Kitamura: We check for misspellings in lyrics etc. Then it's uploaded to the server and available for download.

Iwata: In step 2 and 3 you rely on manpower, therefore it's inevitable that it takes time.

Nishita: That's correct. Moreover, it's necessary to change the arrangement when you make a musical piece in Band Bros. But it should still be true to the original song. NHK had to evaluate this for every song. In that way, many hours got spent...

Kitamura: There were also songs submitted that wasn't in the CD library. Then you need to buy a new CD, however the number of songs that are discontinued are quite large...

Nishida: By the way, Kitamura-san was participating in the 3rd step check.

Kitamura: We were the contributors' servants! (laughs)
["servants" = shimobe på japanska. Är små filurer som får springa ärenden och fixa saker åt Barbara Bat i manga-serierna på hemsidan för original-Band Bros)

Everyone: (laughs)



Iwata: In a short while there became a high tension around the Band Bros team. According to the staff nearby it looked like you were enjoying at a festival. I heard of people that "felt sad they couldn't attend that festival..." (laughs)

Kitamura: It must have been the happy cries they heard. One-by-one-by-one we managed to upload new songs. The inspection process was tough, but each one approved had good quality. Also when comparing songs there were many we felt affection for. Because in this way we could answer the enthustiatic contributors, the scramble plan was a joyful thing.



Iwata: At the most, how many contributions waited for inspection?

Nishita: Around 2500. But NHK increased the number of people, everyone tried hard, and we managed to get control.

Iwata: One particular thing when you look at the download songs... sometimes the same songs are uploaded together.

Nishita: That's becaused we prioritized effiency. Since there are so many songs waiting, we organize them together to be able to inspect them quicker.

Kitamura: There's also been voices from the users that they like to see same songs uploaded simultaneusly. Then it's easier to listen and compare, and then choose and download the preferred one, I think.

Iwata: I see. How about newly released songs? There's been a number of new songs even after Band Bros DX was released.

Nishita: Yeah, for example Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo by the cliff by the sea, senaste Ghibli-filmen). We got some contributions already before the movie was showed.

Kitamura: In that way, the song was available for download on the same day as the movie went to show.

Iwata: The servants must have worked hard! (laughs)



Kitamura: The truth is... by the time "Ponyo ..." was contributed, many other songs got to wait for approval...

Nishita: But the inspection process gradually improves, and is quite quick nowadays.

Iwata: In that way you should have some margin for prioritizing songs like "Ponyo ...", right?

Kitamura: The inspection order should be protected. That's the servants basic plan! (and that's a definite)

Iwata: Barbara's basic intention, is also really strict. Isn't it, Kitamura-san...?

Kitamura: Yes! (laughs)

Part 2: Advice to the contributors

Iwata: By the way, have any in the staff made any contributions?

Kitamura: Yes, during the Obon vacation, I spent 2 weeks making a song, and I contributed it on the last day of the vacation. With great care I listened to and corrected it about 100 times. It was more than flawless and didn't even for a second show any weaknesses. I loved it unconditionally!

Iwata: And then...?

Kitamura: For three weeks I hadn't got any response. Then I checked the DS during the lunchbreak. The response was "NG". After that, that day was ruined.

[NG = "No Good", the song didn't pass some of the required criteria]

Everyone: (laughs)

Nishita: Then you'll surely understand the feelings of users who get a "NG".

Kitamura: It was really disappointing... I couldn't understand why I got a "NG". To find the root for the "NG" I went to the Sound Director Kyuma-san (Koichi).

Iwata: Kyuma-san was surprised, wasn't he? (laughs)

Kitamura: "Listen a bit" I asked... and within 10 seconds he pointed out 10 places with errors...

Everyone: (laughs)

Kitamura: I was quite ashamed...



Iwata: So, after learning this lesson, will you continue to contribute songs?

Kitamura: Yes. Until one get approved.

Iwata: If you get one approved, shouldn't we do another "Iwata Asks"? "Noriko Kitamura talks about her contribution success"... (laughs)

Nishita: Looks like it might take a while...

Kitamura: It should be within this year...right? (laughs)

Iwata: For the first Band Bros, I did a proposal for the Edit Mode. I'm the opposite kind of person to the determined Kitamura-san. Since I can't read sheet music, I can't input in that way. To contribute, and meet such hard opposition, might be quite emotional.

Kitamura: "NG", right? (laughs)

Iwata: A person who have tried their best, and still don't succeed - what advice do you have for them?

Kitamura: I believe I shall answer this question.

Everyone: (laughs)

Kitamura: Before contributing, to always let another person listen to it is most important I think.

Iwata: Persuasion may be needed, right? (laughs)

Kitamura: When you go into your own world and make a song, your vision gets really narrow.

Nishita: Game development is the same, isn't it? (laughs)

Kitamura: Yeah. I liked my song too much... Needless to say, I think you ought to listen to it objectively. Listen to other songs and try them. "My song is the best!" I assumed... Other people can give a calm opinion, and that's of big importance I believe.

Iwata: Indeed. How about you, Nishita-san?

Nishita: I haven't contributed anything yet... I couldn't really give any advice.... Only that if you fail many times, you may arrange it too much. Listen carefully to the original song and try to reduce the arrangement is maybe important. I think the inspectors place strong focus that the song give a close/similar expression to the original song. Then maybe the approval rate will rise...



Kitamura: Perhaps I should have done so...

Everyone: (laughs)

Iwata: Well, due to the contribution system the number of available songs have seen many new entries. Have you thought it would've passed 2000 songs in this short time period?



Nishita: No, we didn't foresee that at all...

Iwata: How many songs are possible to have on the server?

Nishita: Up to 5000 songs are no problems. During the scramble plan, I got flurried away and asked the person reponsible for network. And. It's possible to increase the server capacity in one days notice... then I really felt relieved.

Kitamura: Once a user submitted a dozen of songs at the same time. But all of them were of very good quality. Therefore, one day that persons songs will take up an entire first page on the list of newly uploaded songs. (laughs)

Iwata: A Super Contributor! (laughs) By the way, what weekdays have the most contributions?



Kitamura: Saturdays and sundays have far the most activity. I think they use the free time on weekends to finish songs, and when they feel "Yeah, this is good" they contribute it.

Nishita: Therefore, I peek into the server on monday morning and see the increase in contributions! Then I think "Well, this week has work to do!".

Iwata: The contributions seem to prosper, how about the downloads...?

Nishita: The average number of songs downloaded is about 20 per game.

Iwata: In total you can download 100, and while it become less as you download with ease, it's quite good. For your information, I can be the reckless type, and have downloaded a number of songs. However I still have 85 spaces left... If only for downloading one song, why am I becoming so anxious? It's a careful choice every time.

Kitamura: Actually, I am also the careful type, and have to listen numerous times before deciding to download. It's so hard to judge and approve songs yourself, I don't download at all...

Iwata: Actually the preview system is delighting more people than I could imagine. The rate of preview listenings is high in comparison to the download rate.

Nishita: Here are the data up til september 1st. Number of downloads was 3 940 000 and number of preview listens was 18 120 000.

Iwata: If you break that up, in order to download one song you'd typically listen four or five times before. Everyone struggles to choose what to download.

Nishita: They really want to fill the 100 songs with songs they like! (laughs)



Iwata: Finally, I'd like to ask you about your next "unreasonable" ambitions. We should make this the closing question.

Nishita: My wish is to make a "Band Brothers International". Western music is also appreciated, and it makes me happy. To contribute songs from all over the world, it seems like a dream. But to deal with the legal rights is not yet effective at all, because of that I don't know if it's possible at all, so it is a dream that fall in line with the words "unreasonable ambition".

Kitamura: It seems like the servants are already hard at work... (laughs)

Iwata: I haven't heard anything in detail about the servants international capabilities...

Everyone: (laughs)

Iwata: What is your "unreasonable" wish, Kitamura-san?

Kitamura: For all the people who wait for having their contributions inspected, I wish to make the approval process more efficient. I think everyone will be more happy, then.

Iwata: Well, that's a really important thing! But, was that all you wished for?

Kitamura: Also, to contribute and get a song approved! For now, it's my most wished thing! (laughs)

Iwata: Oh. (laughs) I shall wrap it up now.

We really want to decrease the number of customers who are unaware of the possibility to use the internet. The connection rate for Wifi-compatible DS software has seldom been over 30%. But for Band Bros DX it's over 60%, and we really feel for the customers who are not able to use wifi to get online and download new songs. For the people who haven't a wifi connection in their home, there are DS stations in stores, where you also can download the 100 songs of your own choice. By choosing songs yourself, you get your very own Band Brothers DX.

---

Kommentarer: Vet folk på Gamefaqs som sagt typ "nu igen... :(" när Noriko Kitamura är med i en Daigasso-intervju. Men denna gången pratade hon faktiskt inte om karaktären Barbaras uppkomst igen :) de har så himla go dialog. Att Iwata är så down-to-earth är ju inte ovanligt, men känns ändå lite surreal att han är VD för ett så stort företag. Nu lär han ju sitta ett bra tag till, men Noriko Kitamura är inte en helt otrolig efterträdare, menar jag.

Blev lite luddigt när Nishita pratar om Band Bros International... men vad jag förstår pratar han om ett hypoteiskt japan-släpp med internationell musik. Lättaste är väl annars att släppa det utomlands och så får japaner importera :)