http://kotaku.com/5543591/the-birth-of-the-ds-and-the-wii
"What's keeping people from touching game machines? What's making them run away?"
Their discussions started there.
Recent game systems had button-encrusted controllers that were too complicated. Software that used complicated technology was becoming more common, and the gap between experienced players and beginners was growing wider all the time. It scared people off-or worse, made them actively dislike videogames. Their discussions grew to encompass the themes of games.
While adventure games like Mario were fine, was that really enough? What if games included themes that related to the lives of ordinary people? Would people who considered gaming a waste of time embrace it then? As they converged on the company's new direction, the idea came to Miyamoto: dedicate one of the displays to touch control.
One screen would be used for intuitive, approachable controls, and the other would be the main display. The system would be easy for anyone to control, and it would allow the development of new kinds of games.
[...]
In the first half of 2003, when Iwata and Miyamoto were dreaming up designs for the Nintendo's new dual-screened portable system, they were also deep in discussions with the head of integrated research, Takeda, about a new home game system.
Takeda was Nintendo's hardware pro, responsible for the development of every home game system from the NES to the GameCube-but this time, Iwata had given him new orders.
"Takeda, listen — this time we can't just focus on making a more powerful system."
"So you're telling me to go off the tech roadmap?" Takeda asked.
"That's right. Let's get off it."
It went against every piece of received wisdom in the videogame industry...
Iwata was telling Takeda to stop planning designs based solely on technological progress. What he was suggesting now was an entirely new approach; it was something that had never been tried before.
Instead of designing a console around fundamental performance, the new system would expressly seek out technology that would endear itself to families-a "Mom has to like it" approach to development.
"Videogames drive Mom crazy-she has to pick up the controllers once the kids are done playing, they've already got multiple consoles plugged into the TV and she doesn't want another one. They're a nuisance, as far as she's concerned.
We realized that if we wanted to grow the gaming population, we had to build a console that no one in the family hated."
[...]
For the Revolution to live up to its codename and revolutionize the game industry by expanding the gaming population, it would need something special.
The DS, with its dual screens and stylus controls, lowered the barrier to videogames. The Revolution needed to do the same thing.
The controller would be at the core of its interface, and it could not be less than perfect.
Certain aspects of the controller were decided early in its development:
It had to be wireless, and it could not be intimidating.
When Iwata was talking to Miyamoto and company about the circumstances that were leading to gaming's decline,
the first thing that came to the president's mind was a TV remote control-a piece of technology the entire family used.
People who didn't play videogames never touched game controllers. The wires that snaked out from the console were nothing but a nuisance to them, and if controllers dared to be left about, they were put away.
But the TV remote never bothered anybody. As Iwata considered the difference between the two, he realized the new controller would have to be wireless.
Then he wondered if people found controllers intimidating because of the way they looked.
Game controllers were constantly getting more complicated; in addition to the standard direction pad and buttons, they were now encrusted with all manner of analog control sticks and triggers, placed seemingly everywhere. Was that alone enough, perhaps, to drive people away from a videogame?
The new controller had to be simple and approachable. Iwata also felt that, like the DS's touch screen, it needed to facilitate direct, intuitive controls-and Miyamoto and Takeda agreed.