As it tends to do before major releases, Nintendo has posted the latest entry in its "The CEO Asks" columns in anticipation of Animal Crossing's release.

Four Nintendo employees are in the hot seat for the interview session : Aya Kyougoku, Ryuji Kobayashi, Isao Moro and Kou Nogami. These names are listed here from left to right as shown in the picture at the top of the original article. All four had major roles in the development of the Wii installment in the series.

This particular The CEO Asks column is longer than usual and, unlike the DSi interviews, doesn't really seem to have any major revelations.

But, here's a summary anyway since Nintendo of America hasn't put up an English version yet.

In the first page of the feature, Iwata begins by asking the four to detail their contributions to the new Wii installment. Nogami served as the game's director, working on everything from the overall formulation of the game to work related to the online part of the game. Moro was sub director and oversaw programming and debugging. Kobayashi was design director, directing and supervising all graphical areas for the game. Kyougoku described himself as a "sequence director." Among his tasks, he handled the movements and conversation for the Animal Crossing animals.

Nogami was asked to describe how the project started. Upon completing the DS version, he first worked with the Wii through Wii Sports, he said. Following that, he headed up development on the system's avatar channel. For this latter paroject, he recalled with a smile that the avatar channel had to be done in two months time. Following this, he moved on to working on the Wii system's functionality.

The actual Wii Animal Crossing project began in December 2006, with Nogami working on the new project in parallel with final tuning phases of the avatar channel. A December 2006 start point, Iwata pointed out, means about two years of development for the game.

Iwata asked Nogami to detail the main thing he thought about when it came to making a version of Animal Crossing for the new Wii hardware. The answer was WiiConnect24. He was thankful that his work with the Mii Channel gave him experience with the Wii's online functionality.

The dialogue switched to Moro now, who said that he had the same role as system director for the DS version of Animal Crossing. Like Nogami, he also joined the Wii Animal Crossing project once his work on the Wii system functionality slowed.

Kobayash had also worked on the DS entry in the series. Following that, he helped out with New Super Mario Bros and did simultaneous work on Wii Sports, Hajimete no Wii (known as Wii Play internationally) and the Mii Channel.

Kobayashi's work schedule caused Iwata to comment that he was able to shift work without waste. This made him recall a phrase that Shigeru Miyamoto appearently likes to say: "Jinsei ni Muda Nashi," or translated roughly to English, "No waste in life."

Kyougoku previously appeared in a "The CEO Asks" column for Zelda: Twilight Princess, Iwata recallled. Kyougoku jokingly recalled finishing up work on Zelda in the fall of 2006 and taking a relaxing winter break when he was sucked into the new Animal Crossing project.

Iwata questioned Kyougoku about his work, which involves scripting character dialogue. While admitting that there's a great difference between doing such work for Zelda and doing it for Animal Crossing, in terms of volume, both titles involve a lot of work.

One area of particular difficulty was the near simultaneous worldwide release for Animal Crossing. Iwata noted that localization must be more difficult for Animal Crossing compared to Zelda because there are more elements in the former that require adjustments during localization to match local cultures.

Kyougoku recalled being asked repeatedly by people from Nintendo of America when they'd be able to deliver a Wii Animal Crossing. Iwata commented that it was necessary to have a localization system in place in advance for the new Wii version.

Iwata then shifted the conversation back to the start of development, asking the four if they felt any ties with the DS version. There were, of course, ties, explained Nogami, but they decided to forget the previous titles and start in a flat state.

Originally, Nogami explained, Animal Crossing was conceived as a game that could be enjoyed in full when played individually. With the DS version, however, it began to be said that Animal Crossing is not enjoyable unless you play wirelessly or online.

While there's no question that connecting with others makes the game more enjoyable, it's not the case that everyone plays that way, continued Nogami. Even when playing alone, however, there is still the thought that one will at some point connect with another person, which changes the motivation during play. Connecting with other people increases the enjoyment of the game. Nogami feels that the game's charm increases by two or three times when connecting through the internet.

Stay tuned for page 2 of the interview ...