Shigeru Miyamoto's Address

Nakayama Takuya sat in a corner toward the back of the exhibitors' seats, with a good view and some distance from the main stage. To his left were Sony's people; to his right were several Nintendo staff members. He recognized one of them as the person in charge of exhibition liaison, but that person did not look his way.

At exactly nine o'clock, an IDSA staff member walked out from the side of the stage and spoke into the microphone:

"Good morning, Los Angeles."

A few scattered people below responded, but most did not move.

"Welcome to E3, Electronic Entertainment Epo.

As soon as that sentence was finished, applause rose. It was not especially thunderous, but a trace of excitement could be felt.

"Today is the first time the video game industry has had an exhibition dedicated to itself. We are honored to witness this together here." The staff member swept his gaze across the audience. "Next, please welcome today's opening guest, Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo."

The applause grew denser, a little warmer than before.

Shigeru Miyamoto walked out from stage left.

Jeans, a dark-blue polo shirt, ordinary leather shoes, no tie, no suit.

Compared with the neatly suited executives below, the moment he walked out, he looked more like a factory worker who had blundered in by accident before the opening ceremony.

But the applause did not stop. There was no game developer in the world who would fail to recognize that face.

He walked to the microphone, bent down to adjust its height, straightened up, looked at the audience, and then spoke.

"Hello."

Just one word, pronounced somewhat stiffly, with a very obvious Japanese-accented English.

Good-natured laughter came from below the stage.

He laughed too, switched back to Japanese, and the interpreter beside him followed: "Hello, everyone.