Nintendo's Reggie Finds Natal 'Ironic,' Talks Facebook, Virtual Console

But this being E3 2009, even with Reggie Fils-Aime, our most urgent topic of conversation had to be the buzz-building Microsoft Project Natal.

"We have been very familiar with that technology," Fils-Aime said of the hands-free camera-and-sensor tech Microsoft debuted for the Xbox 360. "I have personally seen a lot of iterations of similar technology. Our first reaction is that it is ironic that, three or four years ago, the prevailing industry opinion was that prettier pictures or more horsepower were the waves of the future. And now it's clear from both of our competitors that physical activity in gaming is the wave of the future. It's also ironic that, for Nintendo, the future is here. The future is now."