Nintendo director of product marketing Bill Trinen has explained to IGN why he thinks StreetPass is much more popular in Japan than it is in the United States and Canada. Trinen says that Japan has a much denser population compared to the US and Canada and its really easy to do there due to the setup of transportation. However, it’s more likely that StreetPass is more common in Japan as Nintendo’s latest handheld has been a smash hit in Japan and doesn’t see the same kind of numbers in the North America and Europe.
“StreetPass here has really been more sort of event-focused, where you’re getting a lot of people at one time rather than sort of an ongoing, regular-basis type of a thing for a lot of people. In Japan, what it is, it’s ease. It’s really easy to do, just because of the way that transportation is set up there; it’s very easy to get around some place very quickly.”
“We know certainly that we’re not seeing as much StreetPass natively here in North America as in Japan, where it’s just a much denser population. That’s part of the reason we felt like StreetPass so far has really been kind of the realm of very close-knit community. But, at the same time, the people that are enjoying StreetPass seem to get a lot of enjoyment out of it.”
sex
Shut up Bill, no one loves you.
Be quiet…
They can hear you…
…
So this guy is Director of Product Marketing, eh? Bill Trinen needs to step up if Nintendo wants any chance this generation. The marketing, in my opinion, is the worst part of Nintendo’s treatment of the Wii U.
Bill is really stupid and deserves to die, too bad he is invincible.
And what have you done with your sad, pathetic, miserable life?
Ooo its the battle of the Anono-bots
Laugh at his sad, pathetic, miserable life. I throw rocks at Bill every time I see him and every time Reggie gets mad, Reggie beats Bill up.
I went to Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka) for a 3 weeks and I’ve met 307 people on StreetPass. Seriously like every 2nd person has one
Of course, it’s our Homeworld…
I fear he will be sent to the pits…
Reggie didn’t send Bill to Japan, he actually has Bill locked up and tortured.
StreetPass is one of the best ideas Nintendo has ever made :), it’s a lot of fun
Yes but severely underused in the west…
Specially the EU territories…
I dunno. I live near chicago and whenever I go into the city I get a good 10-30 hits. Even in the burbs I can get at least 5-10 at the mall not counting friends
I’m in Chicago and never got 10 a day. Some days I get 3-4, sometimes 1-2, some days 0. I commute from the burbs via metra. Only time I got more than 10 was the Zelda concert (expected)
Try the sunday market sometime. Also acen in the rosemont got me 150 in one day
I love street passing, but I barely get anybody with puzzle pieces I need in Puzzle Swap or the same person more than once to level up heroes for Street Pass Quest I & II.
Africa is the worst place for Streetpassing, the only streetpass hits you can get here is the demo 3DS set up in the odd store, even than most of em are disabled for streetpass, basically the only time you can streetpasses is when the annual expo rolls up, last time I went I only got 20 hits. 20 passes a year if you are lucky enough to get into the expo… its actually quite sad to see that 3DS is popular all over the world except in the second largest continent
I think Africa has a lot more problems than setting up streetpass for a few thousands who can actually afford a 3ds.
Poor Africa. :(
poor me I have the joy of living here, the most notice the world gives us is Nelson Mandela, now we are giving notice but at the cost of a great man’s life, wonderful isn’t it? *sigh*
Because that’s what these apes are all about…
They only “care” after the significance lost its significance…
don’t be so sure, they say that they is a recession all over the world yet people are lining up for miles to spend R7000 on a PS4 without a second thought (and trust me R7000 is aloooooot of money, I believe the sum of R7000 is about $700)
I think Nintendo should distribute Streetpasses from all over the world at Nintendo Zones, and not just the ones who pass it.
Nah, because you can level up heroes if you get the same people more than once rather than random people each time only getting level 1’s.
I love using Streetpass, and take advantage of it every chance I have. Well as long as I don’t forget to haha.
my highschool has lots of people with 3DS’ so it takes no time at all for my streetpass to be filled
I take my 3DS XL with me every time I leave the house just for the sake of using Street Pass. But (unless I go to McDonalds) I’m very lucky to get even one Street Pass, even after shopping for 7 hours. Hardly nobody ever has a 3DS with them.
McDonalds should thank Nintendo. Because of Nintendo, I stop by McDonalds every time I go to town. Sometimes both of my local McDonalds’. Thing is, sometimes I don’t want any food. So I just walk in and then walk back out. Makes me feel stupid. All for the sake of Spot Pass.
In japan is better because there have more sociable and friendly people…that’s all
Yes yes, USA and Canada but they act as there have no other countries in the continent, as result, if you refer to America THEY ARE JUST REFERING TO USA.
No love for Mexico?
“However, it’s more likely that StreetPass is more common in Japan as Nintendo’s latest handheld has been a smash hit in Japan and doesn’t see the same kind of numbers in the North America and Europe.”
Nonsense. You clearly have *no* idea what population density is like in Japan versus, especially, North America, where you can go hundreds of square miles and not see another human being–hell, you can go thousands of square miles in some places.
Here’s some data for you, before you go musing on topics on which you haven’t a clue:
United States Pop Per Sq. Mil: 84
Japan Pop Per Sq. Mil.: 836.
In other words, Japan has a pop density TEN TIMES that of the USA–it’s even worse for Canada, which comes in at NINE per sq. mile.
(And even if the NA pop of 3DS owners doubled overnight, it would not solve the problem that North America is gigantic and sparsely populated. The only way this could ever work, here, is if Streetpass ran on every smartphone (or at least Android) in North America, which obviously isn’t going to happen.)
This is something anyone with a clue could understand the moment Streetpass was announced and knew, without a doubt, it would be a non-factor here even if it hit DS levels of penetration because the mechanism to make it work doesn’t exist. And surely Nintendo knew this, too, but, as always, they worry about their home market more than their largest markets, which is something that continues to bite them in the ass.
Americans don’t know how to build relationships at all so of course they’re not going to spend time doing something that is relationship based.
I take my 3DS everywhere (even to other states) and the largest number of SP’s I’ve received in one day was 10, and that was downtown Chicago.
And that took 5 hours.
why is it more common in japan? because we americans are lazy bastards and it does not matter what our body size is, whether its slim, big, healthy, husky, fluffy, DAMN!!!!, and OH HELL NO!!!!!.
I personally really hate Streetpass, I live in San Antonio and I have not got a single hit since I had my 3DS and I am sorry, I am not going to fast food places just to get some. I think that entire idea is completely outdated and stupid having to meet at places just to find people to play a game with. I hate McDonald’s anyway their food is disgusting.
What I find really dumb about what Bill said, is that he pretty much just confirmed what everyone else outside of Japan thinks of Streetpass, I see far more who never even use the feature or barely ever get hits than those who actually do. So why not adjust or improve the features for the market here instead of just saying “the people that are enjoying StreetPass seem to get a lot of enjoyment out of it.” Really the few people, wonderful..
Now if I get on my PS Vita using Near, I can find literally over 80 people just in my area with PS Vita’s using Near, I can see what games they play and I can find people to play with based on that. Near is so much better than Streetpass it isn’t even funny and oddly less people have PS Vita’s.. So I have no idea how I never get any hits here on 3DS, I always leave it in sleep and I take it everywhere and nothing.
I personally never used any gaming machine to make “Real life friends” anyway and I think the way Streetpass is expecting you to is a bit absurd, I really dislike one thing about Nintendo, they are very forceful and they seem to always think they know what is best and how you should play their games which I think is crazy also. If I did become real friends with these strangers I play games with it was very rare situations. What is so wrong with having Streetpass work like Near? So I can have people to play with since a lot of 3DS games are always relying on Streetpass or have in game bonuses or items that require it.
Super Mario 3D World, Animal Crossing and Link Between Worlds are perfect examples of games that would be so much better with some sort of online capabilities. Especially the entire shadow link battles are a total waste in Link Between Worlds thanks to it using Streetpass..
I mean Nintendo are probably the only people in the world that do something as outdated as they are and using a code to add friends… So sick of them acting like parents instead of a gaming company, it isn’t their job to keep an eye on everyone. You already have parental controls, anything beyond that is completely out of your hands.
What I find even more stupid about how they constantly limit the 3DS because of children is that in doing this the 3DS is not going to stop children doing horrible crap like that, I mean lets be realistic, if these kids have a 3DS, chances are they have a smartphone or a computer which they can still easily talk to strangers on and I bet that is where they met them in the first place was on a computer.
To prove my point most of these incidents all happened on internet forums outside of the 3DS, they just happened to use the 3DS in the process later on. Even if the 3DS didn’t exist, you would still have children trying to be grown, talking to adults who are willing to take advantage of them. It is nothing more than bad parenting because if you don’t know your 11-12 year old daughters are going to hotels, getting gang banged by grown men then clearly there is a lot wrong in that household and the only thing Nintendo should be doing is simply trying to inform parents more instead of crippling their systems to the point most the features are utterly useless.
Anyway I just had to vent on that, I love Nintendo for the most part but god damn they really need to get up to date. I know I am not the only one complaining about this. Doesn’t help matters when you have that asshole Reggie (Yes I love Nintendo and really don’t like Reggie, he doesn’t give a shit about games and never has) being quoted saying things along the lines of “We don’t let our fans influence our business”..
Maybe that is a problem, I see random fans coming up with better ideas on how to sell more Wii U’s than Nintendo’s own staff, so maybe you should be taking some peoples constructive criticism into account Reggie, since clearly what most of you all are doing is not helping the Wii U much.
Sorry for any typos, not proof reading all that.
In Sweden i experience StreetPass to be quite popular I meet new people on regular basis and while going in to town or taking a longer trip I always meet up with someone. And I feel there’s been more hits lately due to the release of Pokémon.