Remember all the excitement when Nintendo first unveiled that the Wii U GamePad, along with its already vast amount of abilities, will also feature an NFC reader/writer? Sadly, we've not seen it put to use just yet, but Iwata is keen to ensure us that they are looking into ways to take advantage of the technology.

NFC technology within games is fairly new, with only a handful of titles utilising it at the moment, such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity. What is even more concerning for Iwata is that neither of these titles use the technology within the Wii U GamePad and instead come with their own NFC readers. 

When asked about plans for NFC, Iwata told investors that he's open to many different ideas and Nintendo are already in discussions with developers.

"First of all, there are two main directions when it comes to the use of NFC. One is to use it for video games. For example, we can create cards and figurines with NFC and design our videogames to work in conjunction with them. Also, an increasing number of arcade games are utilising IC cards which can read and write data in order to record users' scores and it is possible for Wii U games to connect with them."

A similar feature was used in F-Zero GX/AX, wherby you could take your memory card to the arcade and use your save file from F-Zero GX in the arcade version, AX. This feature was also said to unlock bonus content on the GameCube game. Perhaps Iwata is hinting at more features like this for Wii U titles?

It's not just NFC within videogames that Iwata is interested in though, but also the use of 'e-money', something that is widely used in Japan. This could be similar to buying Wii Points, but instead of inputting a code, you could merely scan in your virtual cash.

"The other direction is e-money. In Japan e-money called FeliCa is widely used, and FeliCa is included in NFC. Technically, it is possible to settle an account by waving an e-money card over the Wii U GamePad. We are conducting research into this right now as one of the technology's future possibilities. We will make an announcement when we are ready to discuss a more detailed plan. Since we have made a certain investment in order to install NFC, we will make efforts to at least recieve a return on our investment."

What do you think of NFC in videogames? Do you think Nintendo could put it to good use? One NFC suggestion that is constantly throw around by fans is a Pokémon NFC title. The possibilities are certainly there, but will Nintendo take that path? Let us know your thoughts.