Satoru Iwata has told Kotaku that Nintendo feels the need to create “a gaming platform as the place to create that ‘social graph’ for folks who are in gaming circles”. This is in response to platforms such as Facebook, as:

Facebook is something that connects you socially with a lot of different folks, but that doesn’t guarantee that the people you are going to have interactions with via Facebook are interested in games.

This is where Miiverse will possibly fill the void, becoming the “social graph” for Nintendo platforms. Whether or not it will become “the Facebook of gaming” or anything like that feels somewhat premature — and if we’re being honest, a little bit ridiculous — but it’s an interesting ambition. I hope Nintendo has the social features prepared for their media briefing on September 13th though. That will be the time to make their case.