"We've never actually stopped looking at 3-D as a viable product, " Konno said.

CNN: Mark Milian

"I think at Nintendo, we realize that any sort of goggle-type 3-D technology was not going to work, " Konno said.

CNN: Mark Milian

"It would have required consumers to buy a special LCD screen to attach to the GameCube to actually play, " Konno recalled.

CNN: Mark Milian

"When we launched Virtual Boy, we thought it would work, " Konno said.

CNN: Mark Milian

It had a battery, but imagine setting up this ridiculous hunk of plastic to play on the train, said Konno, who can joke about the defeat now.

CNN: Mark Milian

Yojiro Konno is a senior sociology major at Grinnell College, IA. He is interested in public policy and is currently an intern at the Center for Security Policy.

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South Korea started the match brightly and took the lead on 23 minutes after Japan defender Yasuyuki Konno brought down Manchester United star Park Ji-sung in the penalty area.

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"I wasn't frustrated or irritated by it, " Hideki Konno, a Nintendo producer who played a key role on developing the 3DS, said through a translator in a recent interview.

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South Korea's joy was short lived though, as they missed all three of their penalties -- Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima making two fine saves -- which left Yasuyuki Konno to convert the winning penalty and spark wild scenes of celebration.

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Playing games in 3-D "is something that we've been continually testing and working on at Nintendo, " said Hideki Konno, who has directed or produced some of Nintendo's most prized franchises and was a key person in the 3DS's development, through an interpreter.

CNN: Mark Milian