After the results of the Game Critics Awards were announced earlier this week, we reached out to several winners for their reactions and some updates about their games in progress. The winner of Best Handheld Game was The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass from Nintendo. We emailed some questions to Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma, manager/producer of Software Development Group No.3 in the company's Entertainment Analysis & Development Division. Here's what he told us:

What was your reaction to winning Best Handheld Game?

I was very grateful to learn that The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has received the Best Handheld Game award, a few years after another handheld Zelda, Minish Cap, won the same award. As we were challenged to create something very different this time, I am particularly happy because the award appears to have meant that our challenge was worthwhile.

Why do you think Japanese gamers have responded so much more strongly to The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS than to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii?

The biggest factor must be that, in Japan, the gaming population has already been expanded. The sheer installment base of Nintendo DS is huge, far larger than that of Wii, and so many Japanese, regardless of gender, age and past game experiences, are now playing with Nintendo DS. We really wanted to make software that can be appreciated by the core gamers and casual gamers alike, and the sales so far appear to be showing that many Japanese are enjoying this new handheld Zelda.

What was the most challenging part of designing Link's controls around the stylus?

We wanted to create a new handheld Zelda experience that can be played only by touch pen so that novice players would not be hesitant in trying to play while core Zelda fans can find something very unique and fresh. Once we decided this basic play style, brand new ideas were hit upon by us developers one after another. The only challenge we faced was eliminating any and all ideas which made the gameplay too complicated or uncomfortable. In the end, we believe that we were able to create a brand new Zelda experience that can be very comfortably played only with a touch pen, and we are glad with the outcome. The core Zelda fans appeared to have some hesitation at the beginning, but after they started playing, we believe they understood the reason why we have chosen this new direction this time.