Miyamoto says that Wii is 'honored' to be in such great company as Move and Natal
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 26th 2010 10:50AM
posted March 26th 2010 10:50AM
While Sony might be doing its best to heat things up with its Wii-baiting "realistic movements" ad campaign, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is taking the high road. Elaborating on recent comments that he made about the threat posed by rival motion controllers (or lack thereof), the elder statesman, whose career stretches back to the beginnings of the video game industry and includes everything from Donkey Kong to The Legend of Zelda and beyond (don't forget Nintendogs), said that "[c]ompeting with other companies" in a specific product category was "never our top priority." Rather, the company will continue to do what it does best: creating "unique and unprecedented entertainment." So how does he feel about PS Move, then? "The user experience we have created is going to be intensified by the advent of new machines from other companies. It's a new experience that we originated. So we really see it as a great honor." Class act, that guy. We'll see how he feels when we beat him to market with our Engadget Vitality Sensor.
Well, there you go, he manages not only to sound like a class act but he also puts MSFT and Sony in their place.
@Captain Underpants and the Bring
Basically. It's great to hear "We're honored" instead of "we're angry!". Pretty humble.
@N900 Yep...a pretty stark contrast to a certain "CEO of the Decade" (or whatever it was) who responds to imitation with angry rants and lawsuits.
@N900
It's also better than hearing, about a lawsuit.
@CRA1G
I agree with you, 100%
@Captain Underpants and the Bring
what a great guy. when im a CEO i wanna be just like him... alot of the others seem to sip a little too much mountain douche (glaring right. at. you. apple.)
@skyblaze You know what Nintendo's most famous for, other than Miyamoto and Mario? yeah their lawyers :)
Miyamoto can be nice and sweet, because he is not the CEO.
@Captain Underpants and the Bring Only if you believe they originated it. Several games in Wii Sports were direct rip offs of EyeToy Play. And there is video of Miyamoto at the Eyetoy booth loving what he saw, a couple of years before the Wii was ever announced.
@Captain Underpants and the Bring
Miyamoto is a very humble business man. This lets me know its about art and not all about competition. I think i might buy a wii :)
@CRA1G
Confucious say "it is not the difference in CEO but the difference in national culture that makes response different"
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Basically, miyamoto is saying, "Dear Sony and Microsoft; Thanks for liking my super awesome idea enough to try it out yourself. I hope your efforts are successful while i work on my next super awesome idea"
@Karate Tortoise
although in reality i dont think he's nearly that arrogant. I'm just saying one could take it that way.
@Karate Tortoise I dunno...can you blame him for thinking, even a little bit, that the Wii is a super awesome idea? I do.
@CRA1G I do think that, that is...not I do blame him. *sigh*
@Karate Tortoise
C:\NGRTL.TNS
@Karate Tortoise
Also, he's definitely not too bummed that other two consoles are admitting defeat, and copying the gimmicky idea that Nintendo has happily been milking for the past 4 years.
This plus the Wii's life cycle doesn't have to be as long as either of the other two console's, it's basically using Xbox graphics, R&D didn't spend all that much making it did they.
@ninetynine99 And MS spent loads on R&D to stick a slightly customised standard IBM processor onto a slightly customised standard ATI graphics chip with standard other parts (and without a proper cooler)?
as far as hardware is concerned, the biggest R&D effort is with the component developers (IBM, ATI/AMD in that example) in developing their technology in the first place. console manufacturers are really more about picking the parts and testing them together and so on - doesn't make that much difference how expensive the parts are.
that said, nintendo surely saved a lot of money on software development by making sure they could use all their existing code...
It's always refreshing to see positive attitudes as opposed to all the back and forth sniping that Sony and Microsoft are involved in.
@tsoul
Miyamoto will smile while those two companies are rubble.
You can see some subtle jabs in there. I think he just realizes it would do him no good to come out and berate the other companies.
Back and forth sniping are what makes stuff great. This attitude gets us to nowhere but a peace treaty. Who wants that? I'll take PSMove's head (balls) on a silver platter kthx.
@Steven +1. I lolled.
This is a classy man. He doesn't go around saying other companies motos are bullshit or throwing lawsuits when the competition is better.
@roflcopter
Or saying that other companies are lazy.
"Originator" my ass. Pioneer sure. They took pre-existing concepts and made them mainstream. All he basically said was "They are obviously copying us and trying to play catch up in a market we have a kung-fu grip on. So I'm not worried in the least. Ha Ha Ha."
@Mahapralaya wait so hes a non arrogant steve jobs
Nintendo was always first to do anything in gaming. Look at the nintendo ds first portable system with two screens plus touch screen (iPhone followed the touch screen for gaming. The original gameboy having portability with multiple games at hand, who followed? Game gear, lynx, psp etc... Right? Nintendo was the first to have split controllers and motion sensing (wii). Now that that all the bigger systems are following, nintendo is already cooking something else. If they are the first to do anything the other companies follow and try to polish it up. I think they'll do the same with 3d when the 3ds comes out, you'll see.
@Macc55 If you watched the engadget show you'd see the Playstation has motion controlling in motion for the last 10 years they just never put it in action. And the PS3 is already on it's way to having 3D on the console with just a firmware update.
@Macc55 Are you seriously comparing the DS's direction with touch to the iPhone/iPod?
Not only that, there was "pen" touch gaming long before the DS or iPod were even a thought.
@Macc55
You should probably start that list with D-pads, shoulder buttons, analogue sticks on a controller, rumble on a controller etc etc.
@Kloc
Sony have been claiming they've been working on motion controls for a while...yeah that's fine but why exactly did they wait till Nintendo released theirs before jumping on the ship?! No point having the idea if you never use it...
@Hobsie @Macc
They released the Eyetoy for the PS2. That was motion gaming.Or do we just seem to conveniently forget that.
That list of stuff you mentioned - dpads, analog, rumble, etc. Nintendo neither invented nor did first.
@Jason B The "cross" d-pad is Nintendo's. They introduced it in the first Game&Watch's and had a patent on it (though it apparently expired in 2005.)
The N64 re-introduced the analog stick to consoles after decades of solely digital.
The Rumble Pak was the first console force-feedback.
I imagine the argument should be in *console* innovation, and the Big N has a long history of that which shouldn't be denied. Sure, the eye-toy had motion controls, but it was mostly on a 2D plane. The Wii is what brought 3D motion to the marketplace, and which is what Natal and Move are catching up to.
@Jason B
What lenpic said.
Doing something first need not be inventing the actual thing. 4 buttons in a cross shape could argued to be 'invented' by several people but Nintendo used it in gaming first. They brought that tech into that industry and therefore should be credited for it. As with all the rest. Also as lenpic mentions we're not taking anything away from Sony on camera based motion gamplay. You can easily argue Natal borrows heavily from both sony and Nintendo in that respect. Fact of the matter is though, Nintendo has popularised the whole motion Gameplay industry even if Sony did some dabbled in some before hand. The motion controls I refereed two where strictly controller based, my bad.
@Macc55
I remember when Nintendo 64 was going to be out, and it was like, wow, that's a very nice Mario, lol. Wasn't it the first 64-bit gaming console? And it also came with a crazy controller too, I think.
@Kloc Thank You!!! Give credit where it is due. Nintendo did a damn good job with the wii. The casual gaming niche is a massive gap now thanks to them (for better or worse). But they did not "originate" the idea. They perfected it.
@Kloc
....and to your TV.
well... do you feel honored when people eye your hot wife? despite the fact you're one ugly fat bastard?
no one wants to copy wii, they just want the motion control.
@RadiXe
Agree completely. Also I do feel honored when guys check out my hot wife. I won.
@RadiXe Sure, they don't want to copy the Wii. That's why Natal & Move are coming out on the PS4 and XBOX 720... oh wait, no, they are just adding motion to dated hardware. Sounds like a complete copy to me.
He is like Mr Miyagi. Polite and honourable but will still kick your ass.
Dude! I totally have those plush Nintendo characters!
@Ryan P
So jealous........
Wii should evolve to become rival of natal!
Do not have good time only for MS.
Amazing, not only does he get of a few subtle punches, but he does it in a way that is classy and makes the competitor's look petty. Miyamoto strikes again, eh?
they should have immediately started bundling the motion plus with the system. And offered them separately at a dirt cheap price.
The man is a legend, my all time hero. The games industry wouldn't be anything like it is today without this man! The fact he's so damned humble, so damned nice...just makes me proud to be in the industry :P
Miyamoto is the guy I everyone loves and nobody hates. That's a rarity in this age.
Um, why was my comment deleted? I just asked what you meant by "[c]ompeting"...
imitation is the highest form of flattery
Apple should take a page from this guy's book.