Shigeru Miyamoto
Latest
Miyamoto: Nintendo 'desperate to realize' online business
Nintendo's online offerings are free (and somewhat limited) as of now, but that might not always be the case. According to statements from Shigeru Miyamoto to Edge, Nintendo is still considering the nature of its online business. "Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realise is the core [online] business structure," Miyamoto said. "Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be." Miyamoto denied claims that Nintendo isn't "proactive when it comes to its online strategy," noting that the company intends for all consumers to be connected through the Wii at all times (Nintendo even initiated a reward program for those who help others get their Wiis online). He did admit that "Nintendo hasn't been very proactive in developing such online activities as an MMOG." None of this is any confirmation that Nintendo's going to start charging for some kind of pervasive network, or that we'll see an Animal Crossing MMO at E3. But it is definitely interesting that the company is showing an interest in online services beyond the somewhat barebones setup it has now.
Platinum's Kamiya wants to make a new Star Fox at gunpoint
Hideki Kamiya is both thrilled about the Star Fox series and confused about how gunpoint demands work. In response to a statement from Shigeru Miyamoto indicating interest in a Wii Star Fox game, Kamiya expressed his own interest in a rather extreme manner. "I want Nintendo's staff to come to Platinum, stick guns at us and tell us 'You guys make a new Star Fox,'" he said on Twitter. Why would Nintendo need to point guns at him? He wants to make the game! Of course, why would we expect logic from the mind behind Bayonetta? Kamiya said that he submitted an idea for a 3D shooter upon entry to Capcom, but scrapped it when Star Fox 64 came out. That's how highly he thinks of Star Fox 64.
Miyamoto explains Super Mario Galaxy 2's new world map
Super Mario Galaxy 2 drops the hub world from the first game for a much simpler map interface; even simpler than New Super Mario Bros.' map. Speaking to Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto explained the change. "We want players to focus on the joy of the action instead of getting to each game course," he said. "We wanted to make it as accessible as possible and as easy as possible for the players." That's not to say the game is being made easier in general. It's just now easier to get to the levels. "Also, because we're going to incorporate a number of different stars, and conquering all the stars is going to be one of the most challenging missions for the player," Miyamoto added, "we want [players] to understand as easy as possible where they should go next and which places they should go back to in order to get access to the remaining stars." In addition, the new starship mechanic necessitates a streamlined navigation interface. Game Informer also managed to ask Miyamoto about 3D right before the announcement of the 3DS, so the discussion was all about 3D televisions (and not entirely transferable to 3DS). "We're at the stage right now where it's very difficult to tell whether 3D televisions are going to cater to our needs to make better 3D experiences," he said. "For one thing, our video games are made for as many people as possible, and the number of people who can play those types of games, who can afford to buy the 3D televisions at home, aren't going to be very good." A hint of where Nintendo might be going with 3D followed: "It is also true that certain types of three-dimensional games utilize 3D televisions might help people navigate more freely. Right now we're at the stage where it's very hard for us to determine whether it's very good or bad." %Gallery-86430%
Miyamoto says that Wii is 'honored' to be in such great company as Move and Natal
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.
Nintendo slipping DS handhelds into schools, McDonald's training sessions
What's a global gaming company to do once they've soundly dominated the portable market? Why, covertly get the DS into schools and restaurants, of course! Shigeru Miyamoto, who created undercover gems like Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, recently informed the AP that his company would be rolling the DS out "in junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year," though few details beyond that were available. We do know, however, that this invasion into the education sector is more than just a fluke, with Miyamoto noting that this very area is where he is "devoting [himself] the most." Of course, the Big N already has a nice stable of mind-bending titles, but getting actual teachers to embrace the device in the classroom would be another thing entirely. In related news, select McDonald's eateries in Japan will be using the DS to train part-time workers, though mum's the word on whether the Cooking Mama franchise will be cashing in here.
Miyamoto wants to get DS into classrooms (with permission)
[Brandy Shaul] Ahhh, grammar school -- there was nothing quite like trying to hide that GBA under the desk in fear of Mrs. Rosencrantz confiscating our portal into Pokémon Fire Red. Back then, handheld games were little more than an obvious distraction in the eyes of our ruler-equipped teachers, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto plans on changing all of that. Speaking with the Associated Press in an interview recently, the legendary game developer explained his latest devotion: bringing the Nintendo DS and Wii into schools. He said that the DS would be making its way into "junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year" (beginning this April). Miyamoto didn't get too specific on how his company's consoles would help Japanese students with their education, only detailing it as part of Nintendo's initiative to expand the audience for gaming consoles. We have to imagine that the kids won't be using them to decide whether or not Resident Evil 4 on Wii is the best version (besides, we all already know that it is). Thankfully for our unborn children, Miyamoto didn't mention any amorphous plans to bring gaming consoles into North American schools just yet. Presumably they'll have to play it fast and loose like we did -- keeps 'em sharp!
Miyamoto confirms Pikmin 3 development 'well underway'
The Official Nintendo Magazine UK is hanging out at tonight's BAFTA Video Game awards, and has punched into its Twitter account that not only did it get to talk to one Shigeru Miyamoto, but that he's confirmed Pikmin 3 is in development and "well under way." Over a year ago, the game was rumored to be released a week-and-a-half from now, but we'll presume it's not quite that far along in development. Still, good to hear that the game is still going on, considering that we've only seen the barest sprouts of information about it so far. Maybe Miyamoto should give his team a 30-day time limit within which to finish the game, and see how they feel about that.
Miyamoto recognized with prestigious BAFTA Fellowship
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that it'll be awarding Shigeru Miyamoto with the storied BAFTA Fellowship award, which is "the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for their creative work." Miyamoto will receive the award in a ceremony next month. It's a pretty high honor for his work in film and television, which includes this Mega64 video and this old kids' television series. Oh wait, no -- it's actually part of the British Academy's Video Games Awards, and it is honoring him as the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. That makes much more sense. Nobody should be giving anyone awards for the Super Mario Bros. movie.
Nintendo's Miyamoto casually references new hardware, MotionPlus games
Do you think non-disclosure agreements apply if you're one of the guys who built the company you represent? Probably not, as evidenced by Shigeru Miyamoto, who recently took the opportunity -- while receiving an award, no less -- to blab about forthcoming hardware and games based around the MotionPlus peripheral. There wasn't much content to his mentions, beyond us now knowing that he's actively engaged in the design of multiple games outside of the next Zelda iteration, but this is the firmest confirmation yet that the Wii is set for a Wiiplacement. Parsing this with earlier comments from Miyamoto-san would suggest the company will be looking to optimize its present formula (maybe with a touch of HD?) rather than revolutionize what is already a wildly successful console. Until then, let's just be happy that one of gaming's patriarchs is still going strong and dropping crumbs of knowledge for us undeserving earthlings.
Miyamoto mentions new hardware, new MotionPlus games
[GAME Watch] During an acceptance speech at the Japan Media Arts Festival this past weekend, Shigeru Miyamoto casually referred to unannounced Nintendo hardware and at least one new Wii project he's working on, which uses the MotionPlus peripheral. Of course, since Miyamoto wasn't making any formal announcements, that's all he said on those fronts, according to Andriasang's summary of a 4Gamer report. Miyamoto was onstage accepting a Special Achievement Prize when he revealed that, in addition to Zelda, he's working on an unspecified number of other projects that use MotionPlus. While unconfirmed, the "Special Achievement" might have been awarded for Miyamoto's work in the field of vague announcements. [Via Andriasang]
Marble Madness creator Mark Cerny to be inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame
It may have been a quarter century since Mark Cerny's groundbreaking arcade game Marble Madness was first developed, but this year the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will give the influential developer an induction into its Hall of Fame. On February 18 in Las Vegas, Cerny will become the 13th member of the AIAS' small club -- a club that includes development bigwigs like Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto, among others. For those of you who don't know, Cerny's been hard at work behind the scenes of some of our favorite games throughout the years. The developer's had a hand in everything from Sonic 2 through God of War 3, with his influential "Cerny Method" of tenacious development being passed down to modern day big boys like Insomniac's Ted Price and Naughty Dog's Evan Wells. "Mark has left an indelible mark on all of the games he's been a part of, the developers that he's collaborated with, and most importantly the individuals that he's worked along-side of," Wells said in the press release (warning: PDF link). For Cerny's part, he said he's "thrilled to accept this award" and humbly offloaded some respect to past colleagues that he's "had the pleasure to work with over the years." We're looking forward to witnessing the "Cerny Method" in action during his acceptance speech, wherein he only allows himself 30 seconds to catch our interest before reevaluating the entire thing.
Iwata Asks: 25 years with Miyamoto's dev posse
In the most recent edition of Iwata Asks, Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata gathers up Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago for a thorough discussion of their time with the company, the many projects they've worked on and their 25-year-long partnership with Shigeru Miyamoto. Let's break it down: Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago both started at Nintendo around 1984, helping to shape everything from Balloon Fight to Super Mario Bros. These guys were part of the team that developed Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda -- at the same time. During the 10-page chat, a plethora of interesting tidbits are revealed about some of the game industry's most influential Nintendo titles. Did you know that Zelda was initially designed as a dungeon game without an overworld? Or, how about the revelation that World 1-1 was created last, after the rest of the levels in Super Mario Bros., and designed implicitly to teach the game to non-gamers? The chat even gets into the lurid sleeping arrangements of Miyamota-san and Nakago-san while on business trips for ExciteBike (spoiler: it's not that lurid).
Nintendo's Aonuma: Majora's Mask the result of Miyamoto challenge
[Image credit: Rich Lem] Eiji Aonuma has spent a lot of time developing Legend of Zelda games. In fact, he's been in a managerial role on the franchise ever since the series' arguably most popular installment, The Ocarina of Time. So when Mario creator (and his boss) Shigeru Miyamoto asked Aonuma and his team to develop an "Ura Zelda" (a flipped version of Ocarina of Time -- what would eventually become the Master Quest), Aonuma protested. Miyamoto's compromise, though, instead turned out to be a much greater challenge -- produce a sequel to OoT within one year. "We were supposed to make its sequel in a year ... at first, we had absolutely no idea what sort of thing we were supposed to make, and we just kept expanding our plans," Aonuma told Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata during a recent Iwata Asks column."in the beginning, it was all trial and error ... ultimately, we adopted the 'three-day system,' and made it so that, if you couldn't clear the game inside of three days, the world was destroyed." Aonuma claims this concept was what allowed Majora's Mask to be created and released just 18 months after OoT came out. He also adds that lessons he learned from the development of Majora's Mask -- from having to remember a sequence of events in order to proceed, to "deep, compact play" -- helped to shape the development of the most recent Zelda release, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. We'd like to say that Aonuma will have a break from the series after serving as producer on Spirit Tracks, but he's the man in charge of the upcoming LoZ game for the Wii. We're sorry, Mr. Aonuma! Keep on truckin'! [Via Gamasutra]
Miyamoto: Mario originally named 'Mr. Video,' couldn't jump
Though the latest edition of Iwata Asks is technically focused on New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the first few pages of the interview go off on a tangent about the overall-clad plumber's roots which you might find interesting. For instance, did you know that Miyamoto's original plan for Donkey Kong was a video game based on Popeye? It's true -- it was only after he was denied the rights to put the muscly-armed sailor man in a video game that he created the most prolific video game character of all time. Of course, just like a timid middle school student, Mario was forced to go through some awkward formative phases. Miyamoto revealed that in the original design for Donkey Kong, Mario -- who, at the time, was referred to as "Mr. Video" -- was unable to jump. Man, we feel like we just gazed into some kind of creepy alternate universe. "It is me, Mr. Video. I'm going to slowly walk over there, all the while praying that I don't encounter any ground-based enemies."
Miyamoto thinks his college degree wouldn't get him a job at Nintendo today
In the upcoming issue of Edge Magazine, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto discusses a variety of topics with the UK gaming magazine. Develop Online got their hands on a copy of the magazine already, revealing a rather ... revealing quote from the father of Donkey Kong. "Nintendo has become one of those companies that graduates from colleges and good universities really want to work for ... I often say to [Nintendo head] Mr. Iwata: 'If I was applying for a job here today, I, with my actual college degree, would probably not have been employed by Nintendo." Though he adds that he "might pick up on [applicants] and try to find out something really different within them which you can't judge just by a college degree," it worries us greatly that today's equivalent of the man who helped to birth some of the game industry's landmark franchises may end up unemployed or even dissuaded from game development altogether. All alone! Without a home! We imagine somewhat like a rolling stone! ... Our apologies. That was quite enough.
Miyamoto: Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be 'really difficult'
Much like he did for the just-launched New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Shigeru Miyamoto has announced that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be "really difficult." But will it be so difficult as to require Nintendo's new in-game life preserver, the Super Guide? Miyamoto isn't so sure yet. "In general," Miyamoto told Official Nintendo Magazine, "wherever and whenever appropriate, I think we will want to incorporate that kind of thing, but I cannot commit to anything specific right now." Here's our absolutely ridiculous prediction: Miyamoto and crew are going to do with this sequel what they did with Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Since Galaxy 2 is basically another level pack for an existing game, the team is going to make it almost impossible to complete. Of course, that won't happen. More likely, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be on par with the first game in terms of challenge, but will include the Super Guide to stay consistent with Nintendo's current strategy. %Gallery-64834%
Nintendo might be considering hybrid HD/SD console
In a voluminous response to an investor question about moving to support high-definition output, Nintendo executives laid out their current thoughts on how and when to make such a move in their consoles. Of course, these thoughts shouldn't be taken as a definite indicator of Nintendo's plans, but they might suggest where the company could be headed in the next generation. And if these statements do reflect future events, Nintendo's next console will be HD-capable, but won't require that standard for every game. Genyo Takeda, GM of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division, said that "moving to HD appears to me a natural flow" given the adoption of HD by television programming. "If we can find out the most appropriate medium, between SD and HD, and flexibly move around them depending on the game's contents, it will be good, I think," he suggested. Shigeru Miyamoto agreed, noting that HD wasn't the most important consideration for something like Wii Fit. "Won't HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make."
Miyamoto: Next Zelda will use MotionPlus for more realistic swordplay
Nintendo's resident legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, has revealed that the next installment in the Legend of Zelda series on Wii will make use of Wii MotionPlus for more realistic sword combat and targeting. "In this (installment of the series), we're using MotionPlus to make you feel much more like you're actually fighting while holding a sword in your hand," Miyamoto disclosed during an October 30 Q&A session, as translated by GameLife. "In the previous game, you aimed at things by pointing at the screen, but this time we'll use MotionPlus to create a much more convenient targeting system and a more pleasurable playing experience," Miyamoto added. Despite these revelations, Nintendo has yet to officially state whether Wii MotionPlus will be an option or a requirement for playing the game. When this next Zelda was announced during E3 2009, Miyamoto could only say that MotionPlus-exclusivity was "possible." These gameplay elements -- especially the swordplay -- only make it seem more likely. [Via GameLife]
Nintendo still planning to co-market Dragon Quest IX
Though Square Enix has yet to say anything concrete about releasing Dragon Quest IX outside of Japan, Nintendo has discussed its own plans to market the title. Last year, Satoru Iwata mentioned his intention to promote the game in the West, and during this week's financial results Q&A session, senior managing director Shinji Hatano reiterated that intention. "Hatano said that helping to sell Dragon Quest IX outside Japan is part of a larger effort on the part of Nintendo to partner with software makers to sell their games for Nintendo hardware," GameLife summarized. Maybe eventually, Square Enix will announce this game. Also on the subject of Dragon Quest IX, at the same event, Shigeru Miyamoto praised DQIX's communication mode, which allows players to collect and interact with others' characters passively. "Dragon Quest IX's passerby communication has caused the number of people walking around outside using their DS systems to increase greatly, and I'm thinking that I could probably make something unique like that," he said. And then he said "Also, recently, we got a cat." Hint, hint. [Via GameLife]
Miyamoto a 'big fan' of Star Fox, says series popularity on the decline
For being a Nintendo property, the Star Fox series hasn't performed, well -- it hasn't performed like a Nintendo property. Gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto recently divulged to MTV Multiplayer that the series has been on the decline since its inception, with steadily declining sales for each new iteration. But, despite all of that, Miyamoto is still a "big fan" of the series. He says that every time a new entry releases, he's "hoping people will enjoy it as much as I do," but that -- in Japan, at least -- the series' popularity has not met with Nintendo's expectations over its lifespan. It's understandable, really; when a company puts out the best-selling "game" of the last decade, it might find it hard to justify putting out something that isn't guaranteed to create giant piles of cash.
