ShareThis
New Yorker Profile of Miyamoto May Drop Hints at Future Work
Recently, chats with legendary designer/immortal being Shigeru Miyamoto have revealed regret, frustration or even little known last-minute changes with various projects he’s worked on; almost exclusively Mario games. Much unlike most peeps we’ve heard from Miyamoto as of late, a New Yorker profile of the man to be published on December 20th reveals his intentions and feelings towards future projects, and more importantly, a new hobby of his, which usually are inspirations for said future projects. Other interesting tidbits present in an interview in the latter half of the piece include his frustration with long unplayable introductory cutscenes, opposition towards photorealism in video games, and an ostensible inspiration by manga artists of his youth and the followed subversion of manga years later by the same artists. Select quotes from the interview portion of the piece:
“When they became much older, they started to destroy the style they themselves had created […] When I started working for the company, I thought that someday I would like to do the same. I wanted to destroy the styles that we ourselves created. I don’t think we can do so completely, but I think that in the way that we are making video games today we might be getting closer to my idea of destroying the original style […] Because we ourselves have created the original format or style of video games, we understand why we had to do it at the time. Because we understand that, we can also understand why some of them must be kept intact and why some of them we can destroy.”
“I like changing the interiors of the house, or sometimes even the exterior of the house. Sometimes I’m called the Sunday carpenter. Even at midnight or at some early hour in the morning, I will change the location of the sofa in the living room. That’s me. Something tells me that by changing it my life is going to be more enjoyable. At least it’s going to give me some fresh feeling.”
“I recognize that there are certain types of games for which the photorealistic graphics are suited, but what I don’t like is that any and all games are supposed to be photorealistic.”
In the last ten-fifteen years, Miyamoto’s hobbies and behavior often have become a prime inspiration for his work (gardening to Pikmin, pet loving to Nintendogs & Cats, health-consciousness to Wii Fit, etc.), a mannerism that predates his ongoing tenure at Nintendo (the idea behind The Legend of Zelda arose from memories of exploring caves and woods around his home during boyhood). So when a large portion of this interview reveals these things, it’s something to pay attention to. Miyamoto’s talk of his future intentions of “destroying” what he created and revolutionizing again (speaking as if the Wii was not revolutionary enough) are similar to recent comments made by other important Nintendo figures like President Satoru Iwata (Wii successor “will surprise people”) and Metroid mastermind Yoshio Sakamoto (Wii successor “will leave you with your mouth open”), yet in a more purposefully discrete and cryptic manner. Speculation of the Wii’s successor has been spreading like wildfire; here’s more fuel to add to it.
Oh, and did you know that Nintendo recently started making Miyamoto drive to work (as opposed to riding his bike), for “his safety and their peace of mind?” It’s obvious that he is extremely valuable to the company; this little side note reinforces that notion.
Source: New Yorker
Pachter: Nintendo “must play catch up” with Wii 2
Here’s some more news and speculation on Nintendo’s future; on the opposite side of the spectrum. Popular video game analyst Michael Pachter believes that a successor to the Wii is coming, albeit without making any significant advance in video game technology when it eventually releases.
“I think that [Nintendo’s] next console will be on par technologically with the current PS3 and Xbox 360, and don’t expect them to advance technology at all with their next offering.”
Pachter has also recently, and rather infamously, said that Sony’s PSP2 is “Dead on Arrival” due to the success of the iPhone and iPod touch. He’s also criticized companies (namely Activision) for not monetizing subscription based multiplayer. This is all just an analyst’s opinion though, folks, his word is not truer than yours or mine. Take it with a grain of salt.
However, he does go on to say that he believes 3DS will be a “massive success.” In other news, Christmas will be celebrated on December 25th of this year. Also, the sky is blue.
Source: Industry Gamers
Today in 3DS News
Sega executive Alan Pritchard was interviewed by GameInformer for their January issue, and had this to say about the Nintendo 3DS:
“The 3DS was great. I don’t know anyone who went to E3 that wasn’t excited about it. We’re obviously waiting to hear a lot more information from Nintendo. We have announced Super Monkey Ball for 3DS, which will be a launch title. We have a number of 3DS titles in our line-up for next financial and calendar year. There’s four or five existing franchises, one or two from the old Sega IP locker, and we’re looking at one or two new IPs as well.”
If his estimates are to be taken seriously, Sega has around 6-9 games prepped for the 3DS, more than some publishers push for a console throughout its entire lifespan!
In other 3DS news, EA’s My Garden has been renamed Gardens and rated E by the ESRB. The title will still be available in time for 3DS’ launch.
Source: Game Informer, Issue 213; ESRB
