Tag Archives: miyamoto

Miyamoto Says People Will Come To Depend On A Second Screen

Nintendo, Wii U, , , ,

wii_u_mario_family

Legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has told CNN that he believes that consumers will genuinely begin to depend on a second screen. Miyamoto feels that as people get more familiar with Wii U and other touchscreen devices there’s going to come a point where they feel like ‘I can’t do everything I want to do if I don’t have a second screen.’

“There was a period when we first released the Nintendo DS that people would say there’s no way people can look at two screens at once.”

“I almost feel like, as people get more familiar with Wii U and these touchscreen interfaces, that there is going to come a point where they feel like ‘I can’t do everything I want to do if I don’t have a second screen’.”

“I feel a device like Wii U, with its ability to continue to offer new features and that network connection and the connection to the TV and the interface, really makes it feel that it’s more than just a game machine, but something that offers a lot of practical use and practical purpose in the living room.”

StarFox Developer Says Miyamoto Removed “What Was Cool” About The Original Game

Nintendo, , ,

starfox_logo

Dylan Cuthbert, founder of Q Games, has discussed his experience of working with Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto on StarFox. Cuthbert says that Miyamoto would suddenly add and remove ideas and it really felt as if the development team weren’t getting anywhere. In fact Cuthbert was ready to say “No, screw that” to Miyamoto as he believed that he was “removing what was cool”. Thankfully, we all know things turned out well in the end. Here’s what Cuthbert had to say about the experience.

“We were very cocky British programmers, thrown into this Japanese environment,” Cuthbert explained. “We were in awe and in shock at the same time about their process, as we went in intending to make a full 3D shooting game inspired by Starglider 2. But in the process I learned from Miyamoto that ‘No idea must go into a game, even if they are good ideas.’”

“This was very confusing for us, because at the time British games were full of good ideas,” he continued. ”We were at the forefront of 3D, even with isometric games back in ’83, but what we did in Britain was just stuff all these ideas in and then sell it. It’d sell, but people would find, like, half a game. Most of the games I bought in the 80s I would never finish.”

“So Starglider 2 was initially what we were trying to make: a 3D roaming game. For our first months of working with Nintendo, Miyamoto would add ideas, and then remove them. And it felt like we weren’t really getting anywhere.”

Miyamoto returned to the team with a “big grin” claiming to have solved their problems. “He said, ‘we’re going to limit it. It’s going to be on rails, and it’s going to be fun and playable and a Nintendo game.’”

“If we had been in Britain we would have been like ‘no, screw that.’”

“In our Starglider concept, you couldn’t really see lasers coming from behind you and it could be very hard to find where the enemies were in 3D space. It was a very difficult process for the player,” explained Cuthbert. “[the change] allowed us to make much better boss battles; you were always flying forward and you could always see the boss.”

“At the time all British 3D games were first-person to be more immersive, but the change allowed us to make it fun to manoeuvre between buildings, and allowed the barrel roll to be visible and intuitive.”

“With Starglider, the 3D roaming feature was such a big thing in our mind as British programmers we never considered other ways to do it,” he concluded. “It was Miyamoto and Nintendo who came up with these ideas because they didn’t have this background in 3D development.”

Mario 64 And Ocarina Of Time Were The Most Fun Games Miyamoto Has Worked On

Nintendo, , , ,

super_mario_64

Prolific video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has told ABC that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 were his two favourite games to work on. Miyamoto says he loved the challenge of creating and building these critically acclaimed games in 3D on the Nintendo 64.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had working on any game?

“I have a lot of fun making all the games, even surprisingly the ones that have a lot of challenges to solve or they take a lot of time to finally bring together into final form… Even those ones I have a lot of fun, and the ones where we have a lot of freedom to make the games, those are fun to make.”

“But, I guess, thinking back, probably Super Mario 64 and the original Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That era was the first time we were taking games and bringing in this new 3D technology, building the rules and the framework through which games would be depicted in 3D, I think, probably made those the most fun games to work on.”

“In working with some of the younger staff members, and when they have a question on a project and say, “I don’t know who to go to to find the answer to this question,” I’m always the type that says, “Well, if you don’t know who has the answer, then simply make the answer yourself.” I have a lot more fun when we’re making up the rules as we go along.”

Shigeru Miyamoto Helping To Create A Pikmin Cartoon Series

Nintendo, , , ,

pikmin_3_logo

Nintendo’s senior managing director and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that he is helping spearhead a cartoon series built upon the loveable Pikmin series. Miyamoto says that the Pikmin based cartoons will be launched before Pikmin 3‘s release this Spring/Summer, and will possibly appear on Nintendo Video. If the cartoons prove to be popular then Miyamoto has suggested that they may begin selling them. The video that was showcased was created by Miyamoto with the help of an external animation studio. Here’s some details.

“We were working on several Pikmin CG animated videos and wanted more people to be able to see them,” he said. “I had gone to a movie theater and saw the videos telling people to turn off their cell phones and thought we could create a Pikmin version of that, but instead decided to do the 3D glasses video.”

“I didn’t want to license our characters out to someone else to create films,” he said. “Instead, since I used to draw four-panel comics when I was younger, I thought it would be fun to bring a four-panel comic approach to creating video content, so we started work on these Pikmin videos.”

“We didn’t have a good opportunity to announce that we were doing this, so while we were working on the movies we also created the Pikmin video that opened our E3 presentation last year.”

“When Olimar first discovered the Pikmin he named them based on the PikPik brand carrots in his home world, so he clearly loves carrots,” Miyamoto said. “I thought it would be fun to have a scenario where it seems like he is going to eat the Pikmin. So it’s kind of dark, but he doesn’t eat them.”

“We really just want to take advantage of the Pikmin characters,” he said. “We have started selling Shaun the Sheep videos, so we’re continuing to look at ways to expand the eShop offerings. Nintendo 3DS is great for viewing 3D video content so we wanted to look at ways to expand that offering.”

Miyamoto Admits That They Should Have Had Pikmin 3 Closer To Wii U Launch

Nintendo, Wii U, , , ,

pikmin_3_pikmin

Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted that ideally Nintendo would have wanted Pikmin 3 closer to the Wii U launch. Miyamoto doesn’t really have many regrets, as he says that the delay has helped them create fun and interesting new ways to play, including new gameplay systems. He also says that as they become more familiar with the Wii U hardware, the more they are able to get out of it.

From my perspective, I think ideally it would have been nice if we’d been able to release Pikmin 3 closer to launch, but the Wii U — though it shares the Wii name — is obviously a brand new system, with new chips and graphical capabilities. It can do a lot more, and in the process of developing a lot of the features and functionality, the resources required to best utilize those features drew on some of the same resources that might have been spent developing games, thus we weren’t able to bring quite as robust a lineup initially.

At the same time, we still have new things to learn about how to leverage the features and functionalities of Wii U in ways that create fun and interesting new ways to play, including new gameplay systems. As we become even more familiar with the hardware, we’ll be able to do more from a software standpoint. That’s an area we’re currently devoting resources to.

 

Miyamoto Explains Why Pikmin 3 Works Best With Wii U

Nintendo, Wii U, , ,

pikmin_3_logo

Legendary games designer Shigeru Miyamoto has sat down with GameSpot to talk about all things Nintendo related. One of the questions put to Shigeru Miyamoto was what’s one point of gameplay in Pikmin 3 that he can point to and say “that’s only possible because of what the Wii U can do?” Miyamoto replied to the question with the following answer:

“When I create a game, I don’t necessarily always try to approach it from the idea of leveraging every feature or every ability of that new piece of hardware. In the case of Pikmin in particular, the approach that we took was really less of an approach of how can we […] take advantage of what the Wii U is doing, per se, and instead how can we take what was that Pikmin experience and really make it a deeper experience for players.”

“So of course we’re taking advantage of the graphics and improving the play control and whatnot and I guess if you were to look at it more broadly, you might not necessarily say that it would be impossible to do it on another system. But I guess speaking plainly, the idea is really that Wii U is the best system to be able to achieve all of the different things that we’re trying to do with this new Pikmin game. One of the biggest features of Pikmin 3 is the fact that you have the map on the GamePad at all times and because Pikmin is a strategy game, it’s the type of game that you might play the same levels over and over again. Having that map–and the fact that you have the three different leaders that you switch between to command your Pikmin–and having the touchscreen on the map will allow you to change perspective or jump to a specific leader and quickly give orders.It makes it much more efficient for you to achieve the goals that you have strategically within the game.”

Miyamoto Preparing Nintendo For His Eventual Retirement

Nintendo, , ,

shigeru_miyamoto

Legendary games developer Shigeru Miyamoto has told GameSpot that he is currently preparing the rest of Nintendo for his eventual retirement. Miyamoto wouldn’t say exactly when he would retire, but he said that he’s getting younger staff more involved in the development process. Shigeru Miyamoto is currently 60 and will turn 61 in November. Here’s what he had to say about future planning within Nintendo.

“This year I’m past 60; I’m going to be turning 61 this year. So for me to not be thinking about retirement would be strange. But in fact, the number of projects I’m involved in–and the volume of my work–hasn’t changed at all.”

“Instead, what we’re doing internally is, on the assumption that there may someday be a time when I’m no longer there, and in order for the company to prepare for that, what I’m doing is pretending like I’m not working on half the projects that I would normally be working on to try to get the younger staff to be more involved.

“And this actually has nothing to do with any kind of retirement planning or anything of that sort, it’s really more of simply the fact that people have a tendency, certainly when you’re in an organizational structure, they have a tendency to always look to the person that gives them direction,” Miyamoto said. “And really, for a long time I’ve been thinking that we need to try to break that structure down so that the individual producers that I’m working with are really taking responsibility for the projects that they’re working on.”

Miyamoto Talks Pikmin 3

Wii U, , , ,

pikmin_3_pikmin

Famed games designer Shigeru Miyamoto has talked a little more about the long-awaited Pikmin 3 for Wii U during Nintendo’s Q3 financial results briefing. Miyamoto believes that the biggest draw with the game for consumers could well be the higher-resolution images through the high-definition graphics. Miyamoto also reiterated that Nintendo won’t be using asymmetric gameplay in a game if it is unnecessary, but in this game you can see the entire map on the Wii U GamePad.

“With regard to “Pikmin 3″ for Wii U, I don’t want to be misconceived, but the biggest draw of this game is the higher-resolution images through the high-definition graphics. You can even see Pikmin’s gestures with the graphics. We are not going to put asymmetric gameplay in a game if it is unnecessary. In this game, you can see the entire map on Wii U GamePad. The two screens of the TV and Wii U GamePad will let you see what you are doing at any time during your gameplay, which alone is a great evolution for a strategy game. As a side note, you can play this game only with Wii U GamePad. If it is hard to imagine what it will be like, maybe you can recall the visuals of the original “Pikmin” for Nintendo GameCube and imagine how you can play it with the smaller but more detailed screen in your hands. The two control sticks of Wii U GamePad will let you play this game more comfortably and, with a TV screen, the gyro sensor inside Wii Remote Plus will further help your gameplay. Wii U GamePad will give you style variations of playing this game and playing only with Wii U GamePad might be a good experience for you. I hope you will like this game.”

Miyamoto Admits It Takes Time To See Charm Of Wii U

Nintendo, Wii U, , ,

wii_u_back

Legendary games developer Shigeru Miyamoto has explained to investors and analysts that it takes time to see the genuine charm of the Wii U. He went on to say that they’re looking to create games that will sell in the long run, rather than produce games that only sell well at launch. He did say that the company needs more employees internally and externally so they can strengthen their development teams.

“It takes time to understand the charm of Wii U. We are currently offering a few titles but we are aiming for games that sell steadily for the next 3 years not for games that stop selling after a few weeks. We have a lot of ideas for 2 screen play. We definitely need more employees internally and externally so we are strengthening our development teams.”

Here’s What Inspires Shigeru Miyamoto

Nintendo, ,

shigeru_miyamoto

Legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has sat down with UK gaming publication GamesMaster and talked about what inspires him to make video games. Miyamoto says that his inspiration stems from the world around us. For instance, the concept of the original Wii was inspired by the fact that a lot of consoles are now found in the living room where families get together and congregate. Here’s what he says inspires him.

“I can take a look around at anything which is happening around me or around the world and sometimes I can notice that for this particular thing, even though it is one of the very ordinary things surrounding us, if we can apply an interactive nature or game technology to that, it’s going to be something very unique. That’s going to be something that people will enjoy.”

“In the case of the Nintendo DS, you can bring the Nintendo DS anywhere, that’s why I was able to think in terms of how it could be used at the museum, for example. And in the case of Wii, Wii is supposed to be inside the house, most often in the living room where families get together, I always thought in terms of how it could expand the joy inside of the living room.”