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Interview: Shigeru Miyamoto
Note:
This topic also relates to Revolution/DS general/DS games
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000297061506/
please see full article as I will be posting but a sample
Quote:
Nintendogs
Well with development, you spend usually one to two years on a game. But in actuality, you kind of have ideas that are floating around in your head for three, four, even five years before that. In my case, oftentimes I’ll just have an object sitting my desk that’ll be sitting there for a long time, and I’ll kind of interact with it and it will spur ideas. In this case, about four years ago, my family and I bought a dog and started taking care of it and that became the impetus for this project.
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...0000047554.JPG
With the DS we’d really like the idea of this linking coincidentally to be something that’s unintentional, that happens when you don’t even realize it. We thought that there would be a lot of fun inherent in that process. There’s another aspect to owning a dog, and so we wanted to include into the game the fact that when you have a dog and you take your dog out for a walk, people that normally would just pass by on the street if you didn’t have a dog will suddenly talk to you because the dog becomes a kind of gateway between you and that other person. And so just by owning a dog and taking a dog for a walk, it expands your communication possibilities. We wanted to implement that in Nintendogs, and obviously we have the idea of people taking their dogs for a walk as part of the game play, anyway, and we wanted to use that and again combine that with a way in the future to kind of create this communication aspect to the game, where it essentially allows you to interact with other people. In Japan we’ve had ideas about using the DS to exchange business cards and those types of things, and we felt that this was a similar type idea that was very easily implemented.
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...3147171126.jpg
Then, of course, we have the Nintendo WiFi connection that we’ll be launching this fall with the DS. And so I think combined between the local wireless and the Nintendo WiFi connection, we’re going to see a lot of different types of game play emerging and evolving from what we’ve seen in the past.
Really, we wanted it to be the type of game where you could tell just by picking it up and touching it and just getting your hands on it that it is going to be a fun experience in and of itself. And it doesn’t need to be the type of game where you are clearing levels or not clearing levels. And I think what that means is that this model that we’ve seen in gaming so far, where you have a laid-out strategy, you have a map that you go through in a game and you have a clear objective, that this not necessarily the only type of game that’s out there. We’re going to see new types of games emerging with different types of interfaces. We’re not going to have to rely so much on simply taking advantage of new technology to bump up the AI and that sort of thing. We’re really going to start to see more unique types of game play that are going to appeal to a very broad audience. You know that Nintendo’s model is to attract gamers from ages 5 to 95. So I think that it allows us to kind of break out of the framework that we’ve seen in gaming so far and explore it with new types of ideas.
Revolution
I’m just truly confident in our plan. Obviously, we’ve been talking a lot about the new interface, the new functionality of the Revolution controller and the new types of game play it’s going to offer, but although we’ve mentioned it, we haven’t really talked too much about how it does have an expansion slot on the bottom of the controller. And what that expansion slot allows for are controller expansions.
From our perspective the Revolution controller is the new controller, everything else is now the classic controller. And with this expansion, you’ll be able to have a classic controller that expands the functionality of the core unit.
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...0000046180.jpg
What that allows us to do is that we have all of these new features. We have the new functionality of the Wave Bird controller and we have new ways that players will be able to interact with games. But at the same time, we’ve retained all the functionality of the classic-style controller, so that people who are familiar with games and familiar with that style of game play are going to be able to have the types of experiences that they’re expecting, on top of all of these new experiences that they’ve never imagined before. And so in that sense, to be honest, I think it’s a spectacular plan and we’re very confident. Obviously we’ve doing a lot of experiments with interfaces over the years and we think that that experience has really taken us in a direction that’s going to be very successful for us.
Personally, I feel that first-person shooters are really well-suited for this controller. I’ve worked on them in the past in the Metroid Prime Series. And to be honest, I felt that first-person shooter controls on a classic controller were kind of clunky. They didn’t feel very—they didn’t feel very right. Whereas with this controller, with the nunchuck-style of controller it’s extremely natural and extremely intuitive. First-person shooters are a genre that are very popular in the United States, and I think that when gamers get their hands on this controller and start playing first-person shooters with it they’re going to find it’s probably the best way to play that kind of game.
But for the Revolution launch we’re trying to have software that takes as much advantage of the Revolution controller as possible. The one advantage we have in this area is that the Revolution development can actually be done on the Game Cube development environment. So the development kits are going to have a very similar structure to the Game Cube development kits, which makes it very easy for people who have started projects on the Game Cube development kits to just switch over the interface and continue working and have those games ready for the Revolution. We’re thinking that we’re going to be able to have a pretty strong launch.
Well, I think that Sony and Microsoft have studied Nintendo’s business model. They’ve looked at the current genres of games and the types of games that have been launched in the past, and they’ve found a way to take advantage of technology and push those games further, using technology. And I think that both of those companies are very strong in that role. I think the difference is that Nintendo, itself, is an entertainment company. And for many years, we’ve been looking for ways to take ideas that can entertain people and turning those ideas into entertainment products. I think we’re very strong in that area and I think we’ll continue to be strong in that area. And I also think that because we’re a company that is selling not only the hardware, but also the software, that we’re putting those two pieces together as a product. That’s another strength of ours, the fact that we have software development teams that work in conjunction with hardware development teams. And it’s a tremendous strength that we have, one that I don’t think some of the other companies have.
Cell Phones, Micro, Play yan
Well actually in the past Nintendo did release a cable in Japan that connected the Game Boy color to cell phones. But in terms of actually using cell phones themselves as gaming systems for Nintendo games, I think that number one you have to overcome battery life problems. I think that’s a big issue. And number two: there are issues with just plain old difficulty of use. Cellphones really are designed to be used to dial numbers and used as a telephone, and trying to convert that into a gaming system can be very difficult. And so I think on those fronts, it may be some time before Nintendo were ever to go in that direction.
But having said that, I would like to show you the Game Boy Micro, which is a cell phone-size game machine. [Miyamoto pulls a Game Boy Micro out of his pocket.] This is the Play-Yan device that they released in Japan which plays music and movies.
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives...meboyMicro.jpg
This could actually be, I think, the smallest and best looking movie player that you can buy. I think that we’re going to gradually see more and more of this idea of convergence, where multi-functionality is incorporated into a simple device. But at the same time, as an entertainment company, you still need to have a device that is very simple and easy to use, so that you can reach as many people as possible. But kind of like how Windows has gradually become an easier to use system with more and more features, I think we may see a similar trend.
Mario: in too many games?
At this point in time my team is still the team that’s solely responsible for all Mario platform games. We created Mario platform games and we’re going to be the team that continues to do that. For the true Mario games, that is, the true Mario platform games, we’re still at a point where you can expect a high-quality true Mario platform game once every few years; we’re not just going to continue to turn those out.
As far as the Mario character games go, I really feel that Mario is a brand for Nintendo. And what Mario is, is a character that allows both gamers and non-gamers to relate to video games. He brings people in. He makes them feel comfortable. And in that sense, I think he’s very good. He can introduce a lot of people to video games because he’s a character that people know. And when they see him in a game, they may be more willing to pick up that game and maybe experience a new genre. And in that sense, I think that it’s not weakening the brand whatsoever.
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...6245734334.jpg
Another challenge was, of course, with the shift to 3-D. And in the original shift to 3-D, there was obviously challenges in trying to create quality a 3-D Mario and quality 3-D Mario games, and quality models, as well. And so what we’ve done now is we’ve put together these baseline models that are used across all the games. And so that also has become a strength is that, we have a standard character group with the Nintendo that is responsible for managing the use of the Mario models, and so they’re able to provide the models to different developers who are using Mario in their game. And so there’s actually, I think, a strength, because you’ve got a consistent model that’s apparent in the game consistent character appearance. And I think that’s been a good strength for us, too.
ON
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...0000047552.JPG
Obviously, Nintendo’s has done research on that type of thing in the past, so who knows. Maybe it’s possible that something like that may come out of Nintendo one day.
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don't forget, if u want to see the WHOLE thing to follow the link: http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000297061506/
but that really is the bulk of it
__________________
www.gamblingsafetysystem.com
 
Quote:
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Originally Posted by theOne
well 17R3W has said a lot of compicated and helpful things
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10-10-2005, 05:01 PM
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