Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo EAD senior managing director and general manager, recently spoke with WebChats.tv. The site offered readers the opportunity to send in questions of which would then be hand selected and only a handful posed to Miyamoto. The site received over 11,000 submissions.
Revolution was addressed via several questions. Miyamoto said that game creators desire more than graphical upgrades. The way games are played will be changed with Revolution. "Specifically as you may know by now, Nintendo is going to integrate the pointing device into the handheld remote controller," he explained. "Just imagine, all you have to do is point somewhere on the TV screen and click some buttons and something happens..."
Miyamoto believes the controller will provide gamers with an entirely unique experience. "We are now making Mario jump by pointing and clicking just like that, and Zelda -- just suppose how far you can swing the controller -- you swing he soars, just like that," he described.
Third-party developers have also embraced the idea. "I have shown the controller to Hideo Kojima, the game director of Konami who is known from Metal Gear Solid," Miyamoto noted. "As soon as he saw the first prototype of the Revolution controller, he became very excited, like he could create a game right on the spot. (laughs)"
Miyamoto was recently recognized into France's Order of Arts and Letters. Take a look at a series of images from the event.
Miyamoto was also featured in an interview by Unlimited Guardian. Miyamoto shared Nintendo's philosophy and further explained the reasoning behind the direction the company has taken with its Revolution and Nintendo DS platforms.
"It's not necessarily that people are getting tired of videogames per se but the problem the industry faces is that it is creating titles that are similar to other ones," he explained. "Platform holders usually say we have this great number of titles available but what really matters is variety of titles. Customers are more interested in variety and quality then straight quantity. Too many game creators listen to requests from existing gamers who simply want beefed-up versions of existing games. Also, shareholders may be worried about financing games that are different as they are seen as too risky. A lot of creators have lost the ability to create something new. But at Nintendo we are unique as we create new and innovative hardware. You don't always need big budgets. Look at Brain Training, which has been a great success and didn't cost much to create. One of my aims is to let game creators know that they shouldn't feel constricted by budget. If you have a good idea, we have the money."
Miyamoto acknowledges competition from the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3. "Any announcement about PS3 will affect Nintendo," he admits. "But we don't see it as a competition between the two consoles, although the customers always do. It depends on what expectations people have of the PS3 and Revolution. Sony has taken a long time to create their machine but it is obvious that the direction we (Nintendo) are taking is different to the PS3."