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Miyamoto on importance of online, his future, inspirations and more
A portion of a GamesMaster interview with Shigeru Miyamoto...
GM: How important is online gaming for you as a creator and for the Wii U as a console?
SM: A Nintendo have been trying to raise the net connection ratio for the recent hardware we launched and Wii U is going to be the very first machine we launch with the premise that it will always be connected to the internet. I'm always trying to remind myself and my staff members how important it isfor us not to solely depend upon the kind of fun that stems out of competition. First and foremost, the games we are creating must be final, just final. We always have to make it a point that, even when you aren't competing with other players, the game itself must be fun to play.
It's actually a kind of simple transition. We are simply taking that fun nature of the local competition to the one which is competed by taking advantage of the internet. So my plan is a kind of extension from the local competition.
GM: What do you see yourself working on in five years time?
SM: Well, actually it's impossible for anybody to foresee what's going to happen in the long run, as long as we are talking about digital entertainment.
If somebody comes up with a great idea inthe future or if somebody comes up with a great invention then the whole entertainment picture shall be changed drastically so it's not going to be possible for anybody to make a long-term focus.
So rather than try to do that, and try to see what's going to happen in five years time from today, what's important is to look around and aggressively understand and consume emerging technologies. But at the same time I'm not trying to forget about what happened in the past, what kind of know-how and experiences I personally have so far.
GM: You've said before how you foresee your role at Nintendo changing...
SM: A I think above all the biggest thing for me personally is how I can change myself. After all I'm 60! It's not going to be humanly possible for me to work on everything with the same hardship I used to pour into [it] when I was much younger than today! But the fact of the matter is I am able to assign a lot of my responsibilities to younger [staff] members, especially people in their 40s today at the company.
GM: Is that already happening to some extent? What will you use your free time for?
When we looked at the titles for the Wii U at launch I was able to assign most of the responsibility to these young creators and they were able to finalise these titles. Now I have to take care of fewer and fewer details and responsibilities of the games, I'll be able to focus my attention and energies into creating something brand new.
GM: What continues to inspire you?
SM: 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.
Full interview here
GM: How important is online gaming for you as a creator and for the Wii U as a console?
SM: A Nintendo have been trying to raise the net connection ratio for the recent hardware we launched and Wii U is going to be the very first machine we launch with the premise that it will always be connected to the internet. I'm always trying to remind myself and my staff members how important it isfor us not to solely depend upon the kind of fun that stems out of competition. First and foremost, the games we are creating must be final, just final. We always have to make it a point that, even when you aren't competing with other players, the game itself must be fun to play.
It's actually a kind of simple transition. We are simply taking that fun nature of the local competition to the one which is competed by taking advantage of the internet. So my plan is a kind of extension from the local competition.
GM: What do you see yourself working on in five years time?
SM: Well, actually it's impossible for anybody to foresee what's going to happen in the long run, as long as we are talking about digital entertainment.
If somebody comes up with a great idea inthe future or if somebody comes up with a great invention then the whole entertainment picture shall be changed drastically so it's not going to be possible for anybody to make a long-term focus.
So rather than try to do that, and try to see what's going to happen in five years time from today, what's important is to look around and aggressively understand and consume emerging technologies. But at the same time I'm not trying to forget about what happened in the past, what kind of know-how and experiences I personally have so far.
GM: You've said before how you foresee your role at Nintendo changing...
SM: A I think above all the biggest thing for me personally is how I can change myself. After all I'm 60! It's not going to be humanly possible for me to work on everything with the same hardship I used to pour into [it] when I was much younger than today! But the fact of the matter is I am able to assign a lot of my responsibilities to younger [staff] members, especially people in their 40s today at the company.
GM: Is that already happening to some extent? What will you use your free time for?
When we looked at the titles for the Wii U at launch I was able to assign most of the responsibility to these young creators and they were able to finalise these titles. Now I have to take care of fewer and fewer details and responsibilities of the games, I'll be able to focus my attention and energies into creating something brand new.
GM: What continues to inspire you?
SM: 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.