Nintendo Legend Discusses Wiis and Miis

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto told a packed room at San Francisco's Game Developers Conference this week that the company is currently developing a new Wii channel that would allow users to enter their self-created Nintendo Mii representatives in contests. Miyamoto also announced that Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii is planned for release sometime in 2007.

But apart from these snippets, not much else was revealed. Still, one thing was made clear, as it has many times in the past: Miyamoto certainly knows how to put on a show.

Games for a Broader Audience

Miyamoto made several key points in his speech. First, he reiterated the idea that has become Nintendo's mantra ever since the announcement of the Nintendo DS: Creation of games for a broader audience. He said it has been his interest throughout much of his career to make games with an appeal so broad that even his wife, a strict non-gamer, would develop a genuine interest in them. Although Miyamoto experienced a minor victory when he assured his wife that there were no enemies to fight in the the game Animal Crossing, true success came with Nintendogs, followed closely by Brain Age. And with the release of the Wii, she fancies herself to be a "true" gamer now, having made Mii avatars for the entire extended family and even all of their neighbors, he said.

Balance and Teamwork

The second point Miyamoto emphasized was the importance of balance and teamwork. Using the design of the Wii controller as an example, he illustrated that Nintendo went through a number of prototypes before finally resting on the idea of a remote control, but he stated that the final design only came through a group collaboration on the part of many of Nintendo's design teams.

Risktaking

His third point was the importance of taking risks. When confronted by producers about the number of functionalities that would be lost in the development of such a radically different controller, Miyamoto stressed instead the amount of functions that would be gained. He claims that he's always willing to take a chance in the development of a game because what ultimately motivates him is the potential smiles on the faces of those who will play his games. Miyamoto said that, if he stays true to himself and believes that the risks he takes will result in more happiness for gamers, then he feels that those are acceptable risks.

Tenacity

One other important trait in a developer, he claims, is tenacity. Miyamoto had his heart set on producing a visual face-making program for some time, but said that the corporate heads failed to see how a marketable game could be created from it. Even after failed attempts to revive the idea for the N64's disk drive and the GameCube, he never gave up trying. He eventually discovered, however, he said, that another Nintendo development team had been working on a similar project for the DS only recently, so he jumped at the chance to work with them for a few months. However, in the process, he berated himself and his team for failing in what others had successfully accomplished.

For more coverage of this week's Game Developers Conference, read PC World's sister site, GamePro.com.