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Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto was interviewed over on the Pikmin Miiverse community yesterday and talked quite a bit about the Pikmin Short Movies. While there weren’t any major revelations, he did share some interesting things – including news about a Pikmin 3DS theme.

Here are some excerpts:

On Pikmin being individuals…

Actually, the Pikmin in the game move in a way that is every bit as individual as those in the movies, it’s just that you can’t control them directly, only lead them. And because they’re so small, and there are so many of them, it’s hard to tell what each individual is doing. That is why I wanted to create these Short Movies that focused only on the Pikmin.

On conveying the concept of “affinity” with the shorts…

…the concept of “affinity” was something I really wanted to communicate, so I’m very happy to hear you say that. When I was working on the games, I found this feeling of affinity to build up quite naturally, and even in my normal life I was thinking, “I wonder what would happen if there were Pikmin here?” or “I wonder what this would look like from a Pikmin’s point of view?” Those little ideas became doodles, and that was the beginning of the PIKMIN Short Movies.

On what’s easier: game or movie production…

Game production, I think! But it’s not really that game production is easier, it’s more that movies and games are so fundamentally different that the areas where you must focus your energy are also completely different. For that reason, the easier process to me is the one I’m the most used to, which is game production.

To put it simply, the difference is that with animations and other such visual media the consumer is a viewer, whereas in games the consumer is a player, so they are created from two different mindsets. Being able to make games is no guarantee you’d be any good at making animations, and vice versa. This is another thing the experience of making these movies has taught me!

On the sound for movies versus a video game…

This probably overlaps with what I just said, but games are created for people to play, and if a game is outside the range of the player’s expectations, it creates a kind of wall or a distance between them and the game world. In a film, every frame must be constructed to communicate something to the viewers, and to achieve this purpose, scenes are sometimes intentionally exaggerated or even made absurd.

I worked together with the sound directors from the Pikmin games to create the sound. For the background music and so on, we have a library from the three Pikmin games, so I listened to all of that for the first time in a long time.

On how you can hear sounds when pressing the A button while watching the shorts on 3DS…

Of course I used what I considered to be the right sound for the job in the movies, but I thought I’d add a tiny bit of interactivity here for the viewer!

This hidden feature is only available on the Nintendo 3DS version, but then the Wii U version has those beautiful big-screen visuals, so I don’t think you’re losing out, whichever one you pick!

Final words from Miyamoto…

Now I feel like I’m writing my will or something! Anyway… For a long time I’ve been of the opinion that if a game world is in sync with your personal experiences, it will be more fun to play. By seeing the movies and playing the game like you have, MariChan, I think you can get a deeper level of enjoyment out of the game. For that reason, we’ve created a demo of Pikmin 3! The game now has new control options that make it easier to play, so please enjoy the movies and the game together!


View the gallery below for storyboards, opening art, and a look at the bulletin board that hangs on the wall in Olimar’s room in the first movie.

You’ll also find a photo of a new Pikmin 3DS theme. Miyamoto confirmed that the theme will be releasing next week.

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Shigeru Miyamoto was born on November 16, 1952. That means he’s now 62 years old! Let’s all wish Miyamoto a very happy birthday.

Technically we’re a day late on this since it’s now November 17 in Japan. But that’s okay.

Miyamoto’s contributions to Nintendo and the gaming industry as a whole are endless. He’s brought us Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, Pikmin, and plenty of other franchises/games. Can you imagine what gaming would be like had those series never been created? I certainly can’t!

Shinya Hiratake is the director of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. It was many years ago that he thought about a game concept that would take place in a series of small diorama-like levels where the hero couldn’t jump. Players would move the camera around the diorama and guide the hero to the exit.

Who was the hero, you ask? Why, Link of course! Hiratake felt that if he removed the jumping mechanic from a platformer, he could greatly shrink a game’s levels. However, he believed that the concept wasn’t a fit for the Mario universe since most of those characters can jump. It was then that The Legend of Zelda’s Link came to mind.

An image has surfaced showing Shigeru Miyamoto’s original sketches for Super Mario Bros. sprites. View it above!

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Earlier today, Telegraph published an interview with Nintendo’s legendary video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Much of what Miyamoto had to say focused on the Pikmin Short Movies, but there was time for a few other topics as well.

First, when it comes to what other companies are doing, Miyamoto remarked:

“What the other companies are doing makes business sense. But it’s boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before.”

And when asked about virtual reality, Miyamoto stated:

“I have nothing to tell you about Nintendo’s involvement in virtual reality. We have nothing to announce yet.”

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Following the most recent Nintendo Direct, an official website opened for the Pikmin Short Movies. You can feel free to access the page right here.

The site contains an overview of the Pikmin Short Movies, a trailer, and even a message from Miyamoto. Miyamoto’s message doesn’t contain anything mind-blowing, but it’s a neat little thing to see. View the message in full below.

Based on recent comments from Shigeru Miyamoto, it sounds like we can look forward to another Pikmin game in the future.

Last week, Miyamoto mentioned the Pikmin shorts and Pikmin 3 demo, which just released yesterday. He said that these types of campaigns “will lay the groundwork for the next iteration of ‘Pikmin’ in the future.”

Miyamoto stated:

If I am allowed to do a little bit of PR here, we released a series of short films called “Pikmin Short Movies” on October 25 at the Tokyo International Film Festival. If you have not seen it yet, I hope you will check out the information on the Internet. The short film is only about 20 minutes, but this is our very first animated movie that uses “Pikmin” as its theme. We’re planning to make this 3D movie available on Nintendo 3DS and make the HD version of the movie available on Wii U in the near future. At the same time, we have also prepared a demo version of “Pikmin 3” so anyone who hasn’t played Pikmin can experience its unique joy. Continually launching campaigns after the release of software will lay the groundwork for the next iteration of “Pikmin” in the future. And needless to say, we want it to be one of the motivations for potential consumers to purchase Wii U. We are making a variety of different efforts.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, senior managing director Genyo Takeda, and Shigeru Miyamoto had plenty to say about judging the future of technology at the Big N’s financial results briefing last week. There was also a great deal of discussion about cultivating younger staff, which will be necessary when some of the higher-ups – like Shigeru Miyamoto – retire.

Head past the break for all of the comments from Iwata, Takeda, and Miyamoto. There’s definitely a lot here!

When the Wii U launched, there was a consistent focus on the console’s two screens. Gamers wondered about the new experiences that would be possible and potential asymmetric gameplay.

Even though it’s important to highlight the uniqueness of Wii U’s two screens, Shigeru Miyamoto admitted at Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week, “we might have focused too much on the unique uses of the two screens.” Miyamoto feels that the company “should have put more effort into using the NFC functionality much earlier”, though Nintendo is “now moving forward with projects that make use of NFC in a variety of unique ways.”

As previously mentioned, Nintendo is looking into amiibo cards. We’ll also be seeing “smaller and even more affordable amiibo figures in the future”.

Head past the break for Miyamoto’s full comments.

Nintendo commented on a variety of topics during the Q&A portion of its financial results briefing earlier this week. One of these points was development time.

We all know that the Wii U suffered from a lack of games at launch. Thankfully, in the future, this is something that Nintendo should be able to avoid.

Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo “already completed the step of learning new development techniques,” meaning there should be fewer “less developmental delays stemming from learning new hardware.”

Also part of Nintendo’s plans are to create spin-off titles based on major franchises. These projects will be made “on a smaller scale”. Miyamoto said that the company is “preparing to expand on our characters while also increasing the number of software we output and allowing our customers to have their next experiences in certain franchises without waiting three years.”

Finally, Miyamoto mentioned that Nintendo is working with third-party companies more regularly to make games – think asset creation, cut-scenes, etc. The Big N started to work with some of these developers for the first time this year. “We are in the process of creating a system where we are actively seeking outside assistance to help us create an abundance of major titles,” Miyamoto said.

If you’re interested in checking out Miyamoto’s full comments, head past the break.


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