Miyamoto says Nintendo considering Miis for 3DS, not worried about ports, strongly believes in Skyward Sword’s controls, much more
Miyamoto on how long the 3DS has been in development/what the process is like behind the scenes…
“Basically the way it works is – once we’ve finalised the design for a new hardware system and we’ve launched the hardware system, the hardware teams immediately begin research on what the next system will be. So it’s been – I don’t know how long – I guess about six years since we launched Nintendo DS, so they’ve been researching and experimenting with various things over the last six years, but it really finally started to take this shape that we see now about three years ago.”
Miyamoto on why this is the best time for Nintendo to introduce a new 3D system…
“Well, there were kind of two things that led to it. First of all, the LCD screen technology has really advanced quite a bit over the last few years, and that played a big part in it. The other is obviously – as you pointed out – we’ve experimented with 3D a lot over the years, and in all the experiments that we did, with the sole exception of the Virtual Boy, everything else that we worked on was really 3D as a peripheral or an accessory to an existing hardware system. And what’s unique about a portable gaming device is that because it’s both a gaming system and a monitor, both together in one device, there is no accessory. What that means is everybody who purchases the device is able to experience the 3D effect, so it was kind of this combination of us focusing in on the idea of a portable device as a 3D device, and the fact that the LCD screen technology had advanced to a point where it was finally going to be possible to do it.”
Miyamoto on whether he thinks the 3D, gyroscopic controls, and other features will lead to even newer concepts…
“Well yeah, of course the Nintendo DS interface was very fresh when we first introduced it, and it led to a lot of different ideas working their way into videogames, including something as diverse as basically taking book-like style control or viewpoints and implementing that into games. What’s interesting about Nintendo 3DS is it does have additional input features, but it’s also a system that’s particularly suited to taking past gameplay experiences, or the more standard gameplay experience, and bringing it this new, fresh feel with the 3D screen. So I think what’s interesting about it is we’ll see both sides of that. We’ll see the evolving of videogames as we’ve seen them up until now, and we’ll also see things that take advantage of the new input.
What’s interesting with – particularly the gyro – is that obviously because of the 3D screen you have a particular sweet spot for where you can see the 3D effect, so most people would think that putting a gyro that would encourage people to tilt the device would ultimately just result in the 3D effect being lost, because you’re tilting it away from you at a different angle, but what’s interesting is that with the gyro you can hold the device in front of you, and do these lateral movements in space like this [moves hands together left and right] and the gyro can detect that, and I think that’ll allow for some pretty interesting gameplay mechanics.”
Miyamoto on whether gamers will be able to transfer Miis to the 3DS and if it’s important to have a persistent Mii identity across the 3DS and Wii…
“We need to keep in mind how we evolve the Miis and how we think about compatibility with Miis between different systems, but that’s something that we’re definitely giving consideration to and want to continue to try to allow people to use their Miis on different Nintendo systems going forward.”
Miyamoto on how easy it is to incorporate 3D into games…
“It’s actually not that much work to take the visuals of a game and implement them in a way that allows them to be shown in 3D. A lot of companies have done that in other attempts up until now as well, so it’s not that rare for companies to look at how they do that. It’s not very difficult. And in terms of the libraries themselves we’ve obviously been working on a variety of different libraries and sharing those with developers. They’ve been welcoming that, and we’ve obviously seen some things here at the show taking advantage of it.”
Miyamoto on whether he’s concerned about ports and if he thinks that will tarnish the 3DS’ library…
“I think that, depending on the title, there are certain titles from the past that when accompanied with 3D visuals it really can change the feel of the gameplay, and so from that perspective I think that a lot of companies will be looking at what properties they have so that they may be able to take advantage of that, and even we’re looking at that as well, in terms of games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D or Star Fox 64…I think we just have to rely on the integrity of the developers and the products that they’re making. At the same time, we do think that there will be new ideas, particularly what we’re finding is that with some of the lead developers at key publishing partners, people like Mr Kojima from Konami and Mr Inafune from Capcom. These are individuals who are themselves very excited about developing for the system and are talking about leading development with their main teams, so I do expect that there’s going to be a lot of new content and new ideas coming out of them.”
Miyamoto on whether or not he considers the 3DS a threat due to its graphical capabilities and motion controls…
“We’re not really worried about it, and primarily it’s because the types of things, the types of play that you can do on a portable device is pretty different from the types of things you’re able to do on a home console, and so it doesn’t really concern us. I guess from a graphical standpoint it is true that the shaders that we’ve implemented into the Nintendo 3DS hardware, from a certain perspective, it can appear as if the graphics are stronger, but they’re really a little bit more in balance I think.”
Miyamoto on how Nintendo will bring users together with Nintendo’s future online plans…
“We’re looking at proactively adopting a lot of these technologies and applying them to gameplay, but one of the things that we always keep in mind is that as long as everyone’s using the same technology, then everybody’s essentially going to be providing the same type of experience, so we look at it more in terms of what can we do to provide that Nintendo flavour or magic to that community or connection experience. And one of the ways that we’re looking at doing that, is the idea of really strengthening the tag mode functionality, and where we think that’s kind of interesting is that it’s going to allow the Nintendo 3DS as a device to exist in this realm, somewhere between a direct personal connection with individuals that you know, and this more virtual connection with people out on the network, through this ability to connect to people that you pass by on the street, and we think that there will be some unique ideas that come out of that, and that it will have a very unique Nintendo flavour to it.”
Miyamoto on how important user generated content is moving forward…
“Personally for me I think that the ability to create games is perhaps one of the greatest forms of play that there is. My teams obviously have been working on things that incorporate that as well – Flipnote Studio is a good example of that too – so I’m sure that as we see these devices continue more and more to be connected by networks to one another that that will continue to be more important and we’ll continue to look at implementing it where appropriate.”
Miyamoto on how Skyward Sword’s motion control and visual style came about…
“One thing that the game itself really represents is that up until now people have had this kind of impression that games that use motion control are casual games, and games that use button controls are more core games, and I feel like with this particular game we’ve really managed to prove that you can create a very core experience using motion controls.
Personally I just think it’s a graphics style that we’ve finally found that’s particularly well-suited to this series. The other thing that’s really important to me is that the graphics style always be unique, and one that stays with you, and that you remember long after you play the game. And what I’m particularly excited about is that with the implementation of motion control and how connected that feels to the gameplay, and coupled with the visual look of the game, I’m hoping that it will be an experience that people will remember for a very long time.”
Miyamoto on whether the meeting of hardcore and casual player is the “key turning point in Zelda history”…
“That is kind of an important point for it. We have to find the right balance, in terms of how difficult we make the dungeons and things like that, but that is, I think, a very important part.
I think that once people play this game, then the next time they play a game that uses a sword they’ll feel that any game that doesn’t use motion control for the sword is just not going to work right.”
Miyamoto on why he thinks 2D is becoming popular again…
“I think it’s really that the gameplay of side-scrolling games is very simple and straightforward, and easy to understand. The more complex that games get, obviously the more demanding they are on people’s gaming skills. I think that what’s so appealing about the side-scrolling games is just the fact that they’re so simple and so engaging, and you can play them very quickly, and pick up the controller and start playing. It’s really more that the gameplay is so clearly understandable that a lot of people feel like they’re able to play it and experience it and they’re really getting that joy out of knowing what to do.”
Miyamoto on how a project gets approved at Nintendo now…
“It really hasn’t changed a whole lot. Of course, back in the early days – as you say – it was a decision by Mr Yamauchi, and oftentimes it was based on the thought of whether or not something would sell, and so I learned that whenever I was making my pitches, to go to him and say ‘this is going to sell so let’s do it!’ But now it really comes down to Mr Iwata and I will discuss things and make the decision. Ultimately it’s based on how appealing the early experiments are and how good an example they are of what a game’s key selling point can be, and then we make a decision on whether or not to pursue it. But the basis is – it has to be something that we haven’t seen before.”
Miyamoto on whether the 3DS is the first step towards redefining what a console is/a console-free Nintendo/a handheld-focused Nintendo…
“I think there’s still a bit of a gap between what you can do on a portable device and a home console device, so I can’t say for certain that there wouldn’t be, say, a Nintendo 3DS XL at some point in the future, and I wonder how big that XL would need to be in order for it to replace something like a home console, and that’s a line that’s very difficult to judge at this point in time.”
