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Shigeru Miyamoto

Whereas Nintendo’s E3 showing was generally well-received in 2014, the same can’t be said of this year’s event. A number of fans have expressed disappointment in terms of what Nintendo brought to the table during its latest Digital Event last month.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto both addressed the reaction to the company’s E3 2015 presence at a recent shareholders meeting. The two of them noted the following:

Iwata:

E3 this year was held a week later than it has been held in the last few years, and it was held right before our general meeting of shareholders. Including the preparations for this meeting, I prioritized my works in Japan and did not travel to the U.S. to attend E3. As a representative of our board of directors who attended E3 this year, I would like to ask Mr. Miyamoto to talk about it. There will be a video that I would like to show afterward.

Shigeru Miyamoto (Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Entertainment Analysis & Development Division):

E3 is the annual industry trade show that is usually held around May or June in the U.S. It is true that E3 has the aspect that the shareholder just mentioned. It actually started as a trade show for the U.S. market, and due to the spread of the Internet, the information dispatched at E3 spread around the world. Nintendo views E3 as not only an industry trade show in the U.S. but also as an occasion with which the entire Nintendo group should be involved.

Warren Spector, creator of Epic Mickey, shared high praise for Nintendo in a recent interview.

Spector mentioned how Nintendo tends to make unique and different games. While he’s unsure what the company’s future looks like from a hardware perspective, he feels that having games on mobile devices will allow Nintendo to be just fine.

I’m kind of a Nintendo geek. I don’t want to get myself in trouble….you know, I’m looking around the show floor here. And let’s say there are 2500 games being shown. 2400 of them all look exactly alike. You can’t even tell which one you’re looking at, you know? And it drives me crazy.

And then you go to IndieCade, and you go to Nintendo, and all of a sudden it’s like, “Oooh, games can be different. Cool!” So I think from a creative standpoint, from a design standpoint, from an IP standpoint, from a graphics standpoint, I think Nintendo rocks.

The thing is, I mean, from a hardware standpoint it’s hard to say what Nintendo’s future looks like, let’s be honest about that. But the fact that they’re finally gonna put their IP on mobile…they’re fine. There are a billion smartphones on the planet. They’re gonna do just fine when Mario hits that.

Last week Nintendo held their 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. No major news came out of it and the election of the company’s 10 Directors was no surprise either as all 10 current Directors were re-elected. Today, Nintendo released some supplementary info about the meeting, including the exact numbers of said vote. Compared to last year’s vote, approval ratings are higher across the board, especially for Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto. Looks like shareholders were pleased with Nintendo’s performance this past year, which isn’t a huge surprise given that the company had a profitable fiscal year. Check out the approval ratings below (last year’s numbers in parentheses):

– Satoru Iwata: 83.45% (80.64%)
– Genyo Takeda: 92.07% (86.80%)
– Shigeru Miyamoto: 92.08% (86.81%)
– Tatsumi Kimishima: 92.60% (89.11%)
– Shigeyuki Takahashi: 94.46% (93.32%)
– Satoshi Yamato: 94.46% (93.33%)
– Susumu Tanaka: 94.46% (93.33%)
– Shinya Takahashi: 94.46% (93.33%)
– Hirokazu Shinshi: 94.46% (93.33%)
– Naoki Mizutani: 94.52% (94.03%)

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Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, a few other representatives from Nintendo recently took a trip to Jim Henson Studios to see where the Nintendo puppets were created. Check out the journey in the video below.

One of the big points of contention surrounding Star Fox Zero is how the game controls. With hands-on impressions coming out of E3, some have questioned if they’ll offer an intuitive experience.

German site Spiegel Online was able to ask Shigeru Miyamoto about Star Fox Zero’s controls during a recent interview. Here’s what was shared:

Spiegel Online: The controls of “Star Fox Zero” are due to the two screens a challenge.

Miyamoto: Compared to other games, it is a bit complex. There are many ways how video games entertain the player. One of it is the process understanding how a game works – another the process to master the controls. With mastering the controls you improve, which results in having fun. Out intention was not that players suggest: “There are two screens, that is making it complicated” Instead: “There are two screens, I can do different things on them.”

Spiegel Online: How long does it take to get into the game?

Miyamoto: It is hard to understand the basics, if you just try Star Fox Zero for a few minutes at like a games expo. Anyhow, if people buy the game and play it at home, after one or two days, they will reach the point where they understand how it works, how to master it – that is the moment the fun begins.

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Shigeru Miyamoto previously discussed why the Wii U struggles in an interview with NPR. Speaking with Fortune, he once again touched on this topic and pointed to the fact that “people never really understood the concept behind Wii U and what we were trying to do.”

He said:

“I feel like people never really understood the concept behind Wii U and what we were trying to do. I think the assumption is we were trying to create a game machine and a tablet and really what we were trying to do was create a game system that gave you tablet-like functionality for controlling that system and give you two screens that would allow different people in the living room to play in different ways. Unfortunately, because tablets, at the time, were adding more and more functionality and becoming more and more prominent, this system and this approach didn’t mesh well with the period in which we released it.”

Miyamoto also shared some regret about how the console won’t live up to its potential, in which he stated: “I still feel it was a very novel approach—and a very interesting idea.”

Like many Nintendo games these days, Star Fox Zero will have amiibo support. But the one thing players won’t have to worry about is content being locked away behind figures.

Shigeru Miyamoto told Kotaku at E3 2015 last week that amiibo usage in Star Fox Zero will be on the lighter side of things. Tying in significant content like abilities or a special mode isn’t planned. Instead, having amiibo will offer players “a little something extra” – perhaps “a different skin for the Arwing or something like that.”

Miyamoto said:

“In terms of being able to unlock content, I don’t really want to go down that path. For this game, I think of it more as, for people who have the Amiibo, they’re going to get a little something extra and that’s how I’m planning on it with this game. So rather than actual abilities or things like that changing in the game, it would be like getting a different skin for the Arwing or something like that.”

“So, I don’t really want to talk about Nintendo in general today, but in terms of what I’m doing with Star Fox, I’m really not thinking about there being locked content or there being a mode that you won’t be able to play if you don’t have one. Since we already have the existing Smash Bros. Amiibos I basically want to put in something so if you already have those Amiibos, I imagine people will try and tap them on Star Fox anyway, and I want to make sure there is something that gives them a nice charge when they do that.”

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During a recent interview with Yahoo, Shigeru Miyamoto once again weighed in on virtual reality. He explained that, currently, the technically isn’t “a good fit for Nintendo’s philosophy of trying to create entertainment that people can play together in the living room.”

Miyamoto said:

“The current types of virtual reality aren’t really a good fit for Nintendo’s philosophy of trying to create entertainment that people can play together in the living room. We’re constantly looking at different technology and experimenting with different elements of it, but we’re not feeling virtual reality is currently in a place where it’s ready to be released – as a product that fits with our philosophy of fitting in the living room.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Miyamoto focused on the present rather than the future. He said this is why Nintendo didn’t bring along “any samples of potential virtual reality type experiences.”

“We’re here at E3 this year to really focus on the games that are launching within the next year or so. We’re not showing off or showcasing anything that’s further down the road, and that’s why you don’t see us here with any samples of potential virtual reality type experiences.”

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Nintendo’s Yugo Hayashi is the director of Star Fox Zero. Prior to this, he was involved with level design on Zelda: Twilight Princess and directed Wii Fit.

Having developers work on a variety of different projects is part of an intentional plan from Shigeru Miyamoto. In an interview with Kotaku, he explained:

Miyamoto: In terms of trying to develop a developer I always try to get them to do lots and lots of different things. Mr. Aonuma is kind of always working on Zelda but for most other people I like to try to get them to try lots of different things. So someone who worked on the art direction for Zelda would then go on to Wii Fit U. That’s kind of how I like to do things. And now Mr. Hayashi is working with me pretty much every day.

Hayashi and Miyamoto went on to discuss something a bit random. Hayashi actually mentioned that he feels that him being the closest to Miyamoto in terms of seating helped him land the job for Star Fox Zero.

Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto has been responsible for some of Nintendo’s biggest gaming franchises. Without Miyamoto, the likes of Mario and Zelda wouldn’t exist today.

Nintendo games will always be the most important element for Miyamoto, but the company’s Shinya Takahashi feels that his creativity could be extended into other areas. Speaking with USA Today, Takahashi stated:

“For me, because it’s Mr. Miyamoto, I want him to continue making things as long as he wants to continue making things. I really think that Mr. Miyamoto will continue to be creative — and not just in the area of video games.”

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