Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto

[Everlost_MI]

Cube.IGN (http://cube.ign.com/) has posted an interview (http://cube.ign.com/articles/617/617000p1.html) with Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. Here's a bit from it.

IGNcube: Can you give us an update on Mario 128?

Shigeru Miyamoto: [Chuckles] I'm just really sorry. I think I've given people the wrong impression with Mario 128. With all the questions I'm getting about this, I really feel like I've done people a disservice. In regards to Mario 128, we're currently doing a lot of Mario experiments back in Kyoto. We are definitely going to have a new Mario for Revolution. Whether or not that's 128 or not, I can't really say. It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure. We're doing a lot of Mario tests right now for the Revolution.

IGNcube: Can we expect Nintendo to collaborate with more third parties on Revolution games?

Shigeru Miyamoto: At this point, we've only been talking with a few companies. However, if other companies come forward and they want to join us to work with us to create games, of course that would be great for us. One thing we want to make sure that we don't do is have too many games of the same type or genre. We don't want too many games involving the same themes or characters.

The news about the lack of involvement with third party developers is kind of scary, it really hurt Nintendo during this generation.

[Everlost_MI]

And as a long time Nintendo fanboy, I don't care if the next game is Mario 128 or Mario Sunshine 2 but they need to make a Paper Mario 3!

[dr_qwandry]

he sounds pretty optimistic i must say
so either it's gonna be quick-ass
or Nintendo's scrambling.

[Vjornaxx]

I'm concerned about Nintendo. Maybe there's some sort of crazy genius happening that I just can't decipher, but it seems to me as if they've unloaded a clip into their foot, reloaded, and emptied a clip in their other foot. Maybe they have wings that I'm just not seeing and don't actually need their feet.

I really don't want to see Nintento go under.

[agentgray]

The news about the lack of involvement with third party developers is kind of scary, it really hurt Nintendo during this generation.
Not that I'm disagreeing with your statement but:

Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Zelda: Wind Waker
Paper Mario: TTYD
FF: Crystal Chronicles (this rides the line due to the insane requirements to play)
MGS: Twin Snakes
Ikaruga
Pikmin
Pikmin 2

and, oh yes, oh-my-freakin'-God

Resident Evil 4

It didn't hurt me.

[agentgray]

...quick-ass...
Haha. It's better than being kick@$$ I assume.

[Rommel]

This interview was posted yesterday. I love E3!

[Rone]

So in other words, there's no way another Mario game will be released on the Cube. Pretty much what I expected.

It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure.
Please, no. Sunshine is the first Mario game I didn't play even once after I beat the last boss.

[ElectricMonk]

hmm it sounds like they're focusing on quality not quantity.

[Everlost_MI]

This interview was posted yesterday. I love E3!

True and the inital credit goes to if76, but I thought it was worth repeating. If it wasn't for the comments that are already flooding in I would have removed it.

[Everlost_MI]

Not that I'm disagreeing with your statement but:

Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Zelda: Wind Waker
Paper Mario: TTYD
FF: Crystal Chronicles (this rides the line due to the insane requirements to play)
MGS: Twin Snakes
Ikaruga
Pikmin
Pikmin 2

and, oh yes, oh-my-freakin'-God

Resident Evil 4

It didn't hurt me.

My list of games for my 'cube is about the same but add Mario Sunshine, Wario World, Mario Golf, SW:Rebel Assult and Mario Kart: DD. But compared with the number of quality Xbox titles I have, it dwarfs my Nintendo collection. RE4 is a perfect example of what that console is capable of and when the new Zelda comes out it will be something out of the world I am sure.

My point? Just that Nintendo needs to push to increase their ties with third party developers especially since their hardware can perform.

[agentgray]

My point? Just that Nintendo needs to push to increase their ties with third party developers especially since their hardware can perform.
I see. I forgot Mario Kart. Their biggest problem: no online play.

How about this, though: Nintendo still makes a boatload in game sales, but online they have no splash, so we hear mostly negative things about it. The logic? If Xbox owners have Live they're more apt to be online and we as surfers hear more about it. The logic for Sony? I'm reminded of the old Coke commercial: "If I could teach the world to sing..."

[A-Team]

This interview was posted yesterday. I love E3!
Yeah, this E3 seemed to be a little screwier than others for quite a few people. So many screenshots and PRs were sent out on Wednesday that a number of sites (including ours) are just now are getting around to posting the information up.

All will be well in due time though.

My point? Just that Nintendo needs to push to increase their ties with third party developers especially since their hardware can perform.
I agree. Regardless of their hardware situation, I don't feel like Nintendo is putting their all into picking up as many developers and publishers as they can. Either that or they aren't promoting it and just waiting to unleash a hefty list later on.

[sinclair122]

I really don't think there's a need for nintendo to try and recruit third party developers to make games for them. As I understand it, most of those games are crap. I mean there are tons of worthless games for PS2, which probably has the most extensive library of games for any console; I think with the exception of mario sunshine, every first party nintendo title has been excellent (well....i've not played donkey konga..). I say this because I only buy games that I can't live without (I dont' have too many, I mostly just rent). Nintendo has done well with the GC in not releasing a bunch of crappy titles.

[Everlost_MI]

I see. I forgot Mario Kart. Their biggest problem: no online play.

How about this, though: Nintendo still makes a boatload in game sales, but online they have no splash, so we hear mostly negative things about it. The logic? If Xbox owners have Live they're more apt to be online and we as surfers hear more about it. The logic for Sony? I'm reminded of the old Coke commercial: "If I could teach the world to sing..."

I guess I am in the minority then, I rarely play online games. But in any case, I can see that being a point that with each generation gets more and more important.

[Borys]

Not good, not good.

I actually gave up on Nintendo after their abysmal E3 show. Seems like the only way they'll learn will be the hard-way.

Zelda: Twilight Princess may be the last Nintendo game I purchase.

Kind of hard to believe... but they screwed, yet again.

[thecrazyd]

Fuck third party games. I buy Nintendo products to play Nintendo games. And they did not miss the boat on the whole online thing. No one this gen has it right except for PCs.

[see colon]

i think everyone is reading this wrong. the interviewer asked if we can "expect Nintendo to collaborate with more third parties on Revolution games". i take this as "are you going to be sticking mario in nba street and bundeling punchout with fight night, or getting a second party studio to re-make a 3rd party game (MGS:TS). miyamoto's "with us" statement leads me to believe he took the question this way as well. this isn't a "are you going to have 3rd part games on revolution" question.

this generation (gamecube) nintendo let sega develop an f-zero game, namco make a starfox title and donky konga, and put 1st party characters in EA and konami games.

[LikeTheRazor]

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if the only games released for Revolution were from Nintendo. That's why I buy their systems. My other systems are for playing those "3rd party" games.

Of course, they could probably be a much more profitable company if they just ditched the hardware business and became a pure software publisher and developer.

[Adewade]

i think everyone is reading this wrong. the interviewer asked if we can "expect Nintendo to collaborate with more third parties on Revolution games". i take this as "are you going to be sticking mario in nba street and bundeling punchout with fight night, or getting a second party studio to re-make a 3rd party game (MGS:TS). miyamoto's "with us" statement leads me to believe he took the question this way as well. this isn't a "are you going to have 3rd part games on revolution" question.

Quoted for emphasis.

[jadkins555]

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if the only games released for Revolution were from Nintendo. That's why I buy their systems. My other systems are for playing those "3rd party" games.

Of course, they could probably be a much more profitable company if they just ditched the hardware business and became a pure software publisher and developer.

I am in the same position. I was going to give up on Nintendo though until they revealed their backwards compatibility move, then I was immediately reminded of how much I love Nintendo's first party games.

I will do my "main" gaming on the 360, and my Revolution will be used for the Nintendo games as well as their back catalogue. At least it isn't too costly to buy the Nintendo consoles, as they always price theirs the cheapest.

[Chandler]

the coolest thing about paper mario is they brought back all those retro mario characters (super mario 2, 3, world etc)

and the wit and humor is amazing for a childs game.

[TheBrainKills]

I thought the Revolution reveal was mighty dissapointing. But givin some time to think about it I think Nintendos strategy is bang on. Why try to outgun MS and Sony, after all, it is an arms race that probably can't be won. You have MS that can throw billions away without blinking. You have Sony that has one of the best marketing machines in the world,(they have their hands in all forms of media). I dont think Nintendo can afford to put out a machine that has no chance of making a profit on it. They will lose if they try to out TFLOP them.

The only way for them to get sales is to be different. If everyone either buys Xbox360 or PS3, and then 50% of them also buy a Revolution, then Nintendo is still sitting pretty with their 33% share.

As long as the Revolution does 720p and can do graphics like Windwaker I will be buying it. But I will also be probably be buying a Xbox360 as well, because I will not be upgrading my computer for a long time now. It is cheaper to just buy a console, now that they can display the 720p minimum requirement for me.


These are the specs for the Revolution so far: (take with grain of salt or hit of
tequila)

"four 2.5Ghz IBM G5 Custom cores, with 128KB of level 1 cache and a 512KB shared level 2 cache, while the graphics will be powered by a dual core ATI RN520 chipset, with 1MB of on-board eDRAM for the frame buffer."

I don't think that 4 cores would fit in the size they are proposing, so they are
propably going with 2 CPU's. This would still be an excellent game machine!

Compare with the Gamecube Specs:

MPU("Microprocessor Unit"): IBM Power PC "Gekko"****
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns Copper Wire Technology
Clock Frequency: 405 MHz
CPU Capacity: 925 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
Internal Data Precision: 32bit Integer & 64bit Floating-point
External Bus Bandwidth: 1.6GB/second(Peak) (32bit address, 64bit data bus 202.5MHz)
Internal Cache: L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way)L2: 256KB (2 way)
System LSI: "Flipper"
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency: 202.5MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer: Approx. 2MB Sustainable Latency : 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Embedded Texture Cache: Approx. 1MB Sustainable Latency : 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Texture Read Bandwidth : 12.8GB/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth: 3.2GB/second (Peak)
Color, Z Buffer: Each is 24bits
Other: Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW Motion Compensation Capability
*The Gekko MPU integrates the power PC CPU into a custom, game-centric chip

So even if they cheap out compared to MS and Sony they can still put out an awsome console. Maybe they wont get all the EA sports ports etc. but they will probably still get the support they have now plus whatever the "Revolution" will bring, which in my mind is gravy.

[51|RandoM]

Nintendo needs to just do what they've been doing: MAKING BAGS OF MONEY.

Revolution stuff at the press conference was 'meh' because they're not ready yet, obviously. They'd stick with gamecube another 3 years if they could get away with it. So would I, just make the games and I'll buy them, Nintendo.

[Hellstorm]

And as a long time Nintendo fanboy, I don't care if the next game is Mario 128 or Mario Sunshine 2 but they need to make a Paper Mario 3!

Is Paper Mario 2 THAT good?

[Hellstorm]

Not good, not good.

I actually gave up on Nintendo after their abysmal E3 show. Seems like the only way they'll learn will be the hard-way.

Zelda: Twilight Princess may be the last Nintendo game I purchase.

Kind of hard to believe... but they screwed, yet again.
You'll be back. They always come back.

[Everlost_MI]

Is Paper Mario 2 THAT good?

Yes, I think so. If you like Mario and it set in a RPG-ish type of setting. It's right up there with Mario and Luigi for the Gameboy. It’s simple but very fun and addictive.

[mister_slim]

Props to see colon for being able to read. How do the rest of you navigate the internet anyway? Random button presses?

[president_fred]

i think everyone is reading this wrong. the interviewer asked if we can "expect Nintendo to collaborate with more third parties on Revolution games". i take this as "are you going to be sticking mario in nba street and bundeling punchout with fight night, or getting a second party studio to re-make a 3rd party game (MGS:TS). miyamoto's "with us" statement leads me to believe he took the question this way as well. this isn't a "are you going to have 3rd part games on revolution" question.

That is how I read it as well.

[EGO]

Revolution = Nintendo's Dreamcast

The "Quality over Quanity" arguement has been loosing them marketshare for 10 years now.

Unless they do SOMETHING significant this time around, 1-2 good games a year is not going to save them, sorry... :(

[mister_slim]

The "Quality over Quanity" arguement has been loosing them marketshare for 10 years now.
But not losing them money, apparently. I'm pretty sure I've given more money to Nintendo this gen then Sony and MS put together.

[EGO]

Actually, it is loosing them money. They haven't made money on their home systems since the SNES. The Gameboy has maintained Nintendo all these years.

[mister_slim]

Actually, it is loosing them money. They haven't made money on their home systems since the SNES. The Gameboy has maintained Nintendo all these years.
You do realize that last financial year, Nintendo had profits of 21%, the Sony game division was at 6%, and the Xbox was a money hole (excepting the quarter Halo 2 launched, where the influx of better than $200 million from Halo 2 shipments brought them to $84 million in profits). Not to mention that Nintendo made more profit on the N64 than Sony did on the PS1.

[dr_wily]

Is Paper Mario 2 THAT good?

hell yeah! I dont play many games and i loved it.. fun, funny, and oldskool (i love it when you have like 6 hp and deal 1 hp damage compared to starting with 9000 hp)

as for the rev. I have no problems only buying 10-15 games for the life of a console, considering that 90% of em are going to be A+ games.. That is roughly the same amt of A+ games that come out for consoles with all the 3rd party support in the world.

Take a look at gamerankings top 20 for xbox, ps2, dc, and gc.. it's all roughly on the same plane of "if i got a system NOW what games would i get"