Miyamoto talks user-generated content, critical of PS Home [update 1]
Speaking to The Mercury News' Dean Takahashi, designer Shigeru Miyamoto gave a slight jab to the PlayStation Home for its familiarity. "What they're doing already exists in one form on the PC," he said. "Our focus [with Miis] is always to be different and do something that's different." Miyamoto furthers his opinion by expressing how the Mii system embraces but isn't focused on the internet, while noting that the character system took 20 years to "come to fruition." We assume much of that time was just Miyamoto circling the idea in his head, as his GDC keynote places the Mii conception alongside the Nintendo 64 era.
"We are trying to do something that is different and create something that hasn't been there before," he said.
A caricature creation system may not have been done explicitly on consoles before, but we still wouldn't call it an entirely new concept. Nor would we give the same honor to Home, but their integration is indeed a first for game consoles.
Miyamoto went on to address the idea the user-generated content, citing it as an inevitability. "It's not simply the question of whether there is a game editor," he said. "It is what form does that editor take." We have some idea.
Also of note, Miyamoto gave the obvious revelation that a Wii fitness game, tentatively titled health pack or Wii Fit, is underway to ride the wave of success of Wii minigame collections Wii Play and Wii Sports.
[Update 1: There was some confusion as to what Miyamoto said in the third line and what we added following the quote. The editorial has been given its own paragraph so as to alleviate some confusion.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jon @ Mar 19th 2007 6:25PM
More Wii gimmick games coming up? I love Nintendo, really I do, but we need some "proper" games with narratives and all.
Gavin @ Mar 19th 2007 6:26PM
"We are trying to do something that is different and create something that hasn't been there before,"
Yeah, selling old content, recyled DS titles and tons of minigames at over-inflated prices with a pathetic online strategy to boot. BBBBBBBBUT YOU CAN MAKE MIIS!!!!!!
I'm so sick of this crap at this point.
Koopa Troopa II @ Mar 19th 2007 6:30PM
Shiggy needs to go.. 20 years to develop the Mii concept? And its not even an original idea... can you say cartridges for N64? Yea, that was his fault too.
The recent attacks on PS Home is a clear indication that they are scared sh*tless; once PS Home launches, the mii is going to look like a Ford Pinto beside a Ferrari. And the Wii online is too gimped to do anything about it.
required @ Mar 19th 2007 6:36PM
"Our focus [with Miis] is always to be different and do something that's different."
The mii are a knockoff of http://www.playmobil.com/
Mr Khan @ Mar 19th 2007 6:37PM
whoa, whoa, whoa
its not like it took him 20 years to develop it, but 20 years to find an appropriate medium to use to implement it (would've been the 64DD, but that was a failure)
Miis aren't meant to define the Wii experience, and Home clearly isn't meant to define the PS experience , they're just fun little distractions for users of both sets
Besides, the longer i think about it, the more i believe that Home is a direct attack on LIVE than anything to do with Nintendo, its trying to go "One step further" in creating a user community, whereas the Mii community is much more small scale
My only gripe with Home from what i've seen is clunkiness, if they wanted to make it a real selling feature, the whole process would be smoother, it's trying to be an application in and of itself, and the equivalent to a chatroom at the same time, and probably won't pull it off well, but it may
reppy @ Mar 19th 2007 6:39PM
"3. Shiggy needs to go.. 20 years to develop the Mii concept? And its not even an original idea... can you say cartridges for N64? Yea, that was his fault too."
And I think you're mistaking what he said. It didn't take 20 years to come up with Miis, just that the idea has existed, but they never put it to use.
Also, I always thought that was the former president of Nintendo that was responsible for the carts. Yamaguchi?
Probot @ Mar 19th 2007 6:40PM
"A caricature creation system may not have been done explicitly on consoles before, but we still wouldn't call it an entirely new concept."
The Miis are avatars that are represented in the system (as in the Everybody Votes channel) and on different games. It isn't the biggest selling point of the system, but there are elements that have never been done before.
point09micron @ Mar 19th 2007 6:47PM
Jealous that Sony's GDC presentation blew his out of the water? I think so.
Fatass of Kickassness @ Mar 19th 2007 6:50PM
@8
Sorta like how Sony was jealous for about a year after E3 '05? heh
Probot @ Mar 19th 2007 6:58PM
Miyamoto isn't really critical of Home. He simply said Nintendo is doing something different, which everyone would agree with.
Home is basically a built-in MMO. It's a new way to organize data, handle friend lists, and watch ads. I think it's a cool idea, but it has been done before.
I think the whole "20 years" thing is more about consoling others that think it's hard for their ideas to come to fruition.
point09micron,
Yeah, there's nothing better than turning a developer's conference into an even bigger media event. That worked out great for former retailer show, E3, right?
Mike @ Mar 19th 2007 7:00PM
Shiggy is a hood ornament.
Evan @ Mar 19th 2007 7:07PM
I think a lot of hardcore gamers don't like Miyamoto's message, and even feel threatened by it! Miyamoto wants to turn gaming mainstream. Miyamoto wants to fit gaming into people's existing real-life social setting, hence the emphasis on playing with real-life friends on one screen. Miyamoto wants to bring gaming into the real world. In contrast, Sony's Home brings gamers into a virtual world. Sony's vision supports the internet-culture where geeks can feel "1337" and adolescents can feel "mature", but Nintendo rips that away and dumps the geeks and adolescents back in the real world that they are trying to escape!
Diman @ Mar 19th 2007 7:09PM
@10
Are you trying to tell me character customization hasn't been done before? Who are you kidding?
Seriously all of this has been done 20 tims past his 20 years, I don't find anything original about it, neither do I found anything original about Home. It's just Home is a service, Mii channel is just character creation service, that's all.
Zell @ Mar 19th 2007 7:09PM
Hahahaha... @ the Playmobil guy. Love that you keep posting this.
Yeah, gamers have become far too jaded and impatient lately. I do like how seemless the integration of Miis is, and I do look forward to seeing how they'll implement them in future games.
Aren't there other things to do until more 'meaty' games come out for the Wii? Homework, perhaps? Taking out the trash before your mom yells at you again? Experience sunlight?
Diman @ Mar 19th 2007 7:10PM
@13
I don't read childrens books, I read novels now.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Mar 19th 2007 7:17PM
Miyamoto. Get off your high horse.
http://www.weeworld.com/
has existed for years.
Probot @ Mar 19th 2007 7:20PM
Diman,
If I wanted to hear your adolecent bickering, I'd find your Myspace blog. If you want to talk like a big boy, drop the attitude.
Anyways...
If you can find an older system that allowed people to make customized characters that worked in multiple games, I'd genuinely like to see it.
That's the original part of the Miis.
Having an MMO that recognized your videos and games is also original (I think). They both have new things, but they aren't the same thing and they aren't trying to be.
The early comparisons Kotaku made about Home seem to have been stuck in people's minds, even though they were generalizations based on conversations with developers. Now that we've actually seen it, we should all start making accurate descriptions.
Probot @ Mar 19th 2007 7:24PM
Evan,
I think it's something else. It's not that people are more jaded now than they were 20 years ago. It's that people have grown up and for selfish reasons, they expect everyone to change with them. Miyamoto makes kids games. That's why we liked them when we were kids. Now, we're adults, but he still prefers kids games. There's nothing wrong with that. And if we don't want to play kids games, there's nothing wrong with that either.
JK Rowling isn't going to be writing violent murder mysteries in 20 years and Miyamoto will never produce a GTA clone. Intelligent people can accept that.
If you don't want to play a game where you save a princess in a fantasy world, then don't. God of War II came out not too long ago and it's a great, adult-themed game. Go play that instead and stop wasting time complaining.
Matt Wagner @ Mar 19th 2007 7:33PM
# 2 pretty much said it the best. this is just Nintendo grasping at more straws as they slowly start to realize that their entire strategy was based on a shallow gimmick.
vidGuy @ Mar 19th 2007 7:33PM
I've got to admit, Home is pretty interesting. It's the first thing that has got me even remotely excited about the PS3.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to see a lower price tag for the PS3 and some games worth buying before I let the Home feature drag me in. Oh, and the 60GB version needs to stay around longer than the 20GB has.
Sony is doing something right by Home, but I don't know if it'll probably counter their monstrous mistakes for at least a few years.
As per Miyamoto, there's some truth in his statements, but damn if I can find it. It sounds like typical figure-head, agenda-pushing, marketing speech to me.
Gavin @ Mar 19th 2007 7:35PM
Holy crap, why hasn't that weeworld.com been pointed out before? That's downright theft of concept unless they signed some agreement with them. Make your own WeeMee? Jesus H. Christ on a rocket powered pogo stick, that is just blatant plagiarism.
arrrgh @ Mar 19th 2007 7:38PM
THANK YOU PROBOT....fuck. whiner convention please just go play some games...y'know...for fun?
Jeb @ Mar 19th 2007 7:51PM
The guy is obviously worried about what sony is doing with the online features. Nintendo so far has done nothing useful with the Miis and their online solution is... well there is none. Oh yea GameSpy.. right..
Probot @ Mar 19th 2007 8:06PM
"The guy is obviously worried about what sony is doing with the online features."
Miyamoto has never been a fan of online games and I seriously doubt that will ever change. And that's fine. Mario games don't really lend themselves to online multiplayer.
Competant interviewers understand that and don't ask Miyamoto about online games.
Sidepocket @ Mar 19th 2007 8:07PM
God you people are stupid.
The Mii idea was invented during the SNES days. That is pree mainstream internet, pree Dot-Com bust. There were no customise your character things yet, naturally it was harder to get past the big wigs. Myamoto is saying what every developer dose, is they hold there best ideas untill they can be made. Many game developers have game concepts that would blow people's fragile mind, saddly, publishers in there suit and tie are as about as imaginative as a rock, just like most hardcore gamers.
Nintendo is not scared of Home, not to mention that no one is going to buy $600+ for a shoddy Second Life rip-off. Nintendo is going to sail its original corse, just like Microsoft is.
God, why do people want other systems that are raticaly diffrent to be the same as the rest? If you do not like Wii and like PS3, then buy as PS3? WTF is wrong with you people.
Its shit like this that makes me sad to be a gamer. I think Myamoto sees that too.
"As our profits went up, our reputation has gone down."
required @ Mar 19th 2007 8:18PM
Sidepocket, what sort of proof do you have that the mii were being thought about by Nintendo in the past?
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 19th 2007 8:19PM
Sidepocket: And Miyamoto assumes that since he had the idea 20 years ago and held onto it, that nobody elese in the entire world thought of it before him, even though they actually went AND REALIZED HIS DREAM before he did.
Probot:
I'm pretty sure you've been able to carry your players from one year's EA sports game to the next with no problem, so your avatar originality wears even thinner. I don't know if you could move a character from EQ 1 to EQ2, but I'm pretty sure that City of Heroes and City of Villains merged far before the Miis, and that would also be basically the same thing with far, far, FAR more complex avatars.
So, once it's fed through the BS remover(tm), basically what he's saying is, "What I AND Sony are doing already exists in one form or another on the PC..."
and
"Our focus with the Miis is to have that 'Nintendo sameness' aspect, where I try and criticize what others are doing, yet I want them to completely ignore the fact that I'm just as shamefully ripping of pre-existing work."
Capt. Castellanos @ Mar 19th 2007 8:19PM
required,
he said it at GDC.
search around in Joystiq and you'll find it.
Finnyou @ Mar 19th 2007 8:22PM
I completly agree with sidepocket, and I also want to point out this quote from this interview
"We are trying to do something that is different and create something that hasn't been there before," he said. A caricature creation system may not have been done explicitly on consoles before, but we still wouldn't call it an entirely new concept. Nor would we give the same honor to Home, but their integration is indeed a first for game consoles."
Isn't that a complement, I think this title is somewhat missleading
Aex @ Mar 19th 2007 8:24PM
-Sidepocket
"God you people are stupid."
Later in the same post...
I'm not going to copy the entire first paragraph.
"...not to mention that no one is going to buy $600+..."
"If you do not like Wii and like PS3, then buy as PS3?"
Irony?
It would have been too easy (and probably fruitless) to dispute your claims, so I felt attacking your credibility was more entertaining.
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 8:27PM
Aex he didn't say that nobody would buy ps3 because there crap, he was talking about home.. home isn't a selling point for ps3 just the icing on the cake
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 19th 2007 8:32PM
Finnyou:
The part outside the quotes, "A caricature creation system may not have been done explicitly on consoles before, but we still wouldn't call it an entirely new concept. Nor would we give the same honor to Home, but their integration is indeed a first for game consoles."
That's JOYSTIQ saying that, not Miyamoto.
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 8:35PM
thank you OhJustSomeRandomGuy
I read this site all the time and 99% of the time I know what their saying and trying to say. But I was just reading that wrong
Rubang B @ Mar 19th 2007 8:42PM
So far the Miis are incorporated into Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wario Ware, the Everybody Votes Channel, the announced popularity channel, and that new Fist of the North Star pachinko game. I think the way they're integrated into the system and can be used for more games later on is pretty original. You also trade and collect the celebrity Miis like Pokemon.
In Home you can walk around and look at trophies and chat and stuff. It's Second Life. With some Wii Bowling thrown in.
Neither of these are selling points. Both are bonus distractions.
Koopa Troopa II @ Mar 19th 2007 8:43PM
"Miyamoto has never been a fan of online games and I seriously doubt that will ever change. And that's fine. Mario games don't really lend themselves to online multiplayer.
Competant interviewers understand that and don't ask Miyamoto about online games."
This must be the lamest, fanboy excuse EVAR! Shiggy didnt care about optical media either, so he 'insisted' that the N64 take cartridges instead of CDs.. remember that? That one decision destroyed Nintendo in the console arena.
Now, hes doesnt think that online play matters. And, people lap it up like gospel.. gimme a break.. its 2007, online gaming is here. Its been here for a very long time... just because shiggy doesn thnk its important DONT MAKE IT SO.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 19th 2007 8:44PM
Think instances in WoW, man.
Sure once you're in someone else's space, there's a cap of 64, but the section that houses all the spaces has an exponentially greater cap, therefore, MMO.
When you want to sequester yourself to a particular locale it isolates you. Just because Warcraft has instance runs that cap at 50 people doesn't mean that's not an MMO...
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 8:46PM
"This must be the lamest, fanboy excuse EVAR! Shiggy didnt care about optical media either, so he 'insisted' that the N64 take cartridges instead of CDs.. remember that? That one decision destroyed Nintendo in the console arena.
Now, hes doesnt think that online play matters. And, people lap it up like gospel.. gimme a break.. its 2007, online gaming is here. Its been here for a very long time... just because shiggy doesn thnk its important DONT MAKE IT SO."
Lap it up like gospel... which person does that, all the guy you quoted said was that Shiggy didn't care about online play, not that he or other nintendo fan's didn't WHICH IS TRUE... I know he doesn't, but that doesn't mean I agree with him
required @ Mar 19th 2007 8:47PM
Capt. Castellanos, people say a lot of things that are not true. I was looking for some proof.
tam @ Mar 19th 2007 8:53PM
Why does everyone keep referring to Home as an MMO? My understanding is that there is a 64-user-per-environment limit. Can someone link me to official information that contradicts this please?
64 users hardly seems Massively Multiplayer. ;)
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 8:56PM
required go here
http://wii.qj.net/index.php?&tag=485&threshold=&upto=1173440869
for your proof
required @ Mar 19th 2007 8:58PM
Finn, I'm not seeing what you are seeing.
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 9:00PM
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/9893
is that better?
tam @ Mar 19th 2007 9:02PM
Sorry about that double post. :( I'm not used to these internets.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy:
I understand your logic, but nothing I have read regarding Home has led me to believe that there is anything outside of the "instances." Massively multiplayer means a massive number of users in the same environment, n'est ce pas? If all you had to have was many separate environments with a bunch of users in each, then Halo 2 would also be an MMO. Have I misunderstood you?
Perhaps you have a link to data that mentions an environment wherein many users are simultaneously present?
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Mar 19th 2007 9:07PM
The fact that you can hop from any instance bubble to any other instance bubble is what makes it like an MMO, and the content inside those instances, including your own, is persistent. You'll notice Sony doesn't call it one. I think it's enough of a similarity to make the comparison, no?
tam @ Mar 19th 2007 9:08PM
To clarify my position before anyone gets up in arms: I really want Home to an MMO experience, I'm just afraid to get my hopes up before seeing a credible source say it is. ;P
required @ Mar 19th 2007 9:08PM
Finn, that is not proof.
required @ Mar 19th 2007 9:09PM
...it's a stunt.
scepia @ Mar 19th 2007 9:11PM
"Shiggy didnt care about optical media either, so he 'insisted'..."
Shiggy insisted that a new character creation program be on the Wii...
Shiggy insisted that Ocarina of Time be produced...
Shiggy insisted to save Nintendo many times...
Finn @ Mar 19th 2007 9:17PM
...it's a stunt.
if thats your feeling then you just waisted my time, you asked for proof so I gave you undeniable video evidence of such a thing existing.
The only other thing that would serve you would be time travel and that's clearly not possible
Do you not believe the sky is blue either even if you see it? And even if you claim that that's something they made up your just crazy... or right, and still it doesn't matter, because there it is and the credibility of the Nintendo video is higher than yours.
REUYL @ Mar 19th 2007 9:46PM
I'm getting this vibe that Miyamoto's shrugging off the competition merely because he thinks that Miis are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
If Shiggy's going to base his entire system around semi-customizable cartoon characters that are only interesting for less than five minutes, then I'll gladly pass on Nintendo consoles for a while.