Miyamoto: 'America has always been better at creating unique products'

by Alexander Sliwinski on May 12th 2008 11:20AM

WiiWare's up and running now in North America and not a single one of those games comes from the big N itself. Speaking to Wired, Shigeru Miyamoto, head of Nintendo's game development division, says the company wanted to foster indie games, which are more prolific in the US than Japan, with Wiiware. In fact, Miyamoto says, "I think America has always been better at creating unique products."

Excuse us one moment while we crack open a Bud and beat our chests ... OK, back. Miyamoto explains that US indie developers have managed to acquire the skills and hardware needed to "let their own personality and their own kind of unique interests really flourish." Asked if he would ever consider getting involved in making a small-scale game again, the Nintendo guru responded that it might be "fun" to do.

Source

Tags: miyamoto, Wii, wiiware, wired

Reader Comments (88)

He prints money!

He IS money.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan FTW!!!

OMG Fenix - that dude was a crack-up!

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*thumbs up*

*tongue out*

True, when its more like Diablo / Oblivion and less like Halo and Gears ¬_¬

Only the games I like are the better ones!

You must have made a typo, because for some reason your post reads that Oblivion is original.

U FPS A! U FPS A!

No offence but Oblivion and Diablo are FAR from being a Magnum Opus of an RPG Genre.

True, but they were epic ;) Rather then this macho man bs that most of these cheezy FPS games are based on.

It wasn't brand spanking new, but there was a lot of work put into them to give you a plot, level of gameplay and addiction that you rarely get a chance to experience.

The likes of Timesplitters was good too ^^

I don't even think of Diablo as an RPG. Don't get me wrong, I love D1&2. But they're in a category somewhere between RPG and action.

I was a huge fan of Ultima, and I thought the genre was dead until I found Morrowind and subsequenty, Oblivion. I just love big, open-world RPG's. Even Balder's Gate (not Dark Alliance!), Neverwinter Nights, etc. were too directed and closed-environment for me. Anyways, that was why I moved to EQ a while back. That was the only place I could find a good expansive, open-ended, RPG 8 years back. Of course now I'm thinking while playing Oblivion "gee, I wish my friends could join me..."

I don't get all the fps hate around here. Of course the games are gonna be "macho". People associate guns with bad manly characters. And even if you don't like that association, there are plenty of fpses that do not revolve around that convention.

Just look back at the '07 shooters. We got amazing stuff like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Bioshock, Crysys and The Orange Box. These are games that at the very least from a gameplay standpoint pushed the envelope and on the broader picture showcased the freedom, aesthetics and flexibility the genre can convey.

It just irks me to hear all these complains when there are genres like JRPGs which rely on carbon-copying to a much greater extent.

Thats because they are usually based on anime styles, however, while unrealistic, they put more effort into thier plots, so we don't end up with an endlessly pointless shooting frenzy for funs sake. Not that thats a bad thing, I love shooting frenzies, but it gets braindead.

Oh yeah. JRPG plots are so unique and interesting.

"Join a young boy from a small village as he meets new friends to defeat the villain who is trying to destroy the world! Not only that, but they will beat him with the power of love and friendship!"

Of course, I'm sure you will say, "But not every JRPG is like that!" which of course will reveal your bias towards FPS as not every FPS has the same kind of storyline either.

True, except the likes of Halo and Gears, which I pointed out :) Mainly because they either have no plot, and what little plot they do have seems half-hearted.

Now admit that Donkey Kong Country was a good game, damnit!

I can't understand his problem with those games either, they were classic!

Miyamoto hates Donkey Kong Country? That's awesome. So do I. xP

He was just jelous they didn't come from his mind thats all. Those game are still fun and look good to this day. I have my SNES right next to my 360 in mah media room and whats currrently in there? DKC2 baby!Soundtracks, visuals, gameplay, everything! Too bad its a dead franchise now.

:(:::::_____

What? DKC was great. He seriously needs to STFU and release a New Donkey Kong Ctry. and a New Super Mario Wld.

Actually that's pretty much true, americans come up with the stuff and the other countries optimize it and make it better. I hope that with this big trouble the U.S. is going through they come back as a better country and more fit to the 21st century. And stop the ruler of the world mind they got.

I misread Donkey Kong Ctry. as Donkey Kong City, and realized that that would be a wholly awesome concept and that they should make it immediately.

I don't remember him saying it was a bad game, just that Americans will buy anything with good graphics and that's why they liked it.

It was a bad game, though. With great graphics.

Ehhh, I don't feel the first DKC is as good as it was years ago. Really if you strip away the strong visuals, you have a pretty simple platformer. DKC 2 was much better IMO.

"Too bad its a dead franchise now. "

I'm holding out hope for DKC4 on Wii Ware.

...I know, I know. It's just that I love to be disappointed, it all. It's like a fetish.

Except Donkey Kong Country was developed by Rare, an English company. >_>

I agree with Yourself and Roto13, it's one Nintendo franchise i never liked. The only other one i can really think of is Dr. Mario

"Oh, SNAP!"

He's just saying this as part of the post WWII agreement between the United States and Japan.

The USA gets credit for minor accomplishments, and Japan gets to sell us its teenage girls' undergarments.

Oh, sweet, the Red Jackal.

...Makes me wonder whatever happened with episode 3.

Episode 3-1 is airing on ScrewAttack.com on June 1, to be followed monthly will all 18 episodes.

Mortal Kombaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!

Well I don't agree. Street Fighter was above any other fighter, Zelda, Mario above their competative games.

Though the yanks did make Metroid Prime an ace game. I must just prefer Japanese and (old) European games.

I agree with street fighter, but look how safe they've played it with releases over the years. Every game still feels like the last one, with (sometimes) new graphics or a different gameplay feature. Same with resident evil. How many times did they use that gameplay? probably 5 or 6 times with RE, Onimusha, and even Devil May Cry used that same type of engine (Can't see what the fuck is going on in front of me, but i'll shoot for the hell of it style).

A small scale game? What, like Wii Fit? :)

Small-scale game, big-scale marketing campaign!

Does this mean we can have a WRPG vs. JRPG debate ITT?

JRPGs...

*laughs heartily*

There is no such thing as a WRPG, only dust.

JRPG if you like boobies and brooding.

WRPG if you like boobies and guns.

Maybe Nintendo hasn't had a big RPG franchise (I don't think you can count Pokemon) because Miyamoto thinks Japanese don't know how to make RPGs?

Well, he couldn't be more right.

JRPGs pretty much take the cake for me, and that's the truth...get it..

Anyway, the only WRPGs that I really like are the Elder Scrolls games. Most others seem to fall flat for me. Even Mass Effect which I do like, but I would have rather played a new Breath of Fire or something.

Oh yeah, Chrono Trigger for life!!

If I want a good story and characters, I generally turn to an JRPG.

If I want freedom, great combat and customization, I of course turn to WRPG.

I disagree. The amount of creativity from the Japanese gaming side is crazy. They usually just don’t’ have the access to the Computer Graphics technology that American designers have. Most American games, are square. In what I mean is that they’re always the same. FPS anyone? Where as Japanese games have created new and exciting genres. Phoenix Wright, Persona, and Ninja Gaiden anyone ? RPGs ? Just look at the street fighter series compared to the MK series. Street fighter keeps on changing and reinventing itself, where as MK.. well, what really happened after they had no more “alaties” to come up with.. add more characters.. wow ..very creative not to mention the fact that they models are all the fucking same with different colors (sub-zero, kameleon, scorpion, etc). I don’t’ even want to go into Megaman, Sonic, and other notable franchises from the rising sun. In conclusion:

Street Fighter Series > MK
Japan’s Creativity > America’s Creativity

Hooray for selective examples!

Personally, I also agree that there is more creative stuff coming from Japan overall, but I believe that in this case, he's talking about indie developers as opposed to the American industry as a whole.

Right, you bring up Ninja Gaiden as creative. A game about ninjas. But Mortal Kombat, a hilariously wacky game that is a poster-child for genre satire is stale to you? It doesn't matter, because when you said "Street fighter keeps on changing and reinventing itself" I knew you were just being sarcastic.

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Miyamoto: 'America has always been better at creating unique products'

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