Miyamoto speaks on all things SpaceWorld
Nintendo savior give a glimpse of the inside
In the aftermath of the Pre show press conference, Shigeru Miyamoto sat down with a group of selected journalists to discuss all things Nintendo.
Enjoy what the Elvis of the gaming world had to say.
Question: There have been complaints that the GBA screen is rather dark. Will Nintendo be addressing this problem in the future?
Shigeru Miyamoto: Technically, the GBA's screen is brighter than the Game Boy Color's. However, when GBC softwareís used on the GBA, it seems darker. There are programming techniques to get around the issues though.
Q: Will Nintendo produce an arcade system based on the GameCube hardware?
SM: I can't really answer that now. A lot can be done with the GameCube hardware, so this is one possibility, but right now we aren't planning on it.
Q: How much involvement do you have with Pikmin, including character design?
SM: I can't really say that I’m the project director; over half my work is writing the game specs. As for character design, we have a number of young artists working on them. I haven't designed any of the Pikmin characters personally. The game itself has been under development for a long time and has undergone many changes. Development began when Yoshi's Story was being developed.
Q: Why do you think that Pikmin has such emotional appeal?
SM: I think it's because the team developing it is trying to make a game in which the players spend a lot of time watching Pikmin. While you directly interact with them, you're always observing the Pikmins. It's sort of like an ant farm where you watch and play with the ants.
Q: I Heard you have a motion capture studio in the basement of one of your studios. If so, what is it being used for?
SM: We thought we’d rent it out (laughs). Where did you hear that comment? It’s actually for a project that won’t be out until the year after next. It’s a very good studio. We probably could really rent it out (laughs). We also have a very nice sound studio.
Q: Do you know the number of development projects and the number of developers working on the projects? Also, what is the average development time for a GameCube title? Could you see yourself working with [Yuji] Naka from Sonic Team on future titles?
SM: There are a huge number of GC titles in the works. In theory I had to approve each and every game budget, but I honestly don't remember how many I stamped. I'm responsible for 30 titles, but am really only directly involved in 6 or 7. About 70-80 first and third party developers are working on GC projects. Each development team is different. For instance, the Pikmin team is fairly compact. Development times are varied too, but I think if the GC hardware is used efficiently, you can make a game in 6 months to 2 years, using 10 to 30 people. Larger games, like Eternal Darkness might require 40-50 people, but thought of in terms of development cost versus profit, teams shouldn’t be allowed over 30. We want to encourage the practice of making quality, entertaining games with a minimum number of staff. As for third parties, we are not asking them to make GameCube titles right now. We don't think the future of the industry lies in having huge numbers of titles. That’s not to say that we don’t need third parties. Some makers pay third parties for a certain number of titles or exclusivity deals. In answer to the final question, I think the game creators are very important. So, you will see some unusual titles on the GC release list, like Doshin the giant. I'd like to collaborate with Naka, but I don't know what Nintendo would say. By collaborating, game creators will be able to produce many new things.
Enjoy what the Elvis of the gaming world had to say.
Question: There have been complaints that the GBA screen is rather dark. Will Nintendo be addressing this problem in the future?
Shigeru Miyamoto: Technically, the GBA's screen is brighter than the Game Boy Color's. However, when GBC softwareís used on the GBA, it seems darker. There are programming techniques to get around the issues though.
Q: Will Nintendo produce an arcade system based on the GameCube hardware?
SM: I can't really answer that now. A lot can be done with the GameCube hardware, so this is one possibility, but right now we aren't planning on it.
Q: How much involvement do you have with Pikmin, including character design?
SM: I can't really say that I’m the project director; over half my work is writing the game specs. As for character design, we have a number of young artists working on them. I haven't designed any of the Pikmin characters personally. The game itself has been under development for a long time and has undergone many changes. Development began when Yoshi's Story was being developed.
Q: Why do you think that Pikmin has such emotional appeal?
SM: I think it's because the team developing it is trying to make a game in which the players spend a lot of time watching Pikmin. While you directly interact with them, you're always observing the Pikmins. It's sort of like an ant farm where you watch and play with the ants.
Q: I Heard you have a motion capture studio in the basement of one of your studios. If so, what is it being used for?
SM: We thought we’d rent it out (laughs). Where did you hear that comment? It’s actually for a project that won’t be out until the year after next. It’s a very good studio. We probably could really rent it out (laughs). We also have a very nice sound studio.
Q: Do you know the number of development projects and the number of developers working on the projects? Also, what is the average development time for a GameCube title? Could you see yourself working with [Yuji] Naka from Sonic Team on future titles?
SM: There are a huge number of GC titles in the works. In theory I had to approve each and every game budget, but I honestly don't remember how many I stamped. I'm responsible for 30 titles, but am really only directly involved in 6 or 7. About 70-80 first and third party developers are working on GC projects. Each development team is different. For instance, the Pikmin team is fairly compact. Development times are varied too, but I think if the GC hardware is used efficiently, you can make a game in 6 months to 2 years, using 10 to 30 people. Larger games, like Eternal Darkness might require 40-50 people, but thought of in terms of development cost versus profit, teams shouldn’t be allowed over 30. We want to encourage the practice of making quality, entertaining games with a minimum number of staff. As for third parties, we are not asking them to make GameCube titles right now. We don't think the future of the industry lies in having huge numbers of titles. That’s not to say that we don’t need third parties. Some makers pay third parties for a certain number of titles or exclusivity deals. In answer to the final question, I think the game creators are very important. So, you will see some unusual titles on the GC release list, like Doshin the giant. I'd like to collaborate with Naka, but I don't know what Nintendo would say. By collaborating, game creators will be able to produce many new things.
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