Miyamoto: Gaming tech scares people

By GamesIndustry International Published 31 March, 2010

Mainstream acceptance still a way away.

Veteran Nintendo games designer Shigeru Miyamoto has said that videogame technology is still intimidating to new audiences.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer.net, the creator of Donkey Kong and Super Mario 64 said he feels it's his and Nintendo's responsibility to continue to educate larger audiences of the benefits of gaming.

"The fact is many people are afraid or scared of gaming technology," he said. "Actually it's very convenient, useful technology and as long as you can have some time to get accustomed there's nothing to be afraid of at all.

"So my responsibility here must be to try to let people understand how convenient and useful game technology is and try to remove hurdles so that even your grandpa and grandma are waiting to turn on the power switch of your console easily without hesitation."

Nintendo has already made significant inroads in expanding the audience for videogames, with the Wii motion controller simplifying control and helping the system sell to a wider demographic.

Sony and Microsoft are only now preparing to release similar motion systems for their home consoles, a move that Miyamoto feels validates Nintendo's approach - although the company will continue to keep innovation at the forefront of hardware design.

"We feel it's an honour that some form of entertainment style we created is now going to be taken for granted thanks to the attitude taken by the other companies," offered Miyamoto.

"On the other hand, Nintendo is a company that is always striving to create something unique and unprecedented. And if we can do that, if we can establish to the world that videogames have such huge potential for daily life, the existence of games will be even more highly appreciated by the public."

But gaming still has a long way to go before it is established as a credible entertainment medium for the mass market, said Miyamoto.

"Very frankly speaking, I have to admit videogames still have some way to go in order to reach the level of movies when it comes to social acceptance by the general public. We still have to carry on making a great effort."

You can read the full interview with Miyamoto elsewhere on the site and watch highlights below.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ducklord #1 2 years ago

    "We feel it's an honour that some form of entertainment style we created"

    You pushed it forward to the masses and built on it substantially, but not sure you necessarily created it.

  • RobTheBuilder #2 2 years ago

    Best example ever:

    Hold this Wii remote mum, now swing to hit the ball...

    18 months later they own a Wii.

  • GamesConnoisseur #3 2 years ago

    Fair points about the wider society not yet fully embracing the gaming as a valid medium in a same way as movies etc, and part of that is to ensure the games doesnt narrowily focus on the 'hardcore' mature hobbyists. We need to have every interests being served adequately and where Nintendo's success had paid off the first couple of years of Wii.

    Going forward, preferably all platform holders and publishers would be able to throw out all types of stuff for everyone. In the same way say that the Sony or Universal Studios are able to do family movies, kiddies, thriller, documentary and indies efforts.

    Having said that I still dislike very much Wii's direction and seemed more family oriented than even the DS (Dragon Quest, Shin Megami Tensi etc).

  • superflyninja #4 2 years ago

    I dont like Shigeru Miyamoto. His face is like one big plate of spam.and smug spam at that.

  • jonsaan #5 2 years ago

    I often find gaming newbs to be utterly baffled by the wiimote. It's just as confusing to people as a regular controller. It's all down to marketing.

  • teabagger #6 2 years ago

    The problem is with technology in general, not specifically games. The argument also rests on the assumption that the older generation actually want to be into technology but are, in his words, frightened of it. My experience leads me to think that actually the vast majority of these people simply can't be arsed with it. The older you get the more unmoveable your opinions, valid or not.

  • jonsaan #7 2 years ago

    Teabagger has a very valid point. My Dad loves crosswords. Nothing I say or do can convince him to play them on a DS. XL or regular, he doesn't care. What's wrong with the paper?!

  • mfnick #8 2 years ago

    @ #3 - I know exactly what you're saying about games not just appealing to the 'hardcore' enthuisiasts for the medium to be taking seriously. But IMO, (& I think you kind of agree with this from your last sentence) the DS & Wii's way of doing this is the complete oppposite of what it should be doing to be taken seriously.

    The Wii & DS just enforce the old view that games are just dumb toys only good for 5 minute distractions with the vast majoirty of them being unsophisticated pish made mainly for kids. Im not syyaing thats all thats available for Wii & DS, but its the biggest part of the market & thats what the expanded audience & non gamers see with the Wii.

    If we want games to be taken seriously, we need more like Heavy Rain & the Monkey Island games which rely more on the story & gentle interaction with genuinely mature content with the more competitive nature of games mostly removed. We need to find a way to get the naysayers to play these or at a push, even Silent Hill Shattered Memories rather than Wii Play or Mini Game Collection #122.

    The buying Wii & DS market are ignoring stuff like SH:SM & the fact Heavy Rain exists elsewhere for Carnival Fun Games which just re-enforce the idea most games are dumb, childish & ultimately a waste of time.

    These other games are what should be marketed directly at this non gamer sector rather than Wii Fit if we really want gaming as a whole to be treated with the respect it deserves. But its this dumbed down part of gaming that Nintendo & other publishers push. The progress made over the last 10+ years i gaming has been shoved to the side for the quick buck a shovelware Wii or DS game can create & I believe this kind of push for the non gamer is harming gaming as a whole more in the long run. Nintendo in particular seem to just want to fight against gaming being more than a bit of disposable fun & flat out refuse to acknowledge the progress made. Especially in the even more sociable online side.

    Thats not to say theres no place for simple, fun games. But it shouldnt be the only type the non gamer see's anymore than the 'No Russian' level should be the only thing non gamer sees.
    Edited by mfnick at 31/03/10 @ 14:42

  • JahB #9 2 years ago

    wow sigmagoat, having a bad day? that's quite a rant, and a hilarious one at that

  • Sicho #10 2 years ago

    @mfnick

    "The buying Wii & DS market are ignoring stuff like SH:SM & the fact Heavy Rain exists elsewhere for Carnival Fun Games which just re-enforce the idea most games are dumb, childish & ultimately a waste of time. "

    Every game, even Heavy Rain etc. is just a waste of time ... their purpose is to kill time, nothing more, nothing less. That being said, Wario Ware is as much a game as Heavy Rain or God of War 3 or Call of Duty or Tetris ...

  • mfnick #11 2 years ago

    @Sicho - I understand what you're trying to say, but I completely disagree. A gaming experience such as Heavy Rain which leaves a genuine emotional impact & can leave you really thinking & can lead to so many in depth, thoughtful discussions is not a waste of time.

    & not once did I say games like Carnival Fun games, Wario Ware etc. arent actual games. I even said, they have their place. Its just when we are talking about games being accepted, this is the type of stuff we need to get away from but it seems thats all the non gamer is aware of. Past "murder simulators" that are turning their children to the devil anyway.




  • FooAtari #12 2 years ago

    Got to agree with mfnick

    Nintendos approach is not really advancing gaming. Nintendo's approach still portrays it as a non-serious hobby (well as serious as a hobby can be anyway). Simply dumbing things down and adding bright vibrant colours in an attempt to make it more fun and accessible is not really the best forward IMO.

    I have nothing against films like Finding Nemo, quite enjoy them. But if that's all everyone wanted from their entertainment (vibrant with simple story) then those kinds of animations would be wildly more successful than anything else... And while adults often enjoy those films, they still see them as perhaps childish entertainment (for lack of a better description), and will probably hold the same view of games if Nintendo approach to the "casual" market continues. You need a broad range of games from the mindless fun, to gritty and thought provoking mature experiences (mature not meaning blood, swearing and tits)
    Edited by FooAtari at 31/03/10 @ 15:16

  • Skurmedel #13 2 years ago

    This is the same debate that's been going on for comics and the like, many people regard it, or used to, as entertainment for children. By showing them that there are all kinds of genres they will hopefully see that it can cater to all ages and personalities, but this is not Nintendo's problem and not their responsibility. They make games, if they give people what they want they have done a good job. If they don't make what you want there is always somebody else ready to snatch that market segment.

    And I don't like the whole casual vs. hardcore debate at all. Games are games, some prefer simpler ones, some prefer more intricate ones, some just like games. Perhaps you are not in the demographic Nintendo is aiming for quite simply. Maybe this demographic likes things "dumbed down", whatever that means. I see many people here regarding this as an "unpure" form of gaming or something, why?
    Edited by Skurmedel at 31/03/10 @ 15:35

  • ParanoidZombie #14 2 years ago

    I'm a bit uncomfortable with the fact that miyamoto has turned into a PR puppet.
    He just sounds as lifeless as a Wii commercial.
    They should change his name, i don't know, call him "zombie miyamoto" or mecha miyamoto".

  • mfnick #15 2 years ago

    Id say 'Mecha Miyamoto'. He's obviously just been programmed to do Iwata's bidding now. ;)

    It is weird how he's suddenly become so vocal though. I remember when he hardly ever spoke to the games press.
    Edited by mfnick at 31/03/10 @ 15:45

  • malexous #16 2 years ago

    "Simply dumbing things down and adding bright vibrant colours in an attempt to make it more fun and accessible is not really the best forward...if that's all everyone wanted from their entertainment then those kinds of animations would be wildly more successful than anything else"

    It works for Nintendo. Mario is one of the most successful IPs in gaming.

    How is "fun and accessible" not the way forward?

  • TRUTH #17 2 years ago

    I think he gets praised way to much - there's better games out there and ideas that simply don't get the credit - esp on PC's, which does everything from control, game ideas..etc etc; way beyond what even Nintendo has even thought of it.

    Shoulder buttons, analogue control, wave motion control - it wasn't Nintendo who developed this!.. it was all on the PC first. This was probably because PC gaming was the only real way to play game as console gaming was not a big scene in EU until mid/late 90's, thanks to Sony...Therefore Nintendo getting all the credit as many people only see what Nintendo has done not seeing what the PC was doing way ahead of it's time.
    Edited by TRUTH at 31/03/10 @ 17:56

  • FogHeart #18 2 years ago

    Lighten up, gents. He has a genre, and an audience that gravitates towards that. In the early days of cinema I can't imagine Walt Disney was criticised for not making films like Citizen Kane, and being accused of taking film-making down a route that made it seem a childish pursuit that stopped films being seen as a worthwhile leisure interest to the average man.

  • varsas #19 2 years ago

    @sigmagoat: Pikmin?

  • Waffleaber #20 2 years ago

    @sigmagoat

    You shut your goddamn mouth talking that way about Louise Redknapp. She's lovely.

  • Diomedes #21 2 years ago

    Now this is a lame excuse to implement 10 year old tech in their machines .....hey guys we dont put up to date GPU and CPUs because technology scares the people!!

  • smelly #22 2 years ago

    @sigmagoat : You creatively bankrupt over rated idiot.

    yeah.. you're correct mario galaxy had no creativity in it whatsoever.

    Let me guess your favorite game which just oodles creativity is some mediocre shooter?
    Edited by smelly at 31/03/10 @ 18:36

  • smelly #23 2 years ago

    >Nintendo's approach still portrays it as a non-serious hobby

    ???

    When you're playing a game.. you're playing with a toy.. There's nothing serious about it.

  • smelly #24 2 years ago

    As an ex-developer myself - Gamers sometimes depress me. Take mario galaxy for example, there's more imagination in that than 99% of most modern games put together, but because it happens to feature the same main character - it's somehow labelled as "old hat" and unoriginal by some people, or saying it's a "20 year old game", before going back to playing an fps game, which still bares a lot more in common with wolfenstein 3d (which was released 18 years ago) than mario galaxy does to the original mario.

    Then take the people who just look at the fact that it's brightly coloured and doesnt have swearing/blood/gore and isnt grey and brown, then it's labeled as "non serious" and "for kids", as if somehow the latest shooter where you run down grey corridors pretending to shoot someone is really grown up and mature.

    Somewhere along the line gamers seem to have forgotten that games should be fun. And now they're more interested in tech and how "mature" the game is. Subsequently we seem to get endless carbon copy shooters with only the story (and improved graphics) to tell them apart. Ignoring that the best bit about games is they're interactive and fun, and that stories are better suited to the cinema.

    Somewhere along line gamers got far too interested in appearing "Grown up" about playing what is essentially a toy, forgot they were playing with toys - and became desperate to grow up. I pitty those gamers, as in their attempt to be all grown up and mature they're missing out on some FUN games.


    Edited by smelly at 31/03/10 @ 18:48

  • FooAtari #25 2 years ago

    @malexous
    It works for Nintendo. Mario is one of the most successful IPs in gaming.

    How is "fun and accessible" not the way forward?

    I didn't explain myself very well. I should have said it's not the only approach.
    Nothing wrong with games Nintendo are making. But, I think if they don't broaden things a little and encourage that from other developers the market they have found will soon grow bored and turn to something else. Then, again maybe the wont and Ill be eating my words in a few years time :)

  • smelly #26 2 years ago

    >since doom. could the physics and lovely open world visuals of red faction

    Yeah.. pretty visuals, physics, still same gameplay... Especially if your telling me mario galaxy is old hat.

    As for mario galaxy being overrated? Oh brother.

    Galaxy is full of innovation and variety, just taking the tech alone (Something you seem to be obsessed with), running around non-planar worlds is a good technical achievement (much more so than running around some flat world shooting things), and is (imho) the best looking game on any system currently.

    And that's BEFORE you get to the fact that it PLAYS like a dream, and unlike most modern games, not one that can be beat in a few hours (in fact i STILL havent finished the more challenging levels with luigi).

    But I get the impression this will fall on deaf ears as you probably just looked at some screenshots and decided that it was unoriginal/kiddy and crap or something.

  • TRUTH #27 2 years ago

    Nintendo also waaaaaaaaaay overcharge for there games & extras...By the way how many bloody add on's does WII have now ?...and they mostly don't ever get used!

  • mossychops001 #28 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • malloc #29 2 years ago

    I like the way in the second paragraph you add that he's the creator of Donkey Kong and SM64, and previously a vet of nintendo, just in case we didn't know. :)

  • SpaceMonkey77 #30 2 years ago

    I think Mfnick put it nicely.

    Those huge selling copies of MW2, didn't get burned on bon fires when taken home. They were used and are still being used. Games are a fun dealing business, and Nintendo have done well at it for years. Thing is though, times are always changing, and largely Nintnedo have still been out of step with the rest of the industry. They only back the Wii because it sold, and as online play etc become more important to games, Nintendo still down play with excuses and sit on their hands.

    While I respect Miyamoto and his past efforts for the industry, I don't share his company views of the industry. Their pockets might be full for now, but what of tomorrow. They want to hold the industry reigns to their non progressive will, at the expense of others, so while the mask of motion controls are all whizz bang cool, the reality is that this mask hides the true cracks in their Wii system, its woeful catalogue and developer apathy, and the game genres that Wii can't cover with such a barrier to control.

  • FogHeart #31 2 years ago

    The bitter, unacceptable truth:-

    Put a 'non-gamer and proud of it' person in a room and ask them to watch you play any game...as soon as you run around with a gun, swing a sword, or drive a car fast you are engaging in a childish pursuit. A little boy's fantasy. No sophisticated physics system...no sprawling open world...not even an engaging (but let's face it, inevitably science fiction and therefore easily dismissed) narrative...will budge them from that position.

    Then show them bowling...or tell them they can play a musical instrument...or take care of a dog....or tend a farm....or Simulate a life where you can decorate a little house and live out a little life....and they're interested.

    But...but...surely that's far more childish than the games you've shown them up to this point? No story, no complex system or skill to learn and explore and apply, no carefully crafted art style, no highly realistic textures?

    It doesn't matter. It's hypocritical but there you go. They will reduce your favourite games to "shooting monsters in the face" while gifting goats to each other (and not even sacrificing them to a Dark Lord). To them, what we consider 'hardcore' they consider 'childish'.

    So is there a way to make a casual into a hardcore if they just don't want the games that we like? We can gnash our teeth all we want and wail that "If only they would just try it!" but this is like thinking if only you could make your girlfriend learn about space for a bit she'd stop watching Sex and the City and start watching Battlestar Galactica. Their neurons just aren't made that way. That's the bitter truth bit. They just want to do the casual thing, any deeper is actually more childish to them.

    Yeah, I know....Heavy Rain might change all this...but it's one game among thousands. And I have a horrible suspicion that these casual gamers might just want to watch a game like that being played...like it's a film.



  • Harmonica #32 2 years ago

    Shooting gallery games are relatively childish most of the time, when not packaged alongside a compelling narrative. If games want to be considered a mainstream art form they need to grow up, in that respect. You can still twat monsters with swords you just need it to mean something.

    I agree with everything Shiggy said.

  • smelly #33 2 years ago

    "If games want to be considered a mainstream art form they need to grow up"


    I agree.. however, i feel that games should grow up by trying to copy other mediums less and rely on their own merrits. There's so much you can do with interactive entertainment, it makes me wonder why so many games try to be films or books.

    (and yes a part of me is still pissed off the i bought into the FF13 hype - got 40 hours in and realised there wasnt actually a "Game" there)

  • tobsen #34 2 years ago

    Idiots are generally scared by a lot of things for no real reason. The question is how much you - as a manufacturer for example - want to cater to idiots.

  • FogHeart #35 2 years ago

    "God loves idiots, he must do, because he made so many of them."

    No really, in their eyes WE are the idiots, wasting our time with pretend swords and guns. I don't carry around that attitude, I love shooting monsters in the face, (albeit with a great narrative, sophisticated physics system and sprawling open world....) but they do.

    We can complain that by making a console geared towards instant pick-up-and-play, unsophisticated gaming Nintendo have taken the gaming genre backwards, or at least hinder its progress. But what do we consider progress? There seems to be this idea that if we keep producing better iterations of physics systems, push graphics ever closer towards photo-realism, and write more involving stories, eventually there will be a tipping point and non-gamers will be convinced to...er....jump in. If only it were so. These casual gamers will always reduce the kind of games we play to childish rubbish because it involves - again in their eyes - boy's fantasies of speed and weaponry. While we reduce their idea of what games should be to childish rubbish because - in our eyes - they are simple, banal and don't carry any emotional attachment.

    Are we that arrogant to presume our view of their games carries more weight than their view of ours? Probably. "I was here first," we could say. But that, in itself, just sounds like another thing a child might say.

  • TonyHarrison #36 2 years ago

    Technology (and not just gaming tech) does scare people, there is no denying this. In my house, only 2 (myself included) of the 4 people living here know how to go about watching a DVD with the surround sound on. It's just too complicated for the other two to comprehend.

    We may wonder how they do not know these things, but then that is our arrogance on display. The question you then have to ask is who is to blame, the people who do not know how to do these things or the people who arrogantly assume they should.

  • Daryoon #37 2 years ago

    There's far more maturity in Mario Galaxy than, say, MW2.

    But most gamers have the mentality of 14-year-old boys, and 14-year-old boys think big guns, fast cars and massive tits are the height of maturity. Throw in some generic storytelling and a sci-fi environment and they think they've got an artistic masterpiece.

    I always say that, if you want to know how good a game really is, you should replace all the pseudo-mature crap with happy kittens and blue skies. If it still plays well, you've got yourselves a good game. If it's suddenly no longer appealing, you've just proved that all the graphics, guns and gore are as much a gimmick as waggle-controls.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #38 2 years ago

    Its true that technology overall is a barrier, but doesn't take a rocket scientist to know, which is why the majority of technology sold these days come with in depth instruction books for tech people, and simplified quick start guides for those minus the tech savvy genes.

    However, there's a point where you provide these materials to make things easier for some, and a line needs to be drawn, beyond which you are compromising yourself and your tech too much. I'm sure that Wii, 360 and PS3 all include some sort of quick start guide, especially with them having parental controls etc. As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. That's all that companies selling any tech need to do, and rightly so. Nintendo have gone that extra with Wii, but in doing so, have compromised much, perhaps too much. As a result, you won't see a game like Command and Conquer on Wii, for reasons of controls, online options and the weak system itself. A game like this can benefit from stronger platforms, and thus is doing so.

    Nintendo need to stop acting like children scared of the technology ghost, because they are just building on the negativity, to try and reinforce their means of staying out of a tech race, and back peddling, like they have been since N64. They are in the pole position to dispell such fears, and have done a good job so far with Wii. If they could do the same with online play etc, the casual people will listen, fear it less and bite.

    Unfortunately, Nintendo will no doubt continue, to reach for the offline comfort blanket, as the rest of the industry moves on without them, frowning at how they've fallen and things they could have done to move forward, besides the limitational straight jacket of motion control stuff.



  • notyalcsdrawkcab #39 2 years ago

    How horrible - Nintendo made a videogame I can play with my gran. How dare they.

    And they were horrible enough to launch a console that cost $250 (I dunno what it cost in pounds/euros, but it was less than the competition).

    Grrr. Grrr. I hate them. Grrr.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #40 2 years ago

    @notyal

    Lol, I'll leave the Nintendo felatio, to those who think other opinions against the mighty Nintendo, are some kind of invalid crime. For to have negative opinion, you must be a hater, right?

    Remember to use some vasaline, won't you.

  • tnt_2008smum #41 2 years ago

    @smelly
    While I do see the point you are trying to make I think you have forgotten that having fun is, you know, subjective.

    A game that you have fun with might leave someone else cold.

    Also I would argue that the term entertaining is better suited when trying to put a name to the fundamental factor in game playing. Fun makes it sound like you need to be laughing away whilst playing a game.

    This is of course no bad thing and i like it when a game makes me smile but there are plenty of games that I have found to be “entertaining” but not exactly always “fun” (Trials HD anyone?).