In an interview with to Talk Asia, Shigeru Miyamoto–famed creator of Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong–gave some insight into his creative mind and what he thinks about working in the game industry.
Nintendo has often been criticized as a game company that caters too much to children, resulting in missed opportunities to attract more business by failing to engage in more adult themes. Miyamoto said it was a conscious effort by him, and Nintendo’s part, to shy away from violent themes.
"My personal thought is, and I think it is the same with Nintendo, that before thinking about how to handle violence in video games, I think it is important to think about pain people feel. For example, you would not laugh at people with disabilities. There are bullying problems in Japan. Looking at the overall picture, it is important to understand and feel the pain that people might have. We make our games based on that philosophy, using means other than violence. But we also have to take a careful approach, even in the circumstances when we are not portraying direct violence. I think it is always important to give children a product with a careful approach."
Miyamoto also talked about how he feels that, while written or spoken opinions of video games are somewhat useful, the most important way to assess how successful a game is to be with a gamer, playing the video game. He stated, "It is interesting to hear what other people say. But instead of reading the blogs, I would rather stand behind a person playing the games and sense how the player is reacting to the game–whether he is unhappy with the games, or if he is having fun. I can feel all of that directly. It is more useful for me to do that than to read what he thinks of it."
What motivates Miyamoto as a game designer? He believes that part of the answer lies with being aware that these games are always out in the public and that he must always strive to make them better. "I think it is important for me to think about the fact that there is always someone playing the games that I make. I always think about how to surprise them next, what to surprise them with. And it’s also probably a good idea to keep working with younger generations."
Some game industry leaders have criticized the Wii as a gimmick that will only cater to games expressly made for the novel controllers. Miyamoto said, "First thing I would say is, ‘Give it a try.’ If you use it you would know that you had the wrong impression about it. I became more and more confident in the Wii since I started to make the software for it."
