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Miyamoto Talks Nintendo Games And HD Graphics
Discussing high definition graphics, Shigeru Miyamoto has said that Nintendo's games will “move along in step with the progression of technology”, but the designer maintained that gameplay is still the company’s key focus.
“I don't think there's anything wrong with pretty graphics, and if I'm a consumer that has an HDTV, I'd want to be able to play my games with nice graphics too. And I think as we've seen the penetration rates for HDTV increase, we're going to see videogames and Nintendo's games move along in step with the progression of technology,” he said during a roundtable attended by Industry Gamers.
"But what I don't think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that's going to make the gameplay experience better. So we're still going to focus on the gameplay, but we'll take advantage of the technology as it comes out."
In June, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company had found no “significant reason” to release an HD-compatible Wii, although he noted that any new console the company launched would “probably support HD because it is now common throughout the world”.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has forecast that Nintendo will release a high definition Wii in 2010.
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If nintendo come out with some kind of HD-Wii type thing around 2011, I think that'll be perfect timing. I haven't yet got a HD set, and I have lots of friends in the same situation. I think nintendo realised this gen that there is still a massive part of their target audience that doesn't even have HD, so they could release a tricked out version of a "last-gen" console and do just fine.
I expect most people will be heading over to HD gradually in the next 2-4 years, so nintendo will be able to aim at them with "last-gen" tech again. Of course, if sony/ms are putting out motion control type things for their consoles ninty will need to find a new unique selling point..
I could not disagree with him more...
Power in consoles is a thing i demand, that's why i never will get the wii. Graphics alone is not enough to make a good game, but a good game will never be better than it's weakest link. Good gameplay alone is not enough if the graphics and the physics suck.
Nintendo has in my eyes lost it, they are not in the same consolewar as MS or Sony. I got a Ps3 and a 360 now, and this will be the first time since the 8bit era that i haven't got a Nintendo console. There's no way i'm paying so much doe for 2 gamecubes who are soldered together. The wii is way to expencive and offers way to little
But what I don't think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that's going to make the gameplay experience better
Only the Nintendo fanboy would believe this, it's just more PR bullshit from Miyamoto IMO.
Don't kid yourself, there are plenty of PC gamers who play older games with what would now be considered crappy graphics.
Why is Miyamoto teasing us with this. Nintendo have a huge casual market of people who dont really know what games are & they dont care but they'll spent $300 on a wii & balance board to put in their garage after 2 weeks. Its a licence to print money This article is basically saying that Nintendo have stopped producing AAA games for the Wii - Pilotwings, Kid Icarus, New Zelda - forget it. Why bother when Miyamoto can release wii Pony Farm+ with sub gamecube presentation & u sell 3million copies. Im pleased that Nintendo have made a fortune from the Wii. Now they have enough money to make a proper system just very slowly. Dont expect ur new Zelda pre 2015 even though they'll start releasing shots of it next year.
Despite the success of the Wii, Nintendo aren't half the company they were in their heyday (80's/early 90's).
They don't produce the games i want to play anymore, to me they're more interested in chasing yer dad, mum, gran and grandpa.
Also, i disagree with his statement "But what I don't think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that's going to make the gameplay experience better", graphics add hugely to the gameplay experience, i mean, would games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, The Witcher, SWAT 4, Crysis, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, Oblivion, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, Flower, etc, be the same without their excellent presentation...of course they wouldn't.
As for technology, it's as important as graphics, there's loads of games out just now that couldn't be done on last gen hardware, do you see any of those games mentioned above on the Wii, of couse not, and you never will.
Miyamoto's statements are as much PR bullshit as i've ever read. If Nintendo had it all their way, we'd still be cart-based, stuck in the 128-bit era, and online would still be a pipe dream.
Don't kid yourself, graphics and technology matter.
Don't kid yourself that Nintendo don't understand this. What I think Miyamoto is saying here is that Nintendo respect technology including HD, but only bring it into their own consoles when they feel the time is right. If they were to release a HD console early 2011 and there is some indication they will, then I think they will have timed it right. The tech to build such a console will be cheaper now and they will have the hindsight of the mistakes Sony and Microsoft made with their first HD consoles. Plus what with the way things are financially for the other two there is not a great deal that they could do to combat this new console.
Firstly, you need to use that return key!
Secondly, Nintendo NEED to be on par with Sony and MS in terms of technology next gen, otherwise we're just going to see the same thing happen again with them i.e. their system won't be powerful enought to host the best games of the generation, just like we see now.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll be hella distraught if the next generation plays out like this one.
Yes you have to give Kudos to Nintendo on this one, they were dead in the water in the home console arena last gen and they pulled off perhaps the greatest coup in the history of the video game industry.
I think they could release Wii HD in 2011 which is slightly more powerful then the PS3 but at a much cheaper price then the PS3 was at launch. If so that could be the last nail in the coffin for one of the other two platform holders game division. I really don't think there is enough room for 3 HD consoles and something which is slightly more powerful then the PS3 with a motion sensing device that is 1:1 tracking as Wii motion plus is would be the mecca for most games developers.
"But what I don't think is necessarily true is that the graphics itself is something that's going to make the gameplay experience better."
Depends on the game I would say. But graphics aren't the only side of a powerful console. Motion sensing would benifit from a more powerful console, in game physics would benifit. HD graphics isn't the be all and end all of a console with more grunt.
This is why Nintendo are the real winners! They've stuck to what they know and watched the market careful.
If you had said to me a few years ago that a jumped up Game Cube would trounce graphically advanced 360 or the up coming PS3 I would have laughed in your face...
Not laughing now though. You have to have the upmost respect for Nintendo and their achievements even if you've never owned one of there consoles :D
Very well spoken, I laughed too but not any more, kudos to the big N.
What i can't seem to comprehend is this new softly softly approach to gaming standards by Nintendo themselfs. i remember when Nintendo games where "tight" and not "loose". Example Super mariokart vs mariokart double dash vs whatever its called on Wii. It canot be argued that Super Mariokart (Snes) was any less accesable than double dash or mariokart Wii, but it can be argued (with integrity) that because of the much more narrow tracks, tighter handling and a weapon system based on a combination of timing and pot luck rather than track position, offers the much, much more thrilling racing experience and not at the expense of playability for younger or inexperienced games player. So why are we been presented games that are, in my hopefully shared opinion, pale, watered down comparisons of their original forms under the guise of "accesability"? Did not Nintendo ALWAYS try to "bring it" in the graphics and innovations with controller schematics? Why do folks say nintendo was never about the graphics? That couldnt be further than the truth. From the NES much higher res graphics to its predesesors to the SNES with its mode 7 and colour pallete of 32.0000, 256 displayable, to N64 with graphics provided by silicon graphics inc to even Gamecube with its many hardware graphical features and supremley balanced archetechture that held its on and even betterd the more powerful original xbox graphicaly. Why did Nintendo feel they had to lose their teeth and claws to bring forth new control method? That was never a comprimise for the previous systems,so why the Wii? I love nintendo but they where better when Hiroshi Yamuachi was pressident. His only slip up was to turn his back on SQUARE. My argument is that not only have they gone lite on hard ware muscle, but even on what held them previously aloof from the competition...gameplay.
Ever heard of the Return key?!
USE IT!
I personally don't think Nintendo have, as you say "Lost their teeth and claws". From what Miyamoto-san was saying, I surmise that Nintendo are just biding their time to see where the current HD technology leads, whilst in the meantime focusing more on entertaining and yes accessible gaming that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Bringing the family back into the enjoyment of playing games together and enjoying one another’s company and competitiveness is surely one of Nintendo's greatest success stories. If that means that they lose a little graphical fidelity, then that has to be the trade off for the time being. That's not to say that their games aren't as accessible or engaging as the those on the next gens.
Between the DS and the Wii Nintendo have shaken up an industry that you would have thought would be dominated by these so called super consoles. But even with all the fancy bells and whistles they haven't been able to match the success and now you see Sony and MS trying to pick up on the benchmarks that Nintendo have set.
The Gamecube as good as it was and even with a dedicated fanbase and some stunning games, wasn't the most successful system in comparison with the others of that generation so I guess with that in mind you could speculate that Nintendo were wary of investing millions in producing an Xbox360 or PS3 beater only to find themselves in the same situation all over again.
I see what you are saying, but the days of facing off against a singular foe are long gone.
A respectable response to my Nintendo woe's...thanks! i was actually expecting digs and jibes from smirking ps3 and 360 fanboys! (though, i have a 360 with 14 games) Thanks for opening my eyes, i never considerd the big N to have felt that badly burnt last gen with the gamecube that they felt it too much a financial risk to keepup/better the graphical capabilities this gen, but even though i moan and groan about graphics (in a argument about games, graphics are subjective whilst gamplay is less subjective and more geared toward ones personal taste, you cant logicaly tell me i dont like chocolate because you dont, but i can say these graphics are better than those) i still maintain my other point that nintendo has gotten "lite" with the gameplay. And i refuse to believe its for accesability, i think it realy IS because they lost their creative edge not in the creating new content/ip but its implication. Nintendo was back in the day, accused of been VERY family orientated even childish. But has a real affectiardo of games, i bet you can testify that their games were accesable and yet more feindishly difficult when going for particular goals (speed running, least credits lost finding extra levels) but what has happened? Just why dont they handle their own licences? Metroid prime i was very pleased with, but could Nintendo have done it them selfs? i no longer have the faith to say yes, my argument is backed up by Mariokart double dash/Wii and to a lesser degree the DS version. on the home console versions the handling is waay to cloudy floaty floaty, and weapons based on yo track pos? how stupid! And letting other development houses do tha handling dont always work....Sega f-cked up F-Zero's physics cause they were sore about having to get out of the console race..and Nintendo gave em F-Zero to handle! Were was the sense in that!?
You've got me thinking now Glen....
Back in the days of the 8 and 16bits consoles, developers had to be much more creative. They didn't have third party engines and lighting modules and all the tools and trickery we have today. It was a few guys in an office punching out lines of code and the methods used were experimental to say the least (The interview with Jeff Minter this month or previous interviews with the old schools greatest practitioners, will give you great insight into this).
I have to agree with you that the level of creativity used to produce wonderful games in older environments has certainly been lost to the more efficient present day techniques. Although it's a logical progression, the old school as paved way for the new, you couldn't ever have one without the other. Interestingly, you see the rise of games like Shadow Complex, Trails HD and Invincible Tiger. On playing them you become instantly reminiscent of games like Contra, Excitebike and Kung Fu on the NES.
You're again correct in saying there is noticeable difference in the difficultly over accessibility. In the same way you could look at developers being more creative with their code, you could say the same for gamers, being more creative with their gameplay. You take a look at some obsessives like Steve Wiebe, I watched King of Kong (awesome film by the way) and saw his working out a system of beating Donkey Kong Jr. and he's by no mean the only example, just the most obvious.
I think the level of dedication, that was once expected to beat games has been pushed out and the challenge aspect dumbed down. I think primarily because no present day publisher actually wants you playing the same game for months on end or putting them down because the challenge is too great. They ideally like you to buying a new title on a monthly basis, so they've made them easier. To be more palatable to a mass audience, unlike the army of geeks that it once was. The challenge is still there through achievements, points and trophies, but it all feels much more manufactured and certainly less subtle. When your devouring games at a rate of say, one a day (in the extreme), something is wrong.
With this consumerist attitude in mind, you have to consider that it may be to the detriment of the gamer and the overall fidelity of gameplay and story line. But times have changed, the majority of gamers don't want overly elaborate and some times convoluted story lines and I think this maybe is why that a lot of games production has become very similar to that of producing movies.
I know from experience, how frustrating it is to get to the end of a game, having played it over a number of days. Been given some integral piece of story and not remembering what had happened to get us to that point. There has to be a balance and I guess that over the last few years developers have been trying to find it. There is along way to go and thankfully we are by no means at the pinnacle of gaming just yet.
The market has changed and although there are still avenues for more classic styles of gameplay and design. It has most definitely been pushed to the side, through the various online networks classic games like Castlevania, Mega man and Metal Slug (to name but a few) live on, seemingly as popular as ever.
Firstly WALL O TEXT!!!
Secondly, i can understand your point about Nintendo and graphics. However when Nintendo were pushing graphical technology forward it was to enhance the gameplay experience, for example Starfox would not have been possible without a graphical upgrade, the same goes for Mario 64.
Graphics nowadays have become more about poly-counts and HD images which dont re`lly add to game play in the same way
The man speaks sense, hence why he is a legend