Iconic game designer and happy-go-lucky scamp Shigeru Miyamoto doesn’t care much about online gaming, despite the fact that Sony and Microsoft fall over themselves to conquer the Internet. For the Nintendo vassal, the focus is on entertainment first, whether it’s online or off.
“It is often said that Nintendo was rather late in advancing into the network world,” states Miyamoto. “Actually we simply wanted to take sufficient time to make it a proper business, and make it as comfortable an environment as possible for consumers.
“Starting from the launch of the Wii, we became more proactive. I think it is obvious that when everyone is connected online, there will be enormous opportunity for me to create something really unique. But my job is to try to entertain as many people as possible, and I see all Wii owners as the audience. Of course, we have Mario Kart, which can be played online by multiple people. So we are gradually expanding the experiences using the internet, but my own personal focus is to try to entertain people, even if they are not connected to the internet. That is my first priority.”
I’ll say one thing for Nintendo, it’s a company that plays to its strengths. Rather than try and copy Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has been busy focusing on stuff it knows it can do properly. Ironic that everybody (myself included) thought Nintendo was slow to follow MS and Sony into online gaming, yet it’s MS and Sony who are now desperately trying to copy the Wii.
The other two companies should copy Nintendo in one regard only — realizing what their strengths are and building on those, rather than clumsily plugging up weaknesses.
Nintendo’s gaming guru on the recession, innovation and the Wii [The Economist via CVG]
