Iwata returns once again for another throw down with lead developers of Nintendo’s current major games. Today that game is Link’s Crossbow Training which has just been released in Japan (May 1st). Though the title doesn’t hold much meat, it’s not such a bad little arcade-like shooter. In this session Miyamoto reveals several unknown topics including his love for FPS games, the need for epic titles, reasons for the zapper, and much more. A snippet from the interview concerning FPS titles…

Miyamoto: I see. Well, where should I start? I’ve always been into first person shooter³ (FPS) style games, 3D games in which you can walk around freely and see things from your own point of view.

Iwata: And why do you like those games?

Miyamoto: I think it is more comfortable, more natural. We are creatures of habit. We don’t look at our feet when we’re walking around, and we’re always trying desperately to take in the scenery while we’re living our lives. So, even in these games I want people to be able to get really into the 3D geography, so it feels like you’re really there, since I think it’s a really natural thing to be able to look around while you’re walking. At first when we were developing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time⁴, I even proposed using a first-person perspective.

Iwata: Ocarina of Time from a first-person perspective!?

Miyamoto goes on to tell of his large support for GoldenEye 007. Crazy, eh? Click over to read the entire three page interview, and get a glimpse at some Wii Zapper prototypes (wire and rubber bands).

After a near-miss last year (what is a “near-miss” anyway?), Nintendo savant Shigeru Miyamoto has topped the TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World list.

TIME asked who you thought should be on the list of the 100 most influential people of the year. Over 200 candidates were given a rating of 1 to 100. And your #1 choice? Shigeru Miyamoto! The video game designer had almost 2 million votes, over 300,000 more than runner-up, Rain. After a tight race at the top, Stephen Colbert came in third place with close to 900,000 votes.

Here’s the winning profile, and here’s to Miyamoto! Omedetou gozaimasu!

[Thanks, Ken!]

Is this what happens after Miyamoto gets fired?

link

Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto realizes there are parallels to be drawn between Wii Fit and real, live actual exercise, so he wants to make sure you understand that there’s no substitute for going outside and “moving around.”

“Spending too long, staying in and playing any video game is not good,” said Miyamoto. “I always tell my children to get out on a sunny day and I, myself, went jogging in Central Park yesterday. But I do my stretching on Wii Fit. They work together.”

This is just a sample of what amounts to a pretty good interview with Miyamoto. Take a look when you get the chance. Another sample: “Web-enabled Wii Fit Balance boards will be hooked up to the internet to enable users to compete live against anyone, anywhere. If Miyamoto has his way, we’ll all be doing press-ups at dawn and comparing ourselves with millions of others.”

[Times Online]

A Harvest Moon Wii tractor pull? A real-life F-Zero supersonic racing circuit at the Bonneville Salt Flats? Mario juicing for his upcoming Super Mario Sluggers baseball promotion?

Nintendo will hold a pretty cool marketing promotion in NYC tomorrow as a man dressed as Mario hails cabs for Manhattanites, free of charge. What follows are just a few of the wild new Nintendo marketing promotion ideas I would like to see the Big N implement for some of their other first party games in 2008.

See what I mean after the jump and add one of your own.

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The Nintendo Trinity just took the top three spots on Game Rankings? I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Shigeru Miyamoto’s birthday than that.

On Friday, the master of all things Nintendo turned 55. More than half a century old, and he’s still pumping out masterclass games and influencing a billion dollar industry? Pretty amazing.

We wish him well, and we hope for many more years of Nintendo innovation to come!

For as much as I despise delays (especially when they are for strategic reasons), this wise and famous quote by Shiggy really puts things into perspective.

A delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is bad forever.

Oh, and you’re a jaded Som’B if you don’t like Miyamoto…

In the middle of TIME Magazine’s ten questions with Shigeru Miyamoto I noticed this question from Shabaab in Maryland:

Many criticize the reuse of franchises like Mario. Do you prefer to create new characters or work with old ones? —Shabaab Kamal, BETHESDA, MD.

I try not so much to create new characters and worlds but to create new game-play experiences. If a new experience is better suited to a new type of character or world than one of our existing franchises, then we might create a new character or world around it.

Why did I notice it? Because throughout the years I’ve heard hundreds of people moan about how there’s another Mario title on the way, or how Zelda should hang up her hip hugging gowns and tell Link to rescue some other damsel in distress for once.

Thing is, you’re going to continue to see franchise IP pumped out by Nintendo for as long as they exist, and that’s a good thing. (more…)

Whatever your thoughts on Wii, Business 2.0 seems to think its innovator is one of the 50 most influencial persons in business right now. Not Iwata, not Reggie, but the man we sometimes call, Shigditty, or just Shiggy. From the article:

By marketing the Wii aggressively to 25-to 49-year-olds, Miyamoto is breathing new life into a $30 billion industry that was starting to stagnate.

I still can’t decided if Iwata is the father of Wii or Miyamoto. Regardless, low-tech is the new hi-tech for now.

There was a question posed this weekend on Infendo radio of who has had more of an impact on Nintendo, Reggie or Miyamoto. My initial answer was that since being hired in 2003 Reggie has been the driving force for the rebirth of Nintendo and is the reason I am here so for me Reggie is the impact player at Nintendo. So a day goes by and I am watching my girlfriend play Super Paper Mario. I ask her which of the characters she enjoys plaing more and while I assume her answer would be Princess Peach (she always leans towards the female characters) she responded withour hesitation “Mario”.
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In speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Miyamoto-San talks about using games to tackle social issues and his approach to designing software. Here are some choice questions, but be sure to hit the source link for the full, interesting interview:

Have there been games that you thought would be fun but didn’t turn out that way?
Yes, that has definitely happened. In the past we’ve worked with some outside development houses on titles like F-Zero and Starfox — and let me just say that we were disappointed with the results… to be honest with you, Zelda: Twilight Princess is not doing very well at all in Japan. It is very disappointing. But it is doing okay here in America.

(more…)

TIME had their fun a week or so ago, and asked Internet users to navigate the tubes and nominate who they thought was the most important person of the year.

According to Internet voters, who are comprised of anyone from Average Joe to Man in his underpants, Miyamoto got 9th overall. He was bested by the likes of Sanjaya Malakar, Harry Potter author and billionaire J.K. Rowlings, and 24’s Kiefer Sutherland (who threatened torture if he did not make the top 10).

However, in the list that counted, Miyamoto got a more modest 92 out of 100. His pithy bio was written by none other than Fatal1ty, a man who’s made far more money than is decent or necessary playing video games.

OK, so some of us gamers are trying to get Shigeru Miyamoto onto TIME’s Top 100 people list because we think he’s important and we’re not worthy, etc. etc. But is he $2,157 important?

That’s right. The gold SP above sold for $2,157 on April 16 to some “lucky” eBayer. Worth it? I have no idea, but here’s hoping the seller uses some of that scratch to buy a camera with a working flash.

TIME is accepting votes for the “100 most influential people in the world today… spanning politics, business, the arts, science and more,” for their TIME 100 list. Nintendo’s Miyamoto is a candidate and you can vote for him here if you dig what he does. Note: the blogger in me must curb your enthusiasm by reminding you that this is a list for the most important 100 people. But hey, if you think Shiggy has the artist skills to pay the bills, have at it.

Disclosure: I voted for him. (Me = Fanboy)

GamePro has a nice ‘lil interview with Shiggy regarding his thoughts on the Wii so far. Here are some choice snippets:

“I prepared myself for the possibility that Wii might face an uphill battle in America, so to see that it has become this big of a hit is something I wasn’t particularly expecting… There are other enhancements to the Wii interface and developments being planned that are going to really make games for hardcore players a lot more fun and interesting… A lot of people have the misunderstanding that Nintendo is not interested in network gaming.”

Even Shiggy had his doubts, new stuff for hardcores is on its way, and maybe, just maybe, Nintendo is really serious about network play despite all this friend code madness. Woot!