Author Topic: Miyamoto: "I'm retiring, and by that I mean I'm not retiring." (Read 2668 times)

Himu · « **on:** December 07, 2011, 09:44:51 PM »

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/12/miyamoto-interview/

Quote

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda will step down from his current position at Nintendo but remain with the company to work on smaller, more personal projects, Wired.com has learned.

In an exclusive interview with Wired.com on Wednesday, the 59-year-old head of Nintendo’s game design department said that he will move away from supervising the development of massive games like this year’s Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land, passing the torch to the younger designers in the company and working on projects that won’t take as long to complete.

“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” Miyamoto said through his interpreter. “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position.”

“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” Miyamoto said. “Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”

Miyamoto said that he’s hoping to start work on a project in 2012, and hopefully show the game off publicly within the year.

“In other words, I’m not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time,” he said.

Miyamoto, whose creations propelled Nintendo to worldwide prominence beginning with 1981′s arcade game Donkey Kong and who is generally recognized as the world’s most influential and creative game designer, said he felt comfortable stepping away from supervising the Mario and Zelda games because his staff has done such a good job with this year’s critically acclaimed entries in both series.

“I’m saying this because I have a solid reaction from the existing teams,” he said. “I was able to nurture the developers inside Nintendo who were able to create something like this or something like that,” he said, gesturing to banners in the interview room in Nintendo’s office that showed the logos of Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land.

The reason Miyamoto keeps telling the younger developers that he’s going to retire is to send the message that he won’t always be around for them to work with.

“The reason why I’m stressing that is that unless I say that I’m retiring, I cannot nurture the young developers,” he said. “After all, if I’m there in my position as it is, then there’s always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today.”

As for himself, Miyamoto seemed eager to get to work on his new ideas with a smaller, younger staff.

“Anyway, I’m interested in doing a variety of many other things,” he said with his usual cryptic smile.

Wired.com’s full interview with Miyamoto, including his thoughts on Skyward Sword, making Mario Kart 7 with a Western development team, 3-D gaming, cell phones and more on the future of games, will be published next week.

About time.

TakingBackSunday · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:48:43 PM »

He isn't really retiring though. But this is ultimately great news for the Zelda and Mario franchises. Hopefully we seem some pretty crazy ideas from those games in the coming years.

Himu · « **Reply #2 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:50:09 PM »

He's retiring from his figurehead position, right? That's good news. Hence, about time, so he can concentrate on makin' games.

archie4208 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:50:09 PM »

Maybe Nintendo can finally create new IPs and not regurgitate their 30 year old franchises.

Ah who am I kidding.

iconoclast · « **Reply #4 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:50:53 PM »

He's been irrelevant since Pikmin anyway.

brob · « **Reply #5 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:51:40 PM »

“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” Miyamoto said through his interpreter. “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position.”

what a tease

Sho Nuff · « **Reply #6 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:53:25 PM »

Wait, Miyamoto has been working since the N64 era?

cool breeze · « **Reply #7 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:55:46 PM »

his work has been a lot of "why am I using my brain? fuck are reflexes? fix this shit, lackies."

make mole mania 2 [/gaf post]

TakingBackSunday · « **Reply #8 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:56:13 PM »

Quote from: archie4208 on December 07, 2011, 09:50:09 PM

Maybe Nintendo can finally create new IPs and not regurgitate their 30 year old franchises.

Ah who am I kidding.

Stick to what sells. Nintendo franchises sell. It's not hard to understand why main Nintendo teams hardly ever branch out and make truly NEW games.

They're role as a publisher needs to expand for that to happen.

Himu · « **Reply #9 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:57:00 PM »

Quote from: BrandNew on December 07, 2011, 09:56:13 PM

Quote from: archie4208 on December 07, 2011, 09:50:09 PM
Maybe Nintendo can finally create new IPs and not regurgitate their 30 year old franchises.

Ah who am I kidding.

Stick to what sells. Nintendo franchises sell. It's not hard to understand why main Nintendo teams hardly ever branch out and make truly NEW games.

They're role as a publisher needs to expand for that to happen.

but when they make new games aren't they usually hits? I mean, stuff like Animal Crossing and Pikmin were pretty popular, right? Then there's stuff like Wario Ware.

Tasty · « **Reply #10 on:** December 07, 2011, 09:58:46 PM »

If he made a bunch of new IPs for 3DS it would be fricking awesome. I'm all for this.

Kohler trolling for hits with that title.

TakingBackSunday · « **Reply #11 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:00:37 PM »

All of those games were made around 2000. And I think based on the numbers, each of those series' recent entries have sold pretty blah.

The only franchise out of those I see having any great success down the line is Wario Ware, because it fits Nintendo's latest success model. I think Pikmin is pretty much dead, no matter how much people want Pikmin 3.

cool breeze · « **Reply #12 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:02:31 PM »

There's nothing wrong with Nintendo reusing its old properties, but it's crazy conservative about trying anything new to the point of reshaping new ideas to fit into those properties; Epic Yawn and whatnot.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but at a time Rare created a bunch of new faces for Nintendo. People thought Retro was going to be the new Rare, only Retro has just been stuck on the same old. To be fair, something happened and Rare was forced to implant StarFox into Dinosaur Planet. But if Nintendo was acting this way on the N64, Jet Force Gemini would probably be a Metroid game or something.

pilonv1 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:05:32 PM »

Maybe he can make some iOS games. It would be great to see him working on current generation hardware for once.

Human Snorenado · « **Reply #14 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:33:40 PM »

I can't wait until he moves into an old folks home and we get games inspired by his adventures there.

Bebpo · « **Reply #15 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:36:51 PM »

Probably embarrassed about Skyward Sword

Anyhow, this gen sucks. Killed IREM, Killed Pandemic, Killed Miyamoto, Killed SquareEnix, Killed Konami, Killed Capcom, and it's looking like it killed Team Ico.

Great Rumbler · « **Reply #16 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:40:14 PM »

Killed Gust

Brehvolution · « **Reply #17 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:47:39 PM »

iconoclast · « **Reply #18 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:49:53 PM »

Might kill Cave too if they don't start making some arcade/console shooters soon. Actually I'd rather see Cave die than have them go on to become a visual novel / phone / handheld developer. Go out with some dignity. :'(

brob · « **Reply #19 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:05:24 PM »

Quote from: iconoclast on December 07, 2011, 10:49:53 PM

Might kill Cave too if they don't start making some arcade/console shooters soon. Actually I'd rather see Cave die than have them go on to become a visual novel / phone / handheld developer. Go out with some dignity. :'(

they also talked about making games for kintect so at least there's that. I'm sure nin2 jump brain turned out real awesome.

tiesto · « **Reply #20 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:08:26 PM »

Quote from: Bebpo on December 07, 2011, 10:36:51 PM

Probably embarrassed about Skyward Sword

Anyhow, this gen sucks. Killed IREM, Killed Pandemic, Killed Miyamoto, Killed SquareEnix, Killed Konami, Killed Capcom, and it's looking like it killed Team Ico.

Yup, this is the worst generation pre-NES. Even though I don't know who Pandemic is.

iconoclast · « **Reply #21 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:12:01 PM »

Quote from: Brobzoid on December 07, 2011, 11:05:24 PM

Quote from: iconoclast on December 07, 2011, 10:49:53 PM
Might kill Cave too if they don't start making some arcade/console shooters soon. Actually I'd rather see Cave die than have them go on to become a visual novel / phone / handheld developer. Go out with some dignity. :'(

they also talked about making games for kintect so at least there's that. I'm sure nin2 jump brain turned out real awesome.

They considered Nin2 Jump a success actually (I'm not sure why, it looks like it sold horribly). But at least that game was only $5, and had a fun score attack mode (with a scoring system designed by Ichimura, of Ketsui/Death Smiles fame).

Instant Brain on the other hand seems to have bombed. Thankfully. But I'm pretty sure someone said they're going to keep making VNs... probably because they take no effort and cost little money. $:-\$

MCD · « **Reply #22 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:12:20 PM »

He is dying, isn't he?

brob · « **Reply #23 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:15:46 PM »

Quote from: iconoclast on December 07, 2011, 11:12:01 PM

They considered Nin2 Jump a success actually (I'm not sure why, it looks like it sold horribly). But at least that game was only $5, and had a fun score attack mode (with a scoring system designed by Ichimura, of Ketsui/Death Smiles fame).

Instant Brain on the other hand seems to have bombed. Thankfully. But I'm pretty sure someone said they're going to keep making VNs... probably because they take no effort and cost little money. $:-\$

cave always couches their "it sold well" by calling it an experiment or whatever.

Deathsmiles 2: "As an experiment, it was pretty good for what we were expecting!"

Nin2-jump: "As an experiment with that particular genre, we consider it a success!"

fizzel · « **Reply #24 on:** December 07, 2011, 11:40:38 PM »

Probably working on 3DS shovelware...oh joy, "bite size gaming" snobs will continue to praise shit.

Quote from: tiesto on December 07, 2011, 11:08:26 PM

Yup, this is the worst generation pre-NES. Even though I don't know who Pandemic is.

They fudged Dark Reign 2, the sequel to one of the better RTS' back in the day.

Momo · « **Reply #25 on:** December 08, 2011, 12:40:35 AM »

Iwata : "Miyamoto-san, I'm concerned that we are becoming a company of 3 big franchises. How do we remedy this?"
Miyamoto : "Dunno, you figure it out CEO kun"
Iwata : "Hmm, lets create new IP"
Miwamoto "Good idea, the young ones on the forefront has a lot of awesome ideas!"
Iwata : "No, you're doing it"
Miyamoto :

Iwata:

(laughs)

Momo · « **Reply #26 on:** December 08, 2011, 01:22:29 AM »

Quote from: Oscar the Grouch on December 07, 2011, 11:09:36 PM

a shitty developer mourned by no one

He made that one game that one time though

MCD · « **Reply #27 on:** December 08, 2011, 01:34:50 AM »

Were you now?

Momo · « **Reply #28 on:** December 08, 2011, 01:58:39 AM »

Miyamoto's greatest game is Doki Doki Panic

Momo · « **Reply #29 on:** December 08, 2011, 02:36:53 AM »

Hence the smug face

Nintendo will be fine when Miyamoto really retires one day. No one man has a magical ability to create games from ether.

EDIT: I dont count Eric Chahi and Geoff Crammond as human.

Sho Nuff · « **Reply #30 on:** December 08, 2011, 03:14:18 AM »

Quote from: Momo on December 08, 2011, 01:58:39 AM

Miyamoto's greatest game is Doki Doki Panic

YES

Momo · « **Reply #31 on:** December 08, 2011, 03:35:31 AM »

tsk tsk journalism

Quote

Nintendo says Wired story on Miyamoto a misunderstanding, After shares dip 2%

tsk tsk journalism

Cormacaroni · « **Reply #32 on:** December 08, 2011, 03:36:38 AM »

Kohler is probably a victim there. I bet Miyamoto (and possibly Nintendo) was just floating the idea to see what the reaction would be. After the stock supposedly dropped 2% today, I'd imagine the board told him to have a nice warm cup of STFU and get back to work.

Trent Dole · « **Reply #33 on:** December 08, 2011, 04:22:21 AM »

Haha Kohler fucked their stock value up. Nice trolling, jackass.

Momo · « **Reply #34 on:** December 08, 2011, 04:30:28 AM »

Quote from: Count Drugula The Satanic on December 08, 2011, 04:27:03 AM

Nothing but good can come of this.

Yes. I selfishly want him to make a few more concepts from the scratch before he finally does retire.

magus · « **Reply #35 on:** December 08, 2011, 06:20:41 AM »

Quote from: Bebpo on December 07, 2011, 10:36:51 PM

Probably embarrassed about Skyward Sword

Anyhow, this gen sucks. Killed IREM, Killed Pandemic, Killed Miyamoto, Killed SquareEnix, Killed Konami, Killed Capcom, and it's looking like it killed Team Ico.

enjoy your lame western games now

Momo · « **Reply #36 on:** December 08, 2011, 06:33:27 AM »

This right here is what is making games journalism look like fucking amateur hour.

http://www.play-mag.co.uk/general/miyamoto-leaves-nintendo-takes-up-residence-at-sony-says-nonsense-report/

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #37 on:** December 08, 2011, 07:29:05 AM »

"I'm retiring! Except when I am not retiring, then I am retiring! I like the way the word sounds. Retiring. Sometimes, when I am retiring or not, I like to stretch out at my desk and just stare at the tops of my shiny shoes, and think about how fun it would be to retire and just shine shoes all day! And then it hit me - wouldn't that be a fun activity, to retire and shine all the shoes of our biggest game stars? Do you like toast? I love toast. I like it with a thin layer of grape jelly. Makes it shiny, like shoes. Sometimes it doesn't taste like grape, it tastes like purple. I can't sleep unless I've had my purple. Eating jelly toast, shining shoes, retiring."

FALL 2012

MARIO JELLY SHOESHINE RETIREMENT PARTY FOR WII U

tiesto · « **Reply #38 on:** December 08, 2011, 08:45:31 AM »

Nooooo, now I'll never get Wii Music 2

Cormacaroni · « **Reply #39 on:** December 08, 2011, 11:08:30 AM »

Then again the whole thing could be down to crappy translation/interpretation. 'I'm going to retire...someday!' and 'This is my last day at the office!' are practically the same thing in Japanese, depending how you phrase it.

Rman · « **Reply #40 on:** December 08, 2011, 11:57:09 PM »

Great career. Simply the best.

SantaC · « **Reply #41 on:** December 09, 2011, 03:24:30 AM »

wish he retired for real, and take Aonuma with him.

Momo · « **Reply #42 on:** December 09, 2011, 03:34:05 AM »

Quote from: Rman on December 08, 2011, 11:57:09 PM

Great career. Simply the best.

I would argue that Toru Iwatani has more of a "creating games from craziness" vibe than moto san

Momo · « **Reply #43 on:** December 09, 2011, 08:16:31 AM »

Guy that made pacman

Owl-faced Wizard · « **Reply #44 on:** December 09, 2011, 09:00:40 AM »

Iwatani didn't do a whole lot after Libble Rabble (which I like a lot) - or before for that matter. Namco was awesome back in the 80s though - them, Taito and Atari (before they went to shit after '83) were the best arcade game makers.
I don't think I fully understand what Miyamoto did ... I used to think I did, but now I'm not so sure. Obviously he gets credit for Donkey Kong (which I respect but don't really enjoy) tho after that it's much harder to figure out who did what at Nintendo. Anybody know a few specific gameplay ideas he came up with? For people I do know what specific things they did, Fukio Mitsuji (Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands) is really awesome. Dave Theurer too.

Oblivion · « **Reply #45 on:** December 09, 2011, 05:27:28 PM »

These are games Miyamoto was officially credited as director:

-Super Mario bros.
-Legend of Zelda
-Excite Bike
-Donkey Kong
-Popeye
-Mario 64

I believe it was after he completed Zelda, that he got promoted to producer, and here's where it gets kinda iffy exactly how much he's been involved. From interviews, it seems like he's had a pretty big hand (like ~50%) in the following games:

-Super Mario Bros. 2 USA (I don't think Miyamoto was involved at all in SMB2 JP)
-Super Mario Bros. 3
-Super Mario World
-Zelda: Link to the Past
-Starfox
-Yoshi's Island
-Super Mario Galaxy
-Zelda: OoT
-Pikmin
-Wii Music
-Wii Fit
-New Super Mario Bros. Wii

For pretty much anything else the extent of his involvement in development probably consisted of him playing Sudoku while everyone else was working.

cool breeze · « **Reply #46 on:** December 11, 2011, 11:32:13 PM »

turns out Miyamoto is just taking a break to do research for Wii U Music

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

Phoenix Dark · « **Reply #47 on:** December 12, 2011, 12:39:23 AM »

I'm no Nintendo fan, but I think overall this is good news. Miyamoto didn't seem to do well as a general overseer. I like the idea of him doing something smaller and different. Likewise, I like the idea of Nintendo's younger developers being able to do stuff without an outdated old man making them change things.

chronovore · « **Reply #48 on:** December 12, 2011, 04:11:06 AM »

Quote from: Dr. Feelbad on December 08, 2011, 07:29:05 AM

"I'm retiring! Except when I am not retiring, then I am retiring! I like the way the word sounds. Retiring. Sometimes, when I am retiring or not, I like to stretch out at my desk and just stare at the tops of my shiny shoes, and think about how fun it would be to retire and just shine shoes all day! And then it hit me - wouldn't that be a fun activity, to retire and shine all the shoes of our biggest game stars? Do you like toast? I love toast. I like it with a thin layer of grape jelly. Makes it shiny, like shoes. Sometimes it doesn't taste like grape, it tastes like purple. I can't sleep unless I've had my purple. Eating jelly toast, shining shoes, retiring."

FALL 2012

MARIO JELLY SHOESHINE RETIREMENT PARTY FOR WII U

You joke, but Famitsuu would give that 39/40.

Momo · « **Reply #49 on:** December 12, 2011, 10:49:29 AM »

Quote from: Phoenix Dark on December 12, 2011, 12:39:23 AM

I'm no Nintendo fan, but I think overall this is good news. Miyamoto didn't seem to do well as a general overseer. I like the idea of him doing something smaller and different. Likewise, I like the idea of Nintendo's younger developers being able to do stuff without an outdated old man making them change things.

WHAT YOU GAVE THIS CHARACTER A NAME? DID I NOT SAY NO STORY IN THIS GAME?

brob · « **Reply #50 on:** December 12, 2011, 11:46:20 AM »

the minimal story in nintendo games is my favorite thing about them.

originalz · « **Reply #51 on:** December 13, 2011, 06:58:54 PM »

Nah man we need more epic stories by 3rd-rate fanfiction writers with deep character development and unexpected plot twists! Make sure that the game is loaded up with pace-breaking cinematic sequences. Hell, make them unskippable while you're at it! How dare the gamer try to not pay attention to our brilliant vision!

Great Rumbler · « **Reply #52 on:** December 13, 2011, 07:33:06 PM »

Quote from: originalz on December 13, 2011, 06:58:54 PM

Nah man we need more epic stories by 3rd-rate fanfiction writers with deep character development and unexpected plot twists!

Bioware?

brob · « **Reply #53 on:** December 13, 2011, 07:35:29 PM »

the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby the baby

News:

Author Topic: Miyamoto: "I'm retiring, and by that I mean I'm not retiring." (Read 2668 times)