Miyamoto On Mario Kart DS Wi-Fi, Nibris and More... News
Chris Leyton
17/03/2006
Miyamoto's WebChat appearance has recently concluded, TVG takes a look at what the "great man" had to say...
To avoid the humiliation of an interviewer who obviously knows nothing about his subject (let alone how to handle a DS Lite), along with the irreverence of the "great mans" work being condensed into a handful of DS titles, we thought it easier to bring you the best from a recent WebChat interview with Shigeru Miyamoto.
Nintendo fans desperate for further information on the Revolution are in for some disappointment, as Miyamoto responded with the typical comments when covering such questions as third-party support and describing experiments currently underway to make Mario jump and Link swing his sword. The interview however, based on tens of thousands of submitted questions from Nintendo fans across Europe, did reveal a number of interesting points.
Promising that the NEW Super Mario Bros is an attempt to return to the simplicity of the series, a time before Mario found himself in 3D and experimenting with water cannons, it's obvious that Nintendo hopes to rekindle some of the magic that originally found Mario in more than 40 million homes.
When asked whether he plays Mario Kart DS over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, an evidently amused Miyamoto-san confessed to an embarrassing defeat and implied that he's never been back since - are hardcore gamers spoiling the fun for even the great man himself?
Responding to a bizarre question concerning Mario's plump stature, Miyamoto-san suggested that perhaps the iconic plumber needs more of a work-out in the recent derivative sport spin-offs, so more Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Smash Football on the way it seems.
Perhaps the most intriguing question of the event, for the fanboys at least, surrounded whether independent developers such as Nibris and Crossbeam Studios, would receive support for the Revolution. Referring to the DS touch screen and Brain Training as an example of "small" ideas that can become popular, Miyamoto-san refused to speak specifically on the two studios but claimed Nintendo is always trying to help smaller developers. The only problem being, as far as we can see, is that both developers have ideas for slightly more "grandiose" designs in more of the traditional sense of a videogame, rather then the ideas that propelled such titles as Brain Training and WarioWare.
An evidently proud Miyamoto-san displayed his recent accolade in the form of the Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, awarded earlier in the week by the French Misitry of Culture. Ackowledging the award on behalf of the many people he has worked with during the last 20 years, Miyamoto-san thanked the French government for recongising videogames as a form of art and culutre - just a shame certain other countries have a hard time accepting such a notion!
When asked about the future of videogames, Miyamoto-san made intriguing mentions towards GPS devices and satellites, confirming Nintendo's vision of digital downloads which is set to begin with the Revolution's Virtual Console.