Shigeru Miyamoto Says His Rivals Are Boring, Samey

[Steven Bogos]

Shigeru Miyamoto Says His Rivals Are Boring, Samey

Miyamoto is disappointed with his rivals in the video game industry, saying that while they practice good business sense, "It's boring."

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is undeniably one of the most creative minds in the industry, having created classic franchises such as Mario and Zelda, as well as newer, unique oddities such as Pikmin. So, when he says that the games industry is too "samey" and "boring," people tend to believe he knows what he's talking about. In an interview with The Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11201171/nintendo-super-mario-pikmin-tokyo-film-festival-mandarin-oriental-tokyo-sega-mario-kart-zelda-wii-oculus-rift.html], Miyamoto called out his rivals in the games industry, stating that while they are making smart moves business-wise, it makes for a boring, samey, industry.

"What the other companies are doing makes business sense," Miyamoto said. "But it's boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo, we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before."

Miyamoto is no doubt referring to the rise of cross-platform games, and how it is quite common for triple A titles to appear on all three major systems (PC, Xbox One, and PS4), if not more. This generation in particular has seen "exclusives" dwindle to a mere handful.

The legendary developer also takes a not-so-subtle dig at the current trend of studios making games more "cinematic" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/9798-Ubisoft-Assassins-Creed-Unity-Locked-Framerate]. He worries that the video game business is now so hung up on providing film-like experiences, with grand themes and complex storylines, that the essence of play is being lost.

"They want to tell stories that will touch people's hearts. And while I understand that desire, the trend worries me. It should be the experience, that is touching. What I strive for is to make the person playing the game the director," Miyamoto explained.

Source: The Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11201171/nintendo-super-mario-pikmin-tokyo-film-festival-mandarin-oriental-tokyo-sega-mario-kart-zelda-wii-oculus-rift.html]


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[Karadalis]

"But it's boring. The same games appear on every system."

Now thats a laugh... seeing how nintendo is recycling old games over and over and over, from final fantasy to their own zelda games.

Furthermore allways having another pokemon game with the same old gameplay, another mario jump and run, another smash bros and another zelda and Metroid game around the corner.

Now not every one of those games is boring per say, but they are predictable and well over their prime. Heck.. the PS vita is outselling the Wii U in japan... the bloody PS VITA!

So perhaps Mr Myamoto you should be a tad more humble instead of going of the deep end recently and insulting the entire industry just because no one wants to develope for your shitty console that allways has to be the special snowflake thats even further burdened by your companies less then stellar performance with anyone who is not crapcom or sega.

 

[Signa]

He's right, you know. While Nintendo games do have a bit of sameyness to themselves, each new iteration is usually created to showcase a new feature that the hardware it's based for, and the sameyness stays within each franchise. The rest of the AAA industry is just one big pile of sameness regardless of franchise. Hell, Unreal Tournament III and Gears of War have the exact same protagonist. It all feels the same!

 

[Roxas1359]

I half agree with Miyamoto on this one. The lack of first party titles on competitor's systems makes me sad, which is why I've not gotten a PS4 or an Xbox One yet. Sony is sitting on a treasure trove of first party titles that they just seem to be neglecting, which is sad. We could have MediEvil 3, Ape Escape 4, another Parapa the Rappa, but those seem to be neglected. Maybe someday. Hell just do an HD remake of say the Ape Escape series for the PS4. Ape Escape is extremely popular in Japan and it'd be great if more kid games made it to the newest system. For right now I'm just waiting for the newest Ratchet and Clank game by Insomniac that comes out next year before I buy one.

As for what I don't agree with, it's Miyamoto's constant anti-story in gaming. He really is not a fan of story's in games, despite them being necessary in some (JRPGs for example). I again point to what happened with Paper Mario Sticker Star as that game is definitely a low point in that entire franchise. Good thing Dream Team was good, if only a little bit too easy. (unless you are playing hard mode in which prepare for many game overs)

 

[FalloutJack]

Fella, if you weren't 'exclusively' in Japan, I would punch you because that line of thinking kept me from further Oddworld titles, the last Destroy All Humans game, SKIES OF ARCADIA, and more. Exclusives piss me off sometimes. I'm not buying an X-Box ever, but there ARE some pretty nice games on the thing. I haven't bought anything Nintendo other than a Gameboy, and not lately either. Suddenly, I'm very glad I chose to exclusively go with other systems...just so you don't get money from me!

 

[Elvis Starburst]

"But it's boring. The same games appear on every system."

Now thats a laugh... seeing how nintendo is recycling old games over and over and over, from final fantasy to their own zelda games.

Furthermore allways having another pokemon game with the same old gameplay, another mario jump and run, another smash bros and another zelda and Metroid game around the corner.

Now not every one of those games is boring per say, but they are predictable and well over their prime. Heck.. the PS vita is outselling the Wii U in japan... the bloody PS VITA!

So perhaps Mr Myamoto you should be a tad more humble instead of going of the deep end recently and insulting the entire industry just because no one wants to develope for your shitty console that allways has to be the special snowflake thats even further burdened by your companies less then stellar performance with anyone who is not crapcom or sega.

*Insert obvious spew bout Nintendo here* Yeah, sure. Last time I checked, Nintendo at least spread their games out enough that some good, new ideas could be put into play a bit better. How many times do you see a yearly Zelda? A yearly Mario? Yearly anything Nintendo 1st party? Nothing, right? That's the difference. Other companies like Ubisoft are happy to ship out yearly games with absolutely no effort to make them good. AC Unity, anyone? It's thanks to that much that Nintendo's games are solid experiences, not broken and marred by massive slowdown, insane glitches like missing faces on NPC's, and all else.

Nintendo may make many games in their franchises, but isn't that the point? For a franchise to have MANY games? At least Nintendo has the decency to calm their tits and take their time to make sure their 1st party titles are quality, not an abysmal mess that requires day 1 patches and junk like that.

/rant >.>

OT: Like a few above me, I agree with him. For the above mentioned rant wall as my reasons

 

[TheMightyMeekling]

Are you sure this isn't a mistranslation again? I am just asking, because the last time A Miyamoto statement was reported, it was mistranslated.

If it isn't, well, maybe thats a bit hypocritical of him, but the current AAA games are way to similar. The AAA games from then and before were likely also similar, but whatever.

 

[Pickapok]

"But it's boring. The same games appear on every system."

Now thats a laugh... seeing how nintendo is recycling old games over and over and over, from final fantasy to their own zelda games.

Furthermore allways having another pokemon game with the same old gameplay, another mario jump and run, another smash bros and another zelda and Metroid game around the corner.

Now not every one of those games is boring per say, but they are predictable and well over their prime. Heck.. the PS vita is outselling the Wii U in japan... the bloody PS VITA!

So perhaps Mr Myamoto you should be a tad more humble instead of going of the deep end recently and insulting the entire industry just because no one wants to develope for your shitty console that allways has to be the special snowflake thats even further burdened by your companies less then stellar performance with anyone who is not crapcom or sega.

This post reeks of fanboyism, allow me to disect it.

Now thats a laugh... seeing how nintendo is recycling old games over and over and over, from final fantasy to their own zelda games.

For one there hasn't been a new core-series Final Fantasy game released on a Nintendo console since Final Fantasy VI. Covering the broader point as a whole, re-releasing games for a new generation isn't "recycling." It's ensuring that old classics are available to new players, preserving the history of the medium. I for one thing that is very important

Furthermore allways having another pokemon game with the same old gameplay, another mario jump and run, another smash bros and another zelda and Metroid game around the corner.

This entire point is built on false assumptions. Every single pokemon game thus far has brought something new to the franchise in terms of gameplay or mechanics (sometimes both!). Mario games can differ vastly from each other. You can't possibly tell me that Super Mario Galaxy played the same way as Super Mario Sunshine or that New Super Mario Brothers Wii U played the same way as New Super Mario Brothers 2. They all bring new mechanics to the franchise and try new things. Likewise there is not a single Zelda game that doesn't offer a completely different experience from the last. Sure they all use the same basic set up with dungeons and problem solving, but each differs mechanically and thematically from each other. Last I checked, there wasn't a new Meroid on the way.

Now not every one of those games is boring per say, but they are predictable and well over their prime. Heck.. the PS vita is outselling the Wii U in japan... the bloody PS VITA!

What do sales numbers have to do with anything? As far as predictability, like I mentioned before each of the franchises you mentioned does new things that previous entries did not.

So perhaps Mr Myamoto you should be a tad more humble instead of going of the deep end recently and insulting the entire industry just because no one wants to develope for your shitty console that allways has to be the special snowflake thats even further burdened by your companies less then stellar performance with anyone who is not crapcom or sega.

Well that's just rude, and mostly projection anyway. Nothing really to refute here since it's just you slandering Miyamoto and forcing his words to fit your opinion of him.

People that think Nintendo isn't trying new things clearly don't pay attention. They innovate and experiment within their franchises all the time while ensuring that the old classics we used to play are still available to us. They even take risks on new IPs like with Pikmin back in the Gamecube days and Splatoon coming out next year.

Folks like you like to accuse Nintendo of rehashing the same games over and over again without really stopping to think about it. I hear stuff like that and then I look out at the yearly "Call of Duty"s, "Assassin's Creed"s and the HD remastered collections of Halo and other franchises. Nobody complains about those (with the exception of Assassin's Creed this year, but that's more for technical fuckups), nobody accuses those companies of milking franchises. What you are basically saying is that Nintendo shouldn't do franchises ever despite the fact that literally every other AAA developer and publisher relies on big name franchises to pay the bills.

 

[Rozalia1]

Nintendo's ring work has always been innovative and crisp so I agree with him if we're just talking the uppercard like he is (lower tier talent perform much wilder moves due to needing it to get crowd reaction). The other top performers need to learn that being at the top doesn't mean you should stick just to your 5 moves of doom, and perform on autopilot.
Throw in some other moves you don't often do to show off a bit.

 

[AntiChri5]

Fella, if you weren't 'exclusively' in Japan, I would punch you because that line of thinking kept me from further Oddworld titles, the last Destroy All Humans game, SKIES OF ARCADIA, and more. Exclusives piss me off sometimes. I'm not buying an X-Box ever, but there ARE some pretty nice games on the thing. I haven't board anything Nintendo other than a Gameboy, and not lately either. Suddenly, I'm very glad I chose to exclusively go with other systems...just so you don't get money from me!

Yeah, exclusives need to fuck off and die in a fire. I tend to interpret them as a massive "Fuck you!".

 

[Roxas1359]

I hear stuff like that and then I look out at the yearly "Call of Duty"s, "Assassin's Creed"s and the HD remastered collections of Halo and other franchises. Nobody complains about those (with the exception of Assassin's Creed this year, but that's more for technical fuckups), nobody accuses those companies of milking franchises.

Not that I agree with Karadalis' response, but you clearly have to be ignoring a lot of people who do complain about the year releases of those franchises. There are a slew of people who do that, even on this site, to where I don't know how you don't see it. It's not just Assassin's Creed and it's not just because of the technical screw-ups, a lot of people hate the yearly release schedule and make that very clear.

As for HD collections, those are actually rather nice things to have at times. Even Nintendo has done it more than once. They had All-Stars back on the SNES, and then ported it over to the Wii for Mario's 25th Anniversary. They also made one for Kirby's 20th Anniversary which included all the main series games from the first (Kirby's Dreamland) to the last one on the N64 (Kirby and the Crystal Shards). There was also the Metroid Prime Trilogy which ported 2 GameCube games to the Wii and gave them Wiimote support. Finally, there was the newest Wind Waker HD that was ported to the Wii U. All an HD remake is is a port to an HD system. The only reason we don't call the Metroid Prime Trilogy an HD port is because the Wii wasn't an HD system. So it's not really wise to complain about other franchises being ported via HD collections/ports when Nintendo does the same thing.

If anything Nintendo actually ports more than any other company; well, SEGA comes close as well since they have ported games like Sonic the Hedgehog to literally every one of their systems in some way, shape or form and to other systems as well.

 

[weirdee]

while everybody is quick to take jabs, i kinda doubt that they've actually played the recent games from the side they're decrying, so they're probably missing the objectivity that they claim other people lack

 

[Pickapok]

I hear stuff like that and then I look out at the yearly "Call of Duty"s, "Assassin's Creed"s and the HD remastered collections of Halo and other franchises. Nobody complains about those (with the exception of Assassin's Creed this year, but that's more for technical fuckups), nobody accuses those companies of milking franchises.

Not that I agree with Karadalis' response, but you clearly have to be ignoring a lot of people who do complain about the year releases of those franchises. There are a slew of people who do that, even on this site, to where I don't know how you don't see it. It's not just Assassin's Creed and it's not just because of the technical screw-ups, a lot of people hate the yearly release schedule and make that very clear.

As for HD collections, those are actually rather nice things to have at times. Even Nintendo has done it more than once. They had All-Stars back on the SNES, and then ported it over to the Wii for Mario's 25th Anniversary. They also made one for Kirby's 20th Anniversary which included all the main series games from the first (Kirby's Dreamland) to the last one on the N64 (Kirby and the Crystal Shards). There was also the Metroid Prime Trilogy which ported 2 GameCube games to the Wii and gave them Wiimote support. Finally, there was the newest Wind Waker HD that was ported to the Wii U. All an HD remake is is a port to an HD system. The only reason we don't call the Metroid Prime Trilogy an HD port is because the Wii wasn't an HD system. So it's not really wise to complain about other franchises being ported via HD collections when Nintendo does the same thing.

I recognize that people complain about those things to, but those that complain about Nintendo putting out one game in any given franchise every few years are much louder and more vocal, quicker to cry "REHASH NINTENDO SUCKS" than fans of other franchises. At least from what I've seen.

My comment on HD collections was a response to his implication that re-releasing games like Majora's Mask was a part of Nintendo's problem when a ton of other companies do it and get away without a hitch. The only thing I find ridiculous in that regard is when a company re-releases a game that's only a year (or less) old like The Last of Us.

Also, where is my Ace Combat HD collection dammit?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

You know something? I loved the era of SEGA vs. Nintendo for quite a few reasons but the one that really got to me was that each system had its own games.
But hey not everyone can afford a console let alone 2 (or 3). But still it made for fierce competition as each console brought something to the table besides "my graphics and hardware are better than yours" arguments.

 

[Briantb]

Well for all the boring/same games that other companies make its no wonder I haven't played a Nintendo game in years. -_-

 

[Roxas1359]

I recognize that people complain about those things to, but those that complain about Nintendo putting out one game in any given franchise every few years are much louder and more vocal, quicker to cry "REHASH NINTENDO SUCKS" than fans of other franchises. At least from what I've seen.

Well that's always been the case. Same with the Nintendoom thing, that's been there since the end of the N64 era. For me, Nintendo does rehash certain things, and the main one is stuff from Mario 3. Yes Nintendo I get it, Mario 3 was a huge success. Now can you start taking things from like Super Mario World or something? That game was successful too you know. Also, stop making Koji Kondo do Mario 3 remixes; he's one of the most talented composers in the entire industry and can make so many wonderful tracks, but lately it seems you've not been using him to his full potential. (NSMB series, and lots of reused songs from 3D Land used in 3D World)

My comment on HD collections was a response to his implication that re-releasing games like Majora's Mask was a part of Nintendo's problem when a ton of other companies do it and get away without a hitch. The only thing I find ridiculous in that regard is when a company re-releases a game that's only a year (or less) old like The Last of Us.

Well that makes sense. Although not all companies get away with it if the port is terrible; look at the abysmal attrocity that was the Silent Hill HD collection... >.>

As for games like The Last of Us, I honestly think that was a unique case. Something is telling me that the PS4 version was probably being developed around the same time as the PS3 version, since 1st party studios get the hardware before 3rd parties, and the game couldn't make it in time for launch of the PS4. It probably had time delays and issues due to the fact that the game was programmed in that stupid Cell-architecture that Sony thought would catch on but didn't, and the PS4 uses x84. So I doubt we'll be seeing other things like that, otherwise we'd be seeing more ports from last year like God of War Ascension or something.
...although PS4 versions of Infamous 1 and 2 would definitely be nice.

Also, where is my Ace Combat HD collection dammit?

Who owns the rights to that franchise? I can seem to find it right now. I'm gonna assume Activision until I find the correct answer.
Heck, while you wait for the Ace Combat HD, I'll be waiting for my PSN/Steam/eShop/XBLA releases of Skies of Arcadia...it'll be here one day dammit! T^T

 

[ZiggyE]

"But it's boring. The same games appear on every system." says Miyamoto before he tells us about the newest Mario platformer for the WiiU.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I appreciate that it's a bit rich for Miyamoto to be venturing his opinion on companies not innovating, but wow, could you twist his words any harder?

He said "what other companies are doing makes business sense, but it's boring". That does not equate to "their games are boring", it could easily mean "their business approach is boring". Also, he doesn't say "samey" anywhere, he says "the same games appear on every system".

I expect better, Escapist.

 

[Rozalia1]

Fella, if you weren't 'exclusively' in Japan, I would punch you because that line of thinking kept me from further Oddworld titles, the last Destroy All Humans game, SKIES OF ARCADIA, and more. Exclusives piss me off sometimes. I'm not buying an X-Box ever, but there ARE some pretty nice games on the thing. I haven't board anything Nintendo other than a Gameboy, and not lately either. Suddenly, I'm very glad I chose to exclusively go with other systems...just so you don't get money from me!

Yeah, exclusives need to fuck off and die in a fire. I tend to interpret them as a massive "Fuck you!".

*Rolls eyes* Ah yes Nintendo are taking their own games hostage... I'll give you some advice. Go and buy a Nintendo platform/handheld and play some of their games, enjoy gaming and put an end to the pointless internet twaddle. Rid yourself of that platform wars bunkum and you'll be happier for it trust me. The amount of people who miss out on some of the best games around simply because its not on their "side" is staggering...and those same people will than post in "gaming is art" threads while having missed many of the greatest pieces.

Bloody hell, every time I think of how much smaller the experience others enjoy I get all... well... I'll admit there is a guilty pleasure in there that lingers at the back of my mind, but such thoughts aren't very nice.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Meanwhile Nintendo keeps releasing the same handheld device every 6 months, living off the same 4 or 5 IPs and making Mario #267.
I love the SNES and all the memories that go along with it but come on, pot and kettle much?