Shigeru Miyamoto "Is Not God"

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Shigeru Miyamoto "Is Not God"


He's one of the most renowned videogame designers in history with an unprecedented string of hits to his credit but as Nintendo [http://www.nintendo.com] President Satoru Iwata pointed out, Shigeru Miyamoto isn't God, you know.

Who could blame people for thinking that the man behind franchises like financial results briefing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(series)] to investors, President Satoru Iwata took pains to point out that Miyamoto is, despite everything he's accomplished, just a man.

Addressing criticism about release delays in 2008, Satoru said, "Honestly speaking, whether entertainment software is good enough or not cannot be told until development nears completion. Even amongst the software created by Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, some have turned out to be entertaining enough in line with the original development concept while some turned out to be lacking something in the end."

"One of the reasons why Miyamoto is highly praised is because of his ability to stop, rethink about, and fix how he can convey the appeal of a software when he finds out during the latter phase of development that the software will not be good enough. This is why the games he has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits," he said. "However, he is not God and even Miyamoto himself cannot hit the mark every time nor always predict how long it takes to complete development."

He also noted that despite Miyamoto's long and uniquely successful history, he's not the only guy who makes things happen at Nintendo. While a large number of Nintendo products carry his name or credit him as a producer, Iwata said, "He is just another human being, so it is not possible that every single idea contained in these software was the sole creation of Shigeru Miyamoto."

"Certainly, when it comes to identifying and verbalizing some of the important major findings, few people can easily succeed him. For example, few people other than Shigeru Miyamoto can declare that weighing yourself everyday must be fun for everyone," he continued. "However, the fact that Nintendo software is always full of unique and fun ideas attests to the fact that there are many good game creators at Nintendo. Together with Shigeru Miyamoto, all of them have been making what are called Nintendo software."


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super_smash_jesus

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Dec 11, 2007
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I know the people that develop the games are doing most of the work, but it is hard to not think of Miyamoto as the integral mind behind all of the good nintendo franchises, because he came up with the original concepts. I still hold the development team in high regards because they do make great games, but it is a nameless adoration.
 

kryptik102

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May 17, 2009
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Wait, Miyamoto ISN'T god?
*laughs*Hahahaha, what kinda crack was this guy smoking to say Miyamoto's Just a man? AHAHAHA...
 

MrPop

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super_smash_jesus said:
I know the people that develop the games are doing most of the work, but it is hard to not think of Miyamoto as the integral mind behind all of the good nintendo franchises, because he came up with the original concepts. I still hold the development team in high regards because they do make great games, but it is a nameless adoration.
Yeah exactly. I suppose they may want to show that they have been functioning OK without too much of his imput so that when he retires people will still hold the same appreciation for Nintendo.
 

IrrelevantTangent

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Oct 4, 2008
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THE FRAMEWORK OF MY REALITY HAS COME CRASHING DOWN ALL AROUND ME

WHAT IS THIS NEW UNFAMILIAR EMOTION I AM FEELING

I SHALL CALL IT RIGHTEOUS FURY

IT SHALL BE MY NEW FRIEND

AND COMPATRIOT IN ARMS AS I MASSACRE THE BLASPHEMERS


But seriously, good for them to shed some light on this pressing question that so obviously needed an answer. If anyone other than Miyamoto had done this....well, let's just say the results wouldn't be pretty.
 

Onyx Oblivion

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Sep 9, 2008
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He's not that great...The only god of gaming is clearly CliffyB!

I never really though all that highly of Miyamoto anyways...The Zelda games are usually fun, but Mario is "meh" and Wii Fit/Nintendogs aren't even really "games".
 

tendo82

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Nov 30, 2007
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It makes sense for Nintendo to say that because they don't want to create a Steve Jobs scenario where consumer confidence relies solely on the well being of one man.
 

Internet Kraken

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tendo82 said:
It makes sense for Nintendo to say that because they don't want to create a Steve Jobs scenario where consumer confidence relies solely on the well being of one man.
Good point.

If Miyamoto has a heart attack, let's see how far the Nintendo stocks drop.
 

SykoSilver

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Sep 10, 2007
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super_smash_jesus said:
I know the people that develop the games are doing most of the work, but it is hard to not think of Miyamoto as the integral mind behind all of the good nintendo franchises, because he came up with the original concepts. I still hold the development team in high regards because they do make great games, but it is a nameless adoration.
I would not necessarily completely credit Miyamoto with the original concepts. It's very possible that the original concepts came from a team effort. There are often several designers working on a game (especially large ones) and I can't see those designers as being anything other than "integral" to how the game turned out--otherwise, they wouldn't have jobs.

Miyamoto is perhaps the founder of some franchises such as Mario and Zelda, but I wouldn't give him credit so easily for newer franchises, or for how older franchises have developed in recent times.
 

SimuLord

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Aug 20, 2008
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"This is why the games he has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits,"

Well yes, but what say we get ESPN's Rob Neyer working on whether Miyamoto has a high OPS, maybe calculate his VORP? The Japanese are behind the times when it comes to baseball statistics.
 

blackcherry

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Apr 9, 2008
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It makes sense. He is most likely going to want to retire in a few years, so its time to slowly make sure the up and coming in Nintendo get a look in too so consumer and shareholder confidence isn't shattered when he leaves. As it is, Shigsy has handed the reigns over to others in most of his prized games.

There is a new producer for the Zelda, Starfox and Mario games. From what I know, he pretty much just pops in from time to time on these games to see how they are coming along, leaving him to work on IPs like Pikmin and Nintendogs. For the most part it has worked and he is linked to turning the Metroid Prime series from a clunky FPS to the explorathon it is.

Though perhaps he should have paid more attention to Starfox. That old dog really needs an operation soon or else they should put him down, poor thing.
 

More Fun To Compute

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In other news Mark Rein from Epic issues a statement saying that CliffyB is a not only a god but a cruel and vengeful god who demands a daily tribute of Nali healing fruits.
 

zoozilla

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Dec 3, 2007
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Good thing this article was posted.

I almost forgot.....I almost did some very bad things.
 

Jumplion

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Internet Kraken said:
tendo82 said:
It makes sense for Nintendo to say that because they don't want to create a Steve Jobs scenario where consumer confidence relies solely on the well being of one man.
Good point.

If Miyamoto has a heart attack, let's see how far the Nintendo stocks drop.
Shigeru Miyamoto forbid that!

But in essence, I agree with you. It'll be a tragic day in gaming history when Miyamoto dies.
 

RooksEye

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Mar 17, 2009
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NO! HE IS GOD! KILL THE BLASPHEMERS! BURN THEM WITH FIRE!!!!!
....
Ok, done. He may not be god, but damn it, he's one of the pillars of nerddom, so he's as close as we're gonna get.
 

Brotherofwill

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Internet Kraken said:
tendo82 said:
It makes sense for Nintendo to say that because they don't want to create a Steve Jobs scenario where consumer confidence relies solely on the well being of one man.
Good point.

If Miyamoto has a heart attack, let's see how far the Nintendo stocks drop.
MS is already planning the assasination.