Miyamoto: Nintendo Probably Wouldn't Hire Me Now

[Rock 'n' Soul]

"I might pick up on them and try to find out something really different within them which you can't judge just by a college degree," he said. "That's one of the special little jobs I set myself."

I wish more people would do that. After switching my major, my GPA took a hit, but I know I'm just as talented as some of the kids with straight 4.0's, and 0 social skills.

One of the hiring bosses at my job actually admitted to me once that he would prefer to hire the kids with the average GPA's over the ones with the 4.0's because they tended to have more common sense and were a bit more well rounded. I guess his argument was that the students who made straight A's did nothing but study and in some cases, he called those kids entitled and cocky because of their grades. I work for the government. I remember him laughing that a lot of the fresh graduates "wouldn't last a day".

But then again, I know some kids with perfect GPA's who are the full package. No over-throwing those guys.

 

[Nazulu]

So what's it to be for the next year Mr. Miyamoto, another 7 mario games, 4 zelda games and maybe another smash bros and mario kart? Good to see the old creativity still flowing.

As long as the new Mario Kart and Smash Bros is better than the rubbish sequels on the Wii, I would be very happy.

 

[Dannyboy1186]

Good on him, the industry needs more people like him who looks for how ambitious or talented people to hire, or at least gets to know the employee rather than looking at grades etc.

 

[cirej2000]

Nice to hear. I'm definitely the type of person who would hire someone with great hands-on ability and some good theory knowledge rather than someone with great grades and no practical ability. In the long run, the person with great grades might actually have a better career. But things in the high-tech industry move so fast...and unless you're in a huge company, it's hard to justify the investment so often. Especially if that person will be gone in 2 years.

Now someone with great grades and some internship work? Write your own ticket in tech.

 

[Trivun]

It's reassuring to know that Miyamoto is prepared to take an active role in hiring to make sure that people with genuine talent get into the industry too. I'm studying Maths at university and I'm hoping to get an internship with a games developer next year, though I'm not sure if I'll manage to get it. I also happen to spend lot of spare time trying to put together my own small games to try and build a portfolio, so I won't be relying on my degree to make it into an industry that is notoriously difficult to get into. I just hope that it will be enough, but nowadays aspiring developers seem to need to either work their way from the ground up as indie developers (such as 2D Boy, for example) or simply create something exceptional and hope it gets noticed (such as the people behind Portal, which was simply a modded version of an existing game created by several of the developers when they were at university - the original game caught Valve's attention and they were offered jobs instantly requesting they modify it to make Portal).

 

[LeonLethality]

I'm suddenly reminded of Willy Wanka.

reminded of Willy Wanka.

Willy Wanka.

Wanka.

*shudder*

lmao oh wow. Wonka.

it would make a damn good porn name

OT: its because companies dont hire people like miyamoto that we dont get the kind of uniqueness nintendo brings to teh table

 

[Paragon Fury]

More likely because he hasn't had a truly original idea in 8 years.

"Original" doesn't mean "good".

And Miyamoto knows "good" better than anyone else in the industry. Hell, he knows "originality" better than most of them too.

He might be on his 100th Mario game, but he still knows how to make it good and fun, so as long he can keep doing that, I don't think anyone will mind 100 more Mario games.

 

[hamster mk 4]

The point being he's probably right. These days even a college degree isn't usually viewed favorably, and in the Games Industry more often than not they want people who have worked on at least one published title.

I know how that it like. That published title and 3 years experience looks like an insurmountable obstacle when you have neither. Especially since the only way to get them is to take a job that whose prerequisites you don't qualify for. Having worked with some real dopes in my time I can understand why they set the bar so high.

With regard to the article I am glad Shigeru Miyamoto is taking an active roll in recruitment, even if he is just looking for younger versions of him self. If you hire people only trained to think one way, you are going to get the same thoughts out of them time and again. For a creative industry like gaming, that is not a good thing.

 

[stonethered]

I find this rather heartwarming.
Despite the really creepy photo, Mr. Miyamoto sesms like a really good guy.

And I'm quite looking forward to that next Zelda, It's a good series Even if it's not the most original game in the world, doesn't mean we can't enjoy it anyways.

 

[BillyShakes]

Sure, Miyamoto hasn't had the most original ideas lately, but his work is a lot more original and creative than everything on the PS3.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Hell, a chance to troll on the Wii.
But, screw it, he is a great video game developer. Maybe he has been redoing the same games for the last decade, but this guy shaped gaming as we know it.

 

[Pendragon9]

So instead of just facing the cold Nintendo executive hiring board, Miyamoto is getting involved?

Well, I can see this going very right. Truthfully, not enough talented people get hired. And Miyamoto is one of our last great game makers.

 

[zamble]

So what's it to be for the next year Mr. Miyamoto, another 7 mario games, 4 zelda games and maybe another smash bros and mario kart? Good to see the old creativity still flowing.

Is smash bros his? I tought not.
About creativity (and I'm not saying this is a good game, just creative), isn't Pikmin his too?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

So what's it to be for the next year Mr. Miyamoto, another 7 mario games, 4 zelda games and maybe another smash bros and mario kart? Good to see the old creativity still flowing.

Is smash bros his? I tought not.
About creativity (and I'm not saying this is a good game, just creative), isn't Pikmin his too?

I'd say ignore him as he seems only to be masturbating his ego. He doesn't seem to quite grasp the notion that the publisher is to blame rather than the creator. It is entirely plausible that Nintendo only keeps him around because of his legendary status, which is a terribly sad thought.

 

[lodo_bear]

I approve of anything that goes against the grain of corporations' usual soul-less way of operating. Good on you, Miyamoto.

 

[Retodon8]

As a result, Miyamoto said that he's begun involving himself in the hiring process in order to help the company avoid missing out on talented applicants who may not bring a pile of fancy degrees to the table. "I might pick up on them and try to find out something really different within them which you can't judge just by a college degree," he said. "That's one of the special little jobs I set myself."

A very important man at Activision set the lofty goal of taking the fun out of game development, because that simply isn't what games should be about. I'm afraid if Mr. Miyamoto goes ahead and does the above, he could introduce bad elements to Nintendo's development teams.

 

[Altorin]

yes, if Miyamoto's Resume didn't have "I made your company into a worldwide household name with my games" on it then yeah, he'd probably not get hired.

But it's nice to see that he's injecting himself into the hiring machine at nintendo... It's the best thing a genius can do once they're genius has been fully tapped - find the next geniuses, even if they aren't an actual Doctor of Video Games

As a result, Miyamoto said that he's begun involving himself in the hiring process in order to help the company avoid missing out on talented applicants who may not bring a pile of fancy degrees to the table. "I might pick up on them and try to find out something really different within them which you can't judge just by a college degree," he said. "That's one of the special little jobs I set myself."

A very important man at Activision set the lofty goal of taking the fun out of game development, because that simply isn't what games should be about. I'm afraid if Mr. Miyamoto goes ahead and does the above, he could introduce bad elements to Nintendo's development teams.

are you, seriously, comparing Bobby Motherfuckering Kotick to Shigeru Miyamoto?

I think I need to go lay down.