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Miyamoto Interview: "I could make Halo"

Shigeru Miyamoto the renowned video game designer who created Zelda and Donkey Kong, was recently interviewed for Entertainment Weekly and discussed things such as social issues he might one day address in a videogame and his disappointment with the sales of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

When asked about whether he was worried about losing touch with young American gamers and the fact that more copies were sold of Halo than Metroid he gave the following reply:

"I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play."

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ew.com

[via joystiq.com]

Alternative Sources:

The Man Who Made ''Mario'' ... - ew.com | By: TriggerHappy

Miyamoto not interested in ... - gamesindustry.biz | By: marison

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Published: 958 days ago | Interview | Xbox 360 | Wii | Xbox | GameCube | PC | Industry News

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eques judicii - 958 days ago

1 -

was that a dis on halo? how dare he!

his version of halo would have huge eyes and fuzzy tails... instead of bullets you'd shoot rainbows... and the covenant would have stolen master chiefs strawberry shortcake. You'd have "karts" with bananas hanging off the back instead of the warthog, and your teammates would jump on the enemies heads. Everytime you kill an elite instead of blood, coins would pop out so you could get a 1up... instead of overshield you'd get star power!! Glowing mushrooms instead of grenades... etc..

the best part? an E rating!

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Xeoset - 957 days 23 hours ago

1.1 -

And instead of an awesome character to play it as, you'll be a fat, italian plumber who can't get the idea that his girlfriend wants to seperate from him. So he chases her into large castles.

Man, designing games is easy.

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1.2 dantesparda | 957 days 14 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Nightrider128 - 850 days 18 hours ago

1.3 - Your just mad

your just mad that he decided not to help on a piece of crap and work on something different.

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heroman711 - 850 days 17 hours ago

1.4 -

dont worry, halo is way too cool for wii anyways

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Nightrider128 - 848 days 19 hours ago

1.5 - heroman711

Your just mad because he burnt halos arse right off.

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TriggerHappy - 958 days ago

2 - He really could!

"But he just chose not to" and instead made zelda.

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kewlkat007 - 958 days ago

3 - Well I'm sure

he can, the guy is still a great designer. So I'm sure he can make an FPS, but not sure if it would have the SAME recognition as HALO. Big time shooters are probably not his thing. Anyone can make a decent FPS.

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Mushu426 - 957 days 23 hours ago

3.1 - Exactly...

and that is all he was really trying to say. If you think about it that's why they created the wii as they did anyway. Nintendo President said they were going to make a system like xbox or sony because that's where the trend was going but they decided to do something different. So agree with you dude I don't think that was a dis to Halo.

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Hayabusa 117 - 957 days 18 hours ago

3.2 -

You'd think it would be easy for anyone to make a decent FPS, yet, look at all rubbish FPSers out there.

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Chexd - 958 days ago

4 -

seriously that is bad! a very big headed comment!

If bungie said they could make "zelda" there would be an outrage...so i suggest this guy stops being so big headed and accepts that there is other talent in the industry and that not everything he does is amazing.

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Mushu426 - 957 days 23 hours ago

4.1 - Well...

One, no one can just make a Zelda game nor would anyone say that they could. Its' not that type of genre to be done like that. Second, he wasn't being big headed he just simply meant it isn't that hard to make a top selling first-person shooter. Like it or not it does take serious talent to make and sell the type of games "he" makes, and not just well but insanely well (gamers hall of fame well) contsistantly. Besides, even if he was a little big headed, I really couldn't blame him, its Shigeru Miyamoto. Some of the best games of ALL-TIME, timeless classics still played to this day on just about every mobile device you can think of, were made by him. Just look at all the games that were made because of Tetris. Tetris is the original definition for what makes a puzzle game a puzzle game, Ya know what I mean?

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Chexd - 957 days 19 hours ago

4.2 -

see, my point. He is saying it isnt hard to make a top shooter.

Isnt that a tad big headed? granted he has made some games but saying Bungie are not AS talented is wrong....maybe there arnt...but he has no right to slag another company off like that! there are many FPS'...yes...but not many TOP ones.....and very few like halo....and whats his point? he couldnt make halo...he made metroid...not as big or popular.....so he couldnt.......he makes great games...but fails in that genre compared to halo...why does he think he has to be great at everything?

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Mushu426 - 957 days ago

4.3 - Nah dude....

You say "granted he has made some games but saying Bungie are not AS talented is wrong....maybe there arnt..." so if by your own admissions Bungie isn't as good as Shigeru then why the uproar. If he can do it he should say so if asked and he was asked. It would be different if he came out without being asked and said that but he didn't.

Oh and there a lot of games like Halo for example: Lost Planet, Command and Conquer, Gears of War, Ghost Recon 1&2, Call of Duty1 2&3, F.E.A.R., Amred Core, Earth Denfense Force 2017, Battlefield to Modern Combat, Battlestation Midway, Quake, the list goes on and all these games are the same type of game( give or take a few things). The main reason why Halo sells so well is the multiplayer. That's all me and my friends play, we rarely plan the adventure mode. Heck, the adventure mode is way to hard you have to quit your job and dedicate you life to beating it and that is just on normal. So, to conclude its not a big headed comment, no one would blink if Sony or MS said it and he so does not fail in his own genre. He made quite a few of the GREATEST GAMES OF ALL TIME that doesn't sound like failure to me. Failure sounds like being outsold by a less powerful system month after month and you came out a entire year and change before only to make matters worse this less powerful system is only about 2 million or so shy of reaching your worldwide sells and its only been out for 6 months.

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Boink - 957 days 23 hours ago

5 - lol

stick to your kiddie games and bugger off.

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ThaGeNeCySt - 957 days 21 hours ago

5.1 -

lmao @ bugger off.... that's just wrong...

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consolecrusader - 957 days 23 hours ago

6 - lol

Miyamoto is starting to get a david jaffe attitude and I like it.. lol

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7 sumfood4u | 957 days 23 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Maddens Raiders - 957 days 23 hours ago

8 - Yeah -

I think he was making a (not-so) veiled stab at MS for the recent inflammatory statements made by Moore and the VP of production or w/e the hell about the kiddish, Wii. He should've said, "I can make Gears." But that would've really taken some hairy ballz.

Cheers.

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PS360WII - 957 days 23 hours ago

9 - he wasn't poking fun

He was just stating that he could make a fps but he wants to try and make another way to play a game...

but yeah he'll probably be getting some backlash from it. Two ways to look at everything

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Odiah - 957 days 23 hours ago

10 - I could make gears!

Take a big spoon of it's been done before, add a couple drops of booooooorrrrrrrring and stir into a bowl of overrated.

hey presto!

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frostbite06 - 957 days 23 hours ago

10.1 -

srry, that formulas for resistance

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Nightrider128 - 850 days 18 hours ago

10.2 - You forgot something

Over hyped then presto you are the new bungie and have created halo

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ITR - 957 days 23 hours ago

11 -

I bet he could.

Last time we saw Metroid 3 in a demo it had same visual power as Halo 2, but I think they may have gone futher with it now, since it went from a launch title to a release in Oct. 07'.

I doubt Bungie cares.
Miyamoto could make a clone but he said chose not too.

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Donkey Slayer - 957 days 23 hours ago

12 - Of course he could but then the level designs would actually have imagination and variety

and the standards would have been put way too high for Halo 2.

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frostbite06 - 957 days 22 hours ago

12.1 -

bottom line is halo 2 is fun to play. If it wasnt, it wouldnt have sold like it did and halo 3 hype wouldnt be where its at now

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Bonsai1214 - 957 days 22 hours ago

12.2 -

well, when the developers of the game say "we screwed up" i think thats saying something.

IMO, the first was much more fun to play.

and you know that many people bought it because it had the halo name for it. people bought it and realized it wasn't as good as they expected it to be.

MIyamoto made super metroid.. 'nuff said. but the past is the past and we need to take a look at his new product

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Donkey Slayer - 957 days 22 hours ago

12.3 - correct Bonsai1214. Plus it didn't hurt Halo 2's sells that it was hyped beyond belief as well as

MS releasing super hi res pictures of "gameplay" that looked way better than it really was while running on an xbox.

I agree, Halo:CE was better. Even so the level designs were severely lacking. Miyamoto has energy and passion and wouldn't resort to using the same textures for every level and wouldn't resort to doubling the lenght by making you play it backwards.

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calderra - 957 days 23 hours ago

13 -

Nintendo and brashness just do not go together.
And what he's doing is, yes, disrespecting Halo. He's saying it's unoriginal, and that it's not fun to play.

The only reason he's going to get away with it is because people will afford more room for a Japanese developer to say this about American games- if Bungie said they could make Zelda, people would boycott Halo 3 in droves.

I also like how he says it's a good thing that he doesn't listen to gamer feedback: "I never try to look for what people want". That's exactly what Halo 3 is all about with Bungie, from the massive public Beta to a currently-running competition where players can design a multiplayer emblem that will appear in the game.

I can totally see where listening to the fans and working to tailor the game to their wants is a terrible idea. Can't you? Heh.

Also note, he only said this while being asked why Halo outsold Metroid. What he's saying is basically that Metroid only sold less because it was so original and inventive that nobody wanted to play it. Because, you know, that makes sense.

Miyamoto is an awesome guy, don't get me wrong, but brashness has no place in this guys' world. You have to remember that for all of his speeches about originality in games, there are probably at least 20+ Mario games out there, and what, a dozen Zelda titles all-told? Mario Party 9's probably coming out soon...

And as another random example, after the Spaceworld2000 Zelda demo showing Teen Link, everyone was wondering what was going on with Wind Waker, and Miyamoto defended WW by saying Link was always going to be featured as an 8-year-old boy, and that the series was never going to take a more mature turn, and that it would always be cartoony. And the major Zelda game? Twilight Princes... hmmm...

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Mushu426 - 957 days 22 hours ago

13.1 - Good points but you read to much into it and by that you totally misunderstood what he said....

He's not being brash, as I stated above he's made some the best games of ALL-TIME and you can't ignore that at all. He was only saying that making great FPS games are not diffcult to do that why you see so many of them. Like the explotion of WW2 shooters on playstion. Plus, he never meant or said he didn't listen to gamer opinions, I have personally read several articles with him on many sites including nintendo's site, that couldn't be futher from the truth. The wii is what it is because of the millions of suggestions he got from gamers like you and me. Even the games the post next on VC and Neo Geo comeing to US soon was because of gamer opinions and the controls for Smash Bros. Brawl. Need I go on. He meant instead giving people the same old thing they've had too too many times before he tries to do something else "new". Because new, fun, and different sells more that safe, same, and old. Also, dude, no developer would dare say they could make game like zelda! Zelda is one of those games that can't be duplicated by anyone else because of comes from the heart of Shigeru. It's a cult classic those games CAN'T done by others, the just can't. It would compare at any rate, its too much greatness to risk competing with like that. And I do not believe if someone else was to say something like that, that people would boycott Xbox. That's just crazy talk. Its like saying people will boycott Nintendo for him saying he can make Halo. Its pure crazy talk, just not going to happen. The metroid 3 comment, nah, I don't know how you got that. It was far from boring it agian is another cult classic and they haven't even released Mario Party 8 so 9 is sooooo far off. He never said Halo was unoriginal or boring. He just said he got the skills to make the game if Nintendo wanted him too. Halo is a game, it not that serious to say he disrespected it. Like I said before you read to much into what he said and by doing that you completely missed his point.

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tplarkin7 - 957 days 13 hours ago

13.2 -

FPS are "easy to do", Mushu426? Try making a game that sells over 10 million copies. Halo 1 was a masterpiece, and pushed console gaming to the next level. I think Miyamoto is complacent, or at least defending a complacent Nintendo. Miyamoto supposedly designed the Wii, and that is not pushing gaming to the next level.

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artman - 957 days 22 hours ago

14 -

agree... the game designer should create something new, not to create another similar gameplay, ofcoz it's also take a risk to get failed on the market.

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15 midgard229 | 957 days 22 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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ItsDubC - 957 days 22 hours ago

15.1 -

TP is an amazing game in my opinion, and I have to disagree w/ regards to the storyline. Don't let your bias against Nintendo ruin the game for you.

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BrainDead - 957 days 22 hours ago

16 -

ha ha look at everyone crying over his comments. And no you could not make a game, especially not zelda. Also midguard Halo 3 should be named halo 1.2 because all it has different is a new grenade and a different storyline.

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Mushu426 - 957 days 22 hours ago

16.1 - I really....

meant to agree with you.

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power of Green - 957 days 22 hours ago

17 - sumfood4u

Oh! really! all i see are Sony fanboys!, BELIEVE IT!!!!...

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Donkey Slayer - 957 days 22 hours ago

17.1 - 1 Bubble for you, BELIEVE IT!

This is what should be for EVERY Desperate Sony illogical hating fanboy like you.

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18 midgard229 | 957 days 22 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Rasulis - 957 days 22 hours ago

19 - Calm down and have a little respect.

I'm sure he didn't mean any major disrespect. He's just saying that taking a genre, especially an FPS, and improving on it can be done by most developers. Yes Halo is a fun game that showed us how the FPS genre could be improved, but Mario64 and Ocarina of time created a whole new genre that showed how 3D games were suppose to be made.

Well other developers are improving on genres he is spending his time creating completely new concepts on how games are suppose to be played. Now he is only a man and is faulable.

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20 BIadestarX | 957 days 22 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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ItsDubC - 957 days 21 hours ago

20.1 -

Interestingly enough, I think that if Miyamoto did try to make games based on what ppl want, he wouldn't have made so many genre-defining games in his career. I think ppl tend to want something that's merely an improvement over what they already have, instead something completely different from what they already have. I'm glad someone in his position is able to think outside of the box as he does.

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21 midgard229 | 957 days 21 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Lacarious - 957 days 21 hours ago

21.1 - Wii not New?

confusing talk you are doing. Something fresh you ask for eh. I have an idea... perhaps Miyam... er.. I mean Nintendo can come out with a new way to play games. I don't know why Miyam.... er.. Nintendo does not do that or come out with something fresh after all these years of gaming? One would think that this knowledge of gaming would come in handy and help them to push out new products and dominate once again.

But that is obviously not the case... right... midgard?

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synLamont - 957 days 20 hours ago

21.2 - @ Lacarious

You honestly can't be serious. From Midgard's comment it looks like he was talking about games not a console. The main factor the the wii is selling well it the is the price. If the X360 and the Wii was the same price the Wii would be nothing than a mere kid's play toy and nintendo fans holy grail. Don't confuse hardware sales with game sales all of nintendo's top selling games are the same games just re-hatched. Most of them look alike nintendo is scared of change with it comes it comes to their top franchises. When was the last time Miyamoto came out with a new charater or icon that sold a game that did not start on the NES?

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Lacarious - 955 days 15 hours ago

21.3 - @ LameAzz

I've heard your nonsense time and time again. The FACT is that the wii is selling at a very high rate meaning that it is a very successful system. You say the price is low... yeah.... since when the F is $249 or $299 or whatever they charge "low"? So like.... is $50 for a game considered pocket change?

And chumpy... don't confuse your fanboy BS with the truth.

The Big N is selling way more than enough Wii software.

One day you will grow up and shed yourself of the fanboy curse.

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Lacarious - 957 days 21 hours ago

22 - MIYAMATO IS THE OG GAMING GOD

no other gaming fella\company compares

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Xi - 957 days 21 hours ago

23 - I doubt he could.

Much like I couldn't create zelda, and bungie couldn't make Resident Evil. He wouldn't be able to make something like halo.

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kewlkat007 - 957 days 21 hours ago

24 - I know gamers would like to see

some new offerings, but I like the fact that every new console Nintendo puts out they keep these original and classic games. The only Mario I didn't like so much was Sunshine, but still I played it..come on its Mario, I'm not expecting halo type fun here. It is what it is.

I repeat..Any developer can make just another FPS. Providing they take the time and research. No you can't duplicate the success of Halo with a first try.

If you wanna talk about this guy and Sequals, I mean take a look at so many other Big name third-party developers. This guy is first-Party lets not forget.

Some TOP franchises that have been reincarnated over and over since the 80's:

Ninja Gaiden
Mario
Metal Gear
Metroid
Zelda
Final Fantasy
Dragon Warrior
Mega Man

Can we say Japanese Developers know how to milk it.

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25 midgard229 | 957 days 20 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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