Nintendo leader has the right argument about what's lacking: more happy games
Friday, March 09, 2007
Shigeru Miyamoto, one of Nintendo's top designers, argues that there's too much bloodlust in today's video game industry:SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Video game developers should resist the temptation to produce only sequels of established hits and games based on horror and revenge, Nintendo Co.'s top designer said Thursday.Wow, I'm glad he cited such crap as Mortal Kombat as one of the problems with the vidgame industry today. Sometimes it seems to me as though American game designers - and Midway, the company that put it together, did start out as an American outfit - are more obsessed with bloodletting than their Japanese counterparts are. There's a reason why I'm more bothered by violence in video games than sex.
Video game guru Shigeru Miyamoto said his industry's reputation has suffered in the past decade. Designers have failed to deliver titles that bring joy to the widest possible spectrum of players, focusing too often on hard-core gamers and their lust for gore and realism, he said.
"I always want that first reaction to be emotion, to be positive - to give a sense of satisfaction, glee," Miyamoto told thousands of developers attending the annual Game Developer Conference here. "Certain obstacles may temporarily raise feelings of suspense, competition, even frustration. But we always want that final result, that final emotion, to be a positive one."
Miyamoto's emphasis on plucky, fantastic, upbeat games contrasts with the slew of violent but popular games today - titles such as "Grand Theft Auto,""Mortal Kombat" and "Resident Evil." A growing number of politicians, educators and psychiatric experts cite studies linking violent games and aggressive behavior.
Designers take Miyamoto's lectures seriously. Time Magazine called him "the Stephen Spielberg of video games."
Miyamoto created titles such as "Mario Brothers,""Donkey Kong" and "The Legend of Zelda." Together, those titles have sold about 288 million copies.
Miyamoto - an ambidextrous doodler who plays guitar and banjo - joined Nintendo in 1980 to work on coin-operated arcade games. He's worked on every game console Nintendo has released over nearly three decades, including the popular Wii, which debuted last year.
He also helped developed "Super Mario Galaxy," an obstacle course-style game he previewed Thursday. It will come out later this year.
But what's this - Time is calling Miyamoto a Spielberg of games? I wouldn't go that far, since Spielberg has already proven himself an overly leftoid filmmaker in recent years, and his work on Munich is probably by far the worst of his movies he's made. Miyamoto is far better than Spielberg will ever be.
Of course, it should be noted that Nintendo isn't all that innocent themselves either. After all, they did cave in and start taking up a ratings system of their own for whatever games they put on their consoles, and in all due honesty, I think we could do without the bloodletting they allowed.
What gamemakers need to do now is to start moving away from graphic violence, if anything, and start focusing on just the basics of what it's like to play a game. They also need to stop appealing to hard-core fans of bloody violence and gore, and start appealing to the family much more. They can do if they want to, so the question now is, do they?
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posted by Avi Green @ 12:21 AM,
