Parla il maestro

Qui trovate l'intera intervista, piuttosto breve ma genuina e piena di spunti interessanti.
Riportiamo qui alcuni passaggi significativi:

American gamers have bought more copies of Halo than they did of Metroid, for instance. Do you ever worry that you're losing touch with what young American players might want to play?
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.

When I show a game to people I don't ask their opinion or give them a survey. I just watch their eyes and their face while they play. Do they smile? Do they look frustrated? So I guess I do test my games — but it isn't very scientific.

You've had great success in your ability to predict what players will find fun to play. Have there been games that you thought would be fun but didn't turn out that way?
Yes, that has definitely happened. In the past we've worked with some outside development houses on titles like F-Zero and Starfox — and let me just say that we were disappointed with the results.

But mostly, I think it's that there are fewer and fewer people who are interested in playing a big role-playing game like Zelda.

Per chi non sapesse l'inglese, riassumiamo in poche righe. Prima di tutto Miyamoto ha detto con leggerezza che avrebbe potuto fare Halo, ma non lo ha fatto per scelta, perché preferisce creare cose nuove (naturalmente non intende Halo nello specifico, ma Halo come tipologia di gioco). Sì è poi detto perplesso dei risultati ottenuti collaborando con third party a brand Nintendo, citando F-Zero e Star Fox. Ha concluso cercando di spiegare l'insuccesso di Zelda in Giappone, imputato secondo lui al tipo di acquirenti che finora hanno supportato il Wii e, più in generale, al fatto che sempre meno gente abbia voglia di cimentarsi in un gioco così impegnativo.