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[Arion]

Article

“I have never thought of games as a means of storytelling,” he says through a translator, “so while many people have approached me in the past and said ‘why don’t you make a movie?’, I had never been interested.”

These younger game creators, they want to be recognised,” he sighs. “They want to tell stories that will touch people’s hearts. And while I understand that desire, the trend worries me. It should be the experience, that is touching. What I strive for is to make the person playing the game the director. All I do is help them feel that, by playing, they’re creating something that only they could create.”

“When you play a game, one moment you’re just controlling it and then suddenly you feel you’re in its world,” he says. “And that’s something you cannot experience through film or literature. It’s a completely unique experience.”

“What the other companies are doing makes business sense,” he says. “But it’s boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before.”

I agree with him in the sense that video games shouldn't be telling stories like a film. The gameplay systems should be designed in a way where the story is created while you play. A recent example is Mordor where the nemesis system crafts a story based on how you play. FTL and XCOM:EU are also good examples where every play-through allows a new story and new characters that you start to care about.

teach me films if old

 

[Afrocious]

Galaxy 2 was the Citizen Kane of games.

 

[69wpm]

Do yourselves a favor and read the interview, it's really good.

 

[mdubs]

 

[MoogleWizard]

True words spoken by a wise man who knows his craft.

 

[James Scott]

But those pikmin cartoons are so good

 

[tnaden]

The relevant quotes:

“These younger game creators, they want to be recognised,” he sighs. “They want to tell stories that will touch people’s hearts. And while I understand that desire, the trend worries me. It should be the experience, that is touching. What I strive for is to make the person playing the game the director. All I do is help them feel that, by playing, they’re creating something that only they could create.”

“When you play a game, one moment you’re just controlling it and then suddenly you feel you’re in its world,” he says. “And that’s something you cannot experience through film or literature. It’s a completely unique experience.”

Read the entire thing though, it's pretty good.

Bonus to start the war:

“What the other companies are doing makes business sense,” he says. “But it’s boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before.”

 

[Laevateinn]

As much as I'd love to agree with this. This is the reason Sticker Star was horrible. As long as they keep Miyamoto away from any future Mario RPGs, let him do everything he wants.

 

[Arion]

Do yourselves a favor and read the interview, it's really good.

I have and i fully agree with him.

 

[Eolz]

Do yourselves a favor and read the interview, it's really good.

This. It's a really good article and way more than just this quote.

Edit:

As much as I'd love to agree with this. This is the reason Sticker Star was horrible. As long as they keep Miyamoto away from any future Mario RPGs, let him do everything he wants.

FFS not this shit again. Miyamoto just told them to not make a rehash of TTYD. He didn't make the script, told them to use stickers as the main gameplay element, etc.

 

[King_Richard]

Metroid Other M? Zelda series is also story centric

 

[Shard]

Article





teach me films if old

I would be more pleased with this ethos if I didn't remember it was onre of the direct factors to making Sticker Star suck.

 

[Can Crusher]

Whatever old man.

 

[Conor_Fool]

Interesting. Didn't Link's Awakening take influence from Twin Peaks? (TV, but still the same medium).

 

[Paskil]

Opinions, and all that.

 

[Mael]

Thank god someone finally say it like it is.
If you're in gaming and really are only there to use that medium to try to make a movie, please do something else with your time.

 

[Dragon]

I think you could probably learn to have your characters speak English to English speaking people instead of the gibberish your characters spout in Zelda.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Things like cinematography seem really important to games. Staging, lighting, using the scene to draw the eye towards certain details. Hell, the concept of a "camera" in Super Mario 64 was a very film-inspired idea.

EDIT: He then goes on to say that other gaming companies' games are boring and it's the same game everywhere. I mean, I love Nintendo, but he's just spouting the uninformed Nintendo fanboy manifesto. I thought that was a very poor interview.

 

[mdubs]

Metroid Other M? Zelda series is also story centric

Is there anyone who thinks the story in Metroid Other M is a good thing?

 

[ReiGun]

Metroid Other M? Zelda series is also story centric

You might have a point with Zelda, but Miyamoto didn't make Other M.

 

[Maintenance]

Boom.

 

[Mael]

Is there anyone who thinks the story in Metroid Other M is a good thing?

If anything it kinda makes the points that games shouldn't try to be movies.

 

[Escalario]

I think you could probably learn to have your characters speak English to English speaking people instead of the gibberish your characters spout in Zelda.

Since when LoZ games happen in real world?

 

[Paskil]

Thank god someone finally say it like it is.
If you're in gaming and really are only there to use that medium to try to make a movie, please do something else with your time.

Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls sales numbers would disagree with this.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

He gets it.

<3

 

[LastNac]

I love you Miyamoto, but you need to stop viewing these things as toys.

 

[Maedhros]

While I somewhat agree with these quotes (I won't read the full interview), I think there's space for both. Gaming shouldn't be limited to one type of experience.

 

[Mesoian]

Come on, not nothing. That's an easy way to repeat the same mistakes that the film industry makes. There's always a lesson to be learned.

Now if the question is, "Should the games industry emulate the film industry?" the answer is no.

But to ignore one because "I don't think it's relevant" is how you never escape your big budget games essentially being little more than transformers sequels.

 

[tkscz]

Metroid Other M? Zelda series is also story centric

Only proves his point.

Anywho, OP, your title might cause some uproar. There is much more to the article than just that.

 

[SuperSonic1305]

“What the other companies are doing makes business sense,” he says. “But it’s boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before.”

Right. Nintendo is doing such a great job and not making the same games.

 

[Dragon]

Since when LoZ games happen in real world?

So only realistic games should have voice acting that doesn't sound like a garbled version of the parents from Charlie Brown? I don't agree with that.

 

[Sage00]

Freeform games and interactive story games?

 

[Ishida]

Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls sales numbers would disagree with this.

Also Metal Gear, Uncharted, and many MANY other excellent franchises that are "movie-like" in their presentation.

 

[Leafhopper]

I think you could probably learn to have your characters speak English to English speaking people instead of the gibberish your characters spout in Zelda.

They speak Hylian in Hyrule. (the games that take place there anyway.)

So only realistic games should have voice acting that doesn't sound like a garbled version of the parents from Charlie Brown? I don't agree with that.

Don't play Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. You might die.

 

[kinggroin]

I guess I agree, but I think his argument dismisses certain genres that are less interactive, in a round a about way

 

[LeleSocho]

Amen to that.

 

[jchap]

I agree in some way. Games are supposed to be interactive fun and too often when you are driven along a linear story path you just feel like you are completing challenges to see the next cut scene.

 

[Mael]

Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls sales numbers would disagree with this.

And we're talking sales number now?
In this case I'd say that the fact that the highest sellers being multiplayer heavily points to most of the market not really being interested in games for their cinematic qualities.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Freeform games and interactive story games?

Because don't you know? Speaking in absolutes is more fun!

 

[MrBadger]

I understand his point. Everything games can pick up from films will just be things that make the cutscenes, storyline and other things that aren't the actual gameplay better. It's a game's job to make that work with interactivity in mind.

Metroid Other M? Zelda series is also story centric

Zelda's never felt that story centric to me. The lore was an afterthought, really.

 

[Village]

Is there anyone who thinks the story in Metroid Other M is a good thing?

The concept of giving metriod more story yes.

Execution, nope.

 

[-COOLIO-]

it feels like something was lost in translation here.

 

[blankempathy]

Right. Nintendo is doing such a great job and not making the same games.

That didn't take long.

 

[redcrayon]

I agree with him entirely. I much prefer feeling like I am the director than being sent barreling down a linear path by a frustrated games developer that would rather be making films, and who makes me put the controller down while he inflicts his bloody cut scenes on me every half hour.

 

[Mesoian]

They speak Hylian in Hyrule. (the games that take place there anyway.)

They don't speak at all in Zelda games, unless you are NOT from Hyrule, or you construe Hyrulian as being an awkward series of grunts and gurgles.

 

[SovanJedi]

It's just one developer's opinion, and CLEARLY we know it has worked for his games, again and again. Miyamoto simply isn't in it for telling narratives in the form of cutscenes, back stories and lore, as apparent by his own disinterest in even his own characters' backstories (i.e. the Koopalings no longer being Bowser's children). They're all just actors on a stage for other people to direct, and make their own stories out of.

It doesn't mean his is the one true way to make games, though. Even he admits that. It's just not what he wants out of games.

 

[abstract alien]

Nintendo’s Miyamotoan pursuit of uniqueness has occasionally led the company into financially choppy waters, but they have, thus far, always been vindicated.

Not related to the thread topic specifically, but I like that. Miyamotoan.

 

[Instro]

At a basic level I agree, games are not movies and shouldn't be treated as such, but his complete aversion to having any kind of significant narrative at all has been detrimental to some games made by the company over the years.

 

[boinx]

That's stupid, why wouldn't you learn from other mediums and take something from them to add to video games? Shit's gonna stagnate if people don't try to do new things.

 

[Kouriozan]

“I have nothing to tell you about Nintendo’s involvement in virtual reality. We have nothing to announce yet,” he says.

Virtual Boy 2 confirmed

Spoiler

:lol