Games for all the family?

[Benji]

Miyamoto: Games should belong to the entire family

Mario creator talks about the Revolution, the future of games, and admits he doesn't play them anymore in new interview.

In an interview with Business Week, legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto discusses a variety of topics, from the changing face of games to the rationale behind the Revolution's controller. Much of the article will sound familiar to those who have closely followed Miyamoto's career, but the article provides some lesser-known facts, as well as a cross section of popular topics past and present.

Perhaps most interesting was the designer's vision for the future of games.

"It's convenient to make games that are played on TVs," Miyamoto is quoted as saying. "But I always wanted to have a custom-sized screen that wasn't the typical four-cornered cathode-ray-tube TV. I've always thought that games would eventually break free of the confines of a TV screen to fill an entire room. But I would rather not say anything more about that."

Addressing a future far less distant, Miyamoto discussed the thinking behind the Nintendo Revolution's controller.

"Most people think video games are all about a child staring at a TV with a joystick in his hands," Miyamoto said. "I don't. They should belong to the entire family. I want families to play video games together. That was the concept behind the Revolution. I also redesigned the Revolution's controller to look more like a regular TV remote, so anyone who saw it would know instantly how to use it, and so they wouldn't think they had to always stash it away."

As for his current favorite game, Miyamoto doesn't have one. As a matter of fact, he says he doesn't even play games anymore.

"The only time I play is maybe the 20 minutes I spend testing rivals' new machines," Miyamoto is quoted as saying. "I don't play video games in my free time. On the weekends, I fix things around the house, garden, or play the guitar. Or I'll exercise, go swimming, take the dog for a walk, or go for a hike."

For more on Miyamoto's approach to game design, where he gets his ideas, and the supposed convergence of games and movies, check out the full interview.

Do you think it would ever be true to a console to be a 'family' machine? It just seems to me that the stereotype will always be true to a degree that sons like videogames, I can't imagine seeing a family sitting around a TV playing a video game for an evening like I can watching the TV, most peoples mothers I know hate consoles and that their kids play them, let alone play them themselves.

[apsham]

Alls I know is, that my mother made it further in Super Mario than I ever did. And my father makes some kickass theme parks.

Edited November 1, 2005 by Apple Shampoo

[K]

My dad kicks ass at Time Crisis.

I can see things like Mario Party becoming more popular as family games.

[Benji]

Alls I know is, that my mother made it further in Super Mario than I ever did. And my father makes some kickass theme parks.

If you can't complete Super Mario in under two days you don't deserve to play video games

[PkmnTrainerJ]

One family guy that we've really played is Bomberman, for the SNES. Our whole family (7 of us) could end spending about 3 hours on that, obviously controller swapping had to occur but still. I doubt Revolution will be family orientated, as I can't see playing Resident Evil with my little cousins...

[Benji]

One family guy that we've really played is Bomberman, for the SNES. Our whole family (7 of us) could end spending about 3 hours on that, obviously controller swapping had to occur but still. I doubt Revolution will be family orientated, as I can't see playing Resident Evil with my little cousins...

Your family is an exception to what I was saying, if anything your mum promotes playing the games because it shuts the kids up

[Pepsi Punk]

My mom is crazy at Crash Bandicoot and played Metroid Prime on the SNES more than I did. She hasn't played any games on the PS2 though.

[Tarheels.]

there was this one game on Nintendo that my mom was a fuckin beast at. It was a side scrolling thing almost with blocks as the platforms and this guy that shot things. I can't remember the name but she beat it in like 30 minutes while it took me a week. Then she beat Super Mario when I couldn't. She got used to the 64 once it got old and I bought a playstation but she still played that and kicked my ass in Mario Kart every once in awhile. On PS2 she played a little while, but my dad owned the PS2. He beat me 80-21 in Madden 04. He was the Patriots and I was the Panthers, but that was my step dad. My real dad sucked penis at games.

[Herr Matzat]

there can´t be nothing like a familey game for me becaus my mother is scared of everything that goes beyond normal TV and my father just dossent play becaus i always kill him on every game :-/

[Guest Grapehead]

Once our generation becomes parents and such, then video games could become an entire family activity, but for now it's only in rare instances.

Edited November 2, 2005 by Grapehead

[The Future]

My Dad slaughtered me at Brian Lara Cricket and Tekken my mom doesnt play games and I beat my Sister in DragonballZ Tenkaichi all the time

[DonaldMick]

My dad's a pretty heavy PC gamer (Warcraft et al).

My mom's a Mario Kart 64 addict. She stayed up until 4 o'clock in the morning once to play it.