E3 07: Miyamoto talks about "strange videogame fanatics"
And why the Nintendo conference was so mainstream focused
Wednesday 11 July 2007
We left this morning's Nintendo conference feeling a little bemused by the alarming lack of attention to any games that - as dedicated gamers - we really wanted to see. Between aerobics, bar charts and the endless back slapping movie montages there was hardly anything to really get us whoopin' an' a hollerin'. Why was Nintendo's E3 conference so mainstream focused when the majority of attendees were from the gaming press? Well, who better to ask than the company's most important employee, Shigeru Miyamoto, and we fortuitously got the opportunity to ask him shortly after the conference finished. Here's what he had to say:
"We're really reaching out with an expanded PR message that games really are for everybody and that was a very strong focus of our media grouping this morning," Miyamoto told us. He emphasised the familiar assertion that Nintendo will continue to make hardcore games, before going on to explain how it hopes to change the perception of gaming with its concerted assault on non-gamers. "Maybe in the future we won't have parents complaining about kids always playing videogames. Or you won't have people who play videogames all the time being looked upon as strange videogame fanatics and rather as people who play videogames becoming the norm in society."
Wait - we could become 'the norm'? We really don't think that would be such a great idea.
Above: Miyamoto shows off the Wii Balance Board - but no new games - at today's Nintendo conference
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