Nerd Mentality

EGM Iwata/Miyamoto Interview

Posted July 23rd 2005 by Eric Schwarzott.

On Revolution, Luigi, Stage Debut, Smash Bros, and more!

The latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly features an interview with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata on a variety of topics:

EGM: Some people are saying Nintendo has given up trying to lead technologically and is focused on innovation.

Iwata: I don't think the Revolution's (graphics) will be inferior in any fashion to Xbox 360 or PS3. Even if you look at Zelda on GameCube - I don't think that looks inferior to what the competition is touting as "next generation" visuals. But we think there are more important things for now than making the system work with a high-definition television. The majority of people won't be playing our system with an HDTV, (though) with the Revolution, 480p resolution will be standard. We are not making light of graphics and technology - we are trying to make the best-balanced machine that will appeal to the most people.

EGM: Why make the DVD player optional with Revolution? And how will it work - is it an attachment or a remote or what?

Iwata: The majority of households already own a DVD player or two. We don't want them to spend extra money just to have a console which happens to have DVD capability. And the DVD player isn't going to be an attachment; it’s going to go inside the machine so you won't even (be able to) tell the difference.

EGM: You've promised Wi-Fi for the Revolution but will it also have a standard Ethernet port?

Iwata: (No, it) doesn't have an Ethernet port. However, through the USB port, it’s possible to have Ethernet with an adapter. Considering where the machine will be placed in the household, we think it would be difficult for people to route the typical Ethernet line to it. Also, We're considering connecting the DS with the Revolution via Wi-Fi.

EGM: Moving on to other games--we know Smash Bros. is coming to the Revolution, but what about DS?

Miyamoto: We're thinking about it.

EGM: What about Luigi's Mansion? Is that series over, or will we ever see another?

Miyamoto: The director often says, "Make another one! Make another one!" and I want to use Luigi again.

EGM: Any chance we'll see another Pikmin?

Miyamoto: Nothings set in stone yet, but the interface we're creating for the Revolution is well suited for Pikmin - I think it would be a good match. Not much I can say other than that.

EGM: Will we ever see anything more of Stage Debut? (a technology demo that allowed players to map their face on in-game characters)?

Miyamoto: Yeah, I want to do something with it.

EGM: Speaking of the virtual console, might older offline multiplayer games, like Mario Party, be altered so you could play them online with the Revolution?

Iwata: We know that we will offer the past games for sure. But we are discussing the possibility of having older games like Mario Party playable online. So if our discussion goes well, and if the technical aspects of Revolution also go well, that's possible.

EGM: You've said the Revolution controller will be unique - do you worry about it alienating developers? Say Splinter Cell comes out for all the next-gen systems; might the Revolution controller be so different that it'd be tough to map the controls onto?

Iwata: Well, of course, the idea is that the Revolution will sell and sell and sell so it becomes the standard in the industry. (Smiles) However, at least for the launch period...we designed the controller so it can play any of the different conventional styles. After all, we are talking about it playing games from our past machines (ie the virtual console). So don't worry.

Source: EGM

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