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Miyamoto 'Banned' From Talking About Hobbies
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wednesday August 13, @10:08AM
from the they-might-learn-our-secrets dept.
from the they-might-learn-our-secrets dept.
walshy007 writes "After Shigeru Miyamoto developed a love of puzzles, the "brain-training" software that has proved to be an international "killer application" on the Nintendo DS console was born.
He became interested in taking more exercise, and Wii Fit was created. He took up music lessons, and Wii Music was the result.
Now, according to sources at Nintendo, the games designer has been banned by the company from speaking publicly about his hobbies."
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Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
Depends on if they are working on a Wii BDSM game.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
Now THAT would be interesting, to say at least...
"Move your wiimote to control a virtual whip, and punish that nasty slave refusing to comply with your orders. Online supported!"
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Heh, really.
Given the fairly common nature of these hobbies, it strikes me not the hobbies themselves that make the game popular, but rather his twist on putting them into a game.
Seriously, how many people, honestly, could make games as popular as his, on these subject matters. The key factor is the creator, not the theme, I suspect.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
But you don't want the imitators coming out before you.
A crappy "We Like to Get Fit" Game coming out before Wii Fit could damage sales.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
But you don't want the imitators coming out before you.
Exactly. If you correctly read the summary let alone the article, it says they've banned him from talking about his hobbies. He's still being encouraged to develop ideas for the company, they just don't want other companies cashing in on his ideas before they do.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing what people will put up with if they're paid enough. I image that Mr Miyamoto is very well paid by Nintendo, so much in fact that the outrageous imposition of not being able to discuss his hobbies with people is bearable.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing what people will put up with if they're paid enough. I image that Mr Miyamoto is very well paid by Nintendo, so much in fact that the outrageous imposition of not being able to discuss his hobbies with people is bearable.
From the sound of it, it sounds like he's been with Nintendo for awhile. Long enough to have accumulated enough money to where he very likely doesn't need the income from Nintendo anymore. There's a point in which after a person accumulates enough money, the promise of more money to throw on top of the heap really stops becoming a motivating factor and one starts looking at the other niceties of life instead. Niceties such as discussing interesting subject matters (aka hobbies) to others....not to mention I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem finding a job that pays well and gives him this freedom elsewhere.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo is not an American company. Mr. Miyamato is not an American. Why do you expect him to follow the values of American Culture. The Japanese tend to have more of a good of the company/community/family mind set while Americans have the what is good for me mind set. I am not saying one or the other is better or worse. In paradox to this article and thread the American Culture tends to be more creative and come up with new ideas (as they are trying to position themselves for promotion or noticed for the next big thing) while the Japanese are good at perfecting (for the good of the company product need to be perfect).
YES THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS! when talking about a culture there are always exceptions as we group a group of millions of people into a box. However a cultural norm tend to strongly influence people thoughts and feelings.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
Waiting to have a shot at it.
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Really? (Score:5, Funny)
And here I thought that it is the next logical evolutionary step for the Wii.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=227 [vgcats.com]
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Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
I just want to take this opportunity to point out that the Wikipedia article on Bukkake explicitly states that it "may require cleanup" [wikipedia.org] to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
That is all.
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WTF kind of article is this? (Score:5, Interesting)
I do agree, that is an interesting tidbit there, but it's an idle story at best. Fark material IMO.
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Bizarre (Score:5, Insightful)
If knowing Miyamoto's hobbies is enough to scoop Nintendo, then why can't competitors even touch his track record?
I think Nintendo is confusing ideas with implementations. Having ideas is great. Anyone can have ideas. In fact, they're a dime in quantities of tens of thousands. The problem is getting those ideas implemented. And without Miyamoto-san's insight into the implementation, I sincerely doubt competitors are going to be able to get ahead of Nintendo.
This seems like a case where Miyamoto should ignore his employer and just do his own thing. Unfortunately, I think he's too nice to take a stand on this. He will probably go along with his employer's request. Thankfully, however, I imagine that this requirement will loosen and fall off with time.
Which can only be good for fans. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have found the stories behind the development of Miis and Wii Fit to be fascinating. (And hilarious. [youtube.com] "You guys are useless!" :-P)
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Re:Bizarre (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Nintendo is confusing ideas with implementations. Having ideas is great. Anyone can have ideas. In fact, they're a dime in quantities of tens of thousands. The problem is getting those ideas implemented. And without Miyamoto-san's insight into the implementation, I sincerely doubt competitors are going to be able to get ahead of Nintendo.
While I agree with you to a point, I would have to say that there are a lot of dollars at stake in being the trendsetter or the follower. Ideas are shopped around and cloned so blatantly in motion pictures, usually with much worse (cheaper) script and production values. Pixar: Finding Nemo / Dreamworks: Shark Tales. WarnerBros: Happy Feet / Sony: SurfsUp.
I think there was a Miyamoto interview recently where he jokingly mentioned what he was dabbling with some new hobby, after specifically being asked about this trend of his. If Nintendo came out with game idea first, it might be interesting primarily through its novelty. If some other house copies the idea faster and cheaper, they will probably get the most money from it, even if Nintendo's longer production leads to a hell of a lot better game. If they appear to be a "me too" on one title, then it's not just that title that suffers, but people might associate Nintendo with "me too" and assume it will be a poor knockoff of someone else's idea, instead of the reverse.
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The people of Middle-Earth don't mind (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think a game based on Hobbits would do that well.
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Puzzle Games (Score:5, Informative)
No one ever thought of doing puzzle games before.
And no ever thought of doing work-out games before (we actually own the XBox virtual personal trainer game that my wife used to work out with).
And no one ever did music games before.
And since when was Wii Music a big hit? I thought it hadn't even been released yet, and all the hype has been about Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour.
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Dogs and Gardening (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't forget playing with his dogs (Nintendogs) and gardening (actually where his idea for Pikmin came from).
A lot of people know he does this, so many journalists like ask him what he's doing in his free time and then try to parse his words to figure out what future new games he may be working on. If they really are quelling that, I'm not very surprised, given how secretive the company likes to be.
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Re:Other hobbies (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, we already had Star Fox.
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Animal Crossing (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, we already had Star Fox.
And Animal Crossing.
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Re:lets just hope (Score:5, Funny)
What if his hobbies are running around Tokyo carjacking, beating up ho's, and shooting wildly?
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Re:That's because new hobby = Surfing Pron (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a DS homebrew contest and I remember reading about a girl who won the contest by developing a game in which you stroked the fluffy parts of a bunny with your stylus just right to make the bunny happy, and then it exploded into a bunch of butterflies. The developer flat out said the game was a simulation of getting a girl off. I'm sure a similar homebrew game for the Wiimote will eventually come out.
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