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Miyamoto, Garfield, Church To Talk At Smithsonian
tripmaster writes "I'm lucky enough to have been asked to assemble and moderate a panel at the Smithsonian on May 16th; so I asked myself, who can I ask, given the cachet of an invite to speak at the Smithsonian (prior speakers: Berners-Lee, Cerf, Gates, Streep, Albright, etc.)? We ended up choosing Shigeru Miyamoto for console gaming, Richard Garfield for pen and paper games, Doug Church for PC games. /.-ers in the DC area (or on the East coast) should come see the panel, which will be a meaty 2-3 hours. I'm looking forward to asking questions and getting out of the way -- I think their cross-talk could be especially interesting. It's the weekend after the E3 Expo, which is probably the only time Miyamoto's in the States and available -- hopefully he'll also bring his E3 demos to show." Although a little pricey at $40, this is certainly a rare chance to see game design legends, particularly Miyamoto, in a roundtable.
Yah, but personally, I think Church's contributions -- first 1st person 2.5D game (Underworld before Wolfenstein), first true 3D first person game (System Shock, 13 months b4 Quake) and Thief (pioneered stealth game play) give him content cred (vs. sales cred). And SS and Thief helped pioneer 'emergent gameplay'. He's a great programmer and designer, and often Warren Spector gets (unwilling) cred for projects Doug has led... Hopefully I can persuade Sid to come and say hi. I may see if I can grab Will and someone else for another panel, if this one's well-received.
About 25 quid (by my very quick reckoning) is peanuts to watch Miyamoto's translator talk about games :) The decomposition of games is fun, and is important to people who just want to buy games. If you understand what you enjoy, you can see why you preferred Unreal Tournament over Quake III (I know I did), when, to all intents and purposes, they are the same game.
;) ). Games encompass so much, marketing, psychology, art, that listening to these people's differing views was quite eye-opening.
;)
Miyamoto is a games genius not through divine intervention but through a unique understanding of what makes games great. Although actually expressing his views is very difficult, it is definitely worth the money to see him. I wish I could be there, and hear exactly what he has to say. I've only ever heard snippits of his ideas, but he once said that the way games control is one of the most important aspects. Prince of Persia was an astonishing game built solely on that aspect, that could probably have been a lot longer coming had it not been for Super Mario 64. That game was so groundbreaking because of control in a 3D environment, not because of the 3D itself. The thinking needed to design such a system is not easy, and the industry is better off with visionaries like him.
I once went to a roundtable of an American female games journalist, the head of Rockstar in the UK, Dene Carter (of Fable fame), Miles Jacobson (of Championship Manager fame) and David Brabham (I have absolutely no intention of filling you in if you don't know
Of note: The American female journalist was discussing how empowering Lara Croft was as a female superhero, and throwing up explanations as to why males could identify her. Dene Carter was sat out of peripheral vision, making large breast gesticulations.
Fair point, well made.
And hey, if you don't like watching people speaking about games, go and buy the latest tat from EA. There isn't much innovation to deconstruct there
Seeing as how you're going to be moderating this thing, here's a friendly tip.
Please DON'T refer to Miyamoto-san directly as "Miyamoto-sama." It is far too reverential, and would be sure to cause him a little bit of embarrassment (which is a definite no-no for Japanese guests of honor, even in a purely Japanese setting).
Some people in the industry call him "Miyamoto-sensei," because he is considered by these people a master from whom they take direct inspiration. But these industry people are typically game designers, not journalists or anyone else outside of actual game development.
In all cases, "Miyamoto-san" is very appropriate, as well as respectful. You're probably aware of these as well, but other terms to avoid are "Shigeru," "Shigeru-san," "Shigga Man," and perhaps even the more elaborate "Snoop Shiggy Shigg."
And while I'm at it, "MIYAMOTO Shigeru-san," in the full, is probably the best way to introduce him at first, but it would be perfectly appropriate to just call him "Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto."
Can't wait to read or hear what he has to say! Here's hoping that it's as fun for you being a part of the discussion.