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Miyamoto Lecture At Smithsonian Documented
Thanks to 1UP for its report on last week's Smithsonian lecture featuring game industry luminaries, including Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and as previously mentioned on Slashdot Games. After Miyamoto's entrance, heralded with "hoots and hollers [so loud] that you'd think Natalie Portman had just walked out on stage at a Star Wars convention", the article quotes the Nintendo mainstay on his entrance to the industry ("When I originally I came to Nintendo it was to do industrial design... I wanted to make the new Rubix Cube. I never imagined that I would work in video games, especially since I don't like computers"), and his concern over making videogames accessible: ("Everyone should be able to pick-up a controller and play a video game... But still so many people think games are too complex. So I developed the L/R buttons and analog stick to simplify things.")
As noted above, I believe Miyamoto's quote is being misattributed,
Anyway, I don't see the significance in your evaluations of the N64 controller. I prefer the multiple grips of the N64 controller to the compromised placement of the d-pad and analog stick on all current controllers (especially the left analog stick on all analog Playstation controllers, forcing the matched poor position of the right stick).
Z-button was obviously only used as a replacement for either L or R, depending on controller orientation.
The C buttons replaced X and Y, while providing a 3-over-3 configuration (popularized by Street Fighter 2 and by Sega's recent controllers of the time - which is not to say that there was ever a SF2 game for N64). A and B lined up with the C buttons, and were easy to identify by feel, while the C buttons were raised very slightly, and the diamond configuration of these four buttons felt very natural.
Lastly, system splash screens on modern consoles can serve multiple purposes on top of hiding disc load times (if that). They can serve as POST screens (like on PCs), they can be used as copyright enforcement tools (a la Dreamcast), they can provide system introduction in anticipation of the user deciding to enter the configuration screen (just like with a POST screen in relation to entering BIOS config), and they can also be used as inobtrusive blipverts in the process. Not that they actually always DO all of these things.
The trick when designing a videogame is allowing the average gamer to pick up the controller and have fun playing the game while simultaneously allowing a level of complexity and difficulty that will challenge even the most accomplished gamer... something that, not all but a majority of, game developers have seem to have forgotten lately. With the exception of a few games like Ninja Gaiden, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Ikaruga, today's games often lack the ability for a player to create and optimize advanced control strategies - often at the expensive of over-the-top graphics that serve as little more than eye candy. Miyamoto at one point knew this and it was the foundation on which the Nintendo Empire was built. Somewhat older Nintendo games such as Mario Kart 64 offered that. Any n00b can pick up the controller and drive around the track firing random weapons at other racers and have a good time. However with the addition of the mini-turbo world-class gamers have the ability to refine their skills on a ridiculous learning that can take up to several years to master (as evidenced by the guys at www.mariokart64.com). Other games that come to mind are GoldenEye and Perfect Dark... anyone, regardless of ability, can have fun in a GE or PD multiplayer match but the games offer players the ability to use advanced strategies that can take months upon months of practice and refinement to truly master.
Ah, the good old days...
Miyamoto was probably counting on the diamond configuration to provide enough tactile feedback to know where your fingers are placed. The SNES controller was a genius of design. The introduction of L/R buttons was really intuitive, and the positioning of the 4 buttons in a diamond (like a D-pad) was so simple that people intuitively "got" which button they were over. Those four buttons were easier to use than the Genesis' 3 buttons.
It's so good that every controller after it has borrowed all of its conventions. Diamond button configuration with shoulder buttons? Cube, Xbox, PS2? Dreamcast, PS1, N64? Even though it messed up my Street Fighter playing for years, the SNES controller really was the best.
Lastly, system splash screens on modern consoles can serve multiple purposes on top of hiding disc load times (if that).
If there was the option for instant boot, would you? Splash screens can be mildly interesting... they can display gameplay hints, serve up humorous in-game advertisements, or even play their own games... but there is no reason why someone would actively want to sit and watch a static image for fifteen seconds. And until techniques improve for more dynamic background loading, that's all people are going to get.
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