Shigeru Miyamoto, The Walt Disney of Our Time

circletimessquare writes "The New York Times has a gushing portrait of Shigeru Miyamoto. His creative successes have spanned almost 30 years, from Donkey Kong, to Mario (as well known as Mickey Mouse around the world, the story notes), to Zelda, to the Wii, and now to Wii Fit — which according to some initial rumors is selling out across the globe in its debut. The article has some gems of insight into the man's thinking, including that his iconic characters are an afterthought. Gameplay comes first, and the characters are designed around that. Additionally, his fame and finances and ego are refreshingly modest for someone of his high regard and creative stature: 'despite being royalty at Nintendo and a cult figure, he almost comes across as just another salaryman (though a particularly creative and happy one) with a wife and two school-age children at home near Kyoto. He is not tabloid fodder, and he seems to maintain a relatively nondescript lifestyle.'"

Comments

The "Wii Fit"? YGBK!

[5pp000]

There's really something called the "Wii Fit"?? I don't know if Nintendo execs are Honda fans, or if they just want parents to be able to say to each other, when their rugrat is throwing a temper tantrum cuz they took away the game console, "Oh, he's just having a Wii Fit".

The decay of time

[DNS-and-BIND]

The difference is that in 50 years, people will still watch Walt Disney films. They won't experience anything by this guy, whatever his name is, because his creations will be considered primitive and un-fun by then. Ever tried to watch silent films? Yes I know they're an art form blah blah and I'm an uneducated country bumpkin philistine and they're far superior to anything that Jean-Claude Van Damme appears in, but jeez I've tried and most of them are just unwatchable. Likewise with this guy's video games...try playing something from 10 years ago, not even talking about the graphics, the user interfaces are unusable. Believe me, I've tried, it just plain doesn't work.