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Posts with tag Miyamoto

Miyamoto: 'DS was designed with mothers and school in mind'



For its 1,000th issue, lucky old Famitsu got quite the gift: a chance to sit down with Nintendo design guru Shigeru Miyamoto and chew the fat about Nintendo's past, present, and future.

As you'd expect, numerous topics were broached, with the DS talked about at length. Miyamoto explained how Nintendo approached designing the handheld, revealing that the company aimed for "something Mom won't hate," as well as a system that could help out at school.

As for what the future holds for the dual-screened wonder, Miyamoto said Nintendo was focused on making games that people would want to play at both home and, well, everywhere else: "When you take your DS out on the town, you'll be able to do all kinds of fun things with it in public spaces. This year we plan to challenge ourselves with that kind of system."

Elsewhere in the article, Shiggy discusses how his dismay with the GameCube controller directly influenced the development of the Wii Remote (the reporter apparently tried to defend the controller, but Miyamoto was having none of it), and reassured fans that Mario and Zelda still had big roles to play in Nintendo's future.

Get a signed GBA to go with your Phantom Hourglass DS Lite


Signed units are nothing new to us here at DS Fanboy. We've seen our fair share of them. But, when you have a limited edition GBA SP like this, signed by the man who made so many of our beloved Nintendo mascots a reality, we take special notice.

Should you be the bidding type, this auction for the pictured GBA SP is live until January 19th, giving you enough time to go over the decision to toss your coin in for this Miyamoto-signed GBA SP. It's a pretty sweet handheld, if we may say so. However, the starting bid of $500 is probably a tad bit ridiculous and has us questioning the seller's state of mind. We wouldn't drop that much dough on this item ourselves.

What about you, though? Is this GBA worth several hundred dollars?

[Via Go Nintendo]

A very special deal on a Miyamoto-signed DS [update]


More than most autographed DS systems, this one has, uh, personality. Character. It looks like it's got a few stories to tell. Like the story of what that orange stuff is, and the story of how its top screen got that awful crack. And in case you're distracted by those two issues, this DS has in fact not been autographed by Shigeru Miyamoto, and it's selling for (a current bid of) just $18.35.

It's unlikely that you'd buy an autographed DS to play anyway. Items like that are strictly for display or bragging rights. So why not save yourself a little money and buy one that is less than perfectly functional? We were being sarcastic when we first started typing that, but now we think it's actually a pretty smart idea.

(Update:) Here's why: it's not really signed. As pointed out by commenter GCN Sean, it's a sticker. But hey, broken DS with a sticker on it for like $18, right? That's actually ... a terrible deal. Well, at least we think we've found the Worst DS on eBay. Really, we think the thing's a lot more entertaining now that we know it's a hilarious scam.

[Via GameSniped]

DS Daily: Heroes

No, we're not talking about the heroes you might be thinking of. We're talking about the heroes behind the heroes. The names and faces that make our games come alive. The visionaries, if you will.

Yesterday's unveiling of a release date and the official website for Flower, Sun and Rain inspired a chat amongst the staff about the game's creator, Goichi Suda. You see, around these parts, we simply can't get enough of Suda's work: the wildly imaginative concepts, that inimitable visual style. Hand on heart, Suda's mere involvement in a project means a sale to this blogger is more than likely. We only wish others felt the same way.

But what about you, reader? Is there a particular development guru you look up to? Are you more about Sakaguchi or Shiggy, Molyneux or Mizuguchi? And do you ever purchase a game solely because they played a part in its creation?

Happy birthday, Miyamoto-san!



He created Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda. He has been indirectly responsible for using up thousands of hours of our lives. We sort of want him to be our Dad. Yes, Nintendo design guru and general gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto turned 55 years young today (hasn't he aged well?), so it felt only right that we took the time to wish Shiggy many happy returns.

Here's to a long and prosperous future, sir! One with lots of cake.

Shigeru Miyamoto is a man -- and how!

True story: Shigeru Miyamoto is so manly, he doesn't sleep on a mattress like us mortals, but a specially constructed plinth, fashioned exclusively from glass shards and exposed six-inch nails. Also, when he's bored, he wrestles prides of lions. For fun. When (after several weeks) he tires and grows hungry, he chows down on some of the sharks he's killed with his bare hands. Another time, he once freed a trapped kitten from beneath an overturned tanker truck by lifting the vehicle himself with a single finger -- whilst working out.

And we presume that's why AskMen.com deem our Shiggy to be the 19th manliest man of 2007. That, and a bunch of other stuff about video games.

Miyamoto wins award in London

Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the biggest names in the industry, recently received an award. The Economist's Innovation Award for Consumer Goods, to be exact, which was awarded to the gaming legend at the Science Museum in London.

Using an independent judging panel of industry experts, the choice to award Miyamoto was an easy one as Tom Standage, business editor at The Economist, comments "No one is more identified with modern video games than Shigeru Miyamoto." He further added "His pioneering vision and creativity truly created a new category of entertainment."

We agree, Tom.

Confirmed: all high-level Nintendo employees are required to have big circles in signatures


Not only has Eiji Aonuma followed Shigeru Miyamoto as producer of the Zelda games, but he's followed Miyamoto in autograph style as well. Compare Miyamoto's autograph (left) with the thing Aonuma scribbled on this crimson-and-black DS, given to a Link costume contest winner at the Phantom Hourglass launch. Both Nintendo luminaries feature two big circle things in their autographs, even though Miyamoto signs his name using the Roman alphabet and Aonuma signs in kanji.

Congratulations go out, of course, to the winner, a GoNintendo reader named JulianK, one of the few people for whom Link cosplay had positive consequences.

Iwata and Itoi talk shop over dinner

Perhaps inspired by our recent interview with Starmen.net's Reid Young, Shigesato Itoi, best known in video game communities for his work on EarthBound and the Mother series, posted a few English-translated notes from a conversation he had with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata six months ago over supper.

Itoi and Iwata spent a great deal talking about Shigeru Miyamoto, as Japanese developers/designers are wont to do, discussing his belief of ideas being "something which solves multiple issues at once." Though the two chums didn't chat much about past projects or games, there are still ten more portions of the roundtable that Itoi promises to release over the next two weeks. We'll make sure to notify you if we hear of any megatons.

DS may have killed the 'Game Boy' name

We all suspected that the Game Boy Advance was basically moribund, because it lacks the high-tech money-printing capabilities of the DS. Confirming our suspicions, Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview with Kotaku that Nintendo basically didn't care about the platform anymore.

Now, according to George Harrison, it's not just Nintendo's "third pillar" strategy that's out, but the whole Game Boy line. He told GameDaily that "This year in our marketing you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark."

It makes sense for Nintendo not to bring back the Game Boy name when the DS has so much momentum. But, personally, we think it's quite sad to see a Nintendo standard go away. Oh, well, at least we've got the Wii now to take over as the most awkwardly-named Nintendo console on the market.

Japanese hardware sales, May 14 - May 20: Satisfactory edition

Um...hot?
Having issues with performance? Can't seem to keep those sales numbers up? Disappointed in your ability to satisfy Japanese schoolchildren? It's okay, Mr. Miyamoto. It's not you, it's just ... you know ... they've seen it all before. They want something new. They need something big, and yours just isn't big enough. But boy, do we have a product for you!

Trust us. With regular use comes a guaranteed increase in size, or your money back! Girls will flock to you, women will be putty in your hands! After all, we've seen the results firsthand. Yes, that's right, we've sunk quite a bit of our own money and time into this product, and we're just absolutely 100% positive you'll start seeing results within a few weeks. And hey, it's not your fault nature didn't give you a little more to work with! So go ahead and start Training Your Brain, Miyamoto-san, and give those women what they really want: your astronomically high IQ.

- DS Lite: 111,213 52,572 (32.10%)
- Wii: 52,193 351 (0.67%)
- PSP: 27,505 6,928 (20.12%)
- PS2: 10,881 467 (4.48%)
- PS3: 8,659 180 (2.04%)
- Xbox 360: 2,026 79 (3.75%)
- Game Boy Micro: 428 20 (4.90%)
- GBA SP: 330 13 (3.79%)
- Gamecube: 276 39 (12.38%)
- GBA: 33 15 (83.33%)
- DS Phat: 26 13 (33.33%)

[Source: Media Create]

DS Daily: The signing

His signature rocks.Yesterday's eBay treasure-find got us thinking. We tend to idolize certain figures in the gaming world, even if they happen to just be suave business men. And don't get us wrong, Iwata-san is the very definition of a ladies' man. But in all the realm of gaming, from players to publishers, who would you want to sign your DS?

Bonus points if you don't pick Miyamoto, but, uh, we totally pick Miyamoto. I mean, he deserves it, right? And he's got such a cool signature.

eBay alert: DS Phat signed all over


Up for grabs on eBay is a DS Fanboy's dream: a DS signed by not only Shigeru Miyamoto, but also Satoru Iwata and the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet. Why would anyone want to get rid of such a priceless beauty? Turns out, school loans. But all of the money won't be going to school loans, as the seller will be setting aside 25% of the profit to go to Child's Play.

At the time we were writing this piece up, the current bid was $330.00. We have a feeling that'll be going much higher before the end of the auction on the 19th.

Halo DS ... never existed?

lolcluezPut on your sleuthing caps, ladies and gents, we have a bonafide mystery on our hands. Surely you remember, with chagrin and unfulfilled longing, the news of the canceled Halo DS project, reported by IGN editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina. He even went so far as to say that he played the title, and love him or hate him, Matt tends to speak verily.

Enter: last night's San Francisco Halo 3 beta event. The Bungie team, responsible for the development of all things Halo, were interviewed by numerous gaming outlets and media sources, including one Rumor Reporter. When asked about the ill-fated Halo DS, Bungie's Brian Gerrard, Director of Franchise and Community Affairs, commented, "Wow, I have never heard or seen such a project, nor do we have plans for any DS Halo title."

We doubt either of these two respected news sources were lying or mistaken, which leaves the question: who made the mysterious Halo DS, the one Matt C. played? There's only one obvious answer, of course.

Shiggy made it.

[Thanks, Bruce!]

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass boxart


The Japanese boxart for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is up on Amazon for all to see. We're hugely excited about the new Zelda, and advise you check here for the screens we showed you last week. It's coming out on Saturday July 23rd, exactly 11 years after the Nintendo 64 hit the shelves. It's highly unusual for a game to come out on a Saturday in Japan, where Thursday is the traditional release day for new titles. Whatever -- we want to get our hands on Phantom Hourglass as soon as possible!

[Via Nintendo iNSIDE]

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