Iwata Asks: Link's Crossbow Training or Miyamoto loves the FPS

Couscous

http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/crossbow/vol1_page1.jsp

Miyamoto: I see. Well, where should I start? I’ve always been into first person shooter3 (FPS) style games, 3D games in which you can walk around freely and see things from your own point of view.

I think it is more comfortable, more natural. We are creatures of habit. We don’t look at our feet when we’re walking around, and we’re always trying desperately to take in the scenery while we’re living our lives. So, even in these games I want people to be able to get really into the 3D geography, so it feels like you’re really there, since I think it’s a really natural thing to be able to look around while you’re walking. At first when we were developing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time4, I even proposed using a first-person perspective.

I thought that the FPS system would be the best way of enabling players to take in the vast terrain of the Hyrule Field. Besides, by not having the player’s character on the screen, we can spend more time and machine power on creating enemies and the environments.

Iwata: I see. So, if the hero isn’t visible on screen, it’s really hard to tell the difference between adult Link and the child Link, right?

Miyamoto: That, and also the fact that it’s a total waste not to have Link visible on screen when he is so cool looking! (laughs) So, we decided to have the hero visible in Ocarina of Time, but I had always thought that FPS games which you could operate from your own perspective were really interesting, so I was proactively supporting such projects like the 007 GoldenEye5 game.

Iwata: While there are people like you, Mr. Miyamoto, who find these FPS games to be really fun, there are, on the other hand, people who feel FPS games are too difficult. I think that quite a lot of Japanese people feel this way – why do you think this is?

Miyamoto: I really don’t know what the reason could be.

Iwata: I don’t share this opinion, but some say that Japanese and Westerners would have different abilities when it comes to grasping 3D games, since people who were traditionally hunters would have a better understanding of using space, whereas people who were traditionally farmers might not.

Miyamoto: So I guess my ancestors were hunters! (laughs) But don’t get me wrong, I’m really no expert at FPS games. I can get beat in a second, but I think they’re really fun.

Iwata: For example, the idea for Wii Fit was born because you found the simple act of weighing yourself every day enjoyable, and similarly, the creation of a game in the FPS genre was a reaction to your internal sensor telling you that it would be fun.

Miyamoto: If there is something simple which someone can find enjoyable, the same joy can be experienced by anyone on earth, I believe. That’s what I always have in mind when I am creating games. For example, when we were working on Wii Sports, people in America kept telling me that there was no way that games this simple would sell in the States. When Wii Sports finally went on sale though, the games appeared to have even stronger appeal in the US than they did in Japan. When you see a phenomenon like that occur right in front of you, you start to see that there really isn’t any difference in what east or the west find enjoyable.




Miyamoto: So we figured that Link was the logical choice. Then we argued that it would’ve been kind of strange for us to give Link a gun, so I proposed a sort of Terminator style story about a time warp from the future, but…

Iwata: Terminator!?

Miyamoto: Yeah, they vetoed that idea immediately (laughs). You remember the Hidden Village in Twilight Princess? Well, I personally love that spaghetti western-like setting, and we re-created the scene because we wanted people to be able to find joy in FPS games. I also thought that if you were able to use the Wii Zapper with it, it would be even more fun. So we finally decided to give Link a crossbow, but the problem then became what to do about rapid-fire capabilities (smiling). Shooting a gun in machine gun style rapid-fire is really satisfying, but having a crossbow that was able to shoot rapid-fire seemed a little unrealistic. But in the end we kind of decided, well, it’s really just for fun, so whatever, and we gave it rapid-fire capabilities. (laughs)

More under the link. I never knew the Miyamoto liked shooters.

Xenogears of Bore

Quoting it is fine and all, but leaving out the Terminator part? Come on.

This one is pretty damn funny.

urahonky

Haha, that is pretty interesting. How often do these "Iwata asks" occur?

DarkPrimus

It's quite true that the Japanese have some strange aversion to first-person games.

I remember hearing in some interview with some Bungie folks that during a Halo 3 demonstration the press was completely silent and then when they picked up a turret and it went to third-person there were a bunch of "whoooooas" from the crowd.