Ok, here's the recap of what's going down at the Game Developers Confernce right now.
(10:20 Pacific Time)
With Daft Punk music playing, the keynote speech started half an hour late. The audience was packed as the music faded and lights dimmed - all that could be seen is the Miyamoto Mii you see above. Then the screen slowly faded away and lights focused on the star of the gathering - the real Miyamoto. Applause ensued and things were about as masculine as a Mii parade, but this is the first time in eight years that Miyamoto has made an appearance at GDC. His speech starts with a trip down memory lane to a time when memory cards still were important . . . wait a minute.
He mentions classic N64 games like Ocarina of Time and says that his wife didn't like the game at all until their daughter started to show interest in it. It's this family appeal that led him to design Nintendogs - a game that has no enemies and is appealing to new audiences of potential gamers. Basically, if you hate the Wii, then you have Mrs. Miyamoto to blame. Add Animal Crossing and Brain Age to the obsession and he introduces the "Wife-O-Meter" aspect that the industry now faces.
Then Miyamoto asks something I've been predicted he would say for the last year: "With recent advances in portable technology, did we even need a home console at all?"
He brings up the worries that third party companies have about making games that utilize the odd controller, and also says that obviously they went through several different designs for the Wiimote, and that he wasn't the only one making the final version decisions, it was up to a group to agree on something. We might get pictures of rejected Wiimotes later - Wiijects?
He's also talking about the most important elements of design for fun games, and that he doesn't get too wrapped up in technical terms - he's more worried about the face of the player while they're playing the game. That's a huge reason why he's gained so much respect over the years - he's most interested in making games that let us have fun. Aside from that he doesn't offer anything too interesting, he states the obvious - that he doesn't spend time on game design that involves fear, violence, or vengeful emotions. Now he's repeating himself a bit - adding that he thinks designers repeat the same mistakes too much, that they need to separate themselves from their project and worry more about the point of view of the game players.
(11:40)
He's getting more specific with game design techniques and brings up the original confusion that Japanese game testers showed when playing Zelda. Miyamoto tells the audience that he solved the problem and guiding the gameplay by giving the players items (a sword in Zelda games) and then taking it away, causing them to think about how they'll get it back, and where to go to next. It's that simple method that set up the game's whole step by step method. What he discusses next goes over really well with the audience - he bashes on game ratings and says that they need to add a new category: a Fun-meter. Applause fills the room, and people still think "Ohhh snap!" is a catchy saying.
He also mentions that GameCube was only a half-step in the right direction at opening up the target audiences, and that the Wii is the full step into the future of gaming for Nintendo. I think anyone would agree the GameCube was a successful step, but ok. He stresses games without competition again and brings up Animal Crossing selling 7 million games proving it was accepted by hardcore gamers as well as casual players and newcomers.
(11:50)
Miyamoto is now saying that designers need to prioritize more - he's always wanted to make a realistic baseball game, but the graphical direction of the Miis called for something else. He mentions something surprising - Wii Sports: Baseball originally had the Mario Mushroom Kingdom characters as players, but gamers preferred the Mii players. Then Miyamoto says that the Mii Maker idea originated way back in 1985 on a Famicom Disk Drive program that let you draw your own face. He thought they should make a game out of it somehow, but they said he was retarded. 21 years later we have the Nintendo Miis and Miyamoto gets the last laugh.
(12:05)
Miyamoto announced that he's working on a new Wii channel that will allow us to have our Miis compete in popularity. (Man I wish my hermaphroditic Mii was possible!)
Now he's bringing up Mario 128 and telling us we've already played parts of it . . in Pikmin. Huh? He says more of its gameplay elements will be in Super Mario Galaxy, and a video shows Mario flying past planets and stars, collecting coins along the way. The graphics appear to be the best we've seen on the Wii by far, and there's a new logo for the game. He's jumping around and avoiding falling blocks, then it shows Mario floating on a large flower, and Miyamoto confirms that it will be out this year. Other stuff on screen: "Space island as Yoshi egg, volcanoes, green hills, vines connecting rocks, crawlers, looks super smooth, domes, fireballs, apples, giant worms connecting different apple levels...lots of spherical objects as levels, lava stage, bullet bills, thwomps, underwater levels, pirahna plants, some traditional 'flat' looking stages." Audience seems really happy.
(12:15)
Now that the new glimpses at Super Mario Galaxy are out of the way, Shigeru Miyamoto finishes up the Keynote Speech. "Your vision doesn't have to be my vision. You've given me a lot of faith about the future of our industry." He thinks we need to break out of the industry's preconceptions and think outside of the box, so that we can get video games to become part of a larger culture in everyone's lives. "With Nintendo's tools and visions, we can make it happen. We must always remember the human touch. After all, if we can convert my wife, we can convert anyone, right?"
And that's it. The audience goes crazy in applause and screams of admiration and everyone heads for the exit.
(Recap)
All he really said is that the Wii isn't playing it safe, but we've known that from the start. He just wants everyone to know that they plan on opening their audience to every living human. Besides the new Wii Channel that was announced, and the new Super Mario Galaxy video, we still have to wait and see what else Nintendo can come up with in the near future. My money is still on a Wii followup that's played on the TV, but has a screen built into it, and is small enough to fit in your pocket for portable gameplay. If their sales strategy in 2012 is $200 for a new console that doubles as a handheld, I won't be surprised at all. Twice as many games for half the price.
Nintendo has put it all on the line - opening up their audiences to women and non-gamers could either gain them more supporters than ever before, or overwhelm their focus strategies and damage their future beyond repair. So far they've had great success in getting parents and families to actually humor them, but it might not be worth it - once our parents and grandparents die out, the Wii strategy won't be as necessary when the majority of males, and a considerable portion of females too, already play games. For now it seems like a battle between gaming culture and the rest of the world. Should we encourage the merge of the two now? Or wait for it to happen naturally?
We've seen retro games influence art and media for years, but things are finally starting to get serious now that entire corporations are making bets on how it will all play out. If our youth was the "retro" phase of gaming, then the next decade should be our gaming Renaissance. Sux2BU game companies, but it feels really damn good to be a gamer recently.
