Miyamoto Plans To Make Wii A 'Household Tool'

In an interview following his keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken out on how Nintendo plans to sustain the Wii's momentum by making the console part of household everyday life. Addressing concerns over the Wii's longevity, Miyamoto conceded that “it depends on the software we create to make it appealing,” adding that “it is a question of how long [a game] will hold their attention.” Miyamoto also offered that another way to sustain the Wii's momentum is “to turn it into that tool.” “...instead of having single player games where people lose interest in them, having the Wii become a tool in the household. Every time people get together in the home, people bring out the Wii to entertain themselves,” he commented, adding the Wii's 'always on' internet connectivity as a key driver in the console's perception. “It becomes a device you turn on and interact with every single day,” stated Miyamoto in the interview. “It’s a product you turn on as naturally as you do your TV. To interact with and see what kind of entertainment is waiting for you there. Making it part of your every day life. One project we are working on is what we call 'health packs' or [Wii Fitness]. It’s still a project name. But it’s health or exercise-based software.” Finally, the celebrated game designer addressed Nintendo's overall strategy with the Wii, once again emphasizing the company's focus is on “new and unique ideas that can only be done on the Wii itself,” rather than “needing to compete with the other hardware vendors on an epic scale.” “A good example of this is Dragon Quest,” explained Miyamoto. “We announced the next full installment of that game is coming on the Nintendo DS. They could have made the decision to make that game on the PS2 or they could have made it on the PSP. But when they looked at the unique features of the Nintendo DS and looked at the sell-through of the DS hardware, it was very easy for them to take that game, implement unique functionality, and create a game that is more interesting on the DS.” He continued: “That’s our same objective with the Wii. We want to provide developers with the opportunity to create these new and unique ideas and put them on a console that is only possible to put them on.”