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Miyamoto Chats With GamePro!

• By Dave Rudden
• April 23, 2008 13:07 PM PST
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GamePro spoke with gaming's favorite developer about his unique upcoming title, Wii Fit, at a recent roundtable.

GamePro was among a small handful of gaming media outlets that got to speak with Nintendo's esteemed Senior Managing Director, Shigeru Miyamoto at the Le Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City. Best known for creating iconic Nintendo characters like Donkey Kong and Mario, Miyamoto's newest game, Wii Fit is among the Wii's most ambitious projects yet.

Before the press got to engage in Q&A with Miyamoto, he gave those in attendance a brief demo and overview of the game. He began by tracing Wii Fit's roots back to Wii Sports; both titles, Miyamoto said, had the same sort of broad appeal that attracted hardcore and non-gamer alike. He cited a survey taken by Wii Fit owners that showed an amazing new trend amongst the 2 million sold since December of last year--that a majority of the Wii Fit purchasing decisions were made by a parents, which flies in the face of traditional game-purchasing logic where children make the decision. Additionally, Miyamoto noted that an average of 3.5 people per household play Wii, which is made all the more impressive due to the many 2-people households in Japan.

Miyamoto recounted the series of events that led to the development of Wii Fit--having fallen into bad habits like smoking and pachinko playing, he bought a scale to weigh himself and keep track of his fitness. Miyamoto took the weighing very seriously, creating graphs of his weight and keeping them near the scale so his family could keep tabs. Miyamoto attributed his current fitness level to the process, saying he's really enjoyed running and has become much more aware of what he was eating. Stating that he found the entire process entertaining, Miyamoto still keeps the graphs he created, likening its importance to valuable save data.

Miyamoto attempts "The Ultimate Balance Test"

Wii Fit was originally pitched by Miyamoto to his development team with the simple premise of "making a game out of weighing yourself." His team was originally hesitant, but the development of what would become the Wii Balance Board helped shape the project. The Wii Balance Board, with four sensors in each corner, was originally fitted with only one. The idea for a wide, multi-sensor board came about after the team noticed that sumo wrestlers use two scales to accurately record their weight. The team created a demo that measured balance. This demo still exists in the final retail version, though it's slightly hidden away within the game's menus. Called "The Ultimate Balance Test," it requires the player balance evenly on both feet, a feat easier said than done. Miyamoto attempted the test, admirably reaching level three in the 60-second game.

Miyamoto closed the demonstration by highlighting how Wii Fit fits within Nintendo's success with the Wii, noting that the more non-gamers that play Wii Fit, the more they'll understand the industry, which can only have a positive impact. He stated he's very proud of the work being done by game programmers and designers in the field of creating intuitive user-interfacers, worthy of being used outside of the game industry. His final thoughts before the Q&A urged hardcore gamers and game designers to give the game a shot, as the game can serve as inspiration and an excellent learning tool.

Now, without further ado, the Wii Fit Roundtable:

N'Gai Croal, Newsweek: You mentioned you ran in Central Park; did you notice any differences between running in Central Park and running in Kyoto [Japan]. Of the cities you have run in, which is your favorite?

Shigeru Miyamoto: I must say about Central Park, for people around the world who run, it's possibly a life's dream. I mean, I like jogging--last year I was able to jog on the beach in Santa Monica, which, again, is this idealistic scenario to be able to explore. And then, of course, jogging this morning in Central Park, what's really nice about it is there's many beautiful gardens. There's the English Garden--there's lots to see in the park. So, actually, while I said I went jogging, I actually would jog for a bit, then look for a bit, then walk some more and take in the scenery. It was quite fun.

Of course, while in the park, I do see some trees and plants I can see in Japan as well; I came across the chickory blossoms which are particularly nice at this time of year. I also came across a number of very large trees that I'd never seen before, which I thought to be very interesting, and I managed to catch sight of a cardinal, which we never see in Kyoto at all. I could never get tired of running in Central Park; I ran there yesterday and I ran today too.

Fran Mirabella, IGN: Do you see Wii Fit as the beginning of more exercise-themed games for the Wii or any of your other platforms?

Miyamoto: I think what we might see is [fitness] DVD-style activities having interactive elements added to them. I can see that coming out on game systems. I think the game industry has a tendency, once they see something that succeeds, to replicate that success with similar types of software. My hope would be that rather than trying to replicate something like Wii Fit, that they'd branch off of it.

Miyamoto with Nintendo Translator Bill Trinnen.

Of course, we've also been producing titles like Wii Sports, and Wii Fit is somewhat skewed towards that, what I want to say is that while our intent to not to try to monopolize that style of game, I think that there's obviously people who are fans of a particular sport who want a very in-depth interactive experience for that sport, there's also a much wider audience that kind of likes sports in general, and when they want a sports game they want something they can pick up and play with a number of different sports in it. At the same time, if everybody starts releasing packs that are small, compact sports games, then in the end the consumer is going to end up confused and not really know which sports game to buy.

With Wii Fit, the way we designed that game was based around the idea of providing the consumer with something that's easily accessible to them and gives them the type of experience and variety of experiences you're looking at. Even with Wii Fit, it's all about trying to make that experience easy, which is why we included the Wii Fit Channel on the disc for Wii Fit, which allows you to go in, and without even having the game disc inserted, get your body checked on a daily basis and have that saved to your save data.

So while I say we're not trying to monopolize that style of game and I hope other developers wouldn't necessarily try to replicate the experience, but instead take into account the best experiences they could bring the consumer in a way that meets the consumer's needs and provides an intuitive and easy pick-up-and-play experience. I hope they don't look at it from the same perspective, but add their own unique ideas to the perspective.

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