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Interview:IndustryGamers July 14th 2011: Difference between revisions
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Interview:IndustryGamers July 14th 2011 (view source)
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Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma has been working on the Zelda franchise for a long time now, ever since Shigeru Miyamoto recruited him to work on Ocarina of Time. During the recent E3 Expo, IndustryGamers had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with Aonuma-san to discuss the new Wii U console, the Zelda franchise, working with Mr. Miyamoto and more. | Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma has been working on the Zelda franchise for a long time now, ever since Shigeru Miyamoto recruited him to work on Ocarina of Time. During the recent E3 Expo, IndustryGamers had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with Aonuma-san to discuss the new Wii U console, the Zelda franchise, working with Mr. Miyamoto and more. | ||
{{Interview/Q|IndustryGamers | {{Interview/Q|IndustryGamers|Mr. Aonuma, I'd like to get your thoughts first on the new Nintendo console - how long you've been working on it and what new, fresh ideas it might give you for the Zelda franchise.}} | ||
{{Interview/A|Eiji Aonuma|First off... I've been involved in it in some capacity since the stage where we started to bring things all together and decide what to make of this new system. We had the idea already that we're going to have this monitor in the controller. So that was about 2 years ago when I started to be involved in these meetings and we decided how we should further develop the system, and in what direction we wanted to take it. | {{Interview/A|Eiji Aonuma|First off... I've been involved in it in some capacity since the stage where we started to bring things all together and decide what to make of this new system. We had the idea already that we're going to have this monitor in the controller. So that was about 2 years ago when I started to be involved in these meetings and we decided how we should further develop the system, and in what direction we wanted to take it. | ||
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{{Interview/A|EA|To start off by addressing your point directly, I don't think that it's inaccurate to say that Nintendo has been a little bit behind in the online race compared to the other companies developing consoles. And a lot of that comes from the fact that we really decided first to tackle the issue head on after seeing how popular that style of gameplay and that functionality had become for the American market, and the Western market in general. So, in that sense, yes, the process was a little bit different. One thing I feel like we really need to emphasize is that just simply to provide online gaming for the sake of online gaming wouldn't result in [unique gameplay]. Of course, we could put out a lot of titles that have online gameplay that's similar to what people are used to online, but that wouldn't result in unique products. | {{Interview/A|EA|To start off by addressing your point directly, I don't think that it's inaccurate to say that Nintendo has been a little bit behind in the online race compared to the other companies developing consoles. And a lot of that comes from the fact that we really decided first to tackle the issue head on after seeing how popular that style of gameplay and that functionality had become for the American market, and the Western market in general. So, in that sense, yes, the process was a little bit different. One thing I feel like we really need to emphasize is that just simply to provide online gaming for the sake of online gaming wouldn't result in [unique gameplay]. Of course, we could put out a lot of titles that have online gameplay that's similar to what people are used to online, but that wouldn't result in unique products. | ||
So one of the things we've been really trying to do is look at - in the context of the hardware, the functionality that people have and have already in the 3DS and Wii U - what kinds of possibilities might open up. And looking at, for example, [[The Legend of Zelda:Four Swords|Four Swords]], which is going to be released initially for folks to get their hands on - that's local play. But, just the same, it does bring up a question that I think we are examining and will continue to examine, which is "Looking at the capabilities that are in our hands, what kinds of gameplay possibilities are out there for a Zelda game that goes online, maybe something that goes multiplayer?" But it's all about, for us, finding a clear direction to take that online functionality, to use that online functionality. Once we have that, I think things will move forward. But, until then, we're in the process of really asking ourselves, "How will this be a natural extension - a natural and enjoyable extension of what makes the series the series?" So that's something for the Zelda team to continue to examine as we move forward.}} | So one of the things we've been really trying to do is look at - in the context of the hardware, the functionality that people have and have already in the 3DS and Wii U - what kinds of possibilities might open up. And looking at, for example, [[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords|Four Swords]], which is going to be released initially for folks to get their hands on - that's local play. But, just the same, it does bring up a question that I think we are examining and will continue to examine, which is "Looking at the capabilities that are in our hands, what kinds of gameplay possibilities are out there for a Zelda game that goes online, maybe something that goes multiplayer?" But it's all about, for us, finding a clear direction to take that online functionality, to use that online functionality. Once we have that, I think things will move forward. But, until then, we're in the process of really asking ourselves, "How will this be a natural extension - a natural and enjoyable extension of what makes the series the series?" So that's something for the Zelda team to continue to examine as we move forward.}} | ||
{{Interview/Q|IG|You're closely tied to the Japanese video games industry, and you have the perspective of living in Japan and understanding how the industry works there. Lately, a lot of Japanese game designers have sort of lamented the state of the industry and they feel that maybe creatively there's something lacking and they've gone out of their way to target Western audiences; maybe that hasn't been received too well amongst Japanese gamers. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the state of Japanese game development.}} | {{Interview/Q|IG|You're closely tied to the Japanese video games industry, and you have the perspective of living in Japan and understanding how the industry works there. Lately, a lot of Japanese game designers have sort of lamented the state of the industry and they feel that maybe creatively there's something lacking and they've gone out of their way to target Western audiences; maybe that hasn't been received too well amongst Japanese gamers. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the state of Japanese game development.}} | ||
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{{Interview/A|EA|My initial reaction is that I don’t feel like I've been involved in the game industry. I don't have the kind of sense constantly lurking over me. It feels more like I've been part of a company that tries to make interesting and entertaining things. When we find something that brings out that curiosity in ourselves and other people, we just continue to develop and iterate on it and make different things. So I think that...there's a lot to still be discovered and innovated and iterated on. So no, I don't think in general, that it's fair to say that things are over. When I hear Mr. Inafune making those kinds of comments, it makes me think that maybe he's just a little tired. [laughs]}} | {{Interview/A|EA|My initial reaction is that I don’t feel like I've been involved in the game industry. I don't have the kind of sense constantly lurking over me. It feels more like I've been part of a company that tries to make interesting and entertaining things. When we find something that brings out that curiosity in ourselves and other people, we just continue to develop and iterate on it and make different things. So I think that...there's a lot to still be discovered and innovated and iterated on. So no, I don't think in general, that it's fair to say that things are over. When I hear Mr. Inafune making those kinds of comments, it makes me think that maybe he's just a little tired. [laughs]}} | ||
{{Interview/Q|IG|During the Nintendo roundtable, it was indicated that [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]] would probably be one of the last remaining Wii titles from Nintendo since the focus is switching to Wii U. Do you feel you've been able to extract as much as you can from the Wii and that's why Nintendo's switching to the new system or do you feel that more could be done with the Wii itself? | {{Interview/Q|IG|During the Nintendo roundtable, it was indicated that [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]] would probably be one of the last remaining Wii titles from Nintendo since the focus is switching to Wii U. Do you feel you've been able to extract as much as you can from the Wii and that's why Nintendo's switching to the new system or do you feel that more could be done with the Wii itself?}} | ||
{{Interview/A|EA|Well, Skyward Sword as a title in general is not about... It takes good advantage of the Wii, but it's really focused on motion plus functionality using your sword and your shield and the kind of tracking controls that are possible because of motion plus, not just with your sword but with a whole variety of different gameplay options that are all controlled by motion plus. It's a game that uses that as a central point of reference for gameplay and we really expand and iterate on that. As you mentioned, sure it's possible that this could be one of the last titles for the Wii from Nintendo, but I certainly didn't get the sensation that this is it - we've done everything we can. When making the game, it wasn't even something I really paid attention to. We just focused on really expanding with motion plus and doing everything we could with that feature since it was sort of the backbone [of the project]. But there's always more to iterate on, so gameplay possibilities will continue to grow regardless of system.}} | {{Interview/A|EA|Well, Skyward Sword as a title in general is not about... It takes good advantage of the Wii, but it's really focused on motion plus functionality using your sword and your shield and the kind of tracking controls that are possible because of motion plus, not just with your sword but with a whole variety of different gameplay options that are all controlled by motion plus. It's a game that uses that as a central point of reference for gameplay and we really expand and iterate on that. As you mentioned, sure it's possible that this could be one of the last titles for the Wii from Nintendo, but I certainly didn't get the sensation that this is it - we've done everything we can. When making the game, it wasn't even something I really paid attention to. We just focused on really expanding with motion plus and doing everything we could with that feature since it was sort of the backbone [of the project]. But there's always more to iterate on, so gameplay possibilities will continue to grow regardless of system.}} | ||