Shigeru Miyamoto has given the US some love, saying that American indie developers are better than those in his native country of Japan.
"I think America has always been better at creating unique products," said Miyamoto toWiredwhen speaking about the imminent launch of WiiWare in America.
"In Japan, the technology required to create videogames tends to be concentrated in the bigger corporations. Game publishers tend to make conservative games that will always be profitable, rather than taking risks on experimental games."
Miyamoto also addressed criticism that the Japanese release of WiiWare was built on games from established developers like Square Enix and Bandai Namco. Apparently the launches were region-specific.
"Here in the United States, you have these independent developers who have managed to get the skills and the training and the development, and also have managed to get access to the technology and the hardware needed to develop it," Miyamoto said.
"They're able to let their own personality and their own kind of unique interests really flourish in the games that they're creating.
"In Japan, there is a group of people who use the PC to create fun, interactive pieces of art. They haven't really come into the videogame industry, but there is still the possibility within those communities to find some unique ideas."
Does that mean Nintendo is going to continue its segregation of Western and Eastern products? Time to set up our Japanese Wii, we think.
May 12, 2008
