Shigeru Miyamoto roundtable notes and Zelda

Written on June 3, 2009 at 11:34 am, by James Fudge

The big news coming out of the Shigeru Miyamoto  Roundtable Q&A session yesterday was that Nintendo is working on a new Zelda game for the Wii. Apparently it wasn’t quite ready to be shown at e3 this year, but Miyamoto hopes that it will be ready for E3. Kyle Orland, who attended the event, gives us a few more details:

“The big thing was the announcement of a new Wii Zelda game, coming in 2010 at the earliest. Miyamoto showed off a single piece of artwork for the game, which showed a Zora-like creature (photography was strictly banned). The game will likely use Wii MotionPlus, perhaps exclusively — that depends on how well Wii Sports Resort sells.”

Some other information coming out of this Q&A: Miyamoto said that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will have “roughly the same amount of content” as Super Mario Galaxy.

He also admitted that New Super Mario Bros. used so much of the Wii’s processing power that they couldn’t take the game online. Looking at the game you wouldn’t think that, so this is somewhat of a shocking admission. The game will have over 80 stages, including some that are geared towards expert players.

Miyamoto sees the island in Wii Sports Resort, Wuhu Island, as a Mario-like “franchise” character that can go in a bunch of other games. He mentioned having a hotel-based murder mystery on the island, as an example. Does this mean Wuhu Island will star appearing in games like Mario Kart Racing and Brawl games as well? Probably, but it sounds like he has big plans for this locale.

There were also some pointed questions about the 800 lbs. gorilla in the room: motion sensing technology from Microsoft and Sony. Miyamoto deflected the question with a little snark, saying that (to paraphrase) Nintendo likes to try things out and make sure they work before announcing them.
He also brushed aside questions about Trophies and Achievements, saying that players don’t need a carrot to play a game, they need to simply enjoy the experience of playing.

Kyle Orland contributed to this report.