By Tom Ivan
Nintendo has received a fair amount of criticism for the lack of titles aimed at dedicated gamers on display at this week’s E3, but Shigeru Miyamoto says the company’s decision to make mass-market friendly titles the focus of its lineup had more to do with the changing nature of the event than anything else.
“For a very long time, E3 was an event where — and certainly Nintendo included — catered specifically to the core gamer. Now we look at more … an opportunity for us to introduce new concepts and new types of play that we intend to bring to the broader audience, particularly because of the media that gathers at E3 now,” Miyamoto told MSNBC.
While dedicated gamers were perhaps hoping to hear about a new Mario or Zelda title, family-friendly games such as Animal Crossing: City Folk, Wii Music and a sequel to Wii Sports were instead central to Nintendo’s E3 offerings.
“The first that I’d want to clarify is that the concept that Wii intentionally does not cater to core gamers is probably a misconception, and perhaps one that’s almost a PR tactic used by some of the other companies to paint us as a company that’s not targeting core gamers,” Miyamoto continued.
“So while attending an E3 event like this, they might be given the impression that Nintendo is no longer focusing on the games that appeal to the core gamer, in fact we’re still working on many of those titles, but it’s just not the type of event where we’ll be showcasing that anymore.”
