Miyamoto - games don't have to be hard to be fun

“The fact is, I don’t think there is such a wall between both audiences (casual and core). While there are indeed games designed for core and casual markets, core users are also enjoying casual gaming. It is very hard to tune the difficulty just for the core market. Even for us, we would still have difficulty finding the right balance. But I think the future is games that are not difficult and yet very fun to play. There is no point in making a difficulty level the fun factor of a game. What I mean is that there is no point in making a difficulty level the fun factor of a game. We are making Super Mario Galaxy as a new and fun experience which aims at providing a very appealing, convincing and—before all—fun experience. If we managed to do so, then I’m sure even the core gamers will find it appealing. We need to release more games which feel like games. It is important that people who are playing them feel that the games are indeed fun to play… Now there is this concept I always focus on, which is you have to feel the fun of a game by only trying it, and that concerns Super Mario Galaxy, of course. Should it be fun by only playing it a short time, this indicates already it has a big value as a product… It is very important that the full fun of the game is being felt in the first stage 1-1.” - Shigeru Miyamoto

I knew that Miyamoto had a philosophy along those lines, but hearing him put it into such detail really makes me understand it better.

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