Miyamoto - Vitality Sensor is 'ready', 3DS software install not confirmed, MotionPlus a big focus, Steel Diver for retail, Pikmin 3 on Wii, and Donkey Kong Country love

A portion of an IGN interview with Shigeru Miyamoto…

IGN: To start us off, what happened to the Vitality Sensor?

Miyamoto: It’s actually progressing quite well. We could have shown it here at E3 if we wanted to, but the environment here isn’t really suited to that game. E3 is pretty exciting, and that’s a device that’s all about relaxation. So it’s just wasn’t the best time or place to show that game. But it is ready, so we’ll probably find another place that’s more suitable to announce it. But I’m not directly involved in that project.

IGN: They’re (Nikkei) saying that there’s an option you can use to install software so that you don’t have to bring your cartridges with you. It was something separate from DSiWare.

Miyamoto: I’m not familiar with that.

IGN: No problem. Now that you’ve established the next handheld generation, where do you see the Wii in, say, two years?

Miyamoto: I’m sure we’ll continue to see the Wii platform evolve, as it has over the years. Obviously our focus right now is on the Wii MotionPlus, and how we’re able to create gameplay with it that is very intuitive. So I think that we’ll continue to do that over the next couple of years. But that’s really all I can say about what’s coming.

IGN: It’s clear that you guys understand that people won’t really understand the 3DS until they pick it up and play it. At the press conference, you had to bring out 100 people just so that we could take a look at it. Do you think that’s going to be an uphill battle, when the system comes out, to get people to understand that 3D can really change gaming?

Miyamoto: Well, it’s true that having a big video in a presentation doesn’t work. And trying to show the 3D effects through TV advertising is also going to be a challenge for us. So we understand that it’s something that people need to see, and that when they see it we know it’s very appealing. So keeping that in mind, we’ll go forward with our plans and try to take advantage of that as best we can.

IGN: Do you have any ideas of how to address that?

Miyamoto: You can look back to other devices and see examples of things, like HD televisions being advertised on standard definition screens, or 3D movies being advertised on TV that aren’t able to display things in 3D. So there are ways to go about doing it. But I think for us, what’s most important is the knowledge that when people see it, they are impressed. So that’s going to be important for us going forward.

IGN: Steel Diver looks to me like it would be a downloadable game. But is it being prepped as a retail product?

Miyamoto: When we were working on it for Nintendo DS, we were considering whether to release it as a retail product or as DSiWare. It was in the midst of those deliberations that we looked at Nintendo 3DS and decided to move it over there. So I’m leaning at this point toward it being more of a retail product.

IGN: I was interviewing them earlier, and even though you weren’t directly involved you were definitely very inspirational in making sure certain things were done in that game correctly. I’m wondering, which parts of Donkey Kong Country did you like versus not like? And what did you address with them?

Miyamoto: The first point that I want to make is that I actually worked very closely with Rare on the original Donkey Kong Country. And apparently recently some rumor got out that I didn’t really like that game? I just want to clarify that that’s not the case, because I was very involved in that. And even emailing almost daily with Tim Stamper right up until the end.

And with this game too, I’ll be involved on a check/confirmation level, looking over the game and checking the content. So it’ll probably be a similar role to what I played in the development of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

In terms of things that I really wanted to see them focus on, particularly was the idea that in the original Donkey Kong Country the rendering and the effects that they used were very different from what you’d see in a Mario game. It had a very distinct feel. I thought it was important for them to keep that in mind. And also the fun of seeing the motion of that Donkey Kong hand slap is something that you don’t get in other games as well.

IGN: I’ll finish up with one more question. I want your reaction, and I’m just going to say two words — Pikmin 3.

Miyamoto: I’m not going to say anything this time. (laughs)

You know, Nintendo’s development style is very unique in that we often have projects going on that are very small groups of people working on them, and we don’t really blow the team out to a larger size until later on in development. So Pikmin is a project we’re working on, and we’re maybe getting near to the point where we’ll start increasing the team size. But we’ve got so many other things at the show here that I’d rather people not focus on that, and instead focus on the plethora of other titles we have on display.

The one thing that I can say about it is that it’s a Wii game.