Miyamoto: Gaming tech scares people

Veteran Nintendo games designer Shigeru Miyamoto has said that videogame technology is still intimidating to new audiences.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer.net, the creator of Donkey Kong and Super Mario 64 said he feels it's his and Nintendo's responsibility to continue to educate larger audiences of the benefits of gaming.

"The fact is many people are afraid or scared of gaming technology," he said. "Actually it's very convenient, useful technology and as long as you can have some time to get accustomed there's nothing to be afraid of at all.

"So my responsibility here must be to try to let people understand how convenient and useful game technology is and try to remove hurdles so that even your grandpa and grandma are waiting to turn on the power switch of your console easily without hesitation."

Nintendo has already made significant inroads in expanding the audience for videogames, with the Wii motion controller simplifying control and helping the system sell to a wider demographic.

Sony and Microsoft are only now preparing to release similar motion systems for their home consoles, a move that Miyamoto feels validates Nintendo's approach - although the company will continue to keep innovation at the forefront of hardware design.

"We feel it's an honour that some form of entertainment style we created is now going to be taken for granted thanks to the attitude taken by the other companies," offered Miyamoto.

"On the other hand, Nintendo is a company that is always striving to create something unique and unprecedented. And if we can do that, if we can establish to the world that videogames have such huge potential for daily life, the existence of games will be even more highly appreciated by the public."

But gaming still has a long way to go before it is established as a credible entertainment medium for the mass market, said Miyamoto.

"Very frankly speaking, I have to admit videogames still have some way to go in order to reach the level of movies when it comes to social acceptance by the general public. We still have to carry on making a great effort."

You can read the full interview with Miyamoto elsewhere on the site and watch highlights below.