Miyamoto talks Odama

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has gone on record to declare his respect for Yoot Saito, the man behind Seaman and forthcoming GameCube title Odama.

In an interview with Famitsu, partially translated by US website Next Generation, Miyamoto said: "[Saito] understands the way games go together."

For those who don't know, Odama is a military pinball game set in feudal Japan that sees you knocking down barriers and running over enemies with a giant ball, using a microphone to issue vocal commands.

Miyamoto revealed that, perhaps understandably, Nintendo bigwigs were slow to warm to the idea - Saito's initial pitch simply consisting of the statement: "I want to make a pinball game set in feudal Japan." But then he went off and made a demo, and Miyamoto got the point instantly.

During the rest of the interview, Miyamoto hinted at what's in store for the rest of the year, telling Famitsu: "Nintendo's theme for 2006 will be 'Create new fun.' 'Spread the fun of games to everyone.' To do this, we must return to the beginning, to recapture the essence that made people who enjoy games even now enjoy them in the first place."

"A game that keeps a smile on the player's face is a wonderful thing."

He went on to offer some sage advice for developers: "Before making a game, one must understand precisely how it will end.

"'Presentation' is not what kind of picture you paint; it is how you behold your beholder." Righto.

And just for the record, Miyamoto's favourite game of all time is - no, not Mario Party 5, but Pac-Man.