There certainly hasn’t been much controversy surrounding Shigeru Miyamoto over the years. The creator of Mario (and Zelda, among many others) is known as a super-charming and mischievous Japanese gentleman who has been striving to advance the gaming medium for almost 50 years. And… we don’t really have any controversy to offer today either, as Miyamoto continues to be one of the industry’s most beloved personalities.
That said, Insider Gaming is now drawing attention to an old interview with Miyamoto from 1989 in Gamer Handbook, which has now been translated by Shmupulations. In it, he draws a parallel that at least made us raise our eyebrows a little as he talks about interactivity in the gaming world versus movies and books, and how everything is ultimately entertainment:
“Yeah. I think things become a lot more interesting once we stop calling them games and start seeing them as entertainment. On the other hand, you could say that a great movie or a great book is a “game,” too… but they are passive, whereas the computer alone is interactive. So, within the wider world of entertainment, you have this specific category of interactive entertainment, and video games are just one part of that.”
So far, so good, but then he draws a line between the pursuit of secrets in games and pornography, arguing that there are similarities in how they work:
“When pornography escalates, it eventually crosses into the grotesque. I think the world of ‘hidden secrets’ in games has almost reached that same grotesque level. It’s reached a point where it isn’t measured by common sense anymore. It’s just people getting bored and looking for stronger and stronger stimulation. We’ve hit a wall. When you’re at the point where you have no choice but to go ‘grotesque,’ you have to start thinking of new ways to use the medium.”
We assume that Miyamoto would phrase his thoughts a little differently today, but we still understand what he means, and ultimately it is a document of a different era. Later in the interview, he concludes his speech by saying that he is not worried and wants to continue trying to innovate, summarizing it in a way that feels like he has truly lived by:
“Well, as long as there are people willing to play, and we keep on creating, new things will continue to emerge.”
