#itouquote

PEOPLE:

Shigesato Itoi, age 40. Creator of Earthbound Zero (Mother). Later: editor of the Ishinomori A Link to the Past manga.

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda & Mario. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department.

Seikou Itou. Author of the novel No Life King.

QUOTE: Itoi: Graphics becoming realistic [is], when you think about it, a ridiculous thing. If we go down that path it will eventually lead to caricature. A self-imposed bondage.

Miyamoto: … Rather than going for realism, you want changes like stereo sound. People aren't pining after perfection anymore. I totally agree.

Itou: It's about how weird you can get. Realistic sounds are just boring, you know?

Itoi: On CD-ROM, the games use actual human voices, but it's really lame.

Itou: It ruins the immersion. You lose the ability to project yourself into the character because you're forced to hear this other distinct voice.

PEOPLE:

Shigesato Itoi, age 40. Creator of Earthbound Zero (Mother). Later: editor of Zelda manga and guides.

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda & Mario.

Seikou Itou. Author of the novel No Life King.

QUOTE: Itoi: With Giygas in Mother… I feel like we could have refined him so much more, but… well, it's out there now.

Miyamoto: I know. I really wanted to give it one more shot, right at the very end.

Itoi: For that final form, I'd actually given instructions for it to be like Butoh, that "dance of darkness." Something incredibly frail… like if they were right there in front of you, you'd feel like they'd collapse if you barely touched them. Eerie and beautiful… but that's easier said than done, right? [laughs]

Itou: That sounds… hard. [laughs]

PEOPLE:

Seikou Itou. Author of No Life King.

Shigesato Itoi, age 40. Creator of Earthbound. Later: Editor of the Ishinomori A Link to the Past manga.

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda and Mario. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department.

QUOTE: Itou: I mean, when you're actually playing a game, there's no way you aren't conscious of the fact that you are the one playing it. The idea that you could somehow "leap beyond" the fact that it's a game… well, that's just impossible.

Itoi: If we're talking about immersive tricks, movies are actually far more sophisticated at doing that.

Itou: Exactly. It's so bizarre. Society buys into this image of kids "getting sucked into the tube"… and people actually believe that.

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda & Mario. Producer of Nintendo’s R&D4 group.

Seikou Itou. Novelist. Author of No Life King.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: 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.

Itou: In a healthy way.