Nintendo game guru seeks fun, not better graphics (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nintendo's legendary video gamemaker Shigeru Miyamoto never imagined that he would become acultural icon or the godfather to a burgeoning industry when hecreated an arcade game called "Donkey Kong" in 1981.

A quarter century later, Donkey Kong and other famousMiyamoto creations like Mario carried video games from thearcade to living rooms around the world. Now Miyamoto has a newmission: re-inject fun back into an industry obsessed withhigh-definition graphics and attract a new crowd of game fans.

"The general public has started to see video games ascomplicated, difficult and something that has nothing to dowith their lives," Miyamoto told Reuters at this week's annualElectronic Entertainment Expo, the industry's trade show.

"Our focus is not solely on graphics, but to create awide-reaching form of entertainment."

Miyamoto understands fun. The soft-spoken game creator andsenior managing director at Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS) kickedoff the company's news conference on Tuesday dressed like aconductor to direct a virtual orchestra using a motion-sensingcontroller for the company's upcoming Wii game machine as abaton.

"People call him the Spielberg of games but actually he isa lot more consistent than Spielberg is," said Adam Sessler,host of "X-Play" on gaming television channel G4. "He has amystique that really has no parallel in the gaming industry."

Nintendo aims to change the way people play video gameswith its new Wii console -- due for release later this year --by doing away with the traditional image of a gamer planted ona sofa, tethered to a boxy game machine.

Wii's motion-sensor enabled controller looks like a TVremote and allows users to direct action on the screen bywielding it like a sword or swinging it like a baseball bat,tennis racket or golf club.

The company insists that Wii is not a direct competitor topowerful new game consoles like Sony Corp.'s (6758.T) upcomingPlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: - ) 360.

Miyamoto, who became one of the first video game designersknighted into France's Order of Arts and Letters earlier thisyear, said he doesn't get caught up in the console wars sincesoftware is always the deciding factor.

"It is not like game players want to buy hardware per se.They need to buy them to play software. It is a bit strange toplay up something that users have no option but to buy," saidMiyamoto, who also created the "Legend of Zelda" series.

Miyamoto's track record of hit games and the early buzzabout Wii and its games point to a successful new product.

"It's going to usher in a new era where Nintendo is goingto dominate a lot of the market," said Ankarino Lara, vicepresident of video game Web site Gamespot.com.

Even Microsoft's game business head Peter Moore said manypeople will flock to Nintendo's Wii game machine, because itwill be cheaper than other next-generation consoles and willoffer a new form of innovative game play.

"Miyamoto-san has taken this concept of fun and hasmaintained it all the way through regardless of what hardwareNintendo has had," Moore told Reuters in an interview.

"Personally, I think people love his impish personality."

(Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein, Scott Vaughn)

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