by Stone Marshall | Dec 18, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted that Nintendo almost made a Minecraft-style game at one point.
In an interview with Glixel, it was mentioned that Miyamoto plays the cat-collecting mobile game Neko Atsume. He was then asked if there are any other games that he enjoys playing. “Not really,” he stated. “I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made. We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar. It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
The next Mario title is Nintendo’s first big game to come to mobile devices: Super Mario Run. This past weekend, the game received both a new trailer and a television commercial. The television ad was filmed with live actors, showing people around the world running and jumping. The trailer shows gameplay of the upcoming runner, and teaches players what they can do in the game, as well as how to do it.
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says Nintendo nearly made a Minecraft-style title
by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Even before Minecraft became a big hit that brought millions of revenues to its sole creator, Nintendo also had an almost exact same game design and concept but did not seem to materialize.
Coming from Nintendo ‘s Shigeru Miyamoto Himself
The revelation is more than just hearsay. The statement came directly from Shigeru Miyamoto himself during an interview with Glixel, as per IGN.
As the creative mind behind some of gaming’s most successful franchises such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Pikmin, Miyamoto admitted to liking the Swedish-developed game.
But unlike initial perception about the statement when cut halfway, his liking of the game is leaned more towards the idea that the game itself is something they “should have made.”
Elaborating on the idea, Miyamoto revealed that back in the N64 era, they had been doing some experimental designs when developing some games for the console. Some of these designs closely resemble the Mojang-developed title.
The notion, however, does not surmise that there is an infringement in one of game developing company’s intellectual properties. The project which Shigeru Miyamoto was referring to did not actually pass the planning stages because they find one critical element to the game missing: a compelling gameplay, as per VG247.
Miyamoto later admitted he surprised on how the sandboxed game title turned out to be a success in the West given that it did not fare as well in Japan, in terms of gameplay.
The Growing Success of Minecraft
Since entering beta testing in 2011, the originally one-man project has sold over 100 million copies throughout the years. Apart from the original PC title, the game has also spawned a number of iterations across different platforms which further add success to the franchise.
Although there is no telling of how a game similar to Minecraft would fare in the N64 back in the day, Nintendo has nonetheless given their own twist to the existing Wii U title of the same game called the Super Mario mash-up pack.
Nintendo Had Their Own Unfinished Version of ‘Minecraft’ Back in N64, Says Miyamoto
by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
The creator of the most successful game character of all time says he came close to making something like one of the most successful games of all time.
In an interview with Glixel, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto explained that he admires Minecraft “from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made”.
The Mario creator said: “We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar.”
It sounds as though the idea didn’t meet Miyamoto’s notoriously high bar for quality, however – which seems to be why he’s impressed by Minecraft‘s success in that department: “It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
Minecraft has sold over 100 million copies since entering its beta phase in 2011. Nintendo finally got in on the blocky action earlier this year, when it released a Super Mario mash-up pack for the Wii U edition of the game.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo Planned a Minecraft-Like Game for N64
by Stone Marshall | Dec 16, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
This week’s launch of Super Mario Run should power up shares of Nintendo, 7974.TO -2.786675208199872% Nintendo Co. Ltd. ADR U.S.: OTC USD30.35 -0.87 -2.786675208199872% /Date(1481757601000-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1026072 P/E Ratio 69.83433041877589 Market Cap 34748994841.3984 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 753082 More quote details and news » which still offer value as the Japanese game maker looks to replicate the massive success of Pokemon Go that fueled a powerful rally in the stock this year.
Nintendo’s (7974.JP) release of Super Mario Run marks the company’s first proper foray into smartphone games, and it’s been a long-time coming for the 130-year old company. Nintendo has missed out on the mobile craze, which has spawned mega hits from Candy Crush to Clash of Clans. Sales of its gaming hardware have dwindled. Pokemon Go, which has been downloaded 500 million times, was developed by Google’s Niantic and its impact on Nintendo’s bottom line has been negligible. For the company’s full-blooded mobile debut, players take control of Mario as he runs through levels collecting gold coins and fighting his arch-foe – a large turtle called Bowser.
While the success of the launch of Super Mario Run will dictate the stock’s short term direction, there is more to Nintendo than just its mustachioed Italian mascot. Long-term earnings should lift as the company gradually unlocks the mobile potential of its intellectual property, while new hardware set for next year could get gamers logging on again. The stock is up roughly 70% this year, placing it on track for its biggest calendar year return since 2007, but potential to grow earnings at a double digit pace could lift the stock another 30%.
Nintendo Can Score 40% Gain on Super Mario Run
by Stone Marshall | Dec 16, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Minecraft took off while it was still the project of just one developer, and went on to become one of the biggest games in the world today. Imagine how different its history might have been with the backing of Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto.
That’s the alternate world state we’re all contemplating in the wake of a Glixel interview in which the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario, Pikmin and more revealed his own dabbling in the genre.
“I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made,” he said.
“We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar.”
Given how much Nintendo enjoys fostering play and creativity, you have to wonder why it didn’t happen. Was it hardware limitations? The lack of online infrastructure at the time? Miyamoto’s next comment may provide some clues.
“It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product,” he said. That sounds to me like Nintendo prototyped some sort of sandbox builder but couldn’t figure out how to turn it into a compelling game. Heck, plenty of people still don’t “get” why Minecraft’s so fun.
At this point I was reminded of a 2014 Kotaku interview in which Miyamoto and colleague Shinya Takahashi said that Minecraft isn’t as popular in Japan as in the west, and that they’d like to see it made more kid-friendly in terms of controls.
It occurs to me the family-friendly Nintendo would definitely have wanted some way to prevent players creating giant golden dicks, too – something LEGO Universe struggled with – as well as copyright infringements.
Anyway. Elsewhere in the interview Miyamoto talked about his drafting process and how he views himself as a designer of products, not works of art. Nevertheless, he said he designs gams with his three close colleagues at Nintendo based on what they themselves think is fun, and then see if it sells, rather than researching the market first.
Miyamoto also said he doesn’t really play many competitor’s games; he prefers to spend time gardening and practicing carpentry.
There’s heaps of other good stuff in there for anybody interested in one of Nintendo’s most important figures and how the platform holder functions; go check it out through the link above.
Nintendo made a game “very similar” to Minecraft for the N64
by Stone Marshall | Dec 14, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Since its release in 2011, Minecraft has captured the hearts and minds of today’s youth. With the recent release of MinecraftEDU school version, this popular game is rapidly becoming the most important educational software of our generation and is now used to teach logic, problem solving, and geometry.
While many educators use Minecraft to teach project-based learning and other liberal arts topics, many don’t realize that Minecraft is one the best ways to teach students computer programming. Here are four reasons Minecraft is great for teaching kids coding.
Minecraft Motivates
Getting kids to try computer programming is surprisingly easy. Keeping them engaged, however, is a very different story. While kids will quickly adapt to the new stimuli, they rarely take the steps towards became masters of this new, albeit complicated skill.
But when it comes to this popular game, kids are more interested that you can imagine. Be introducing mods, you can engage kids by letting them change their own game. “Mods” (short for modifications) are changes to the Minecraft game that give its characters, objects, and landscapes new and surprising characteristics. In order to “mod” the game, students must learn to to code in order to make meaningful changes. When kids are able to imagine and code their own custom mods, they become focused and engaged.
Visual Block Coding Options
Hunting for keys on a keyboard can be frustrating for young learners. As a solution, some brilliant educators developed drag-and-drop visual block tools that allow kids to perform event-driven programming with with Lego-like function blocks. Alice and Scratch popularized this methodology, and in 2016 Microsoft and Code.org unveiled a Minecraft drag and drop coding platform.
Visual blocks represent important computer programming functions such as If Then statements, Loops, and more, and can help younger students learn the foundations of computer science in a visual way. Visual block coding is in some respects similar to training wheels on a bicycle. It is designed to be outgrown. For early learners, however, it allows students to focus more on concepts rather than syntax, and provides another great way to use Minecraft as a coding resource.
Modding Teaches Real Java
When kids are ready to take their skills to the next level, Minecraft Modding with Java can introduce them to real programming. One of the coolest byproducts of Minecraft’s open architecture is that it allows users to access Minecraft’s Java source code to literally create anything that they can imagine. While modding with Java, kids learn to create their own custom pickaxes, their own enemies, or their own dimensions. They can use Java coding to give their creations special properties and then try out their creation in the game that they love to play.
The “Ah Ha” moment in which a child plays with her mod in the game is a marvel to see, and once kids experience it, they want to learn more. Modding provides children with the additional motivation and persistence required to overcome common occurrences in programming – bugs, exceptions, and other technical glitches.
Courses Provide Numerous Options
Minecraft-based educational offerings keep expanding at breakneck speed, and there are many interesting resources that kids can use to learn coding. Microsoft’s investment in MinecraftEDU seems promising and they’re expected to build out more Minecraft visual block coding challenges.
Other providers such as CodaKid, CodeKingdoms, and LearntoMod are also producing interesting high-quality Minecraft coding courses that can help kids gain an understanding of important coding concepts and walk away with valuable 21st century skills.
David Dodge is the founder and CEO of CodaKid Online Kids Coding Academy. He is a former game designer for the Sony Playstation and PC, and the software architect of Tutorware.
4 Reasons Why Minecraft Is Great for Teaching Kids Coding
