Monday Morning Inspiration: The Wizard of Wii

Shigeru Miyamoto is a world-reknowned video game designer who's not afraid to take risks and "upend the tea table".

Shigeru Miyamoto is a world-reknowned video game designer and the creative mastermind behind Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and virtually every other one of Nintendo's hit products over the past twenty-five years. Miyamoto - whose childhood dream was to become a puppeteer incidentally - is well-known as a perfectionist who is not afraid to delay or completely scrap games ("Chabudai Gaeshi" or upend the tea table) when something does not meet his personal standards or what he believes are the expectations of Nintendo players around the world. His latest triumph is Wii Fit, a new game that comes with a special "balance board" that you can use to do exercises like aerobics and yoga.

What I love about Miyamoto and what really inspires me about his work is his willingness to think outside the box and trust his instincts, even when that means going against conventional wisdom. Case in point are recent Nintendo hits like the Wii, the Nintendo DS, Brain Age and, yes, Wii Fit. At a time when the video game industry was using bigger, better graphics to appeal to a shrinking audience for video games, Miyamoto convinced Nintendo to gamble on cheap, less powerful video game systems and games that would appeal to non-traditional players like senior citizens. Considering that the Wii outsells rival systems Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 about 3 to 1 it's a gamble that seems to be paying off.

28/05/08 Update: There's another great article about Miyamoto in The New York Times.