I more or less agree with you here.  Miyamoto's name is being slapped onto every Nintendo product, if not by Nintendo themselves then by the gamers.  Miyamoto wasn't involved in the Wario Ware franchise for one.  I can see how Nintendo wants him to oversee their projects though, having a design background myself I can see the benefits of that.  It's always good to have someone at the sideline who can notice flaws or bring improvements to the table that those working on the game 24/7 just may not notice.

The games that have sprouted from his mind however have all consistantly been of high quality, even if they're few and far inbetween.  1) You might not find Nintendogs to be anything special, but what pet sim has achieved any succes outside of Japan?  2) And releasing a pet sim that will cost consumers nearly $200 (DS+game) to enjoy could be considered as a doubtfull undertaking.  Miyamoto's strengths lay in simplifying gameplay without sacrificing the fun of it.  That might not sound all that special, and perhaps it isn't, but the fact alone that he's one of the only ones in the industry that's heading down that route does lend it some grade of uniqueness.

SupremeAC

1) I didn't say anything about the quality of Nintendogs, I stated that it wasn't a risky game in light of Japan's receptiveness to such games.  Tamagatchi was popular enough in the US to get banned in some schools, though I know it wasn't the phenomena it was in Japan.  And Pokemon has done very well here in the US, and it is a virtual pet game (albeit one with combat).

2) Why tallying the cost of a game, I don't think it makes sense to throw in the cost of the system unless said game is the only game for the system.

"I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design" - Its not what you want, its the consumer ^^

If Zelda is an RPG then every game (shooters, driving, etc) is an RPG too. Not everyone developer has the clout to make risky games all the time like he does. And Metroid (Prime I'm assuming) was definitly not Halo. The movement was so slow and clunky it felt more like a 3D adventure game with shooter elements as an after thought.

I don't know about Japan but the Wii has plenty of Wario Ware-esque games and needs more traditional games like TP.

capthavic

Miyamoto goes out on limbs on ocassion, but not nearly as much as some like to pretend.  Virtual pet games have been massively popular in Japan (and somewhat popular in the US) since Tamagatchi.  Minigame collections have been quite popular since Mario Party.  Like Nintendo itself, Miyamoto largely keeps on doing what he has always done, though the inclusion of new interfaces means that some label the familiar innovative and daring (a virtual pet game with a touchscreen interface, what a risktaker! ).  Honestly, Miyamoto's name is associated with so many games though its hard to tell which games he really focused on.  Did he pour a lot of time into garbage like Twin Snakes, Geist and Pokemon Channel?  I tend to doubt it. 

The fact that Miyamoto is expected to juggle so many balls at once is a sign of how little Nintendo respect Nintendo's management has for its internal developers not named Miyamoto.  But it doesn't appear that making him spread out across a lot of projects (stick your head in the door and tell us what you think about game X) has paid off.  And I don't even think it makes sense.  DMA Design (now Rockstar North of GTA fame) sought to make a free roaming game for the N64, but Miyamoto had other ideas and eventually DMA and Nintendo parted ways.  So funnelling all games through Miyamoto still results in garbage games or games with bad game design flaws going out the door, and sometimes means that creators are unable to release the game they want to make because Miyamoto wants to make the games more in keeping with his style.

On a related note, Nintendo gives its non-Miyamoto developers less breathing room than other first party and most third parties.  After one commercial failure and critical success, Nintendo relegated Silicon Knights, one of the best storywriters in the business but not particularly talented coders, to porting MGS1 to the GC and shoehorning in MGS2 gameplay (which completely ruined some of the boss battles) under the supervision of Miyamoto and Kojima.  Nintendo's one non-Japanese team with any talent is relegated to working on new versions of an old Japanese franchise.  Half the games Nintendo publishes are Mario games.  That is not an arrangement which encourages risk-taking since A) there is little scope for creativity since many games are derivatives of popular franchises B) many games seem to have to pass through Miyamoto, who has very distinct ideas about what constitutes a good game and C) failure is punished harshly. 

SHIGERU MIYAMOTO: I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play.

If Miyamoto were a more realistic (or perhaps less arrogant?) developer, he would have stated that in terms of Halo outselling MP, Halo outsold MP because it was a better game which offered more of what people wanted (Halo was the finest co-op game since Ikari Warriors), but instead he offered a snide excuse to the tune of 'I'm not big on focus testing'.  I don't think a competent designer would have needed focus testing to tell him that customizable controls are good, co-op play is good, key hunting is bad, and manual, skill based aiming is better than autoaiming. 

*Shrug* Since he appears to be moving away from making full games (I have no clue what the European market looks like, but minigames and easy full games do well in Japan and the US, full games at traditional difficulties just do well in the US), Miyamoto's blindness to the faults of his games isn't a big problem though.

[QUOTE="noblekeltic"]I bet Sonic will cause many more Wii controllers to break by spazoids.JustPlainLucas

That's why that have that little wrist strap.  :P  Anyway, about 3D Sonics, I really enjoyed Sonic Adventure.  Sonic Adventure 2 was just really disappointing.  The Sonic parts were cool, the Knuckles parts were hardly tolerable, and the Tails sections..... they  just made me want to spray paint a cat.  The only other 3D Sonic I've played was Sonic Heroes for the Cube.  I really enjoyed that game, probably because I dug the team concept, something that reminded me of Knuckles Choatix (God I miss that game). 

About the 360 Sonic.... I played the demo and it was utter garbage.   I don't think I've ever seen a platformer with controls that wonky.  What really kills me is the print publication Play gave it a 9.5.  How.. in the hell.  I swear Dave Halverson was playing a totally diferent game than whoever reviewed it here.  Honestly, does Dave ever take gameplay crippling mechanics such as... I dunno... control and camera issues into consideration?

You liked Chaotix?  The team mechanic felt more like a cheap way of showing of the 32X's 3D abilities (watch in amazement as your teammate spins towards the screen!) than anything else.  My list of interesting 32X games begins and ends with Afterburner. 

I just don't think Sonic lends itself well to 3D (admittedly the only 3D Sonic games I played were the DC original and the X360 demo).  Mario's more exploration focused gameplay (find all the hidden coins or what have you) lends itself a lot more to 3D game design than Sonic's 'run real fast and jump over stuff' gameplay does.   Its worth noting that with some games that failed to successfully make the leap from 2D to 3D one can look at other series which do what they failed to do (think Castlevania and DMC) but I can't think of anyone who has successfully made a Sonic style game in 3D. 

But as long as some misguided people keep buying the increasingly wretched Sonic games (the first 3D Sonic was a bad idea decently implemented, but the demo just seemed to be a bad idea poorly implemented) I suppose I can't blame Sega too much for continuing to release the Sonic games.  I just ignore them and focus on Sega's quality offerings (Virtua Fighter and Virtua Tennis are two living series that spring to mind).