Miyamoto Talks Of The PS2 And RPGs
In a competitive gaming market, Shigeru Miyamoto speaks of Sony's gaming console and about RPGs for the Gamecube.

Question: Nintendo people always say that they do not care about what other companies do. Between the N64 and the GC, you only had four years. Does this mean that you already consider the PlayStation 2 a threat to your business?
Miyamoto: Well, I don't feel the slightest threat from the PlayStation 2, and very frankly speaking, I am not too concerned about the existence of the PS2 at all, because we have created the Gamecube hardware and will create the software that will become the requisite for everyone even though they already have the PS2. That is why I'm not too concerned about the PlayStation 2.

Question: What are some of the main technical advantages of the Gamecube over the PlayStation 2, in particular for game developers?
Miyamoto: Well, of course I've never worked on the PS2 hardware, so I really don't know, but what I've heard from many different people is that they have somehow created a machine that is even more difficult to make games for than the N64. In terms of the Gamecube, we have created the hardware so that it's much easier to program for than N64, and yet we can guarantee several dozens of times better performance than N64. In other words, Gamecube is probably far superior to the PS2 in terms of the friendliness for game developers.

Question: Some feel that the lack of popularity of the N64 was due to its lack of RPGs. Does Nintendo want to emphasize RPGs on the Gamecube and try to get more RPGs on the system?
Miyamoto: I think that it's not as if there weren't any RPGs. About the only RPGs missing were "this one" and "that one." If these developers still have the means to continue making the series, I think that that the Nintendo Gamecube will be the easiest to develop for. Our job is to increase the user base so that they can profit from making their games on our system. If we can accomplish our goal, I think that developers will choose our console, which is the easiest to develop for.

Notes: The two RPG's that did not appear on N64 were Final Fantasy by SquareSoft and Dragon Quest by Enix.

Source: Nintendo

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