Miyamoto: Third-parties need inspiration, not know-how

Senior Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto acts as an ambassador of sorts to third-party developers and publishers, but says it's his role to inspire, not educate.

Speaking to IGN, Miyamoto said his task is to keep third-parties enthusiastic, rather than wary, of innovative Nintendo hardware - as opposed to teaching them how to make games.

"When it comes to technologies and techniques and skills necessary for working on Wii U, [and] what we can provide, I can count on them that they already have that. They know how to do that," he said.

"They are always skilful, and actually they must have some different know-how from what we have. There might be some misunderstanding - as if Nintendo alone had some special know-how, and because Nintendo has not shared those unique, secret protocols with other, third-party publishers have not been able to create the exciting, unique gameplay on Nintendo hardware. But that was not the case."

Miyamoto acknowledged that the Wii's peculiarities made it an unlikely bet for multi-platform third-party titles, and said again that his job is to convince companies to give the Wii U a go despite its own unique hardware features, rather than provide expert assistance.

"I do not think that providing any special technologies, know how or skills would be able to change the situation, because I understand that most third-party developers already have those things," he said.

The Wii U launches in the US on November 18 and in Europe on November 30 before hitting Japan in early December.