E3: Miyamoto confirms new Pikmin on the way

Friday 18th July 2008 - 11:00

Slip of the tongue reveals next-gen outing for GameCube favourite, Nintendo boss defends lack of Mario and Zelda and Red Faction Guerrilla screens

Some of the most interesting nuggets of information often come to the surface in the most mundane of conversations. A round table discussion at the videogames show E3 can often be a fairly stifled affair with corporate representatives staying very much 'on message'.

So it was interesting to learn that in a chat with a gaming website, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto let slip that Pikmin, one of the most loved GameCube titles, was almost certainly coming to the Nintendo Wii.

In a conversation about the day to day workings of Nintendo HQ ,Miyamoto said: "I'm actually on the same floor as all of my staff, and I sit at the same type of desk as all of them," he enthused. "Because of all the communication involved I try and sit as close as possible. Among those staff, there's staff from the Pikmin team, staff from the Zelda team, and they're all enjoying creating new games. So we continue with investigating all types of games. When it's time to announce such a title, I'll announce it - so look forward to it."

Then, in an almost comic moment, Miyamoto noticed his slip of the tongue and decided to come clean by just blurting out 'We're making Pikmin'.

Meanwhile, Nintendo head honcho Satoru Iwata has had to defend his company's decision to not officially announce a new Zelda or Mario title at this year's event. In an interview with the BBC he defended Nintendo's decision to focus on the mainstream.

Iwata said: "At this E3 we had to focus on software for the mass audience and software that will be sold in this year or next. This one of the rare opportunities to reach out to mass audiences around the world. In order for us to create a new Super Mario game or Legend of Zelda game that can cater to the strong demands of core gamers around the world it takes two to three years." It would have still been nice to have seen the slightest hint of footage though!