Miyamoto "is not God", says Iwata

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said his most famous employee isn't infallible - even though he doesn't half come up with a good idea now and again.

"The games [Shigeru Miyamoto] has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits. However, he is not God," said Iwata, speaking in an investor briefing.

"Even Miyamoto himself cannot hit the mark every time nor always predict how long it takes to complete development."

Which is why it's Iwata's job, he said, to set timeframes for the development process and work out when launch new products. Besides, Miyamoto may be known for creating Mario, Zelda, Wii Fit and all the rest, but plenty of other Nintendo designers have contributed to the success of such products.

"He is just another human being, so it is not possible that every single idea contained in these software was the sole creation of Shigeru Miyamoto," said Iwata.

"Certainly, when it comes to identifying and verbalising some of the important major findings, few people can easily succeed him. For example, few people other than Shigeru Miyamoto can declare that weighing yourself everyday must be fun for everyone.

"However, the fact that Nintendo software is always full of unique and fun ideas attest to the fact that there are many good game creators at Nintendo. Together with Shigeru Miyamoto, all of them have been making what are called Nintendo software."

So what have they been making lately? Iwata declined to say, but he's probably saving it up for E3. Roll on June...