Miyamoto oversaw "uneasy" Wii conception

Speaking to 1up, Nintendo development boss Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that he had to personally lead Nintendo's teams through the early stages of Wii's concept as the idea behind the machine was so different to anything the company had done before.

"In recent years, I've taken on more of a producer role with our games," he said. "But with both Wii Fit and Wii Sports, the work that I was doing was more that of a designer. With younger game directors and designers, there's a tendency to look at the types of games that have come in the past - how they can build on those experiences and enhance them. With Wii, we've felt a need to start from zero in a lot of places and create something entirely new.

"Of course, when you try to do that there tends to be a lot of uneasiness. It's a different way of designing than people are accustomed to. So in order to resolve a lot of that uneasiness and help the team feel more confident, I unfortunately needed to take a lead role and stand at the forefront of that process and help them realize that it really is OK to start from scratch and build from there."

Plenty more through the link. As ever, the supremo's words are well worth reading.