According to Nintendo guru, Shigeru Miyamoto, the company hasn't abandoned (hard)core gamers at all, no matter how E3 may have looked. Says the great man, "So while attending an E3 event like this, they (the media) might be given the impression that Nintendo is no longer focusing on the games that appeal to the core gamer, in fact we’re still working on many of those titles, but it’s just not the type of event where we’ll be showcasing that any more."

Speaking in an interview about why Nintendo is increasingly perceived as a casual platform Miyamoto said, "I think that there’s probably one other element to it, and that’s that our view of how we use E3 has changed. For a very long time, E3 was an event where — and certainly Nintendo included — catered specifically to the core gamer.

"Now we look at more … an opportunity for us to introduce new concepts and new types of play that we intend to bring to the broader audience, particularly because of the media that gathers at E3 now."

Ah, so Nintendo is still catering for the (hard)core gamer. Except... didn't Miyamoto just say that Nintendo no longer wants to see a distinction between gamers and non-gamers?

For that matter, didn't he also just say that Nintendo wants its core games to be more appealing to 'non-gamers'? The answer to both those questions is 'yes'. See SPOnG's report from yesterday. But Nintendo still wants to cater for core gamers who it doesn't want to acknowledge.

It seems to SPOnG that Nintendo needs to get its collective head straight as to how it treats its demographic(s). All these mixed messages are confuzzling the games industry's brains.

On a less confuzzling note, music fans can rejoice! Speaking about Wii Music, Miyamoto said, “I feel like we’ve finally created a true music game, rather than, say, a rhythm game.” SPOnG will reserve judgement until we've played Wii Music.

Give us your thoughts on Nintendo's strategy and the core gamer in the Forum.

^{Source: MSNBC}