Shigeru Miyamoto knows everything. Yup everything. Except he may be forced to eat his words in a few years time if digital distribution becomes the norm for video games. With the success of digital music on iTunes, an increasing number of online gamers and of course the PSP Go! being downloads only, Miyamoto could off track saying digital downloads are not the future:

“Personally, I’m one of those guys who, even if I have all the songs from iTunes, I want the CD as well. I feel more reassured with that physical media.” says Miyamoto.

Personally we would like to see both available to consumers, a download version and a retail version, so that customers can decide. There’s just something more exciting about having a shiny new game in your hand.

Shigsy continues, “Entertainment is something that will not just become digital. If I look at Wii MotionPlus, this is something that you’re not doing via digital distribution.” That’s true but am I missing something here? That’s hardware, you can’t download it! Maybe I’m being think or something was lost in translation.

“The thing for us is we really don’t see the future of video games being merely confined to digital distribution or moving solely or even to a majority of our products being distributed that way.”

It will be interesting to see how much more Nintendo will embrace digital distribution. Obviously WiiWare and DSiWare are a start but will their service become a fully blown entertainment hub like Xbox Live? Time will tell, but remember during the Gamecube era, Nintendo made a mistake by saying that there was no future in online gaming.

Thanks Koku