[Prospero]

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At 50, [Shigeru] Miyamoto is one of the most successful artists of the past century. And his success hasn't been merely financial. He has created the game industry's only instantly recognizable aesthetic - colorful, cartoonish, whimsical. He also pioneered a slew of features, from 3-D to nonlinear gameplay to original music, that serve as a kind of DNA for today's titles. That has earned him the respect, and often awe, of fellow designers. Says Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of Super Monkey Ball, "To me, Miyamoto is like God."

Nintendo has always insisted that its market spans the age spectrum. Indeed, two non-Miyamoto titles introduced at E3 - the bloody Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and the alien shoot-out Metroid Prime - are a far cry from Zelda. But none of Nintendo's new offerings have generated a buzz equal to the one that greeted Grand Theft Auto 3.

"He is not helping things," says Seamus Blackley, the former head of Microsoft's Xbox team who now runs the Capital Entertainment Group, an independent production company. Blackley is in Makuhari, Japan, on the final day of September's Tokyo Games Show. He speaks for many game designers raised on Miyamoto's innovations - developers who admire the master's work but are desperate for something new.

"At this point," Blackley continues, "Miyamoto is making games for his fans. Granted, there are millions of them, and it's smart business, but most are kids. He's not opening up adult audiences. He's reinforcing stereotypes about games, not pushing them to a place where they can become something different and truly awesome."

"[Pikmin] was an amazing game," says Lorne Lanning, creator of the Oddworld series. "But it was about cute little carrots." He's quick to add that he finds Miyamoto's games inspiring as a designer. "But I don't play them for the same reason I don't watch Powerpuff Girls."

Discuss.