Very early today, the explosive news that the Biohazard / Resident Evil series would be remade and exclusive GameCube rocked gamers across the Internet. PGC was there to run the news as it broke, but were limited by not being there or being able to translate what was going on. Although we were able to decipher the overall message, we had no idea what Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto might have been saying at the event. Now, thanks to FGN Online & Dengeki, we have a translated statement from Shiggy and a subsequent comment from Shinji Mikami.

Miyamoto:

"I usually don't attend game announcement events for other games, but in fact when Biohazard was first announced I attended the event. At that time I thought the game would be a success.

"Games are supposed to be a media based on fun, but recently a lot of games have been released based on the graphic prowess alone. Because of this recent trend, some games have experienced the problem where after the game is completed the director feels the original themes are missing and is unable to fix them immediately.

"Gamecube focuses on the idea of careful attention on the games. It's true that games now must be fancy, but that shouldn't distract from the enjoyment of the game. The importance of the director's hands-on involvement is a feeling that Mikami and I share together.

"Multi-platform development is also fine. But porting or remaking the games for other systems basically means the creator only needs to duplicate the game for the other system. I feel, from a business point of view it might be a good, but from the creator's point of view it isn't a good idea. This time, Mikami and Capcom expressed their wish to create the Biohazard series for Nintendo Gamecube and we will provide them with full support. We welcome them to a new group of craftsmen."

Meanwhile, Biohazard creator Shinji Mikami offered the following to Dengeki magazine:

"Everyone must be surprised because [the Biohazard series is now] on Gamecube, but I have a clear and strong opinion about being able to enjoy all of the Biohazard games on one system. From now on, games aren't limited to graphics only -- a balance must be reached between fun gameplay and graphic enjoyment. I feel if it isn't like this, the media itself will be endangered. Among game systems focused on graphics, we're aiming to show Nintendo's philosophy of 'fun games'."