Mario creator Miyamoto isn't retiring after all, and everything's peachy

That's what the legendary Nintendo game designer told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Thursday. After telling Wired this week that he was retiring from his current position at Nintendo to take on smaller projects (and after Nintendo was quick to deny it entirely), Shigeru Miyamoto told WSJ that he is not retiring from his position. However, he is making preparations for the future.

"We have to construct the structure so that the organization so that it can make it without me," Miyamoto told WSJ. "I should also admit that it might be better without me; I mean that a different approach and different talent might emerge, though I shouldn't dwell on this because then the article might indeed say 'Mr. Miyamoto is thinking about retiring,' because that is not the case."

Wired's Chris Kohler, whom Miyamoto first talked to this week about retirement, stands by his piece and its accuracy. Some chalked the Legend of Zelda maker's words up to an error in translation, but Kohler told G4TV, "Miyamoto's comments as presented in our story are exactly what Miyamoto said, and presented with the full context of his remarks. We are absolutely standing by those statements as reported."

Miyamoto's talk with WSJ appears to be an attempt to clarify his words with Wired. Now, we're left with three different statements (two only slightly different, really) and a Nintendo stock price that's down a bit. So what we do know, with absolute certainty, is that the creator of Mario isn't just important to Nintendo, but all video games.

[Via IndustryGamers]

What do you think Miyamoto's retirement would mean for Nintendo?