Sources say that Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto is having his workload reduced. Read on for more.

According to inside sources within Nintendo of Japan and Spong.com, Shigeru Miyamoto -the pint-sized inventor of the Mario franchise, is to start working on fewer titles in order to maximise his creative flair.

The source states that:

"Miyamoto must concentrate on few games with more focus. There are huge games that need his full attention, so the general overseeing of a broad range of products must be cut back. His responsibilities for overseeing the development of other titles will be passed to Eiji Aonuma and a team of other senior producers at Nintendo."

This shift in focus for Miyamoto is long overdue in fans estimation. Many people have decried the fact that by personally overseeing so many games that his personal influence has diminished and this has been reflected in the quality of the titles produced by Nintendo. Mario Sunshine and The Wind Waker are two such examples that have received deserved acclaim but not on the level of their previous generation counterparts.

We would hope that this will not mean a reduction in the quantity of Nintendo-brand games -what with large franchises such as Metroid and F Zero being developed "out of house" by other parties. But instead this may well herald an upsurge in the quality of first party titles.

And with any luck, the appearance of a certain plumbers' latest adventure soon.