Miyamoto will work on Sonic and Mario

Nintendo and SEGA have confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that Shigeru Miyamoto will have a hand in the development of forthcoming title Mario & Sonic at the Olympic games.

"When Mario is involved, Mr Miyamoto is never very far away," said Nintendo's European marketing director, Laurent Fischer.

"He's working on a large number of titles and he's delegating to the producer, but he's always there... The game is being developed by SEGA, but we are used to Mr Miyamoto going and following up with the team.

"He's joining the discussion, it's a relationship - he's not directing the game, he's just there in the discussions. Mario is there so Miyamoto is there; it's a natural thing."

SEGA UK boss Mike Hayes added, "Our teams working on it in Tokyo are unbelievably thrilled to be working with the most important man in videogaming; it's like a dream come true for them. He's certainly there and involved."

As announced earlier this week, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be released on Nintendo DS and Wii this Christmas. It will mark the first time the characters have appeared together in a game and the beginning of a new relationship between the two companies, as Hayes observed.

"In the late eighties and early nineties, the media put Nintendo versus SEGA - it was a very black and white battle. Now of course it's different because there are many different platforms, for those of us that have been in the business that long, to bring those characters that were always pitted against each other together makes it even more remarkable."

A full interview with Fischer and Hayes will be published on GamesIndustry.biz soon.