Shigeru Miyamoto loves Angry Birds, telling Edge that the 2009 mobile slingshot game is his favorite of the past year - which may come as a shock to those who consider smartphone games a dangerous threat to systems like Nintendo's 3DS.

"What I like about Angry Birds is that it has a traditional videogame [feel] to it, but also a very creative side," Miyamoto said. "And you can really feel that they're having fun developing the game. That's what I like about it." Miyamoto admitted that he doesn't typically talk in interviews about non-Nintendo games he's enjoying.

Rather than express deep fear about the fact that phone games can be enjoyable, Miyamoto said he pays little attention to the medium. "I check up on them sometimes, but I don't have a lot of time," he said, before comparing the medium to his company's work. "I think we also have a history of having certain fun ideas and making a game out of it, and there's lots of other people also doing this [now]. This kind of environment inspires us to try even harder, and create even more unexpected new things."