Austin, Author at Nintendo Everything

“[Miyamoto] always takes the player first. Right off the bat he works with the controller, what does it feel like, how tactile and kinesthetic is what he’s working on. He works from the inside out: ‘what is the first five second player experience?’ So his games have this craftsmanship behind them that’s amazing and unique.”
“I think Peter Molyneux takes a lot of risks. He’s got this vicarious thing about dealing with little worlds full of little people which very much matches my sensibilities in a way.”

“I’ve always enjoyed [Sid Meier’s] games. His games are just playable, they’re just like a comfortable chair you sit in. I grew up playing board games, and Sid did as well. Sid in some ways is recapitulating our youth, the kind of games we would play back then.”

– Will Wright

Despite some player apprehension regarding the choice of Peter Molyneux, I think Wright has made three very good choices on an idealogical level. These three developers don’t always deliver on their promises and don’t always live up to what Wright has said about them, but when they do they truly make some fantastic games. They’re the type of people that the gaming industry should be all about!

Via Joystiq

Precursor CEO talks being laid off, and how that turned into ‘Shadow of the Eternals’

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Wii U | 0 comments

“As many people can relate, being laid off is an emotionally distressing experience. When this happened to me, I was determined to turn this toward more positive ends. I began reaching out to others to see if they were interested in starting something brand new, using lessons learned from past experiences.
Denis Dyack was my first choice for Creative, as he has a keen understanding on the creative aspects of game development. It saddens me to read that people’s impressions of him are painted by anonymous accounts of other individuals. I’ve known Denis for 10 years now, and from first hand experience I consider him to be one of the most honourable people I know, and undeserving of the amount of negative accusations he receives.”

“I knew Shawn Jackson’s attention to detail, enthusiasm and experience would really balance our management team as Chief Operating Officer. The rest of the Precursor team is equally talented, and I’m amazed by the results we’ve achieved with our demo. Precursor Games has been built from the ground up to do something new, and we are excited to show and work with you on our first project—‘Shadows of the Eternals’.”

– Precursor Games CEO Paul Caporicci

It sounds like they’re definitely passionate about this project, but I’m still concerned that the likes of Dyack and Caporicci have gotten themselves into a bit of an Epic Mickey, trying to create something behind which there is far too much creative passion and not enough technical understanding. That being said, the company has said that they’re in regular contact with Nintendo about the project, and if anyone has a technical understanding of game design, it’s the Big N!

Via Siliconera

Capcom says Monster Hunter 4 is one of their big games for this fiscal year

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

Taking its place aside Lost Planet 3, Monster Hunter 4 is poised for a massive marketing push and support in the west as Capcom plans on having it and the aforementioned sci-fi shooter hold up the company into the coming fiscal year. We saw something vaguely similar happen with Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii which sold fairly well for what it was, but I’d wonder if the more “core” orientation of the 3DS will help out Monster Hunter 4 where the third couldn’t gain traction.

Via Siliconera

Marvelous USA says Senran Kagura Burst in the west is a “scary proposition”, digital release possible

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

You know that super-Japanese, large-breasted 3DS fighting game Senran Kagura Burst? Well, a lot of gamers want the title to come to the west, despite some obvious cultural differences that might make it somewhat difficult to sell in large quantities, so Siliconera decided to ask Marvelous USA (formerly known as “XSEED”) if they’d ever bring the game over, considering that they are the premier Japanese localizer:

“It is something that we continue to look into because we know the demand is there as lots of fans have asked us about it, but it’s just such a scary proposition due to the subject matter and difference in attitudes between Japanese culture and the more conservative culture here in the U.S. With digital distribution it becomes more plausible to try it, but as a physical product the potential for disaster would be too great.”

– Marvelous USA Director of Publishing Ken Berry

This would be exactly why digital distribution is such a wonderful tool, even if we don’t want to use it for every single title out there. I’m not sure if I would pick up Senran Kagura if it came to the 3DS eShop, but I can definitely think of a few people who would and those few people might just be enough to help Marvelous turn a profit on the product. It’s tough to say either way.

Via Siliconera

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag scriptwriter talks story, says Edward is “raucous and bawdy”

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

“Edward Kenway is a raucous and bawdy chap, but he’s also a married man, and one of his primary motivation in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is to get rich and prove himself a ‘man of quality’ to his family and betters. So there is a special woman in Edward’s life, but there are also other not-so-special women as well.”

– Lead Scriptwriter Darby McDevitt

McDevitt also said that the game should end up being “more open and free than ever before”, which makes sense given the location and setting of the game. An open-world pirate game wouldn’t be terribly good if it weren’t free and open!

Via Gamespot

C-Wars dev officially authorized for 3DS development, closes in on Kickstarter stretch goals

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

C-Wars is an interesting pixel-art RTS that’s coming to PC later this year, but today we’ve learned that the folks behind the game, ‘Onipunk’, were just approved as a Nintendo 3DS developer, meaning that if their $65K goal is met the game will launch on the platform in October. If you want to support the game or learn more about it, check out the Kickstarter page here.

Via Nintendo Life

Capcom support for the Wii U Virtual Console will continue, more titles on the way

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

“Many of the listed games (and others) are indeed coming, but we’re working with Nintendo on the actual release dates and other details. We should have an official release schedule soon – but yes, Wii U is about to get a dose of 16-bit Capcom love. 🙂 “

– Capcom Statement, via Capcom Unity Forums

16-bit love, eh? I guess that means we’ll be seeing some cool Super Nintendo titles hit the Wii U soon! Aside from Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts and Street Fighter II, what more would we want!?

Via Nintendo Life

Capcom’s Svesson: “Very polarized opinions” within Capcom regarding cancelled Mega Man FPS

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

The recently revealed (and recently cancelled) Mega Man FPS Maverick Hunter split the fan community in two. Admittedly, the opinions towards the negative were slightly more prevalent than those towards the positive, but the polarity of the opinions was nevertheless rather extreme, and Capcom’s Christian Svensson said that the thoughts on the game from within the company were also mixed:

“Given the lack of consensus in this thread alone, that should tell you what you needed to know. Suffice to say, there were very polarized opinions internally on this project as well.”

– Capcom USA Senior Vice-President Christian Svensson

Perhaps it’s for the best that the project was cancelled. I know that I certainly wasn’t the biggest fan of the style they chose for it!

Via Siliconera

NintendoEverything Book Club (for Video Games!) – Super Mario RPG (Final Week Details)

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Book Club, Features | 3 Comments

The end is in sight, and it feels so good.

If you want to play along and discuss during the week, check out our forum thread here. If you missed out on the first week but you still want to participate, you’re looking at a total of about 20 hours of game-time this week to catch up!

“How far do I have to get this week?”
Deadline for email submissions this week: May 10th

Onwards to the end of the game, everybody! Regardless of where you ended up last week, we’re powering through to the very end and we’ll do our discussion on the podcast this coming weekend. Best of luck! Be sure to share your thoughts via forums or email.

Also, please do not send us emails discussing portions of the game beyond where the book club is. We want to avoid spoilers and we don’t want to feel unable to answer your questions/respond to your comments, so if you’ve gotten ahead of everyone (which is fine!) do your best to only talk about the parts that we’ve all agreed upon. :]

Hit the break for info on how to participate in a discussion, plus other ‘Frequently Asked Questions’!

[Opinion] The frustrating (and oft-ignored) imperfections of Fire Emblem: Awakening (Part 1)

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Features, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

Yes, the game is fantastic. But why isn’t anyone talking about what’s wrong with it?

Author: Austin

The time has probably long since past during which a review of Fire Emblem: Awakening would have been suitable, so instead of going through the paces of telling you what you need to know in order to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase the game, I’ll start off here with this: It’s probably the best game on 3DS, and even those with a distaste for the franchise’s previous entries will find something to like about it. If you haven’t played the game yet, please do so before reading what I’m about to write, because what I’m about to write will be filled with minor spoilers and negative thoughts about a game that is best played before hearing either of those things!

This is part one of a two or three part series on Awakening in which I’ll be doing my best to intelligently discuss some of the finer points of the game. These are things that everyone I’ve talked to has neglected to mention exist, either out of blind adoration for the title (which is fine– everyone gets that way about some games), or because they simply didn’t notice them.

Hit the break for the actual thing.