Inafune’s favorite game? A Link to the Past
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
During an interview with Joystiq at TGS this year, Megaman brain-man and leader of the team behind the upcoming “Ninja Gaiden Z” Keiji Inafune said that the most important game of all time (to him) is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. He didn’t specify reasons (nor should he have to!), but it’s hard to argue with the man considering most people find ALttP to be the real turning point for Zelda in its transformation from old-school to new-school.
Here’s a Podcast: Episode 8!
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 0 comments
How to fix 2D Mario games, Sony versus the Wii U, Wii U’s (non)existent achievement system– PLUS our top five games that would make utterly horrible movies (and who we would cast in them!).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
At one point during the podcast, Jack said (in reference to New Super Mario Bros. Wii) that he “could have just found” a secret I was talking about, but he just didn’t WANT to. I challenged him to try finding it after the show and he agreed to give it a shot.
He was unable to locate it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What we played: Laura, Jack, and Austin -{3:55}-
News: Reasons to buy ZombiU, Wii U processor power, Platinum Games responds to criticism, more -{8:05}-
Discussion 1: How to “fix” 2D Mario -{25:00}-
Discussion 2: PS3+Vita can do everything the Wii U can do? (Thanks to Osobari for some insight on this!) -{37:03}-
Discussion 3: Achievements on Wii U? (Thanks to Alex for the idea!) -{43:12}-
Complaint Corner: Wii U Launch Games, People Thinking the SNES is Better Than N64, more -{45:15}-
Guess the Game With the Media I Give You: Image here. Play along at the time specified! -{49:15}-
Top Ten List: Our top 5 games that would translate into really terrible movies. -{54:09}-
Tekken producer says that Nintendo was very cooperative and understanding with them
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
This comes from Tekken Tag Tournament Two (TTTT) producer Katsuhiro Harada:
“That was an an idea from our side that they approved. We also told them we wanted to use the stars for invincibility and they were OK with that. We do use some of the sound effects from Mario and remix some of the music. Some of these are things we really wanted to do, but we thought Nintendo would not be OK with. They actually were and they made it into the game as you can see. They were very cooperative. We didn’t expect to get as far as we did. There aren’t many third party games that go as far with Nintendo properties so you can see how understanding they were this time.”
Sounds like Nintendo might be opening up to a few more developers in the same way that they have with people like Capcom in the past. Though, I doubt that Namco Bandai will be developing any Zelda games anytime soon…
Platinum Games: There are a lot of terrible western devs too
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
This makes me so very happy. I’m sick of people saying that Japanese games are dying and they’re outdated and not as good as Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed.
Bayonetta/Wonderful 101 developer Platinum Games has chimed in on the matter:
“There are tons of terrible Western developers [too]. I don’t like it when people lump Japanese games developers all together into one group. Frankly, I think it’s a joke. What do these people know?” – Platinum Games’ Atsushi Inaba
I could not agree more, and I’d even make the argument that Japanese games are more original and innovative than western games on the whole. Of course, that matter is left up to subjectivity.
Inaba-san continued:
“Think about Western developers. There are many Western developers making terrible games, and then you see one like Infinity Ward making a game that sells 20 million and everyone goes, ‘hey, Western developers are amazing!’. There are tons of terrible Western developers, just like there are tons of terrible Japanese developers. To lump studios together in great masses misses the point.”
Assassin’s Creed writer hints at a future for the franchise
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
I don’t think there was ever much doubt that Assassin’s Creed would go the way of Halo or Call of Duty, but just in case you were concerned that AC3 would wrap things up a bit, we’ve got some good news:
“Should they decide in the future to do other stuff, there’s plenty of room to explore, plenty of seeds that have been planted that won’t conflict. It was my intent to provide pay-off and to answer questions for those who are invested in them. It should provide a fairly lengthy ending that will also give room for answers and pay-off.” – Lead writer Corey May
It should also be noted that Corey claimed to have no knowledge of additional entries, but I think we all know how things are bound to play out. It’ll be Mass Effect all over again!
Fire Emblem DLC sells great in Japan
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Well, Nintendo’s first test of DLC seems to have been a success! Here’s the rundown:
– 75% of 3DS systems are connected to the internet
– Roughly 1.2 million downloads of DLC
– Roughly ¥380 million in sales.
– Converts to about $4.8 million
Hopefully they don’t start milking the concept, and instead stick with offering full and complete games regardless of what DLC will be offered.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – Mushroom Battle Mode Details
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
– Three kinds of mushrooms: Red, Purple, Yellow
– Red mushrooms make you grow one size larger
– Purple mushrooms shrink you down
– Yellow mushrooms make you grow to “mega size”
– The mode is balanced equally when compared to other modes if mushrooms are not used
– Bigger is not necessarily better, as certain moves won’t be able to reach smaller players
– Came about when the developers played around with a size slider for fun
– When the Wii U development started, someone thought it would be cool to combine that with Mushrooms
– No word on whether Mushroom Battle will have an online mode
ZombiU dev calls Wii U “the move innovative system on earth”, says they’re trying to “recycle” the zombie genre
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Wow, talk about high praise! It’s understandable that a developer exclusive to a platform (at least for the time being) would sing some sort of praise for the console they’re developing on, but rarely do you hear such kind words. This comes from ZombiU creative director Jean-Phillipe Caro…
“We never wanted to reinvent any genre but the fact that is when we decided to change from Killer Freaks to ZombiU we had to rethink what we were going to do. What we have done is talk about old games, old movies, comics – what we like in life about zombies. You have a galaxy of zombie games, movies, comics – the genre is almost dead. People are saying always: the zombie genre is dead. We are not reinventing, we are recycling. What we wanted to do is not a revolution of the survival horror game but what we like is the survival aspect while the horror is part of the zombie thing.”
“I think we are making something fresh with the most innovative console. The Wii U is the most innovate system for the moment on Earth. We didn’t have to make a big innovation on our side – it was all here on the system so that was easier for us.”
I gotta admit, these guys at Ubisoft have really won me over in the last couple of days! Looks like it’s time to lay down my preorder.
[Opinion] What has happened to 2D Mario games? (And how to “fix” them!)
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Nintendo, Wii U | 0 comments
The simple thing Nintendo did to effectively hold “New” Super Mario Bros. back from ever reaching super stardom.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Right this very moment, my Wii is sitting in my basement, power on, Super Mario World loaded onto the screen, waiting to be played again whenever I muster the strength to give Forest of Illusion another shot. You see, I’m stuck in the (what I assume to be) infamous area where you cannot go on without uncovering some secret and opening up the next level, crafting your way through the trees and onto the next castle. Please don’t tell me how to do it.
In my break, though, I’ve been pondering quite strongly the differences between this Super Nintendo classic I’m plowing through for the first time and the round of 2D Mario games we’ve seen plop out of Nintendo’s money machine over the last six years. Upon first glance, there’s really not much that stands out as being truly different aside from the graphical downgrade seen in the three entries to the New Super Mario Bros. series that have been released so far, and yet something feels indistinguishably different.
Chalk it up to “atmosphere” if you’d like, chalk it up to music or “heart” or anything else truly intangible– and I’d certainly be hard pressed to disagree with you– but I think the big difference between the two “chunks” of Mario’s 2D history can be boiled down to how memorable it is.
And, well, how memorable it is can be boiled down to how much time you spend with each level.
Rayman Legends gives artificial intelligence to the beloved hero in single player
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News | 0 comments
That’s a bit of a wordy and confusing title, isn’t it? Instead of fixing it, maybe reading the quote below with shed some light the situation…
“That’s a question we get asked a lot. How do you play the game alone and can you play it with the GamePad? The answer is yes, you can. You play controlling Murphy with the GamePad and on the screen on the TV and also on the screen of the Wii U GamePad you’ll have an automatic Rayman controlled by an AI. You have to open the paths for him, you have to kill enemies for him to make sure he can survive. You are the protector of Rayman.” – Emile Morel, lead game designer on Rayman Legends
Hmm… So a lot of the game will have you not platforming, but protecting an AI platformer? Not sure how I feel about that! Though I should really read/watch more about the mode before passing judgement. Morel continued:
“Not the whole game is like this – you have specific levels for Murphy and the GamePad and more classic levels when you are playing as Rayman from beginning to the end. Half of the game, maybe not half but a good portion of the game, you’ll have to play as Murphy.”
