Nintendo rep: Fan passion not the only factor in localizing Wii RPGs
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
It can’t be denied that Operation Rainfall played a huge part in the North American localization of Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story. The group managed to stir up interest among a considerable amount of hardcore Wii owners, and led organized efforts in garnering Nintendo’s attention.
However, a Nintendo representative says that Operation Rainfall wasn’t the only factor that motivated the company to bring the much-requested titles to North America:
“Our fans are very passionate, and have demonstrated an interest in this game. We certainly appreciate this passion, but it alone did not impact our decision to launch the game or the timeframe in which it would launch.”
Ryan Tyner, one of Operation Rainfall’s leaders, believes Nintendo might be downplaying their involvement:
“The fact that they revealed [Xenoblade Chronicles] on Facebook is telling, considering that is where the campaign asked for the game. There are other little ‘signs’ such as [NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime] stating in the The Last Story reveal that many people had been ‘clamoring’ for the game. Privately, we had inside sources that confirmed that Nintendo was taking notice of us and that it was indeed because of our efforts that these games were being released…”
Tyner also discussed how Nintendo of Europe’s translation most likely made Nintendo’s decisions easier:
“Really, it was just a matter of the circumstances being ideal for our campaign. I think we showed them that if they did bring the games over, people would buy them. But of course there is also the fact that our member participation has been great, and that the staff has worked hard to make this happen. I work harder on Operation Rainfall some days than I do on my actual job.”
Nintendo of Canada teasing a “Spring Break Surprise”
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
A couple of weeks ago, Nintendo of Canada added a terse entry to their official website about an upcoming “Spring Break Surprise”. The post simply reads, “Come back March 1st to see what it is!!”
It sounds this could be specific to Canada, as the news was not included in Nintendo of America’s “What’s New” section. I’m not expecting the tease to be about a major new title announcement, but this could be interesting!
Thanks to 3DSponesiPod for the tip!
Nintendo to Mark the Launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising with National Multiplayer Tournament
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
To prepare fans for the March 23 launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo of America will host multiplayer tournaments at select GameStop stores across the United States starting March 8 and culminating in a national championship event in New York on Thursday, March 22. Three winners from each market will participate in the final round. The final national championship event at the GameStop store at Broadway and 84th Street in New York will also feature a special pre-sale opportunity, allowing consumers to purchase the game one day before it goes on sale throughout North America.
The bracket-style tournament will include regional competition at select GameStop locations in San Francisco (March 8), Orlando, Fla., (March 11), Los Angeles (March 15) and New York (March 22). Winners from each of the four markets will be eligible to win prizes including an all-expenses-paid trip to New York to participate in the national championship and a variety of exclusive Kid Icarus-themed items. Even if they are not participating in tournament play, consumers will be able to visit GameStop tournament locations to play Kid Icarus: Uprising before its nationwide launch on March 23.
Another batch of Pandora’s Tower art
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai details from the latest Iwata Asks
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
A new third-party Iwata Asks has gone live on the Japanese Nintendo website. AM2 head Makoto Osaki, director Motoshi Takabe, project manager You Utsumi, and Satoru Iwata participated in the interview.
Andriasang picked out some of the more important details from the discussion. We’ve compiled the information into a handy summary. You can find it below.
– Osaki is the head of AM2
– He’s been working on Hastune Miku since Project Diva Arcade
– Osaki describes his role as “probably what would generally be called something like a producer”
– The producer is very involved in the development scene like that of an old-style game
– Takabe wrote the design doc, gave instruction for creation of the “PV” videos that play during the game, and oversaw the development scene
– Takabe left money/staff issues to Osaki
– Iwata said that he played a lot of Daytona USA
– AM2 has been making Hatsune Miku since 2009
– Technology in Miari and the special Miku videos they make for live concerts comes form Virtua Fighter
– Creation of PVs, simulation of Miku’s hair (the basics and the staff making them) are from Virtua Fighter
– Future Stars shows the Hatsune Miku vocaloids in SD/big-headed style
– According to You Utsumi, the game at first showed the characters in their standard proportions
– The team felt that something wasn’t right about this
– Miku looked smaller when dancing on the 3DS screen, and this was without even considering that they’d have to show the notes for the rhythm gameplay
– The staff eventually decided on making the characters SD style and settled on proportions of Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid figures
– There were some suggestions of other head sizes before this
– Nendoroid proportions made sense because the Nendoroid figures for Miku are the second best selling licensed Hatsune Miku products (Sega’s games are first)
– Voice and face recognition in the game
– Use your voice to select songs
– Facial recognition used for the game’s alarm clock mode
– In this mode, Miku will wait to make sure you’re gone, then will come out and look around
– There were concerns about how the player would be able to see this in action
European Mario Party 9 launch trailer
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii | 0 comments
Team Meat clarifies eShop file size limitation, not necessarily 2GB
Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
The 3DS eShop definitely has some sort of file size restriction. This was made clear by Capcom’s Christian Svensson last year. However, contrary to what we reported on last night, 2GB might not be the limit after all – it could be more, it could be less.
Reader “joclo” sent us information regarding the file size limit, and it appeared that Team Meat’s Tommy Refenes confirmed the 2GB restriction in a recent issue of Nintendo Gamer. This wasn’t the case, though.
Refenes took to Twitter to clarify the situation:
“Original Quote on size restrictions: ‘…or if they do they are reasonable restrictions (40MB is horrible….2GB is reasonable).’ Never said that 2GB was the size restriction on eShop. I do not know what it is.”
“joclo” did provide me with a photo of the quote a short while ago, and Nintendo Gamer’s wording is a bit odd. This is what the relevant excerpt states in full:
“Refenes, however, doesn’t think there’s much wrong with the current setup (‘it’s honestly pretty easy’) though he’s hoping that Wii U doesn’t have size restrictions on download games – ‘or if they do, they are reasonable restrictions. [WiiWare’s] 40MB is horrible, but [3DS’s] 2GB is reasonable.'”
It looks like Nintendo Gamer added in the extra “3DS”, even though this isn’t what Refenes actually said…
Apologies for the confusion, folks!
