Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 3 Comments

– Bombs making a return
– Once you leave Kamiki Village, you head out into Shinshu Field to meet up with Tama again
– Tama is ill, but you can’t get medicine from the local medicine man since his house has been taken over by demons
– You’ll later need to visit Onibi Market (a demon-only market)
– In order to get in, you have to draw a demon head for yourself on a piece of paper to wear

Source

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 4 Comments

– Sakurai was trying to figure out what sort of game he should make in 2008
– Sakurai believed that a lot of ports would be made, and didn’t think Iwata would want something that’s already been seen, is small, or is something like Wii Party
– Ultimately he decided to go with a difficult genre and something he wouldn’t usually do
– He chose the shooter genre, which isn’t very popular in Japan
– Made his decision because he felt it would be a good match for the 3D graphics
– Sakurai quickly made a basic design
– Project plan formally announced in 2008 after talking with Nintendo and interviewing potential studio members numerous times
– At this point it wasn’t Kid Icarus, just an original franchise
– Sakurai had asked Iwata in his first conversation if he should stick with a Nintendo franchise, Iwata told him that they should think about it if his project would be a good fit for one of the company’s franchises
– After that, Sakurai revised his project plan, and Kid Icarus came to mind since it’s popular in the West
– Initially was presented as an original game, but later Sakurai suggested to make it Kid Icarus
– As work on the game started, Sakurai rented a small office space in the Takadanobaba district of Tokyo in November 2008
– Only had a few staff members
– No development tools at the start since the 3DS was brand new
– Sakurai wanted to settle on their direction so that things could go smoothly when the staff moved to a bigger office
– He finalized Uprising’s project plan and wrote the story in the first office
– Project Sora started recruiting staff in March 2009

Quotes from Sakurai:

“Most of the games due to come out during the launch window were probably going to be ports. I could have chosen a genre that was easy to develop, but I doubted Iwata wanted something everyone’s seen before, or something small, or something like Wii Party. In the end I deliberately choose a difficult genre, something I wouldn’t usually work with.”

“That’s frankly not a major genre in Japan (shooter), although overseas there are piles of masterpieces in that field. You can’t argue that the marketplace for it [in Japan] is very healthy.”

“I wanted the game flow to involve traveling to enemy territory in the air, then fighting bosses on the ground. The air battles would be done 3D shooter-style and be as simple and exciting as possible, like a roller coaster or some similar ride. It’d be something close to a rail shooter, although you can move Pit around independently. It’d be difficult to make a whole game around that, though, and I didn’t think gamers would be happy with it — that’s where the ground battles come in.”

“During that first conversation with Iwata, I asked him whether I had to stick with a Nintendo franchise for this project. Working on Smash Brothers, I knew all about how much love gamers had for all of Nintendo’s games, and how frustrated they were that some of the series have lain dormant for so long. Any game designer wants to concentrate on original work, but given the role Nintendo had for me, I wanted to know if they had a particular brand they wanted to emphasize.”

“When I presented my project to Nintendo, it was as a wholly original game, but in the end I suggested that we make it a Kid Icarus title instead. I’d have the goddess Palutena grant Pit the power of flight for five minutes at a time, and he’d fly into enemy strongholds and fight enemies on the ground afterwards. It sounded like a ton of fun, I thought, and I got the go-ahead pretty soon afterward.”

“I kicked off the project with a staff that I could count with my fingers. The window glass was razor-thin and wind drafts leaked through them. Since the 3DS was brand-new hardware, there were zero development tools, and even if there were, Nintendo would never let them outside of headquarters. So my chief goal was to settle upon our direction and make things go as smoothly as possible once we started to ramp up staff and move to a bigger office.”

“I’m not the sort of person who wants to tell a story with his games. A game’s scenario acts as a series of signposts to move the player from one situation to the next, giving him a goal to strive for. The dev team needed the design framework so they could start working on stages, so I finished up the story right after the basic project design was done. Based on that, I hired several outside illustrators to come up with concepts for the backgrounds and characters.”

“We’ve gone through a variety of twists and turns in the ensuing year before the E3 announcement,” he said. “FPSes and third-person shooters are an intensely competitive genre to work with; it puts us at a disadvantage from the start, and there’s no way we could outclass the hi-definition visuals of console games on a portable. Nonetheless, I thought that project would be a vital test case to see if we could make a fun, playable, fully-3D game. It’s the first 3DS project ever launched — simple but technically complex, easily learned but deep enough to satisfy gamers. We’re interweaving a variety of conflicting watchwords into the game as development continues.”

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 4 Comments

“The basis we have now is very, very solid. Early 2011 – that is what we’re aiming for.” – Eiji Aonuma

This isn’t anything too different than what we heard coming out of E3, but it’s nice to see another confirmation that we’ll be able to play the game early next year. If I had to guess, I’d say Skyward Sword will launch sometime between February and April.

Source

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 0 comments

The future will arrive sooner than expected for fans of LEVEL-5’s acclaimed Professor Layton video game series. Nintendo of America has announced a new launch date of Sept. 12 for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future™, a new hand-held adventure created exclusively for the top-selling Nintendo DS™ family of portable game systems. Previously scheduled for release on Sept. 20, the game will now be available a week earlier, treating newcomers and experienced players alike to a mesmerizing mix of mystery, time travel and puzzle-solving fun.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future places the professor and his trusted apprentice at the center of a spellbinding adventure after they receive a strange letter sent from 10 years in the future. Players must wind their way through more than 165 mind-bending puzzles as they decipher clues and strive to unlock a time-twisting mystery that threatens to plunge London into chaos. Featuring richly rendered graphics and an engaging storyline, the Professor Layton game series has sold nearly 1.4 million units in the United States.

Source: Nintendo PR

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News, Wii | 2 Comments

1. [Wii] Wii Party
2. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles 2
3. [DS] Inazuma Eleven 3
4. [DS] Harvest Moon: Twin Villages
5. [DS] Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!!
6. [Wii] Super Mario Galaxy 2
7. [DS] Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
8. [360] Crackdown 2
9. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen
10. [Wii] Wii Fit Plus

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 4 Comments

Hideo Kojima

“I wear glasses, so I’m happy that 3D glasses are not needed. I directed the E3 demo. It was based off Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater, but the backgrounds and character modeling were all redone in high polygon. It’s not finalized, but we’re thinking about CO-OPs and other things — elements fitting of a 3D and portable game machine.”

Suda 51

“I was able to feel the speed of video game history and also the feeling of ‘We’ve come this far.’ To express the game I want to make in a word, it’s ‘The Next Game.’ Nintendo 3DS is the arrival of ‘The Next Hardware.’ So, ‘The Next Game.'”

Hideki Kamiya

“Games with dynamic scale are okay too, but I personally would like to take a different approach from the large screen and make a 3D game where you can enjoy the feeling of existence of portable 3D.”

Toshihiro Nagoshi (Super Monkey Ball 3DS)

“If future portable game machines demand that both social aspects and immersion be satisfied for when you play multiplayer and single player for instance, 3DS firmly answers these with Wi-Fi and 3D. I’d like to make a variety of proposals.”

Nagoshi also said that he believes the 3DS is an expected “conclusion” from Nintendo, feeling that starting with the 3DS, the company has seemed to have pursued game hardware as toys.

Shu Takumi

“We’ve at last reached this point! As a creator, I feel that a new challenge (considering certain things for the first time like interface issues) has started. I’d like to show a mystery in a 3D space.”

Atsushi Inaba

“I experienced a strong jolt of the feeling ‘I want to make something.’ When I first saw Wii and DS at Nintendo’s home office, I was also excited. It’s the same feeling here, but the level is completely different this time. Since the start of the game industry, there’s never been a system that better fit the words ‘dream’ and ‘next generation.'”

Keiji Inafune

“Elements for selling games are concept, technology and marketing. Nintendo 3DS is a showcase of elements for selling hardware. While keeping the appeal of portable game machines as is, it offers high processing ability, improved controls, a more appealing design, goggle-free 3D technology, and a robust 3rd party title lineup.”

Takenobu Terada

– Believes that the true 3D contender has arrived
– Terada’s team looking at different approaches for the 3DS Super Robot Wars games
– Could make something like Super Robot Wars Neo with 3D visuals or traditional 2D battles with 3D effects and cut-ins
– Something completely different a possibility, too

Shinji Mikami

“I felt that I’d definitely like to work on 3DS. Ah, it’s time for dinner with Itagaki.”

Mikami also told Famitsu that he was surprised at how well the 3D works. Images have great depth to them and really feel 3D.

Tomonobu Itagaki

“Today, I have a meeting at a yakiniku place, but I think things will heat up with talk about 3DS.”

Unlike goggles-free television viewing, Itagaki feels it will work well with a portable.

Yoshinori Ono

“We’d like to put in some ideas that make effective use of the portability.”

Hiroyuki Kobayashi

“Our own Resident Evil was shown on the show floor and was well received, but when I saw Metal Gear, I felt the new potential of the 3DS. I’d like to make something.”

Kobayashi was also “extremely surprised” by Nintendo’s games, feeling that images come to life on the screen.

Source

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News, Wii | 5 Comments

METROID, STARRY SKIES, TETRIS, FACE EXERCISING AND MUCH MORE COMING UP SOON FOR Wii AND NINTENDO DS CONSOLES!

14TH July 2010: With summer in full swing, Nintendo looks ahead to a packed line-up of game launches for Wii and the family of Nintendo DS consoles over the next three months.

Fans of the classic Metroid franchise will be delighted as Metroid: Other M – words that many have been waiting to hear, arrives in Europe on 3rd September. Fans will see Samus Aran as never before as she returns in an unprecedented collaboration which blends the slick, action-packed production of the Team Ninja development team, with the game design talents of the creators of the original Metroid.

The handheld phenomenon that is DRAGON QUEST® IX: Sentinels of the Starry SkiesTM is also making its long awaited arrival to European shores, and you only have a matter of weeks to wait. One of the biggest games ever to hit the Nintendo DS family of consoles, it has all the elements of an instant classic: customisation options, a great story, and the ability to share a nearly limitless experience with friends. Developed by Square Enix Co., Ltd and launching imminently on 23rd July European fans will get to feel & experience the mechanics that has made this game such a true social phenomenon in Japan.

Read More

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News, Wii | 8 Comments

Trick x Logic: Season 1 (PSP) – 8/8/8/9
Lost in Shadow (Wii) – 8/8/7/8
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (360) – 8/8/7/8
Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble XX – Kessen! Shin 6 Chouka (DS) – 8/7/7/7
Quiz! Hexagon II (DS) – 8/7/7/7
Blur Razers (PS3/360) – 7/8/7/7
Fate/Extra (PSP) – 8/7/7/7
Densha de Go! Tokubetsu-hen: Fukkatsu Shouwa no Yamatesen (DS) – 7/7/7/6
Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono. 2G (PS3) – 8/7/5/5
TV Anime: Fairy Tale Gekitou! Madoushi Kessen (DS) – 6/6/6/5

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii | 4 Comments

As a huge Knicks fan, I was very disappointed that LeBron James decided to join the Miami Heat. But on the bright side, we were able to sign Amar’e Stoudemire! That’s better than nothing, right?!

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, Screenshots, Wii | 1 Comment