Japanese industry figures choose their top games of 2012
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Japanese publication 4Gamer asked a whopping 112 industry figures about their favorite games of 2012. Not all of the responses have been translated, but a healthy selection can be found below.
Comcept CEO Keiji Inafune – Halo 4
Tokyo Jungle director Yohei Kataoka – Journey
Square Enix game design director Yuji Abe – Journey
Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida – Guild Wars 2
Arc System Works director Takumi Iguchiya – Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Index director and chief composer Shoji Meguro – Gravity Rush
Valhalla Game Studios CTO Tomonobu Itagaki – Earth Defense Force 3
Tri-Ace director Takayuki Katsuro – XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Yakuza series director Toshihiro Nagoshi – Phantasy Star Online 2
Square Enix producer Tomoya Asano – Fire Emblem: Awakening
Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida – Persona 4 Golden
GungHo Online Entertainment consultant Hiromichi Tanaka – Animal Crossing: New Leaf
A look at some early Kingdom Hearts art
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Characters often change appearances throughout a game development cycle. That was no different with Kingdom Hearts.
Knight Goofy as well as Wizard Donald originally featured some different costumes. Art of the early designs are included above. There’s also a sketch showing the Monstro level, followed by its final design.
UK games market declines by 17.4% in 2012
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Physical and digital sales combined, the UK video games market is down from £1.934bn in 2011 to £1.598bn in 2012. The market experienced a 17.4 percent dip, according to the ERA.
There is in a small bright spot in the digital space. Sales of digital releases are up 7.7 percent in 2012, growing to £552.2m. Despite the fact that digital video game sales are experiencing a slow trend upwards, it is the most valuable entertainment sector in the UK.
It should be noted that most titles are still being sold in physical form, but digital games are making an impact. 65.4 per cent of the 2012 video games market was comprised of physical sales, compared to 2011’s 73.5 percent.
But even with support from digital, the overall market is slumping. Physical video games are at a lukewarm £1.05bn.
Japanese Nintendo exec showed Pilotwings 64 team Super Mario 64 with briefcase chained to his arm
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Pilotwings 64 composer Dan Hess shared a completely random and interesting revelation in an interview with N64 Blog.
Hess told the site that while the team was making the new Pilotwings, one Nintendo executive – who came “with a briefcase chained to his arm” from Japan showed its in-progress work on Super Mario 64. The team took inspiration from the visit, which “served as motivation for us to make Pilotwings 64 as good as we possibly could.”
Hess said:
“One of my fondest memories is of a Nintendo executive flying from Japan, literally with a briefcase chained to his arm, to show our team they’re developing Super Mario 64 game. We were all blown away and it served as motivation for us to make Pilotwings 64 as good as we possibly could.”
Activision’s cancelled Sing Hero game
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
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