Former Nintendo exec Ken Lobb on GoldenEye 007’s rail shooter origins, Klobb gun, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
Ken Lobb might not be a name everyone is familiar with, but he had a major impact on Nintendo back in the day. As a former executive at Nintendo of America, he influenced both software and hardware.
The N64 megahit GoldenEye 007 was one game Lobb was involved with. In a lengthy interview with Game Informer this month, Lobb discussed the game in-depth starting with its origins up through release.
GoldenEye 007 started out with “a tiny team at Rare,” Lobb said. Speaking about why this happened, he explained:
“Let’s just say, the ‘bigs,’ or the more experienced Rare developers were busy. They also weren’t super thrilled about making a game with a license. The license had come from Japan, from Mr. [Hiroshi] Yamauchi. He started the negotiations for it. Tim and Chris had agreed to take on the project. But the people making Donkey Kong, Banjo, Killer Instinct – they’re all busy. So, Martin Hollis and a little group of people began working on it.
They worked in barns at the time. Rare was called the Manor Farmhouse. It was this beautiful old farmhouse with a bunch of developers in it, and all these barns that were converted into development spaces. One was for Banjo, one was Killer Instinct, the smallest one had Martin Hollis, David Doak, and the whole team behind GoldenEye. I was visiting Rare a lot, once every 8 to 10 weeks to work on Killer Instinct 2. Actually, the end of Killer Instinct and into Killer Instinct 2, while they were making GoldenEye. I developed a friendship with Martin. That had a couple, shall we say, interesting impacts…”
More: GoldenEye 007, interview, Ken Lobb, top
Project X Zone co-producer also leaves Monolith Soft
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 15 Comments
Project X Zone 2 director Soichiro Morizumi announced his departure from Monolith Soft a couple of days ago. Joining him is Koji Ishitani, who acted as the series’ co-producer.
Ishitani wrote on Twitter, as translated by Gematsu:
“As of the end of last week, on March 31, I resigned from Monolith Soft, which I belonged to for about 16 years. I was involved with works from Xenosaga Episode I to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean to Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED to Project X Zone 2, but to everyone who supported me and worked with me, and above all else to those who played the games, thank you very much!”
More: Koji Ishitani, Monolith Soft
A look at recent and upcoming additions to Jakks Pacific’s World of Nintendo line
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
Jakks Pacific’s World of Nintendo line is still going strong. Toys and other merchandise are in the works, and a number of new additions are on the way.
We previously spoke about the Splatoon blasters. Aside from the strange-looking Link pictured below from Breath of the Wild, upcoming items include a bow and arrow set, jumbo plushies, Splatoon Splat Balls, Nintendo playset featuring Peach’s Castle, a repackaging of Toad at Family Dollar, and more.
A tentative schedule for some of the toys is as follows:
4″ Hitting in March
Ice Mario, Inkling Girl, Lakitu, Bowser Jr (paintbrush this time), and “Classic Mario”4″ Hitting in June
Mario Maker, Luigi (open hands), BotW Link, Iggy Koopa, and Yellow Yoshi2.5″ Hitting in May
Dr. Mario, Blue Baby Yoshi, Larry Koopa, Purple Squid and Red Bob-omb
More: Jakks Pacific
April Fools’ Day 2017 roundup
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 44 Comments
Update: Bumped to the top with Shantae demake and more.
It’s April 1 in Japan, meaning April Fools’ Day has already begun. Companies are already coming out with some interesting hoaxes in celebration of the event. We’ll keep this post updated with anything noteworthy that appears over the next day or so.
Fire Emblem: Battle of Revolution
– Fake Switch / 3DS game from Nintendo
– Website here.
More: April Fools' Day 2016
Voice actor of Revali in Zelda: Breath of the Wild visits player’s stream, records congratulatory message, gives donation
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments
This past week, YouTuber Haley Ojedi finished up The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild during a live stream – and received a special surprise in the process.
Sean Chiplock is the voice of Revali in Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s English version. Believe it or not, he actually appeared in Ojedi’s stream. Chiplock not only recorded a special message for Ojedi congratulating her on beating the game, but also gave a generous donation to help raise enough money to send her to E3.
Here’s the relevant recording (note: credits are shown):
April 2017 My Nintendo rewards live in North America, Europe, Australia
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 15 Comments
We’ve entered a new month, and My Nintendo is celebrating with new rewards. Several items have been added in for North American, European, and Australian users.
As you would expect, most of the rewards are discount-based. However, there are some extra things as well like a Fire Emblem wallpaper and Swapdoodle DLC.
Head past the break for the full lineup.
More: My Nintendo
Ace Attorney anime now being sold on Steam
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
The Ace Attorney anime ran through its full 24-episode season last year. For those with Steam accounts, it’s now available for purchase. The entire season will cost you $8.16, but individual episodes are priced at $0.49.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All were adapted for last year’s anime. A-1 Pictures handled production of the show.
More: Ace Attorney, anime, Steam
Nintendo Minute – “It’s Our 200th Video! Reading Your Comments”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
This week’s Nintendo Minute has gone live. In today’s episode, Kit and Krysta celebrate their 200th video. View it in full below.
More: Nintendo Minute
Pokemon GO players catch over 589 million Magikarp during Water Festival
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Pokemon GO wrapped up its Water Festival a couple of days ago. During the week-long event, players collectively caught over 589 million Magikarp, Niantic announced.
The Water Festival made it more likely to encounter Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and their Evolutions. Magikarp, along with its next form Gyarados, were the first ever Shiny Pokemon introduced in Pokemon GO this month.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO
Project X Zone director departs from Monolith Soft
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
Soichiro Morizumi is no longer with Monolith Soft. Morizumi, who directed both Project X Zone games on 3DS, confirmed the news about his resignation on Twitter.
Gematsu has the following translation of his tweets:
“I have resigned from Monolith Soft as of today, March 31. Thank you so much for looking after me for 14 years! I have been able to successfully complete games from Namco x Capcom to Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED to Project X Zone. I’m very grateful to have worked with all of the companies involved. I’m planning to remain in the games industry, so let’s meet again in the next game… someday.”
“And by the way, it was an amicable resignation. As for how amicable, it was as amicable as when I resigned from Banpresto lol. Since I was at Banpresto for seven years, and Monolith Soft for 14 years, is this some sort of cause and effect? If my next one is 21 years, I’ll be of exact retirement age (65 years old).”
Soichiro Morizumi’s work at Bandai Namco was primarily limited to Bandai Namco games. Aside from the Project X Zone series, he contributed to Namco x Capcom and the Super Robot titles as mentioned in his tweets.
