Another pair of former Rare staffers join Playtonic
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 19 Comments
Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic has added two new staffers who have a long history with Rare. Andy Wilson is joining the team as producer, and Gary Richards will be a part of the design team.
Wilson was a tester on Diddy Kong Racing and lead tester on Banjo-Kazooie. He eventually became a part of the design team on Donkey Kong 64, and also worked on Banjo-Tooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and more.
Richards led the way on Donkey Kong Land 3. He was also the Head of Handheld department at Rare and lead design on all portable titles, such as Conker’s Pocket Tales, Sabre Wulf, Banjo Pilot and Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise.
More: Andy Wilson, Gary Richards, Playtonic, Rare
First look at the Defenders of the Triforce merchandise
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Images | 8 Comments
Defenders of the Triforce, the upcoming puzzle experience Nintendo is collaborating with SCRAP on, will kick off in just a few weeks from now. The highlight will be solving a mystery in a huge area within a set time limit, but those who are participating will be able to purchase some exclusive merchandise as well.
We now have a first look at the various items that will be on sale. Here’s the lineup:
– Defenders of the Triforce Pins: $18.00
– Defenders of the Triforce Poster: $15.00
– Defenders of the Triforce zip up hoodie: $45.00
– Defenders of the Triforce T-shirt: $24.00
And some photos:
More: The Legend of Zelda
Natsume planning “a few surprises” for Harvest Moon’s 20th anniversary
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
Harvest Moon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In an annual note from Natsume president Hiro Maekawa, it was teased that “a few surprises” are in store for the occasion.
Harvest Moon: Skytree Village ended up on 3DS towards the end of last year. Maekawa says the game performed “extremely well” from a physical and digital standpoint.
River City: Tokyo Rumble also came out for 3DS last year. “Fans have been extremely appreciative to us for bringing back this cult classic, and hopefully we will be able to do more in the future,” Maekawa mentioned.
You can read Maekawa’s full message here.
Dragon Quest character designer Akira Toriyama shares a special message
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
During NHK’s Dragon Quest program which aired last week, character designer Akira Toriyama – who is also the creator of Dragon Ball – shared a special message. He reflected on originally getting the job, working on the series in general, and a bit on the upcoming Dragon Quest XI.
Crunchyroll has now gone to the trouble of translating Toriyama’s message in full. You can read it below.
More: Akira Toriyama, Dragon Quest, Square Enix
Game developers asked to select their top five games of 2016, Pokemon GO chosen by many
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 8 Comments
Game Informer caught up with developers from all around the world to find out which five titles were the best in 2016. Pokemon GO was a popular choice, as it was included in lists by creators such as Kazuyuki Hoshino from SEGA and Hajime Tabata from Square Enix. There were other Nintendo picks as well including Super Mario Run by Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and Pokemon Sun/Moon by Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono.
The Nintendo-related choices and comments are posted below. The rest are located on Game Informer here.
Takara Tomy Arts creating Pokemon Alola Form figures
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
A new set of Pokemon Sun/Moon figures are coming from Takara Tomy Arts. These are based on Alola Forms, including some of the first merchandise for Exeggutor and Dugtrio.
The full set is as follows:
37mm Alolan Raichu
33mm Alolan Vulpix
47mm Alolan Ninetales
34mm Alolan Dugtrio
40mm Alolan Marowak
100mm Alolan Exeggutor
All of these figures arrive in Japan in April. Each one will be priced at 300 yen.
More: Pokemon Moon, Pokemon Sun
North America gets some new My Nintendo discounts as well
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
Europe added in some new My Nintendo rewards yesterday, and the same has now been done in North America as well. A few new discounts are now up on the site.
The lineup is as follows:
Wii U
15% discount on Yoshi’s Woolly World – 450 Platinum Points
20% discount on Kirby’s Epic Yarn – 400 Platinum Points
30% discount on Yoshi – 20 Gold Points
3DS
30% discount on Dedede’s Drum Dash – 20 Gold Points
30% discount on Yoshi – 20 Gold Points
All of these rewards will be available until April 2. You can check them out on My Nintendo here.
More: My Nintendo, top
2017 New Year’s greetings and messages from game companies, developers, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments
Just like for Christmas, various companies, developers, and other game-related representatives have been sending out New Year’s greetings and images, primarily through social media. Nintendo, Pokemon, and plenty more are wishing their fans well as we ring in 2017. We’ve rounded up the various posts below.
My Nintendo updates in Europe with several new rewards
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
My Nintendo has been updated in Europe with several new rewards.
First, Flipnote Studio 3D is now available to all. It can be redeemed one time for 200 Platinum Coins.
In terms of digital content, a number of discounts have gone live. Here’s the full lineup:
More: My Nintendo
Square Enix on why Dragon Quest hasn’t been as popular as Final Fantasy in the west, keeping the series fresh
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 45 Comments
Square Enix owns two big franchises: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet even though Final Fantasy managed to make a big splash in the west, Dragon Quest has still been trying to attain the same sort of success.
Dragon Quest executive producer Yu Miyake touched on this topic in last month’s issue of EDGE. He said Final Fantasy’s western popularity in comparison to Dragon Quest is something Square Enix has “been thinking about a lot internally”.
Miyake brought up a few different reasons in the interview. For one thing, “the source of nostalgia is different” in Japan and the west – Dragon Quest on Famicom and Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation respectively. He also believes that Square Enix should have originally given a greater effort with Dragon Quest’s localization. Finally, Miyake said that the cartoon-like aesthetic of Dragon Quest may not immediately connect with western gamers.
Miyake left some encouraging words, saying that “the age of people who are playing is rising” and there’s a greater interest overall as well. Square Enix is also trying to “soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI” with its spinoff titles.
Miyake’s full words:
