Atlus USA says it’s “business as usual” despite Index Corporation bankruptcy
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Atlus USA has sent out an official statement regarding the company’s situation in light of Index Corporation’s bankruptcy.
The publisher had only good news to report. In its remarks, Atlus said that it continues “carrying on day-to-day activities, business as usual.” As is the case in Japan, Atlus USA’s titles are still scheduled for launch on their previously-announced dates.
“Currently, Index Digital Media, Inc. and the ATLUS brand are unaffected by the Index Corporation proceedings in Japan. We’re carrying on day-to-day activities, business as usual. Shin Megami Tensei IV and Dragon’s Crown are still releasing on July 16 and August 6 respectively, and we’re licensing and publishing third-party titles such as R.I.P.D: The Game and Daylight. We want to thank all of our fans for their outpouring of support.”
Atlus says its development and lineup currently unaffected by Index situation
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Some troubling news dropped in for Atlus during the wee hours of the morning earlier today. Index Corporation, Atlus’ parent company, filed for bankruptcy in Japan.
Following the news, Atlus confirmed that the development and release of its current games – Dragon’s Crown, Shin Megami Tensei IV DLC, and Etrian Odyssey: The Millennium Girl – are unaffected for now.
“The PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita versions of Dragon’s Crown, both the retail and digital download versions, are set to be released on July 25 as it was originally scheduled. We apologize for worrying our users.”
“Multiplayer and save data sharing functionality for Dragon’s Crown is conducted via the PlayStation Network. Because of this, multiplayer services are guaranteed.”
“Additionally, downloadable content that’s currently in development for Shin Megami Tensei IV, as well as the retail and demo releases for Etrian Odyssey: The Millennium Girl are set to proceed for the time being.”
Meanwhile, the official Persona series PR Twitter account apologized to those concerned about the company and said, “we want you to believe that. Atlus will live forever!”
The tweet in full:
“Good evening. We’re sorry to worry everyone. We are working very hard in order to bring fun games to everyone, and we want you to believe that. Atlus will live forever!”
Source 1, Source 2
Third Zero Escape game not yet in production
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
The third Zero Escape game is not yet in production, according to creator Kotaro Uchikoshi.
Uchikoshi told GamesRadar that he has the title’s story “developed in my head, but it hasn’t really gone into production yet.”
Uchikoshi couldn’t say when the team will begin making the new Zero Escape. However, Uchikoshi did say, “maybe in the near future we can proceed.”
The story itself I pretty much have developed in my head, but it hasn’t really gone into production yet. There’s no promises yet, but maybe in the near future we can proceed. This is all from the fact that I was invited to GDC to speak, and that we were nominated for best narrative. That sort of led to the users’ voice saying, “We want the next one,” and that is pushing it. Thanks to the users, the company has pushed forward with thinking to the next level of actual development, but there’s no promises just yet.
Nintendo discusses E3 Best Buy sampling events, were a huge success
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo did something completely different for this year’s E3: allowing fans to sample some of its upcoming games at Best Buy locations. The outreach payed off, as the events were a huge success.
J.C. Rodrigo, senior product marketing specialist in Nintendo of America’s product development department, talked about Nintendo’s involvement at Best Buy while speaking with Polygon:
“We’ve wanted to do that for a long time. We really wanted to make sure we [brought] our experiences [to] the hands of people who want to try our stuff, as much as we could. We had lines like crazy at each particular location.”
Rodrigo also said that fans seemed to wonder why Nintendo hadn’t tried something like this before.
Not holding an E3 briefing didn’t lessen the company’s presence at the trade show. And in fact, Nintendo had more work to take care of than ever before due to its three-pronged marketing approach.
“You had the sales and marketing briefing for the people that needed to hear that information; you had the Nintendo Direct for people that really needed to know, generally, what was happening and what we’re coming out with; and then you [had] the sampling at the Best Buy [stores] that got that information out as well. So if you look at it from the content perspective and who needed to know, everyone got what they needed to know — just in different ways.”
Rodrigo also echoes similar statements made by Nintendo executives over the past few weeks:
“Software sells hardware, and focusing on the software is exactly what we’re doing.”
NoA’s Scibetta says Nintendo isn’t putting out too many Mario games, new gameplay experiences are like new IP
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Is Nintendo releasing too many Mario games? Depending on who you ask, some would say yes and others would say no.
Nintendo of America senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta is in the latter group. Speaking with Shacknews, Scibetta said that the company is “putting out the right number of Mario games based on what fans are asking for, based on what our own developers’ creative visions are.”
“We think we’re putting out the right number of Mario games based on what fans are asking for, based on what our own developers’ creative visions are. The key to that is as long as there’s innovation is occurring within the gameplay, as long as there’s new features, then marrying the characters and the IPs that people love is the right call from our standpoint.”
“If you look at something like Super Mario 3D World, the gameplay on that one that I find really cool is those transparent warp points. Usually you used to go into one and pop out the other, and that was the end of the gameplay experience. Now, there’s a whole dynamic there where you can navigate in there, try to avoid enemies, try to get a better advantage. You could theoretically make a whole new game with those kind of gameplay dynamics.”
Scibetta was also asked if Nintendo should instead focus its efforts on creating new IP rather than developing so many Mario titles. He said:
“If we didn’t put Mario on it, then it would just seem like a new IP. Because there’s those new gameplay dynamics like that, we think there’s the innovation there that will keep people interested and keep the Mario brand fresh.”
“You could call all the games that we’re making here new IP in the sense that they’re new gameplay experiences. They just happen to also have the IP that people associate with.”
Aonuma on revisiting A Link to the Past, meeting fans’ expectations, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
EDGE has published its full interview with Eiji Aonuma, the producer of the Zelda series. A lot of interview snippets already found their way online over the past few weeks, but there are still some interesting things to read up on. Head past the break for Aonuma’s comments on Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Astrogun founder changes his tune on Wii U
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Xander Davis, a former member of Vigil and a developer on Darksiders II, made some incredibly critical comments about the Wii U last August – going as far as to call it “a $400 Xbox 360 seven years late”. Davis has since changed his tune, however.
In a new blog post, Davis discussed how Nintendo made him a believer in Wii U. Davis had lots of praise for the company’s approach to indies, stating that “Nintendo has set the bar for their support and terms to make indie development very attractive.”
At the moment, Davis and his studio Astrogun are working on the indie game CIDER. Fans have previously requested the title on Wii U. With Davis’ new interest in the system, perhaps we’ll see it on the eShop one day.
Xbox 360 about to overtake Wii as UK’s best-selling current-gen console
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 0 comments
The Wii got off to an incredible start around the world when it launched back in 2006 – including in the UK. It maintained momentum for quite some time, but dropped off significantly over the past few years.
Wii’s downturn in sales has paved the way for Microsoft’s system, the Xbox 360, to become the best-selling current-generation home console in the UK. GfK Chart-Track says that it’s only a matter of days before the Xbox 360 lands in the top spot.
Microsoft has sold 8.4 million systems across the UK.
Miiverse users can’t post screenshots of Square Enix VC games
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
This is rather peculiar. For some odd reason, Miiverse users aren’t able to post screenshots on communities for Square Enix’s Virtual Console titles.
The restriction only appears to be in place for Square Enix’s classic games. As far as we can tell, all other VC titles fully support the screenshot function.
PS4 lead architect hopes Sony’s legacy can match Nintendo’s
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
PlayStation 4 lead architect Mark Cerny held a presentation in Spain today, where he expressed a desire for Sony to match Nintendo’s legacy.
Cerny’s comments were made at Gamelab in Barcelona. During his presentation, Cerny mentioned how – in the future – he hopes that Sony’s “amazing” nucleus personnel will lead some to compare Sony’s impact in the industry.
Cerny referenced Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House and Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida in his speech. Much like himself, House and Yoshida were appointed to senior positions at Sony in a similar manner.
“I have a great friend who lives in Kyoto in the eastern part of Japan. He runs a developer there and he’s worked with both Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo over the years, and he says that what he respects the most about Nintendo is the incredible continuity they have in the form of a core group of individuals that has now worked together for over 30 years.”
