More development details on the Monolith Soft Kyoto team have emerged from CG World’s recent interview. You can find the latest batch of information below.

– Located near the famous local junction of Shijoukarasuma
– Staff members can look outside their windows to enjoy the summer festivities from the comfort of their office
– Most of Kyoto’s staffers are made up of artists
– Worked on Skyward Sword graphics in addition to Animal Crossing: New Leaf
– Laid-back atmosphere
– Director Yasuyuki Honne: “One of the big opportunities that put the appointed weekly hours into action came from the 2006 occupational safety and health act revision, which demanded a more thorough employee time management”
– Honne shares his beliefs that development styles which anticipate overtime work have already reached their limit
– Monolith Soft’s motto: “Zero overtime and creative work allowed”
– Monolith Kyoto still looking for new staffers
– Studio wants “people with the required skills of a CG artist, essential illustrative abilities and sense, along with great communicational skills”
– Studio stress that game development isn’t all about fun, but they would still like to have someone with a forward-looking attitude that can work in a lighthearted and fun manner
– Background designer Subaru Genbe used to work with Square Enix
– He joined Monolith Soft Kyoto last year
– Genbe has always been a fan of Monolith Soft and decided to change his job in order to be able to work with them and Nintendo
– “Playing and having fun is the most important part. It’s the key to bringing out the fun in graphics.”
– Those are the deep feelings they share at Nintendo, which he has learned since joining
– He has also learned to put his time to better use, thanks to the results of the appointed weekly hours
– “When the work starts to overflow, the leader immediately reviews the schedule accordingly. I spend my weekends on hobbies and polishing my skills using ZBrush at home.”
– Lenient schedule has given him free time to relax and brush up his abilities as a designer
– Object designer Rika Aoki worked with Nintendo on Animal Crossing: New Leaf
– “Not only have my skills grown as an artist, but I feel as if I’ve matured more as a person, as well. The appointed weekly hours allow me to work with a mental sense of stability.
– Aoki loves being able to visit crowded areas that are nearby, and enjoys walks in Kyoto’s shopping districts on weekends
– Over half of the studio’s members are from different areas outside the Kansai region
– They’ve nonetheless become tight-knit group who look forward to continue developing more titles for Nintendo while building the studio’s history, together, in their comfortable and productive environment.

Source

Angry Birds creator influenced by Miyamoto, Nintendo

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Angry Birds creator Jaakko Iisalo has achieved great success, which could be contributed to Nintendo. Iisalo told EDGE this month that the Big N as well as Shigeru Miyamoto are two of his biggest influences.

He said:

“I’m still heavily inspired by the classic 8- and 16-bit era of gaming, though, Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo being biggest influences.”

Source

Video: Eidos Montreal studio tour

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Miyamoto on Metroid, could return to Mario Galaxy, single-player Mario possible, mobile games, more

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 3 Comments

In a new interview with Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto discussed Metroid, the possibility of returning to the Super Mario Galaxy series and making a single-player-only Mario title, mobile games, and more. You can find some excerpts after the break. You can find the full interview over at Game Informer.

Official ‘Earthworm Jim’ Facebook page abruptly talks about what a fourth game in the series might be called

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

The Earthworm Jim Facebook page is managed primarily by Doug TenNapel (creator), with some extra comments by MIke Dietz and Ed Schofield, all of whom worked on the series in some official capacity. Whether this means anything is hard to say… he could have just been thinking about the 3D entry in the series and pondering how fans don’t really think too highly of it!

Via ONM

Iwata on misleading media reports – official comments

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

As we mentioned last week, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata recently discussed misleading reports by the media. We now have the official translation. For Iwata’s full comments, head past the break.

Nintendo not looking into any new undertakings

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Nintendo’s bread and butter is video games. But one investor, who attended the company’s latest investor meeting, wanted to know if the Big N has any interest in exploring other undertakings.

The answer is no. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained, “we should not spread ourselves thin by diversifying our business because, by doing so, we might lose a strong presence which we currently have in the area of entertainment.”

Iwata talks Nintendo’s network policy

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments

Satoru Iwata addressed Nintendo’s network policy during the company’s investor meeting last week. This is another topic that we covered fairly heavily last week, but the official translation has now arrived. You can find it below.

Iwata discusses Nintendo Web Framework

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments

One investor asked Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to explain the Nintendo Web Framework during the company’s investor meeting last week.

He did just that, responding:

Iwata: Wii Vitality Sensor launch “pending”, difficulty in timing announcements

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 0 comments

The launch of the Wii Vitality Sensor is “pending”, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said.

Nintendo has been developing the accessory for a number of years, which was first announced during its E3 2009 press conference. Unfortunately, the Wii Vitality Sensor hasn’t performed up to expectations. It may work for 90 percent of consumers, but that’s simply not good enough.

Thus, Nintendo hasn’t “been able to launch it as a commercial product because we could not get it to work as we expected and it was of narrower application than we had originally thought.” In order for it to release, Iwata said: “We would like to launch it into the market if technology advancements enable 999 of 1,000 people to use it without any problems, not only 90 out of 100 people. I actually think that it must be 1,000 of 1,000 people, but (since we use the living body signal with individual differences) it is a little bit of a stretch to make it applicable to every single person.”

Iwata’s full statements from Nintendo’s investor briefing Q&A held last week: