Cuthbert on transforming Starglider-like game into Star Fox, Miyamoto’s involvement
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert spoke about the development of Star Fox during the GDC 2013 Indie Games Summit. Among other things, Cuthbert said that he believed Miyamoto’s original involvement was “removing what was cool” about his original concept.
Initially, the staff hoped to “to make a full 3D shooting game inspired by Starglider 2.” But Miyamoto eventually took charge, telling the team that “It’s going to be on rails, and it’s going to be fun and playable and a Nintendo game.”
You can find even more development quotes from Cuthbert after the break.
Details from Nintendo’s Unity GDC 2013 session
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo’s Takeshi Shimada just wrapped up a Unity-related session at GDC 2013. Details from the event are posted below.
– Unity Wii U tools free to all developers
– Based on Unity 4 Pro and will be updated with all 4.x updates
– Unity for Wii U will take care of some of the development guidelines
– Open beta starts today
– Gunman Clive on 3DS outsold the iOS and Android versions
– Nintendo is inviting all developers to try and make their current game available running on Wii U GamePad only, for starters
– Tomorrow at 3.30pm there will be a Miiverse session, including future developments of the service
– Business Policy update for Wii U from the Unity session: 1. No concept approval, 2. Price and date set by the developer, 3. Freemium is support, 4. Royalty share is industry standard
– A special introductory program for new developers will be introduced
– Nintendo and Unity booth are right next to each other at GDC
– Tomorrow at 2pm there will be a new developments framework announced; supports web tech such as HTML and Javascript
Nintendo has two more sessions at GDC 2013 tomorrow. We’ll post details from both as we get them.
Nicalis has some interest in bringing Monaco or Spelunky to a Nintendo console
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nicalis has been a fairly big supporter of Nintendo’s online shops and has previously teamed up with developers to help release their games. So if anyone were to make Fez happen on a Nintendo system, Nicalis would likely be the go-to company. There is one significant barrier, however: studio head Tyrone Rodriguez doesn’t appear to be too interested in the possibility.
When it was suggested that Nicalis get in touch with creator Phil Fish and Nintendo’s Dan Adelman, Rodriguez instead said that he would “much rather work on Monaco or Spelunky for a Nintendo console.”
Rodriguez tweeted:
WWE ’13 returns to stores with 2K backing
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii | 0 comments
THQ transferred the WWE gaming licence to Take-Two Interactive before shutting down. There was a brief period of time when the latest entry, WWE ’13, was unavailable in stores as Take-Two subsidiary 2K Sports took reigns of the franchise.
Everything is now back to the way it was. WWE ’13 can be purchased once again, and the game is exactly the same – only the publisher logo on the box has changed.
Latest Nintendo trademarks
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo has picked up a few new trademarks in Japan. Let’s take a look:
- U
- Tomodachi Collection: New Life
- Nymphia
- Mario & Luigi Dream Adventure
- Mario and Donkey Kong Minis on the Move
- Splash or Crash
- Pokemon Scramble
- Nintendo Web Framework
One particular trademark is “Nintendo Web Framework”. It’s some kind of behind-the-scenes technical item that we haven’t heard much about. Nintendo of America’s Ryan Lynd will be talking about the Nintendo Web Framework at GDC tomorrow.
Square Enix president stepping down
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Yoichi Wada became Square Enix’s president in 2000 and has held onto the position for well over a decade. But today, Wada announced that he will be stepping down. Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix’s former company director and CFO, will be assuming Wada’s position. The decision may very well be set in stone once Square Enix’s annual shareholders meeting wraps up in June, followed by a board of directors meeting.
In addition to Wada’s surprise announcement, Square Enix slashed its fiscal year forecasts due to “the rapidly changing environment of the game businesses.” An “extraordinary” ¥10 billion ($106 million) loss will impact the company’s development policy, organizational structure, and business models. Initially, Square Enix forecasted a net profit of ¥3.5 billion. It is now anticipating a net loss of ¥13 billion. That’s a significant downturn from the ¥6 billion net profit Square Enix achieved in the previous fiscal year.
Game sales overseas – described as “sluggish” – are to blame for Square Enix’s disappointing sales results. The publisher suffered from losses stemming from “the increasingly difficult condition of the worldwide console game market.”
Miyamoto a Ghostbusters fan, 3D vs. HD, secret Facebook page, theme-park “not an impossibility”, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
ABC has published a series of interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto, but this may be one of the most interesting discussions we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Miyamoto talked about Ghostbusters (he’s a fan, but it didn’t lead to Luigi’s Mansion), how Nintendo decides between putting a game on the 3DS (3D) or Wii U (HD), his secret Facebook page, and the possibility of a theme-park (it could happen one day, maybe).
As always, you can find all of Miyamoto’s responses below.
Nintendo on abolishing indie dev office space requirement, devs setting own prices, easy updates, inexpensive dev kits, WiiWare threshold, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, DSiWare, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii Shop Channel, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
Dan Adelman is quickly becoming a prominent figure at Nintendo. The business development manager joined the company in 2005, and has pretty much been the man in charge – behind the scenes – for Nintendo’s indie involvement and digital offerings.
Gamasutra sat down with Adelman for a chat covering various indie and eShop topics. He confirmed the removal of Nintendo’s indie developer office space requirement and WiiWare threshold for all digital platforms. Adelman also talked about how indies set their own prices, can easily update their games, puchase a dev kit for “about the price of a high-end PC”, and more.
Head past the break for all of Adelman’s comments.
Ecco the Dolphin creator turns to Kickstarter for spiritual sequel
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Two decades after the launch of Ecco the Dolphin, creator Ed Annunziata is turning to Kickstarter to help fund a spiritual sequel.
Big Blue is a “next generation, underwater, action/adventure game by the original Ecco the Dolphin team.” It’ll offer exploration elements, quests, action puzzle solving, and “collection and spawning of life forms”. You’ll be able to control any creature in the game as well as multiple creatures at the same time, and you can count on being able to aquascape and populate your own sea, breed and multiply creatures, and more.
Annunziata hopes to fund $665,000 by April 29. Intitially, Big Blue will head to Mac, Windows, and iOS and Android platforms. But Annunziata also writes on Kickstarter:
“Once we are done with the first version of the game I will convince Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to embrace the game. We want the Big Blue everywhere.”
You can find more information about Big Blue here.
Team Ninja being restructured
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Team Ninja is, in one way, no more. Parent company Tecmo Koei has announced a restructure for the studio today, essentially splitting it in two. Team Ninja will now be reorganized into two “Ichigaya Development” divisions.
Ichigaya Development Group 1 will be led by Yosuke Hayashi, who has been the boss of Team Ninja for the past several years. Managing director Keisuke Kikuchi will be put in charge of Ichigaya Development Group 2.
Team Ninja may not have been what it used to be as of late, but it has been around for close to two decades. The reorganization news is a bit saddening – even though the studio will still be around in some form.
