It is something often ignored by game designers today: “Bad” graphics can actually be a good thing for a game world, allowing players to stretch their imaginations and feel more involved with the world than they would with every last detailed rendered out for them. In an interview with Shunpure news, Famicom “creator” Masayuki Uemura touched on that sentiment himself:

“With our limited specs, it was a lot of hard work to make a machine with clumsy graphics compared to today’s systems. However, this gave room for the player’s imagination to roam. With the Famicom, each player has their own view of the game’s world, creating a deeper universe.”

– Famicom designer Masayuki Uemura

It’s a sentiment I could not agree with more, and something I’m very sad to see leaving the gaming industry as we move forward. Indie games are, thankfully, bringing the concept back perhaps without even knowing it, but to no longer see a game that feels as atmospheric and imaginative as The Legend of Zelda from a big-name developer will be a sad event indeed.

Via EscapistMagazine

The Guardian (UK newspaper) criticizes violent videos games such as Animal Crossing, Wii Sports, and Mario Party

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Alas, the headline you read is not a joke. The popular UK newspaper ‘The Guardian’ published an article recently highlighting the games that were the top sellers of 2012 in the UK, and among the likes of Halo 4 and Black Ops 2 (which were brought up to illustrate a point about the content in best-selling games), they also allegedly mentioned some more family-friendly titles from the Big N. Here’s what the article tagged:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Mario Kart Wii were tagged as violent for “Comic Mischief”, Just Dance 3, Zumba Fitness, and Gran Turismo 5 were picked on for their “Lyrics”, Mario Party 9 and Kinect Sports were tagged as having “Cartoon Violence”, and Wii Sports was simply tagged with “Violence”. Note that I can’t access the actually article due to it being down for some reason, so all of this information comes from a third party.

I don’t think it’s news to anyone that certain newspapers or online outlets or TV stations don’t know the most about video games, and a lot of them have pretty bad preconceptions about the effects they have on people. No use lambasting them for the millionth time.

Via MCVUK

Iwata talks about the struggle of budgeting HD games, selling full priced titles

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

This is something that has becoming a huge worry for me regarding Nintendo lately. In recent months it has become increasingly apparent that the Big N vastly underestimated how much more work has to go into HD games compared to what they did on Wii, and as a result we’ve seen their game budgets going up, their games getting delayed, and consequently their Wii U console not selling. It’s somewhat troublesome, but what does Nintendo’s CEO and President have to say about the situation?

“These days it is becoming increasingly challenging to determine the minimum development resources required for customer satisfaction. The point I am trying to get across is that currently it is more challenging to sell packaged software for around $50-$60. It is true that it is becoming increasingly challenging to meet the expectations of consumers who are willing to pay $50-$60 for a game, and it is difficult to break even unless a huge number of units is sold all over the world, so it cannot be denied that software development is becoming more challenging.”

“Among such packaged software, however, the sales of popular games are much larger than in the past. Therefore, if we create more hit games, the software development business can still be very profitable. All games break even if they sell millions of copies worldwide, so we will continue to do our best to develop games which have high sales potential.”

– Nintendo President Satoru Iwata

Sometimes I wish Nintendo would just go back to make games with N64-level tech scaled up to HD instead of worrying about all of this modern mumbo jumbo. The concept that all games have to sell millions and millions of copies to break even is quite troubling, but hopefully Nintendo will continue to develop low-budget games like Sin and Punishment and Punch Out!! alongside the big titles.

Via Gamespot

Square Enix Europe lays off workers due to financial woes

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments

A rough patch in Square Enix’s life as a game developer and publisher doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. Today, the Final Fantasy studio has announced their plans to lay off more workers from their European branch, citing a desire to “ensure we have the right structure, content and skills for the changing entertainment landscape”.

No word on exactly how many people will be getting laid off or when it’ll happen, but the statement reads that they’ll keep us updated “when the time is right”.

Via MCVUK

2K Games won’t be at E3, Take-Two will have meeting rooms

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments

2K Games won’t have a booth or any sort of presence at this year’s E3. However, parent company Take-Two Interactive is planning to have meeting rooms at the expo.

E3 organizer Entertainment Software Association clarified to Joystiq: “We can confirm that Take-Two Interactive Software is participating in E3 2013.”

A Take-Two representative added:

“We are going to have a meeting room in the upper concourse level and we’ll be doing some business meetings as we usually do. 2K is not participating.”

Take-Two Interactive is also the parent company of Rockstar Games. The company typically hasn’t attended E3, so you can probably count them out for the show as well.

Source 1, Source 2

Capcom cancels several unannounced titles, some of which were planned for this fiscal year

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments

“There were a few titles scheduled for the current fiscal year, but most of the cancelations were for releases planned in the fiscal year ending March 2015 and subsequent fiscal years. No titles that had already been announced were canceled.”

– Capcom Financial Q&A Response

Of course they can’t talk about what those titles were, but the speculation about what games we may have seen in future years is probably already rampant across the internet. Capcom says they’ll still be developing console games as a core part of their business, but there will be a bigger focus on DLC going forward compared to years past.

Via Siliconera

Tetris found to help treat ‘lazy eye’ due to forcing both eyes to work together

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments

Video games do have health benefits upon occasion, and the latest scientific study surrounding our favorite hobby took people with lazy eyes and pit them against Tetris, the beloved puzzle game that is constantly being pinpointed for mental and physical health benefits. It turns out that simply playing the game for a set amount of time each day actually improved the condition in 18 adult patients more effectively than what had been used prior as treatment for the issue.

Next up, researchers want to see if the game-based treatment would help in children as well, preventing the onset of a condition that would last their entire lives. Let’s hope the results are positive!

Via IGN

Fan looks to make documentary about the cultural impact of Zelda, funded via Kickstarter

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments

I must admit, the documentary looks like it takes itself a little bit too seriously for my taste, at least based on the video above. Still, I think he makes a good point: Zelda has managed to challenge and foster our imaginations more effectively than arguably any other piece of art I’ve ever consumed, and at least in my case, it’s an experience only matched by a few other games– and maybe some books or movies here and there.

Certainly something worth making a documentary about!

Kickstarter via DigitalSpy

Capcom revises their strategy due to game cancellations but expects a net profit this year

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Here’s some good news amid companies losing a substantial amount of money across the industry: Capcom expects to make money this past fiscal year, despite a few short-term losses they’ve had to endure here and there. They’ve also said that outsourcing game projects doesn’t appear to be working as well due to a drop in quality from developers that they’ve been hiring, so from here on out a larger chunk of their games will be developed internally. The actual profit number sits around ¥2.9bn– or $29.5M– and a lot of that is due to Resident Evil 5 slot machine it put out.

Wait, Capcom put out a Resident Evil 5 slot machine? What!?

Via Joystiq

[Afternoon Opinion] The problem with “always-online”, and why everyone is missing the point

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Gaming, General Nintendo, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

It’s not directly related to Nintendo, but I’m guessing
it’s on your guys’ mind either which way.

Author: Austin

NintendoEverything is, quite obviously, a Nintendo-centric website. We deal in the happenings over at the Big N– occasionally branching out and discussing things that are going on industry-wide– but by and large we are happy to keep concerned only with the things that our favorite developer and publisher does. It’s more than enough to keep someone busy for months on end after all, and usually the topics that are being discussed on a grander scale (downloadable content, violence in video games, etc) don’t affect “us” too much, because Nintendo is usually “behind the times” when it comes to keeping up with trends.

Ah, but today, something has come up that I think is worth discussing despite that fact: This idea of “always-online”. This concept that my console, game, or PC must be connected to the internet at all times in order to play the games I want to play, or use the services I want to use. There are two arguments being made:

1) “Always-online is the future. It’s an advancement in technology that we have to get with in order for the gaming industry to move forward.”

2) “But what if I don’t have a stable internet connection? It’s ridiculous that I wouldn’t be able to play games because of technical hiccups.”

Personally, I think both of these arguments are a load of things-that-are-bad-arguments.