Making of the life-size Mario Karts – behind-the-scenes video
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
Get the full scoop on the life-size Mario Karts in the video above. West Coast Customs discusses the creation process and more.
G4 Poll: Zelda vs. Skyrim – How Do You Feel About Gaming Face-Offs?
Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Nintendo | 1 Comment
Update: Voting is now over either which way. Zelda ended up coming out on top at the last second with 51% to 49%. Good job.
Sorry guys, I’m just making up the post of the day to talk about something sort of weird, but oddly intriguing. You see, I’ve fairly recently begun going on reddit, and through the thousands of upvotes and (now) failing college grades, I noticed that the wonderful folk on r/Zelda were rallying incredibly strongly for the prevalence of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in G4’s “2011 Gaming Deathmatch”. Basically the idea is that everyone will vote in head to head matches of video games, and the winners of each round will continue to move up until the final face off. Well, needless to say, G4 seems to have had it in for Skyward Sword since the beginning of the voting period.
In the first round they pitted Nintendo’s finely crafted adventure against Uncharted 3, and while no one thought it would ever beat such a monster of a PS3 game, r/Zelda rallied like crazy behind it (I heard the folks on ZeldaDungeon got behind it too) and they managed to take down Nathan Drake’s fantastically crafted action adventure title with a final tally of 53-47. Pretty cool, right? Well, in the second round it easily defeated NBA2KGeneric, but the third round had it fighting the critically acclaimed Arkham City. Another great game, another fight no one thought Skyward Sword could win, but once again it narrowly escaped defeat with a final score of 51-49. So why am I telling you this?
Well, now it’s up against the monstrously huge open world fantasy title, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and while- once again- everyone thought it would lose horribly to such a big game, the current score stands at 51-49 in favor of Zelda. Don’t get excited, because it’s shifting back and forth more often than a tennis match, but the sheer fact that it’s essentially equal to such a fantastically made game is a testament to the strength of Nintendo’s fanbase. Now, I’m not tellin you this because I want you to go vote for Zelda and make “us” win or whatever. If you wanna go vote for Skyrim or forgo voting entirely, I don’t care at all. The thing is that on r/Zelda, people are going nuts over defeating Skyrim, and consequently the Skyrim community is going nuts over beating Skyward Sword. People are making multiple accounts on both sides I’m sure, there’s posts about this very battle across the internet, and in general fans of both games are freaking the hell out over beating their now-rival. It’s sort of silly to me, but I figured I’d bring the discussion to you.
How do you feel about these game-offs that people do? Do you think they’re accurate representations of what’s best? Would you ever vote in them?
Personally, I did vote for Zelda and I definitely hope it wins, but ultimately I don’t want to go overboard worrying about it. More than anything, I just want to “show” G4 for their blatant bias against Nintendo games. Also you can vote here if you want.
Kondo/Aonuma on voice acting in Zelda, Aonuma thinking about making Zelda his own
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Voice acting in Zelda games is a fairly controversial topic. Some fans support the idea of including voices for all characters other than Link while others would prefer to leave them out entirely.
To date, we’ve never seen voice overs in any Zelda title. Nintendo has been dead-set on avoiding voice acting, and they maintained that stance once again in a new interview with Game Informer.
First, Koji Kondo offered his thoughts about voice acting in Zelda:
“The most important thing about the Zelda series is that the player becomes Link. One of the challenges with full voice is that if we’re trying to convey the player’s emotion through Link, but you hear Link talking in somebody else’s voice, that creates a disconnect between you and the role that you’re taking on.”
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma also weighed in:
“…if you create a game where everybody else in the game speaks but Link doesn’t, it emphasizes the fact that he is silent and draws even more attention to it.
“Of course, this was the first time we went with fully orchestrated songs in the game, and we’ve seen what that can do to help bring the world alive and make the game that much more fun. We’re continually looking at ways that we can evolve the series. We’re not confident that we can find the right balance with full voice, so we’ll see. Everyone would be speaking Hylian, so even if you heard them speak, you wouldn’t understand them.”
Aonuma also talked about the future of Zelda. The main point here is that he’s been starting to “think a lot more about how I can take the series and really make it my own Zelda and evolve it further.”
“I started working on the series not at the beginning but part-way through its history. I think because of that, early on I was more looking objectively at the series and how we could change small, individual elements within it, rather than looking at how the series should evolve. As time has passed – particularly in the last few years – I’ve started to think a lot more about how I can take the series and really make it my own Zelda and evolve it further. As Mr. Miyamoto has allowed me to take the reins on the Zelda series, ultimately that’s what I need to do. Perhaps some people will think it’s a little bit late for me to start thinking about that, but as time goes by, that’s becoming more of a theme in how I’m approaching the series.”
The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Celebration – Sara Paxton
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
Nintendo of America’s General Counsel, Richard Flamm, Announces Retirement
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
19-Year Tenure Spanned from Game Boy to Nintendo 3DS
REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 1, 2011 – Nintendo of America Inc. announced that after 19 years of exemplary service, including more than 12 years as its general counsel, Senior Vice President Richard “Rick” Flamm will retire in the spring.
Initially hired to lead Nintendo’s Litigation team, Rick was soon tapped to also manage the Anti-Piracy team, and was promoted to general counsel in 1999. He grew Nintendo’s Legal department into a modern, dynamic and robust team. His tenure began in the days of the iconic Game Boy™ system and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System™, and carried through the Nintendo DS™, Wii™ and Nintendo 3DS™ eras.
Nintendo Week (12/1)
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Videos, Wii | 0 comments
On this week’s episode: Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land.
Photos of the Club Nintendo Platinum Pin collection
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
The Club Nintendo pin set is shipping now to Platinum members. 2012 calenders are being shipped out to Gold members as well.
Thanks to Raymond W for the tip!
Nintendo’s Jump Festa 2012 lineup is pretty barren
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
As far as I can tell, Nintendo is bringing just two games to Jump Festa 2012. The company’s Jump Festa page shows that consumers can get their hands on both Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 in a couple of weeks. Both of these titles will have already been released by the time the show kicks off.
There isn’t any mention about a Pokemon “surprise” that has been rumored for the show. However, that doesn’t mean a new video game reveal is out of the question. We may get a better idea about the Pokemon Company’s plans if they open up a special Jump Festa site of their own.
Jump Festa 2012 takes place on December 17 and 18 at the Makuhari Messe.
Nintendo to support EU initiative on making the Internet a safer place for kids
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
1st December, 2011 – Nintendo is proud to announce that it is supporting a forward-looking initiative by the European Commission to help make the Internet a safer place for kids. Details of the proposals are being announced today by Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission.
Nintendo has agreed to be a founder member of a coalition of leading communications, technology, media and entertainment companies, which will help implement a series of measures that will promote safe access to the Internet for children.
For further information about the initiative, visit the European Commission website here.
Nintendo Power December 2011 scans – Zelda, Resident Evil, Rhythm Heaven, Tekken
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 0 comments
Nintendo Power has released a public preview of this month’s magazine. Titles featured include Zelda: Skyward Sword, Resident Evil: Revelations, Rhythm Heaven Paradise, and Tekken 3D: Prime Edition. The issue arrives on newsstands on December 6 and is available now for subscribers.
