Aonuma says it’s somewhat of a problem that Zelda games take so long to make, wants to get them out faster
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
It’s almost unbelievable to think that we’re getting the first, true Zelda game made for Wii in 2011. By the time the game launches, it’ll be around five years since the Wii launched around the world. Skyward Sword will finally be released this year, but it arrives as fans are starting to move on to Wii U.
The fact that it takes so long for console Zelda titles to be released is something that Eiji Aonuma finds to be “a personal challenge”. The Zelda producer would like to launch games quicker and achieving this goal is something that he looks into.
“I can’t really speak to Mario, obviously – it’s not my forte. But with regards to Zelda, the development process is typically around 3 years and that’s a pretty big timeline obviously. So you’ve got a timeline for a given Zelda game and you’ve also got a timeline for new hardware. So obviously when those two timelines can line up neatly, then, yes we’d love to have something out and available at launch. There have been times when we’ve realized how important that is. For example, when Twilight Princess was being developed, we started on the GameCube and it turned out the game was going to complete itself more or lese around the time of the Wii launch and I thought, ‘Well, it would be a real waste not to have that available for new players with that functionality in the forefront.’ So we did make a Wii version of the game as well as the GameCube version.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack photos
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Capcom Announces Comic-Con 2011 Lineup and Panels
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Capcom will be in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 with an incredible line-up of activities and special surprises. Capcom will once again be located at booth #4844 which is sure to be a can’t miss hub of activity for fans: playable demos of the upcoming 2011/2012 line-up of games, daily tournaments, signing sessions, and special deals at the Capcom store.
Namco Bandai opens new teaser site
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Namco Bandai has opened a new teaser site for… something. What is it exactly? I honestly have no idea, though perhaps you guys can make something of the background image on the page.
Some fans are speculating that it might be .hack related, but of course, that’s nothing more than a guess at this point. All will be revealed in nine days.
You can check out the teaser site here.
Aonuma: Upending the tea table is necessary and useful
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Ever since 2004, Shigeru Miyamoto has been connected with the phrase “upending the tea table.” Eiji Aonuma delivered a speech at GDC that year, partially discussing how Miyamoto can sometimes change the direction of a game’s development when it’s heading towards completion.
Aonuma was asked to reflect back on the famous phrase at E3 last month. Does the Zelda producer find the “Miyamoto Test” to be bothersome? Actually, no. Aonuma said that he thinks that it can be “quite necessary and useful.”
“Well, back at GDC, when that conversation was presented, I think it painted a picture of Mr. Miyamoto’s role inside the company as coming in and being a really disruptive force in the development process, but I view it a very different way and I think a lot of people do. It’s that his time to come in and flip things on their head is part of the development timeline. It’s an event that happens. It’s almost a ritual in that sense. And it’s a necessary process, because I find that when he offers that feedback, a lot of the time, he points out things that I, myself, was having trouble with and maybe felt that I couldn’t solve or didn’t have a good time for or felt like we didn’t have the time for and he comes in and really gives focus to everything. So I’d really like to reinforce that fact that I don’t view the process that people refer to as ‘upending the tea table’ as something unpleasant. It’s actually quite necessary and useful.”
Iwata would be sad if all games were shooters
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata doesn’t like the thought of the gaming industry becoming filled with shooters. Actually, he told investors that he would be sad if that’s how things turned out to be:
“It is a reality that some of these [wartime shooting] games sell 10 million units per year in [the West], and this is one valid type of video game genre. I would personally feel sad if all video games became something like that, but on the other hand, I do not think such games should disappear.”
I can’t really blame him for making a comment like that. I, too, wouldn’t exactly be happy if all games just involved shooting. To be honest, it’s probably my least favorite genre, though I do appreciate and enjoy some of the shooters out there. We need our other titles as well, like the Marios (platforming) and Zeldas (adventure).
Nintendo starting to ship Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D soundtracks
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
As promised, some Club Nintendo users are reporting that Nintendo has started to ship soundtracks for registering The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Other members, such as myself, are still waiting for an update. Just keep in mind that there are still many users who haven’t received a shipping confirmation yet. Don’t freak out if your status still says “Preparing Order”!
New James Bond title showing up at Comic-Con
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Activision is working on a new James Bond game, which is going to launch sometime this year. We haven’t heard any information about the title officially, but that will be changing very soon. The project will be appearing at Comic-Con, so we should be receiving details before then or at the show itself. The question is, will the mystery game be released for Wii?
XSEED thinks the chances of licensing a title from Nintendo are slim
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Some Nintendo fans believe that if games such as Xenoblade didn’t make their way to North America, perhaps a third-party publisher could step in to localize content. Like XSEED. In reality though, the possibility of XSEED localizing any Nintendo title isn’t great.
When asked if working on Solatorobo opened channels of communication with Nintendo of Europe, Ken Berry, Director of Publishing told Siliconera:
“No, actually. Everything, all of our communication, is done directly with Namco Bandai of Japan. Yeah, we’ve never licensed a title from Nintendo before, so I would think the prospects of that happening would be very slim.”
I realize that the question was specific to Nintendo of Europe, but I’m sure Berry’s answer also applies to Nintendo of America.
Iwata says Wii U will appeal more towards the hardcore, EA partnership talk, Wii sales not a concern… yet
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
Satoru Iwata on how the Wii U will better appeal to hardcore gamers compared to Wii…
“When we considered what to do with the graphics capability of the Wii, we put more attention and focus on the ability to create new experiences rather than the quality of the graphics. For popular genres in the Western world such as the shooter games, the picture quality is actually very important. And as a result, we have not been able to provide hardcore video game players with the option they really want with the Wii. That sort of picture-processing issue is going to be solved this time around.
