Nintendo’s Hideki Konno on whether or not the collaboration for the Wii Fit Balance Board was the inspiration for his involvement with the 3DS hardware…

“Well actually, the hardware team that worked on Nintendo 3DS and the hardware team that worked on the Wii Fit Balance Board were not the same hardware teams.

One thing about our development style at Nintendo, we’ve had hardware teams and software teams, obviously, working in the same building for a long, long time. Personally myself, I’ve been 25 years on the software side of things. So having someone — as you had said — from the software side enter hardware development at such an early stage, may not be a common occurrence.

But as you said, and I think you’re right, with the development of the Balance Board I think the software team provided a lot of information and a lot of ideas that the hardware team incorporated into the completion of the development process of that particular product.”

European Club Nintendo members can receive t-shirt after registering 3DS

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

If you’re a European Club Nintendo member gearing up for the 25th of March, the official launch date of the new Nintendo 3DS handheld console, then we have some exciting news for you…
The first 3,000 people to register their new Nintendo 3DS hardware with Club Nintendo will receive – on top of the 750 Stars that every registrant of the Nintendo 3DS system gets – an individually numbered collector’s item T-shirt – with a design that might surprise you in more ways than one! If you’re not yet a member of our Club, no need to worry, you can sign up at our Club Nintendo page! Stock is limited to 3,000 T-shirts, so make sure you snap ’em up before they’re gone!

Level-5 preparing many announcements for Vision event

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

It’s only March, but Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino is already discussing this year’s “Vision” event. Hino told Nikkei Trendy that the company will share roughly 20 title announcements. This number is actually double the amount of reveals from last year’s conference.

Hino teased a number of significant surprises, and even went as far as to say that there will be some announcements that are more surprising than Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. Fans can also expect to hear news regarding the company’s overseas plans and something comparable to Level-5’s collaboration with Studio Ghibli for Ni no Kuni.

This year’s Level-5 Vision will be held earlier than 2010. Hino said that the company has the event scheduled for August.

Source

Impressive video showing Mario in first-person

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments

Have you ever wondered what a Mario game would look like from the first-person perspective? If the answer is yes, then perhaps the video above will be of interest. A fan has recreated a level from Super Mario Bros. in a realistic style and switched the point-of-view. The video even features elements such as the star power-up. Check it out for yourself above!

Japanese trademark updates

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

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Source

NE Interview: Gamestaq CEO/co-founder Joseph Gindi

Posted on 13 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

CEO and Co-Founder of Gamestaq.com discusses the used game market, downloadable add-ons, and how pricing of secondhand titles is getting out of hand.

The used game market is slowly and slowly getting more and more out of hand. If you plan on selling a game to retail giant GameStop, for instance, chances are that you’ll get less than a fourth of full price for it. This is fairly ridiculous considering that GameStop sees no problem in taking what they paid five dollars for and reselling it to those same gamers who support them for three, four, or even five times that. Some may say that you can’t blame companies like GameStop for this, because it indeed takes two to tango, but the fact of the matter remains that many gamers just don’t have much a choice when it comes to selling their used games.

That, however, is about to change because of a company called GameStaq. Joseph Gindi is the CEO and co-founder of the company which offers gamers an alternative to places like GameStop, and it allows you to get upwards of 70 or 80% of retail price, as opposed to the usual 30 to 40%. I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Gindi, and I asked him a variety of questions on his company, his outlook, and the industry as a whole. Check it out after the break…

Nintendo of America twitter says situation at NCL HQ is stable

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

This information comes from Nintendo of America’s Twitter account…

“Thanks for your concern! During the earthquake no one at Nintendo HQ in Japan was injured and there was no apparent structural damage.”

Well, at least that’s some good news. Other developers have also confirmed that they haven’t been affected by the tragedy in Japan, including Hideo Kojima, Platinum Games staff, Suda51 and his staff, as well as Q-Games’ Dylan Cuthbert.

Source

Reggie discusses the impact of free content, Seal of Quality, why Photo Dojo was free

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime first discussed his thoughts about free content…

“I would not single out any particular company or any particular application store, but certainly it seems like, when content is being created and made available for free, that it is devaluing content, and is potentially devaluing the expectation of consumers for what content should be. I’ve heard from a lot of developers who say, you know what, these people are right. We do need to keep the value of our content at an appropriate level. Otherwise what we risk as an industry is investing time, money and energy to create something that no one has value for. What’s important is that the value of the content be high and be maintained. As an industry that creates this content, it’s in our interest to keep the value of the content high and not allow it to be devalued over time.”

Reggie then went on to discuss the disappearance of the Nintendo Seal of Quality…

“Nintendo cannot play a role of limiting in any way the content that’s available for our platform.”

Last but not least, Reggie commented on why Photo Dojo was made available for free for a short time…

“We were convinced that as soon as consumers had that game (Photo Dojo) and had that experience, that they’d share it and talk about it and it would be something that consumers would want. That strategy has worked. From the day that we stopped making it available for free, we’ve actually sold more than what we had initially made available for free. So, strategically, it’s looking at each piece of content and deciding what’s the best way to have consumers experience the content and maintain its value over time.”

Source

Nintendo Voice Chat podcast summary

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 0 comments

Iwata at GDC

– Iwata’s speech caused a bit of controversy because some people thought he was putting down social/mobile gaming
– Iwata’s message was more about making your game matter regardless of the platform you’re developing for
– Nintendo is worried about the throwaway games you buy for a dollar or two, or even $40 that are worth nothing
– Iwata said the industry is at risk due to the glut of mobile games coming out that aren’t of high-quality

Zelda’s 25th anniversary

– Reggie said Nintendo has been focusing on the 3DS and Pokemon
– As a result, there haven’t been any new Wii announcements
– Reggie said there’s more content coming before E3, but didn’t elaborate
– Could be possible he was even talking about WiiWare games
– Zelda’s anniversary won’t be like Mario’s
– Iwata had said that Miyamoto is working on something for the anniversary that will allow gamers across the world to celebrate together