Natsume CEO on the split between Harvest Moon and Bokujo Monogatari, putting Light of Hope on Switch
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch | 15 Comments
The Harvest Moon series went through a shakeup a few years ago. Marvelous took back ownership of the franchise – known as Bokujo Monogatari in Japan – and had XSEED publish future releases under the Story of Seasons name. Meanwhile, Natsume began to develop its own games under the original Harvest Moon title.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Natsume CEO Hiro Maekawa reflected on the situation, calling it “a big surprise” and “really scary”. He said:
“That was a big surprise to us, especially to me. It was a really scary thing to me because we’d spent time and effort to establish a no-name farming simulation game to become one of the best-known farming simulation games for the entire family. We had tons of loyal Harvest Moon fans, but we couldn’t simply say to those loyal fans that there’s no Harvest Moon in the future. Fortunately, we learned and accumulated lots of know-how as to what Harvest Moon fans like and what makes them happy by localizing and publishing Harvest Moon games for the past 16 years, so we took that goodbye as a good opportunity for us, based upon our own experience, to take this franchise to the next step so we could continue to make all Harvest Moon fans very happy.”
More: Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon 2 GBC, interview, Natsume
New Mario Kart Arcade GP VR video
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 6 Comments
A new video has come in showing Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, a game planned for Bandai Namco’s VR Zone arcades. You can check it out below.
More: Bandai Namco, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, top
Nintendo featuring Pokken Tournament DX at EVO 2017, including “Pokken Tournament DX Academy”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch | 0 comments
This weekend, Nintendo will be attending EVO 2017, one of the largest fighting game events in the world. Pokken Tournament DX will be featured.
First, the upcoming Switch game will have playable kiosks. Nintendo will also be playfully “recruiting” fans to join the virtual Pokken Tournament DX Academy. According to Nintendo, this “provides a direct line of communication between Nintendo and the Pokken Tournament DX players.”
More: Bandai Namco, Evo 2017, Pokken Tournament DX
Nintendo’s 2017 Summer of Play Tour video
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 1 Comment
Nintendo’s 2017 Summer of Play Tour has been taking place over the past few weeks, and the Play Nintendo hosts were on the scene. Get a look inside the event below.
Castlevania animated series producer wants to work on an adaptation of Metroid
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 59 Comments
Producer Adi Shankar just wrapped up the first season on Netflix’s Castlevania animated series, and he’s setting his sights on Assassin’s Creed next. Shankar also has interest in Nintendo franchises, as it turns out.
When asked about other game series he’d like to adapt while speaking with Nintendo Life, Shankar turned to Metroid. “Dark Metroid in the same anime style,” he responded.
With Nintendo more open to video content these days, perhaps the idea of Shankar working on Metroid isn’t entirely far-fetched. At the very least, he’d likely treat the IP well given the strong reception to Castlevania thus far.
More: Adi Shankar, interview, Metroid
Satoru Iwata passed away two years ago today – let’s remember his greatness
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 46 Comments
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passed ago two years ago today. Iwata lost the fight to bile duct cancer on July 11, 2015.
With Iwata’s contributions to Nintendo and the gaming industry as a whole, we should take a moment to recognize and reflect on his importance. He wasn’t your typical president having originally started out as a game developer. Iwata kept coding until he was 40, and helped Smash Bros. Melee get out on time. He was instrumental in the hugely successful Wii and DS. And really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So, thank you Iwata. It’s still unbelievable that you’re not here with us still, but everything you accomplished will not be forgotten.
More: Satoru Iwata, top
Nintendo picks up a trademark for “Nintendo Check-In” in Japan
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
A new Japanese trademark application has been filed for “Nintendo Check-In”. Nintendo reserved the image just a few weeks ago on June 20.
Aside from the image above, there’s not much else to go on with the trademark. However, the filing is associated with the following categories:
– Screening and production or distribution of movies
– Stage play performances
– Musical performance
– Planning and management of game tournaments
– Providing games online
– Providing entertainment facilities
– Rental of toys
More: trademark
Amazon Prime Day 2017 will feature up to 50% off gaming products, previews starting to go up
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Switch | 5 Comments
Amazon Prime Day 2017 kicks off today. Consumers subscribed to the retailer’s membership program will be able to save on deals for 30 hours starting at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT.
Amazon has provided an early tease as to what’s in store this year. As for gaming, you’ll be able to save up to 50% on select titles, consoles and accessories.
Previews of the deals are starting to go live. You’ll want to keep track of this page for all of the deals. Early on, we can see the Smash Bros. 3DS will be included as well as a deluxe Switch case and Retro-Link Wired GameCube Style USB Controller. Throughout the day and into Prime Day, more deals should be added.
New Zelda: Breath of the Wild amiibo will also be offered as a 4-pack in Europe
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
After Nintendo announced the new Zelda: Breath of the Wild at E3, we learned that Japan would be receiving a 4-pack of the figures. Urbosa, Revali, Mipha, and Daruk will be sold together for those who are interested.
As it turns out, this 4-pack won’t just be for Japan. A similar listing has appeared on the amiibo site in Germany. The only difference between the two is that each character lines up correctly in the packaging.
More: Amiibo
Final piece of Zelda art for Japan Expo 2017
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Images | 3 Comments
Nintendo has been sharing special Zelda art pieces to promote the masterclass held by series producer Eiji Aonuma and other developers at Japan Expo. Following the event of the session, the final piece of art was published online. You can view it above, and look at the other two pieces of art here and here.
