Scott Mofitt leaving Nintendo
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 23 Comments
Update: Nintendo has sent out the following statement which officially confirms Mofitt’s departure:
“Scott Moffitt, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, has decided to leave Nintendo of America. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Scott will continue to work through the end of July. Nintendo has a strong group of seasoned leaders in place who will step in to assume the full responsibilities of the role on a permanent basis, with the objective of driving more collaboration and greater efficiencies across these groups and among the respective leaders. We thank Scott for his years of service and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
Scott Mofitt joined Nintendo in 2011. IGN is now reporting that the company’s executive VP of sales and marketing is departing this summer.
According to IGN’s sources, Moffitt and Nintendo’s split was “amicable.” While the executive VP of sales and marketing position has been around since 2011, it’s now apparently being retired. Various Nintendo employees will assume the responsibilities of the role going forward.
More: Scott Mofitt, top
Video: “The Play Nintendo Show – Episode 1: Coin Crazy with New Super Mario Bros. 2”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
The Play Nintendo YouTube account has kicked off what appears to be a new video series. Watch the first episode below as Andrew and his “snappy” friend Izzy highlight New Super Mario Bros. 2.
More: New Super Mario Bros. 2
Wreck-It Ralph 2 coming in 2018
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
A sequel to the Disney’s 2012 animated movie Wreck-It Ralph is in development, the company announced today. Wreck-It Ralph 2 will debut on March 9, 2018.
Rich Moore is back as director. John Reilly, who voiced Wreck-It Ralph in the original film, is also returning. Phil Johnston will be co-directing after co-writing the first movie.
The first Wreck-It Ralph featured plenty of video game cameos, including Bowser. Moore has previously spoken about wanting to have Mario in a potential sequel.
More: movie, Wreck-It Ralph 2
Chinese Smash Bros. knock-off released on mobile
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 37 Comments
Yesterday we heard about a Splatoon clone from China that recently hit mobile devices. Today, a second Nintendo knock-off was released: “Pocket All-Stars Smash Bros.”
Unlike the Splatoon ripoff, the Smash Bros. game isn’t a complete copy at least. Nintendo characters are used, but it’s card-based and turn-based. Players can level up characters, and buying things is a part of the gameplay as well.
If you’re interested in seeing what Pocket All-Stars Smash Bros. is all about, view the video below for gameplay.
More: Super Smash Bros.
Zelda 30th anniversary concerts to be held in Japan later this year
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
Three special concerts will be hosted in Japan later this year in celebration of Zelda’s 30th anniversary. Performances will be held in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya on October 1, October 14, and December 14 respectively. The official site is located here.
Popular songs from the series will be performed in full orchestra under conductor Taizo Takemoto, and Zelda footage will be shown on the screen. The site also teases that a certain person involved with the series will appear (perhaps Eiji Aonuma or Shigeru Miyamoto?).
The concert tickets will have a Master Sheet (originally designed ticket with bonus goods of a set of pins). Additionally, exclusive original goods will only be sold only at these concerts.
Ticket sales will begin on June 30 at 12 PM. Master Sheet ticket sales will end earlier on July 5 at 11:59 PM, while S and A seat ticket sales will end on July 11 at 11:59 PM.
More: Japan, The Legend of Zelda
Moana Play Set was planned for Disney Infinity 3.0
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
Before Disney Infinity 3.0 was cancelled, there was a lot of content lined up for the game. That included new figures, Play Sets, and more.
One Play Set intended for release was based on the upcoming film Moana. Sadly, no one will ever be able to play it. Thanks to a Kotaku source, We do at least have a look at what the figures and Play Set would have looked like.
Kimishima, Miyamoto, and others re-elected
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 22 Comments
There’s one more piece of business to report on from Nintendo’s 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Tatsumi Kimishima, Genyo Takeda, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi and Shuntaro
Furukawa were elected/re-elected. Each one was appointed and assumes office as Representative Directors.
Game Critics Awards – “Best of E3 2016” nominees announced
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch, Wii U | 4 Comments
Each year, titles shown at E3 are nominated for the Game Critics Awards. Judges consist of representatives from major global media outlets that cover the gaming business, including GameSpot, Game Informer, TIME, and much more.
As for this year’s nominees, Zelda: Breath of the Wild is included in a few categories. It’s being considered for “Best of Show”, “Best Console Game”, and “Best Action/Adventure Game”. LEGO Dimensions, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Skylanders Imaginators also have a chance to win “Best Family Game”.
You can find the full lineup of categories and nominees here.
Capcom not pursuing annualization with Monster Hunter, producer talks localization
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments
Two Monster Hunter games have made their way west in two consecutive years. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate launched in North America and Europe in 2015, followed by Monster Hunter Generations in 2016.
This doesn’t mean that Capcom is absolutely pursuing annual releases with Monster Hunter, however. That’s according to series Ryozo Tsujimoto, who also spoke with GamesBeat about the franchise’s localization.
He said:
Even in Japan, we’re not dogmatic about whether this is an annual franchise. We don’t have to release one every year. With the number of games that have come out in Japan, it may have wound up being annual, more or less, but it isn’t because we decided to make that a deadline.
Talking about the west, as you say, this is the first time we’ve had two years in a row with a new Monster Hunter game, which is great for our fans. We’ve seen a lot of feedback from players about the amount of time it takes us to bring a new game over from Japan. Localization has to be done. We’ve tried to refine that process and make it more efficient, so that we’ve been able to make that gap shorter and shorter. This is the shortest wait we’ve had so far. It’s still a matter of months, but in the past some titles have taken up to a year. We’re getting closer and closer to the Japanese release time frame.
In the future, I’d love to be able to reduce that wait even further and get Monster Hunter out simultaneously in the U. S. and Japan. We’ll keep doing our best to bring our games to western players as fast as possible. We appreciate everyone’s patience.
More: Capcom, interview, Monster Hunter, Ryozo Tsujimoto
Details from Nintendo’s 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Mobile, News, Switch, Wii U | 178 Comments
Update: All finished! You can get caught up on the full recap below.
Nintendo’s 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is about to begin. NStyles appears to be in attendance and Cheesemeister will be translating, so we should be getting information from the event as it happens.
The meeting will kick off at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. We’ll start posting tidbits around then.
– A Mario towel, Pikachu cookies, and room-temperature green tea given to attendees
– From left: Umeyama, Mitamura, Ueda, Mizutani, Shigeyuki Takahashi, Kimishima, Takeda, Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, Yamato, Tanaka
– 20 minutes before it began, the seats were about 30% filled (can hold 1,000); up to 60% around 10 minutes before start time
– About to start; all of the directors have entered
– Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima greets the audience
– Auditor Minoru Ueda makes a report
Report
– The 76th annual report is not being read by president Kimishima, but rather a recorded narration is being played with slides
– There were no big 3DS hit titles, so sales were low
– Splatoon, Mario Maker, Twilight Princess HD did well
– amiibo hit 24.7 million units
– Download sales totaled 43.9 billion yen
– Miitomo got off to a good start
– Operating income recovered, but losses due to the strong yen reduced ordinary and net income
– Assets: 1 trillion, 296.9 billion yen; net assets minus liabilities equal 1 trillion, 160.9 billion yen, down 6.6b yen from last
– Issues to address. Up to now, the goal has been to expand the gaming population irregardless of age, gender, or experience. Now, the focus is to increase the population exposed to Nintendo IPs.
– Pokemon Sun/Moon 3DS due out worldwide in November, with many other Nintendo, strong 3rd-party titles to be released
– The aim with 3DS is to make the platform active again
– NX reconfirmed for worldwide launch in March 2017; the dedicated game machine business will continue to be core
– amiibo and download businesses will continue to receive focus
– Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing come to smart devices this fall
– Focusing on My Nintendo, we want to create synergy between the dedicated game machine and smart device businesses
– Nintendo IP will be used in theme parks, character goods, and film contents
– Nintendo said the Wii U would continue to fight on, but only Zelda is coming next year
– The resolutions that were voted upon are explained (these can be found online already)
– There are 6 resolutions this year
