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
More: top
Unreal Engine 4 mentioned in software engineer job listing from Nintendo
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 43 Comments
A new listing on Nintendo’s job site includes a mention of Unreal Engine 4. The company is seeking a software engineer who is familiar with “existing game engines.” Unreal Engine 4 is the only one specifically mentioned.
Nintendo’s listing makes note of the following:
We are seeking an engineer to join a team responsible for design, development, debug and delivery of system drivers and tools for Nintendo gaming systems. The successful candidate will be a high-energy problem-solver with a passion for excellence and a proven track record. We are looking for people who are excellent team players, and who also work well on individual assignments. In addition, the successful candidate will be a high-energy problem-solver with a passion for excellence. An interest in system software is essential. In this position, the engineer will receive a very rewarding experience working with key technologies for gaming systems.
The listing is naturally causing speculation about what this could mean for NX. Most had assumed that the technology would be compatible, however – anything else would be very surprising.
Thanks to uPadWatcher for the tip.
More: Unreal Engine 4
Producer says Tetris movie planned as a trilogy “purely because the story we conceived is so big”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 21 Comments
Empire has a few extra tidbits about the new Tetris movie. It’ll be the first film in what is a planned trilogy, as was previously rumored.
Larry Kasanoff, who’s working to bring Tetris to theaters, spoke about the decision to create three movies with Empire. He stated that it was needed “purely because the story we conceived is so big. This isn’t us splitting the last one of our eight movies in two to wring blood out of the stone. It’s just a big story.”
Kasanoff also said:
“We want the story to be a surprise, but it’s a big science-fiction movie. I came up with the idea as I was thinking about Tetris and the theme of creating order out of chaos.
We’re not going to have blocks with feet running around the movie, but it’s great that people think so. It sets the bar rather low!
I guarantee you it’s not what you think. No-one has come remotely close to figuring out what we’re doing.”
Casting for the Tetris movie is “well underway”. Some shooting will take place in China.
More: Larry Kasanoff, movie, Tetris
Nintendo details Hyper Japan Festival 2016 plans
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo has a whole bunch of plans lined up for Hyper Japan Festival 2016. Along with playable games, a number of activities are in store.
Yo-kai Watch, Monster Hunter Generations, Dragon Quest VII, Fire Emblem, and Pokemon will all be represented in some form or another. Here’s the full rundown of events straight from Nintendo:
In a true celebration of the Japanese phenomenon YO-KAI WATCH® Nintendo will be inviting visitors to step into Springdale, offering them a fully immersive experience and the chance to get involved with a host of YO-KAI WATCH® themed activities. Starting today, Nintendo UK is hosting a unique Fan Art Contest, challenging you to share your artistic interpretation of your favourite Yo-kai in a bid to win a one-off YO-KAI WATCH® prize bundle and have your art prominently showcased on the Nintendo booth at HYPER JAPAN Festival 2016 for all visitors to admire. For more details on how to get involved, Click here.
During HYPER JAPAN Festival 2016, you will have the chance to wander the town of Springdale, take part in the iconic YO-KAI WATCH® dance with Jibanyan in front of a green screen with the opportunity for you to share your creation directly to your social channels*, as well as take part in a Yo-kai Stamp Quest, a mission whereby the first 300 people each day to spot ten hidden Yo-kai located around Springdale on the Nintendo booth (and receive a stamp for each Yo-kai they spot, as well as a stamp for playing the game on the booth) will be rewarded with a YO-KAI WATCH® Medal Mystery Bag*! Everyone that completes the Yo-kai Stamp Quest will also have the opportunity to enter into a prize draw raffle for a chance to win a host of special YO-KAI WATCH® goodies.
Nintendo @E3 2016 Miiverse community closing on June 30th
Posted on 8 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo opened up a special Miiverse community for its presence at E3 2016 where fans could discuss everything that happened in Los Angeles. Obviously, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was by far the most talked about game in this community. This Thursday, June 30th, Nintendo is closing that Miiverse community again – so if you want to get any posts in, do it now.
