Key Nintendo board members re-elected, company’s share value remains strong
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments
Last night, Nintendo held its 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Ten proposed candidates were re-elected to the board, including the following key figures:
Director and President – Satoru Iwata
Senior Managing Director – Shigeru Miyamoto
Senior Managing Director – Genyo Takeda
We’re also hearing that Nintendo is remaining in a position of strength in the stock market. You may recall that after Nintendo made its announcement about bringing games to mobile devices in partnership with mobile, it spiked to over 20,000 yen per share. Shares took a slight dip during E3, but they’ve now returned to their new norm of 21,780 yen.
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Moffitt on Metroid Prime: FF reception, amiibo supply, Nintendo shortages, Humble Nindie Bundle, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
GamesIndustry published its own interview with Nintendo of America executive VP of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt. Metroid Prime: Federation Force, amiibo, shortages in general, and the Humble Nindie Bundle (not ruling out its own bundle) were among the topics discussed.
You can read up on what Moffitt had to say in this latest interview below. Be sure to check out GamesIndustry’s original article here as well.
More: interview, Scott Moffitt, top
Nintendo is “definitely looking at” the possibility of an early access program
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
Damon Baker, who heads up Nintendo of America’s third-party relations and indie development, has told Polygon that the company is “certainly exploring options and capabilities” regarding an early access program.
He said:
“We don’t have anything to announce, but I can say that we’re certainly exploring options and capabilities. So anything is possible. I guess the important part of it is we’re very conscious of it and definitely looking at it.”
In terms of the benefits of what an early access program would program, Baker noted that it could act as a beta program of sorts.
“Working out some of the kinks, the server loads or what matching those expectations so that it’s a prime experience when it does, when the full version actually launches. So there could be some benefits there, but I think it’s a very sensitive topic, because you wouldn’t ever want to ask for money for something that doesn’t become fully-realized.”
Lastly, Baker also commented on the Nindies@Home initiative that was held during E3 week.
“We had to change policies over this, guidelines. I mean we basically created almost an early access-type of situation because some of this content isn’t even coming out until towards the end of the year. So to be able to give such early visibility to some of the developers and these builds, there was a lot of work that went into it.”
More: Damon Baker, interview, top
Yoshi’s Woolly World devs on amiibo, why the yarn style was revisited, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Now that Yoshi’s Woolly World has arrived in Europe, Nintendo Life was able to quiz a couple of the game’s developers on a few different subjects. Nintendo producer Takashi Tezuka and Good-Feel executive producer Etsunobu Ebisu discussed topics such as the Yarn Yoshi amiibo and amiibo functionality in the game itself, why the team decided to revisit the yarn style (they even have additional ideas!), and more.
Read up on some excerpts from the interview below. Those that are interested can find the full talk here.
Reggie again talks VR, eSports, Nintendo World Championships
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has once again weighed in on topics such as virtual reality, eSports, and the Nintendo World Championships. Below you’ll be able to get a look at his latest comments from an interview with Fortune.
“We have a long and deep history with VR with Virtual Boy, and we also have a history with augmented reality because there’s AR in Nintendo 3DS. We know the tech and we know how the tech has evolved. For Nintendo, we always go beyond the tech to make sure that the experiences we do are fun and they’re social, and I think those are the two key opportunities today on the VR/AR space. Are they both fun and social? I don’t think that’s there yet. So we’re going to continue to stay close to the technology. We’re going to continue to do our own internal experiments, but we don’t believe it’s ready for prime time yet.”
“We saw success last year with the Smash Bros. Invitational, and Smash Bros. has always been a game in the eSports community. What we’re really gratified to see is that the community has now embraced Super Smash Bros. for Wii U because it has the speed and customization they like. We’re also seeing them embrace Mario Kart 8, as well as Splatoon, in a competitive environment. We’ve always been close to the eSports space and will continue to be.”
“We’re fortunate that we’ve got the range of content to pull it off in the here and now, and we’re really gratified to see the reactions. All of that is going to go into the mix as we think about proper opportunities, future E3s as well as potentially taking the idea outside of E3. So it’s something we’re going to be looking at really hard.”
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime
Experience the latest games from Nintendo at Hyper Japan Festival 2015
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo will be attending Hyper Japan Festival 2015, and a number of titles will be on display. The company’s lineup includes Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Star Fox Zero, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, and more.
Activities planned for Hyper Japan Festival 2015 include:
Visitors to the Nintendo stand will also be able to delve into a special 30th Anniversary section dedicated entirely to Super Mario, and a special themed area that will showcase some of Nintendo’s most iconic games.
Activities on offer include the Super Mario Maker Quickfire challenge, which will allow selected guests to take to the stage and try their hand at the exciting level challenges from Super Mario Maker! For Splatoon fans, Nintendo will provide the opportunity to become immersed in the Inklings’ colourful Turf Wars, whilst a ‘How to Hunt’ masterclass for Capcom®’s Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on Nintendo 3DS will be showcased on the big screen.
Additionally, the Super Smash Bros. Cosplay Competition will see Super Smash Bros. players dressing up as chosen characters in a bid to be awarded Best Costume. Nintendo will also hold amiibo team-up tournaments throughout the show that will see players fighting for glory against other trained, level 50 amiibo players and amiibo teams.
At HYPER JAPAN Nintendo will also be offering an exclusive range of merchandise normally only available on the Nintendo Official UK Store.
Attendees bringing along their Nintendo 3DS or 2DS systems can also play games with other users, increase StreetPass encounters in StreetPass Mii Plaza and enjoy games such as Puzzle Swap and StreetPass Quest; Tomodachi Life players will also be able to exchange rare items or explorers via StreetPass.
Hyper Japan Festival 2015 is taking place between July 10 and July 12 at the O2 in London.
Souce: Nintendo PR
Details from Nintendo’s 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | 128 Comments
Update: All over! You can find the information rounded up below.
Nintendo’s 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is currently progress. We’ll be posting everything that was shared during the event below, courtesy of translations from Cheesemeister.
Intro
– New 3DS selling well, but the old 3DS did not, so HW sales were 8.73m. SW selling well. Pokemon, Smash numbers.
– Mario Kart 8 at 5.11m, Smash Wii U at 3.65m. Wii U HW 2.88m.
– Entertainment has value, centering on dedicated platforms. Providing premium experiences only available on such. Making more SW.
– Xenoblade for New 3DS released. Rhythm Heaven, FE: if released. Supporting 1st-party and strong 3rd-party SW.
– On Wii U, Splatoon, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Super Mario Maker are being released.
– Card-based and yarn amiibo are being released. The NFC dongle for old 3DS and 2DS being released. Looking to increase demand.
– Supporting amiibo on Smash 3DS with the NFC dongle.
– About DeNA, starting smart device apps this year. Smart devices different from dedicated consoles, so even w/ same IP, adapting play styles to suit smart devices will maximize value and drive the expansion of the gaming population.
– Continuing with film adaptations and character merchandising to increase mind-share of IPs. Ex: Universal agreement. More later.
– Making a marketing appeal for the IPs through experiences only possible at theme parks.
– Making progress with QOL. (No details given.)
– 1st measure: distribution of dividends.
– 2nd measure: selection of board members.
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Miyamoto develops Nintendo’s devs by having them work on a bunch of different things
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo’s Yugo Hayashi is the director of Star Fox Zero. Prior to this, he was involved with level design on Zelda: Twilight Princess and directed Wii Fit.
Having developers work on a variety of different projects is part of an intentional plan from Shigeru Miyamoto. In an interview with Kotaku, he explained:
Miyamoto: In terms of trying to develop a developer I always try to get them to do lots and lots of different things. Mr. Aonuma is kind of always working on Zelda but for most other people I like to try to get them to try lots of different things. So someone who worked on the art direction for Zelda would then go on to Wii Fit U. That’s kind of how I like to do things. And now Mr. Hayashi is working with me pretty much every day.
Hayashi and Miyamoto went on to discuss something a bit random. Hayashi actually mentioned that he feels that him being the closest to Miyamoto in terms of seating helped him land the job for Star Fox Zero.
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top, Yugo Hayashi
Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi believes Miyamoto could extend his creativity beyond games
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Shigeru Miyamoto has been responsible for some of Nintendo’s biggest gaming franchises. Without Miyamoto, the likes of Mario and Zelda wouldn’t exist today.
Nintendo games will always be the most important element for Miyamoto, but the company’s Shinya Takahashi feels that his creativity could be extended into other areas. Speaking with USA Today, Takahashi stated:
“For me, because it’s Mr. Miyamoto, I want him to continue making things as long as he wants to continue making things. I really think that Mr. Miyamoto will continue to be creative — and not just in the area of video games.”
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, top
Nintendo on why some of its games have voice chat while others don’t
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments
Nintendo doesn’t have much of a clear policy when it comes to voice chat. Some of its games support the feature, whereas others simply don’t.
Nintendo’s Julie Gagnon offered some insight into the company’s approach to voice chat while speaking with Nintendo Enthusiast last week. She responded by explaining that, in the end, developers make the decision so that they can “appeal to the maximum number of players.”
Below is Gagnon’s full response, in which Splatoon was specifically mentioned:
“The thing with Splatoon is that the game is so visual and we really feel that the people in the game do not need voice chat in order to communicate with each other because we have ‘oh, stay here’ or ‘come here’ icons. We have many ways to communicate in the game. Plus, with the gamepad and the view, you can easily see if one of the members of your team is in trouble, or if there is a part of the map that you need to cover. So, this is something that we made a decision on so that the game can appeal to the maximum number of players. So, ultimately, the developers need to decide, depending on the features and the game itself, whether voice chat is included.”
