Shulk amiibo starting to show up at some GameStop stores again
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Shulk has received a reprint, and so the amiibo is starting to reappear at some GameStop locations. You can try your luck with the store locator here. If you don’t see any nearby areas with Shulk available, I’d suggest keeping track of that link for the next few days.
Humble co-founder talks about the Nindie Bundle
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 9 Comments
Nintendo Life recently had the opportunity to speak with John Graham, the co-founder of Humble. Graham was asked all about the Humble Nindie Bundle, including the lineup, region-locking issue, and more.
Head past the break from some excerpts from the interview. You’ll find the full discussion here.
On whether he was surprised Nintendo came through…
You know, I wasn’t sure how things would play out, but I think with anything like this it needs somebody that believes in the promotion idea on the other side. We’ve been working with great guys at Nintendo that figured out what this opportunity was, and I’m very proud of its performance so far.
We try to be the friendly guys that talk to everyone and we strongly believe that, where there’s valuable digital content, Humble Bundle can be very useful.
On the Humble Nindie Bundle performance thus far…
I’m a little superstitious so I try not to make too many hard bets in advance. It gets interesting because this is a promotion only for people in the Americas, and we weren’t quite sure ahead of time exactly who in our existing audience is in the Nintendo community. So there are a couple of X factors here, but I’m very proud of the performance of this promotion; it’s doing really well, and I think it’s meeting my expectations if not exceeding them.
On the Humble Nindie Bundle lineup…
Certainly. We’ve got a great set of Indie games here, so it’s in line with our Humble tradition of promoting amazing Indie games, and when we saw the intersection of that with what’s on the eShop, we realised we probably had something and should go for the promotion.
On any challenges with the Wii U/3DS eShop platforms…
Since Humble Indie Bundle 1, when customers asked whether we could include Steam keys, we’ve had some infrastructure for just administering keys that unlock digital content. Nintendo just generated a batch of keys on their side and that’s all it takes.
The key component is on the curation side – have we got a batch of content that people are going to value and get excited about? That’s always the more interesting challenge, the game key part was easy and Nintendo was easy to work with.
On whether he foresees a future where something like eShop products are sold through Humble in different ways…
I don’t want to speak for Nintendo directly, but if we take the Steam example, that’s pretty progressive-minded in that a if a developer wants to produce and distribute keys, Steam is pretty awesome about getting them into developer’s hands to use as they see fit. I think an open-door policy can only strengthen your platform long term, instead of building a walled garden to keep people out you can do things to bring people in.
As crowded and noisy as the internet and online connected world is, it’s critical to be thinking about that long term strategy instead of just “oh, we do things this way, and this is how we wall the garden”. So kudos to Nintendo for even trying this experiment with us, and I do hope it leads to other things and that it’s smart business to be open to the world instead of trying to close yourself off.
On the region issue…
Of course we always try to be as inclusive as we can be, and region-locking is not ideal. This is a case where we – and Nintendo – pushed as hard as we could to be inclusive, we got as far as we got for this promotion. I sincerely believe it was the right call to run the promotion, and help as many gamers as we could in getting this initial experiment out of the door. I do hope it leads to big things in the future. I have seen blog posts around in the news where Nintendo execs have been considering whether they want region-locking to be a thing in future iterations of consoles. The way things are currently designed it just wasn’t possible for this promotion, but we’re nevertheless really excited to be doing it.
On the average purchase price ($9 or so) in comparison to other current bundles or PC promotions…
I think this is a higher average than many, and we tend to see that when we’ve struck a chord with a vigorous community that can galvanise in one direction. I think we saw that, for example, with the Sid Meier bundle – if you’re really into Civilisation games you’re really into the promotion, and you don’t want to just get a small piece, you want the whole thing. I think that’s what we’re seeing with the Nindie bundle.
On the choice of Code.org as the charity…
It’s always collaborative, but Nintendo gets credit for pushing to have that awesome organisation as part of its promotion.
Overall thoughts…
This is a big deal, a new frontier, and we’re really excited not only to have this initial experiment out of the door and being successful, but to look into the future and see what doors it may open next.
On the definitive factor driving buzz for the Nindie Bundle…
Well, we’re doing something new, as I said it’s a new frontier. But also the content is awesome. These are fantastic Indie games, and I guess we have a platformer theme going on here, but if you look at it each game is different and emphasizing a different aspect. We’ve got puzzle platformers, some stealth platformers, world crafting platformers, skateboarding platforming. Whoever you are as a gamer, there’s at least one or two – or maybe all – of the games that can get you excited.
More: Humble Bundle, interview, John Graham
Rumor: Jigglypuff amiibo sets records on Target’s site, another exclusive figure planned for wave 5
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Rumors | 9 Comments
The folks over on the amiibo subreddit have posted rumored information about the performance of the Jigglypuff figure – supposedly from a verified source – as well as a tease for the future.
Regarding Jigglypuff, the amiibo’s product page on Target.com apparently received a million views when pre-orders went live. The second-highest viewed item in the site’s history only has 20,000 views.
It’s also being said that Jigglypuff pre-orders sold at 500 per minute, which makes it the fastest-selling item in Target.com history.
Last but not least, the same source claims that Target will have yet another exclusive amiibo for wave 5. This has not been revealed to members of the Target team at present.
Australia and New Zealand seeing an amiibo restock
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
Nintendo is stocking several amiibo in both Australia and New Zealand. Earlier today, the company confirmed plans to bring back figures such as Little Mac, Captain Falcon, and the Wii Fit Trainer.
Nintendo wrote on Twitter a few hours ago:
Look who's returning! Villager, Ness, Little Mac, Captain Falcon…
Check with your local retailer for availability! pic.twitter.com/pWpDvTgkVS
— Nintendo AU NZ (@NintendoAUNZ) June 2, 2015
We really need a restock here in North America. There are a whole bunch of figures that are practically impossible to purchase at the moment!
More: Amiibo, Australia, New Zealand
Art of Grasshopper Manufacture releasing in the west
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
The Art of Grasshopper Manufacture is coming west, it’s been announced today.
You’ll find plenty of content within the 224-page art book. No More Heroes, Killer 7, and other titles from Grasshopper Manufacture are featured.
Here’s the full overview:
The Art of Grasshopper Manufacture is a highly specialized title showcasing the design work and artistry of the video-game developing company Grasshopper Manufacture. Director-designer-CEO of Grasshopper, Suda51 is known internationally for his original, imaginative style. Most major Grasshopper games are covered within this book including Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer 7, No More Heroes and more. The main visuals for each game are covered, along with package designs, sketches, model sheets and greeting card designs. A must have for fans of high quality Japanese video games!
Featured animations and video games include:
Shadows of the DAMNED Sine Mora LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW KILLER IS DEAD NO MORE HEROES Diabolical Pitch Fatal Frame – Project Zero Flower, Sun, and Rain Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo BLOOD+ ONE NIGHT KISS michigan SAMURAI CHAMPLOO killer7 The Silver Case Shining Soul II FROG MINUTES
and more…!
You can pre-order Art of Grasshopper Manufacture here.
Note that it says “Japanese Edition”, but Grasshopper confirmed on Twitter that it’s in English and Japanese. There’s only one version of the art book (in both languages) for all regions.
More: Grasshopper Manufacture
The original Legend of Zelda will be one of the games played at the Nintendo World Championship
Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Update: Revealed, Steam Early Access only right now – Rumor: LEGO Worlds in development
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Update (6/1): LEGO Worlds has been revealed and released on Steam Early Access today. The full release is planned for 2016, and it’s currently unclear if there are plans for consoles down the line.
Could Warner Bros. be preparing yet another LEGO game? On the back of the instructions for the 60097 City Square set – due out next month – an image has been found that seems to tease something called “LEGO Worlds”.
Based on words included in the advert, it sounds like LEGO Worlds is Mincraft-inspired. Players will be able to “explore”, “discover”, and “create” within the game.
We don’t have an announcement from Warner Bros. at this time, but the image seems to be legitimate as far as I can tell. It also looks to be game-related given the inclusion of TT Games’ logo. All of the recent LEGO games have been on Nintendo platforms as of late, so hopefully this one is planned for Wii U.
A look back on the development of the Game Boy
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
German website Nintendo-Online published a new piece about the development of the Game Boy. It’s an interesting recap of how the system came together, which includes information about a partnership with Sharp and more.
Here’s a brief summary Nintendo-Online passed along:
– developed by the 40-man R&D1 team with Gunpei Yokoi handling the system’s design and Satoru Okada working on the hardware
– goal was to combine the concepts behind Game & Watch and NES
– system had to be small, technically on par with the NES and cheaper than the NES
– to archive this, the team had to use a black & white LCD display; a color screen would have increased the power consumption and thus made the system more expensive
– system was codenamed “Dot Matrix Game”, hence the console’s model no. starting with “DMG”
– Sharp was approached to manufacture the screens of the DMG because it already supplied the Game & Watch displays
– Sharp was unable to produce the screens at a price low enough for Nintendo so that development of the console reached a dead point
– R&D1 learned about the “Chip on Glass” technique which would make a cheap production possible and approached TV maker Citizen to produce the Game Boy’s screens using this technique
– in the end, Sharp was also able to use the CoG technique and was thus chosen to produce the screens and made a four billion yen investment for that
– the screens Sharp produced at the beginning were of a wrong type and were next to useless for the Game Boy project
– Yokoi remembers Hiroshi Yamauchi’s reaction on Game Boy prototype with wrong screen type: “What the hell is this? I can’t see a damn thing. What’re you thinking? No one’s gonna buy a game they can’t see. Forget it.”
– finally Sharp produced Super-Twisted Nematic displays with decreased motion blur effect
More: Game Boy
Iwata says he’s not done with Nintendo Directs, again apologizes for amiibo shortages
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 16 Comments
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata published a few messages on the company’s Japanese Twitter account following today’s Nintendo Direct.
Iwata first commented on how he did not host this latest broadcast. Rather than having him present, he turned to Mr. Morimoto from the PR department for the stream. Despite this, Iwata noted that has hasn’t quit doing Nintendo Directs. He just thought it might not be interesting to see a 55 year-old man present each time.
Iwata also addressed the amiibo situation as well. Once again, he apologized for amiibo shortages. He said that some figures will be re-produced, though this will take time to accomplish.
More: Amiibo, Nintendo Direct, Satoru Iwata
[Just a Chat] Humble Nindie Bundle, Japanese Nintendo Direct
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Just a Chat, Videos | 1 Comment
This week’s Just a Chat puts the focus on two topics. Brian and Daan talk about the Humble Nindie Bundle, as well as the imminent Japanese Nintendo Direct.
Stuff:
