Japanese hardware sales hit five-year low earlier this month
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 3 Comments
During the week of April 14, Japan experienced its lowest gaming hardware sales in five years. Information provided by Media Create states that the downturn can be attributed to sluggish sales of Nintendo and PlayStation consoles.
The 3DS, for instance, dropped to 19,943 for the week, which Media Create believes could be related to Nintendo’s “monthly recommended software campaign”. This began on April 26. Consumers may have been hesitant to hold off on making a 3DS purchase until the campaign kicked off.
Media Create also has some insight into the low sales of other platforms. According to the sales tracker, this may have been due to new releases being unable to sell more than a combined total of 50,000 copies during the week.
More: Japan, Media Create, sales
Why Kirby looks angry on US game boxarts
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
Kirby tends to look “angry” more often than when shown on North American boxarts. Wondering why this is so?
Kirby Triple Deluxe director Shinya Kumazaki explained to GameSpot:
“For the Japanese versions we are, at [Kirby series developer] HAL, involved in everything throughout development, including the package design. The most powerful image of Kirby is that cute image, we think that’s the one that appeals to the widest audience.
“While it does start cute, we know there is a serious side to Kirby as well, and throughout the gameplay we see more and more of that, and the games themselves have quite a bit of depth. That being said, we recognise that Kirby’s cuteness is his biggest draw in [the Japanese] market.”
Kumazaki added that Nintendo of America handles things in North America, and provides HAL with “feedback and insight” into the market.
“What we have heard is that strong, tough Kirby that’s really battling hard is a more appealing sign of Kirby, so that’s what we feature in the US.”
More: interview, Kirby, Shinya Kumazaki, top
Iwata: “We Need To Redefine What Nintendo Must Do”
Posted on 10 years ago by Jarop(@gamrah) in General Nintendo, News | 30 Comments
It’s no secret that Nintendo’s president and CEO Satoru Iwata has been under the pump in recent months with the company’s current financial standing. In an interview with Japanese news outlet Diamond, Iwata had the following to say about the Nintendo going forward (translated by the folks over at Siliconera):
“Surely, a lot of people around the world must think ‘Nintendo is a company that is just for video games,’ about us, and I believe that there are more and more of our own employees who’ve begun to think like that,” said Iwata. “Some employees that are in charge of making things, are often kept positions where they have to think of how they can make the game in front of them more fun, so I don’t think it can be helped if others outside of our company think like that.”
“So, even if the fact that our focus being video games won’t be changing, I felt the need to take this occasion to say ‘Nintendo is a company that can do whatever they want’.”
“This subject came to light when Yamauchi passed away, but I felt that ‘our surroundings are greatly changing. We need to redefine what Nintendo must do, from this point on’. However, I felt that saying ‘Nintendo will do anything,’ was also the wrong idea for the company.”
“Yamauchi was one to always say ‘Nintendo is a company for entertainment, and it shouldn’t be for anything else,’ and he didn’t necessarily think that ‘entertainment = video games’. I’ve been wondering how to express Yamauchi’s feelings, and I’ve been thinking about it non-stop, even during the New Year’s holiday break.”
“Lately, the words ‘QOL’ (quality of life) have come up,” says Iwata. “Entertainment is there to improve people’s quality of life. After your basic needs, there’s entertainment. However, when it comes to ‘improving people’s quality of life,’ I didn’t know the difference between us and household appliance makers.”
“At the start of this year, I finally figured that ‘improving people’s quality of life with fun,’ with emphasis to the ‘fun’ would be perfect for Nintendo. And that’s when I decided to use this as a focus during the financial results meeting in January and wrote the manuscript for the presentation.”
More: Hiroshi Yamauchi, Satoru Iwata
Square Enix is working on next Dragon Quest game
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
At Niconico Super Conference 3 in Chiba, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii stated that Square Enix is “making the next” entry in the series. Horii is almost certainly referring to Dragon Quest XI.
Once Horii mentioned this, Dragon Quest X producer Yosuke Saito as well as chief planner Anzai Takashi looked as though they weren’t expecting him to say that. They were, in other words, indicating that Horii said something he shouldn’t have said. Oops?
Nico Nico Choukaigi – Nintendo Special Big Band performance
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 2 Comments
More: Nico Nico Choukaigi, top
Nintendo Minute – NES Remix 2
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
More: NES Remix 2, Nintendo Minute
Zelda, Kirby, Pikmin badges come to Club Nintendo Japan
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
As of today, Japanese Club Nintendo members can order new Zelda, Kirby, and Pikmin-based badges. Each costs 250 points.
More: Club Nintendo, Japan
Club Nintendo temporarily closes orders for physical rewards
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
For the next few weeks, Club Nintendo members will be unable to place orders for physical rewards.
Nintendo explains on the service’s website that its systems are being updated. In the meantime, the company recommends checking out the currently-available digital rewards.
The full notice reads:
Orders for physical rewards are currently closed while we update our systems. But there’s good news: We’ll be accepting orders again starting May 13. We’ve also got great digital games that you can download instantly, so check ’em out.
More: Club Nintendo
Video: Animal Crossing GDC 2014 session in full
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments
More: Animal Crossing, GDC 2014, top
Miiverse has received a new update
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 7 Comments
Miiverse has received yet another update, and Nintendo’s “Marty” has shared the details.
The first changes pertain to the web version of Miiverse. You’ll now see a “Posts from Verified Users” icon at the top of the Communities screen, and searching for communities by software title is now possible.
And for all versions of Miiverse, after posting a comment on someone else’s message, you’ll need to wait three minutes before you can comment again on the same post.
Here’s the full update message from Marty:
