October 2013 downloadable rewards now available on Club Nintendo
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 4 Comments
Visit this page to order a downloadable game.
Warner Bros. says LEGO games are facing “absolutely no fatigue at all”
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
LEGO games tend to release on a regular basis. This year alone we’ve seen LEGO City: Undercover, LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins, and LEGO Legends of Chima: Laval’s Journey. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is also due out later this month.
Yet despite the frequent launches of LEGO titles, there is “absolutely no fatigue at all and there is actually a demand for different experiences.”
Warner Bros. senior vice president for international games Olivier Wolff told GamesIndustry:
Warner Bros. Montreal to add 100 new developers
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
The Quebec government will be assisting Warner Bros. Games Montreal in expanding its staff count. Over the next five years, the studio will be adding on 100 new employees.
This is just the latest case of Quebec lending its support to the gaming industry. It was only a few days ago that Ubisoft announced a staff increase of its own after receiving a $9.9 million contribution and tax credit from the government.
Square Enix president discusses the need to “reform with urgency”
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
New Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda recently sounded off on the need for the company to “reform with urgency”. Matsuda was speaking with Japanese site Infoseek when he shared the news.
Matsuda’s comments read (as translated by (Siliconera):
“The business model is at a turning-point. Up until now, the profit of home-console games have been decided by price times the number [sold]. Development and sales were divided, and the game developers only needed to concentrate on their work. That’s where the strengths of our company laid within.
“At the very beginning, the game business started out with ‘how can we get people to insert coins’. Afterwards, consoles became popular, and our company grew as game design and billing [methods] were divided. Presently, online games are prosperous, which again, has the theme of ‘how can we charge the people,’ as developers and sales have become inseparable. And the devices they can be played on has spread vastly. It’s truly a paradigm shift.
North American Nintendo site gets Zelda: Wind Waker HD makeover
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo’s main North American website has received an overhaul for the release of Zelda: Wind Waker HD. The entire page carries a design featuring the Wii U release – you can check it out here.
Thanks to Tytygh for the tip.
Miyamoto on working with western devs on Nintendo franchises, is all about trust
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
Western studios have been put in charge of prominent Nintendo IPs over the past few years. Retro has worked on Metroid and Donkey Kong. Monster Games has also been involved with the latter series in addition to Pilotwings. And let’s not forget Next Level Games, which has worked on a pair of Mario soccer titles, Punch-Out!!, and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon.
Nintendo must have a good amount of faith in the western studios it collaborates with these days, but that level of trust wasn’t always there. ONM, curious as to why this has changed in recent years, quizzed Shigeru Miyamoto for some answers.
Miyamoto told the magazine:
Capcom Europe said to be “undergoing a major restructure”, apparently cutting down on half of its staff
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
A report from MCV claims that Capcom Europe is “undergoing a major restructure following a difficult year”, adding that it “understands more than half of the European arm faces redundancy, with a number of jobs set to merge”.
Capcom itself has yet to officially confirm the news. But a representative did note that its European branch is “currently evaluating its structure” following a restructure in the US.
The company’s statement reads:
“Following a restructure at its US operation, Capcom’s European organisation is currently evaluating its structure to ensure it is in the best position to take advantage of the changing market conditions the industry is facing.”
Capcom is thought to have been hard hit after multiple high-profile titles failed to reach sales targets. Both DmC: Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 6 are believed to have undersold, with its latest AAA release Lost Planet 3 failing to break into the UK Top 25 on launch week.
Aonuma – Zelda Wii U going well, Wind Waker HD will be an influence, not tired of making Zelda, need to do new things
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 4 Comments
4Gamer recently published an extensive interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. Among the topics discussed include Zelda Wii U and how Wind Waker HD will be an influence, clarification that Aonuma isn’t tired of making Zelda games, and the need to do new things with the series.
You can find comments from Aonuma’s interview below. All translations come courtesy of Siliconera.
Nintendo Minute – Super Mario 3D World new levels and power-ups
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Batman: Arkham Origins producer responds to season pass backlash, says keeping series separate from the movies is important
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
Warner Bros. announced a season pass for Batman: Arkham Origins last week. But apparently, fans haven’t responded favorably to the product. The displeasure stems from the fact that Warner Bros. isn’t offering brand new content or levels, and is instead opting for more cosmetic-oriented additions.
Producer Guillaume Voghel has since responded to the backlash. Speaking with IGN, he said:
“The costume DLC is going to be available with the Season Pass and it’s basically a bonus right? There’s going to be a lot of value in that Season Pass. One of the items we can’t talk about yet…we’ll just wait for the gamers to really see what the entire package contains. It’s going to be a big deal.”
IGN also asked Voghel about potential interest in a Superman vs. He wouldn’t give a clear cut answer, instead opting to discuss the importance of keeping the Arkham games separate from the movies.
“The Arkham brand is really independent from the movies and that’s something I think is at the core of its success; Rocksteady did that really well. They isolated the game from the movies and the Arkham brand will keep going in that direction if there are other entries down the line. It’s really something independent; it’s in a world of its own and it’s a franchise we want to focus on only through video games. DC studios has a lot to say in how we develop the Arkham franchise and they have great input. It’s always going to be a collaboration between Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and DC, but we really want to keep it independent from the movies.”
