SEGA has partnered with Nintendo to put out three exclusive games on Nintendo platforms. Two have been revealed thus far: Sonic Lost World and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. There’s also one final mystery title in development.

SEGA’s European chief Jurgen Post spoke about the deal with MCV, stating:

We have Sonic: Lost World on Wii U and 3DS and then Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics later in the year too. Plus there is a third game we haven’t announced.
Historically Sonic games have always sold very well on Nintendo platforms, so it’s a good fit. And Nintendo and Sega have always worked together in a positive way – the first game Sonic debuted on after we stopped making hardware was a Nintendo platform.

Post later addressed the Wii U’s slow start. It’s a concern for sure, but Post hopes Sonic can help improve the situation:

Iwata says putting Nintendo games on other platforms would be a short-term fix, higher expectations, more

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Some have said that Nintendo should take its franchises elsewhere. This has never been a realistic option, however, and president Satoru Iwata has said that such a move would only be a short-term fix to achieve profits.

“If I was to take responsibility for the company for just the next one or two years, and if I was not concerned about the long-term future of Nintendo at all, it might make sense for us to provide our important franchises for other platforms, and then we might be able to gain some short-term profit. However, I’m really responsible for the long-term future of Nintendo as well, so I would never think about providing our precious resources for other platforms at all.”

Iwata says it’s more difficult to attract players’ attention, Animal Crossing sales boosted by word of mouth

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Attracting people’s attention isn’t so easy these days, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believes. More information is circulating than ever before, which places a limit on the ability to pay attention.

Iwata told Toyo Keizai:

What I feel most now is that getting the attention of customers in video games is much more difficult than before. With all of the information that people have access to now, the ability to pay attention is limited. These big differences occur, whether we like it or not.

Nintendo Treehouse on localizing games when it comes to simultaneous launches worldwide

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 1 Comment

When Nintendo-published games are hitting western territories and Japan at the same time, localization becomes a much-different beast. So how does the Nintendo Treehouse approach these situations?

Localization manager Nate Bihldorff explained to Siliconera:

“We’re in touch with the dev teams from long before formal localization begins, giving feedback on all manner of game elements, and once formal localization starts, we talk every day. As such, we’re constantly asking questions about the plot, background on characters, and even series etymology on enemy and character names. We feel a real responsibility to curate these worlds and preserve the vision of the developers, so I’m sure we get incredibly annoying as we pester them about whether, say, a particular enemy is related to a Moblin or an Octorok.”

Source

Disney Interactive posts $58 million loss

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Disney Interactive’s latest financial results aren’t so hot having posted a loss of $58 million for the quarter ending June 29. That’s even worse than the $42 million loss the company experienced in the 2012 April-June quarter. Revenues are also down, dropping 7 percent to $183 million.

While Japanese mobile business lifted the company somewhat, it wasn’t enough to make up for negative impacts such as lower console game sales.

Disney Interactive was Disney’s only business branch to have posted a loss this past quarter.

Things may begin to look up for Disney starting this month. Disney Infinity will finally make it out to market, and it’s something that Disney CEO Bob Iger is encouraged by and proud of.

“We are also looking forward to the launch of Disney Infinity on August 18. We have showcased Infinity to a number of audiences and we are very encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response we are getting across the board from retailers, reviewers, and consumers alike. And we are also very proud of the several best of awards that Disney Infinity earned at this year’s E3.”

Source

Ubisoft to develop and publish games based on Hasbro brands

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Ubisoft announced today that it will develop and publish games based on Hasbro brands. Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Risk, Battleship, and Cranium are among the IPs Ubisoft will bring to current-gen and next-gen consoles.

Hasbro senior vice president and general manager of digital gaming and corporate development Mark Blecher said:

“We look forward to collaborating with Ubisoft to offer consumers innovative new ways to experience their favorite gaming brands. Ubisoft’s leadership and expertise in the console gaming space will help support Hasbro’s strategy of bringing consumers engaging play experiences with our brands across multiple platforms.”

Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, added:

“Hasbro makes games that we all know and love, and we’re thrilled to be able to work with them to create video game experiences based on some of their most popular brands.”

Source: Ubisoft PR

Nintendo Files Lawsuit against HackYourConsole.com

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 5 Comments

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against HackYourConsole.com, it was announced today. This is yet another step in the company’s battle against piracy.

HackYourConsole sells unauthorized Nintendo titles as well as devices/services that circumvent security implemented in Wii and DS systems. The person in charge of the site additionally modifies Wii consoles to allow the play of illegal software for a certain fee.

HackYourConsole also intended to distribute 3DS Gateway cards (which act similarly to R4 devices) to more easily pave the way for illegally downloaded games. Nintendo noted in its announcement, “Game copying devices, such as the R4, severely undermine the sales of video games created by thousands of developers.”

You can find the full press release below.

Nintendo Launches Animal Crossing Plaza on Wii U

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

New Details Announced for Other Wii U and Nintendo 3DS Titles
REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Animal Crossing fans are getting a new place on Wii U where they can talk about their towns and share images with players from all over the world. Nintendo announced the free Animal Crossing Plaza application during today’s Nintendo Direct presentation. Nintendo also discussed a variety of other topics about Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games, including the debut of the Pokémon series on Wii U with Pokémon Rumble U and the story behind The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for Nintendo 3DS.
“The second-half of 2013 is packed with great games and great experiences for Nintendo fans, from new entries in longstanding franchises to software that highlights the many benefits of connecting our hardware to the Internet,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We’re always on the lookout for new ways that our fans can interact with their favorite game series, and Animal Crossing Plaza extends the fun of the infectious series to Wii U.”
To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. Some of today’s announcements included:

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team devs on game’s visual style, cut ideas, tutorials, characters

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

USGamer published an interview with here a few of the Mario & Luigi: Dream Team staff, including producers Yoshihiko Maekawa and Akira Ohtani, its director Hiroyuki Kubota. Topics covered include the game’s visual style, cut ideas, approach to tutorials, and characters.

Read on below for a few excerpts. Alternatively, you can find the full interview over at USGamer.