General Nintendo

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

Last week we learned that Neko Entertainment has plans to release Kung Fu Rabbit on the Wii U eShop. Details have since emerged covering the new GamePad additions/changes. You can find a summary of the latest information below and quotes from managing director Laurent Lichnewsky on a few other topics.

– Controlling the rabbit has improved
– Uses control pad rather than virtual pad on iOS
– Item unlocks rather than in-game purchases
– Collect carrots across the levels to get points and “buy” different items
– Items increase the rabbit’s skills
– GamePad’s touch elements used on the map
– Can point/touch the different “worlds” you want to play
– Can enter the Dojo, in-game shop
– Off-TV supported
– Game will be released in Europe before North America

Lichnewsky on whether Neko is pleased with Puddle’s performance on Wii U…

Yep, taking into account that Europe and US Wii U market can only grow, we’re pretty satisfied. Puddle is well placed in eShop’s sales. And we’re delighted of our relationship with NoE and NoA teams. We also have strong hopes of releasing our title on NCL eShop with a Japanese partner.

Lichnewsky on future plans for the Wii U eShop…

A bit soon to say… but beyond a new Cocoto title in [the] final phase of development for Europe retail, we have two other potential indie titles for eShop… To be continued! (winks)

Lichnewsky on whether there are plans to work with other mobile devs in bringing games to Nintendo systems…

‘Top secret!” (winks) Yes, we are studying the possibility of proposing really nice games that, in our opinion, make sense on consoles.

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

Telltale acquired the rights to King’s Quest and confirmed plans to work on the series back in 2011. Those plans have since changed. Telltale sent out a statement to Digital Trends noting that it no longer intends to use the IP. Activision, King’s Quest previous owner, is now in control of the franchise once again.

A Telltale representative said in a statement:

“While we deeply love King’s Quest here at Telltale, we can confirm that we are no longer working on the franchise. There was a time last year that we investigated partnering with third party developers to produce the game as a partnership but decided against outsourcing. We are not privy to what plans Activision has for the franchise, if any.”

Interestingly, Activision may already have plans for King’s Quest. Replay games president Paul Trowe said:

“Activision’s probably not going to give us the King’s Quest rights. [Telltale] had it, and we were going to license it from them to make the remakes. Then I talked to the guys at Activision and they were like, ‘No, we’re pulling it because we’re going to do it ourselves.'”

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

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

Yoshinori Ono, the leading man behind the Street Fighter series, has a new position at Capcom. Ono is now a corporate officer at the company alongside his previous “Deputy Head of Consumer Games R&D Division” role. It looks like Ono will still be involved with game development – he just has a fancy new title.

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

Disney has decided to close the LucasArts games publishing division. Roughly 150 staffers will now need to look for new jobs, and upcoming projects such as the highly-anticipated Star Wars 1313 as well as Star Wars: First Assault have been canned.

A LucasArts company statement reads:

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

LucasArts seems to be an incredibly disappointing casualty from Disney’s new acquisition of Lucasfilm. Disney made the purchase on October 30 of last year.

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

In recent years, there has been concern about the Japanese gaming industry. Quite a few developers have admitted that technology in the west has outpaced the east, and there are some who have been very vocal about Japan’s impact overall.

You may remember a quote from Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune back in 2009: “Japan is over. We’re done. Our game industry is finished.” As of now, Inafune looks upon things less harshly, though he’s only slightly more optimistic.

Inafune told IGN:

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

Square Enix has a new president, Yosuke Matsuda. Current president Yoichi Wada will be on his way out by June.

What lies ahead for Square Enix now that there’s a new man in charge? Matsuda gave a brief update during a briefing session:

“After having succeeded the important role as the president, I plan on reviewing all Square Enix duties, business and assets on a zero-based budgeting standpoint. Due to the radical change of environment, I’d like to fundamentally review what works and what doesn’t work for our company, then cast all of our resources towards extending what makes us successful and thoroughly squeezing out what doesn’t.

As far as a concrete plan on what to expect from us, I will further explain it on another briefing session in the near future, so I kindly ask for your patience. Thank you for your support.”

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

The 3DS has yet to see a new game in the Advance Wars series. In fact, there hasn’t been an entry since Days of Ruin’s release in 2008.

Although there haven’t been any new Advance Wars developments in a few years, there still is quite a bit of interest in the franchise.

In the Fire Emblem: Awakening 8-4 interview published today, Nintendo director Genki Yokota said:

“Well, whether it’s Fire Emblem or the Advance Wars, we never want to put an end to any series we’re involved with. We always want to make games that provide a lot of fun to gamers, so if we have the chance, we’d certainly like to make another [Advance Wars] title.”

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

So this is kind of an odd thing to talk about, but it is what it is.

We all know that Amazon has had a strained relationship with Nintendo when it comes to hardware. For whatever reason, the retailer won’t sell 3DS and Wii U systems in the US directly. Reggie Fils-Aime wouldn’t talk about the matter when asked about the situation in September of last year, and Amazon hasn’t said much either.

What’s interesting is that Amazon is now encouraging consumers to consider competitor products on Nintendo’s hardware pages. The 3DS listing tells visitors to “Also consider the PlayStation Vita” complete with a comprehensive banner at the top while the Wii U page informs buyers about the “just announced” PlayStation 4 and gives alternative console options to mull over. And in case you were wondering, there aren’t similar listings on the PS Vita, PS3, or Xbox 360 product pages.

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

23,000 people flocked to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for the 2013 Game Developers Conference, making this year the most-successful and highest-attended show in the event’s history.

GDC 2014’s date has already been set. Once again, it’ll take place at the Moscone Center between March 17 and March 21.

Game Developers Conference general manager Meggan Scavio said:

“With the game development industry evolving at a faster clip than ever before, we find both the profile of the developer and the types of games represented at GDC also growing to include new and different people and interests. The response we’ve gotten to this year’s event makes us feel confident that the changes we’ve made, such as the introduction of the Advocacy Track and the Free to Play Game Design and Business Summit, have helped evolved the conference to be even more inclusive.”

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