G4 to become ‘Esquire Network’ on April 22nd
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
We’ve reported on this before, but now we finally have an official date: Starting April 22nd, anyone who currently gets G4TV via their cable or satellite provider will awaken to a brand new channel to replace to dying-brand that was G4. The new name will be the “Esquire Network” and will feature programming similar to ‘Bravo’ but “for men”. It is, as they say, for “the modern man, what being a man today is all about”.
Which mostly sounds like a bunch of vaguely sexist baloney to me, but I guess they think people will watch it! With any luck this will be the last that you hear of the network, since they will feature no gaming related programming whatsoever.
New downloadable rewards now available on Club Nintendo
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
This month’s digital rewards on Club Nintendo have gone live. Members can choose from Bird & Beans (3DS, 100 coins), Metal Torrent (3DS, 150 coins), Paper Mario (Wii, 200 coins), and Kirby Super Star (Wii, 150 coins). These rewards will last until March 10.
Visit this page to order a downloadable game.
Japan to get Fire Emblem: Awakening, Animal Crossing: New Leaf figurines
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Photos snapped at the Wonder Festival in Japan this weekend show a new 1/8-scale figure of Fire Emblem: Awakening’s Tharja. Max Factory, the company producing the product, has also announced a Marth figure. Shizue from Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be turned into a figure as well.
GungHo on Grasshopper acquisition, Suda51 explains the move
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
GungHo Online Entertainment recently announced that it has acquired the Suda51-led studio Grasshopper Manufacturer.
The move was a bit surprising. Grasshopper had always acted independently even though it did team up with companies in the past, and GungHo is more mobile-focused.
On the bright side, GungHo president Kazuki Morishita assured fans in an interview with 4Gamer that Grasshopper will “continue to make games in the manner they are accustomed to.”
“I’d like Suda-san to remain focused on Grasshopper rather than GungHo as a whole. Of course now I’ll be involved in Grasshopper’s creative output, but since Suda-san is there, in a lot of ways it actually equates to a taking load off my own work. Basically, I’d like Grasshopper Manufacture to continue to make games in the manner they are accustomed to.”
New Zelda concept has shot at LEGO set
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Remember that Zelda LEGO set idea that was never approved? Its denial was a bit of a sting, but the legendary video game franchise now has a second chance of getting the brick treatment.
“Ragaru” has come up with his own Zelda LEGO concept that seems to avoid the pitfalls in preventing the first idea’s approval. A total of 10,000 fans have pledged their support for the project, and it’s currently in the hands of the LEGO CUUSOO team.
Have a look at some concept art of the LEGO set in the gallery above. Here’s hoping it heads past the approval process!
Square Enix picks up Legacy of Kain-related domain
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
CSC Corporate Domains is a domain registrar. Square Enix uses the company in acquiring new domain names. Interestingly, CSC registered a new Legacy of Kain-related site for the publisher on Thursday.
Square Enix now has WarForNosgoth.com in its possession. For those who are unaware, Land of Nosgoth is the main area where the Legacy of Kain series is set.
The Legacy of Kain series has been dormant for nearly a decade. Might we be seeing a revival in the future?
Strike Suit Zero considered only briefly for Wii U
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
It’s impossible to deny that the Wii U has received a healthy dose of indie support thus far. The future looks bright with more developers pledging support for the system.
One title that won’t be coming to the eShop is Strike Suit Zero. While the team considered a Wii U version, there were only discussions for a brief time.
Born Ready Games community manager Ben Smith told Writer Trigger:
“There were brief discussions about how a Wii U version might work, but they never got further than the ideas station.”
Darksiders lead designer pretty much confirms series’ end
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Sadly, Darksiders is pretty much dead. The IP was one of the few assets that THQ was unable to successfully sell off.
Crytek did pick up a good majority of Vigil staffers – responsible for the Darksiders games – but left the series behind.
Rovio creative director Patrick Liu tweeted earlier this week: “No more Darksiders! 🙁 Whyyyyy Crytek…”. Responding to this, Darksiders’ lead designer Haydn Dalton wrote:
“Tis true Pat…sometimes good things come to an end. That’s why you’ve gotta enjoy them while you can.”
And thus Dalton confirms what we all expected at this point: Darksiders is gone.
Monolith Soft Kyoto on working together as a team, Nintendo’s relationship
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
This isn’t Iwata Asks – it’s more like Monolith Soft asks!
Monolith Soft Kyoto, the studio behind titles such as Baten Kaitos, conducted an internal interview. Topics such as working together as a team were covered in the discussion. Nintendo’s influence came up in the talk as well.
A quick summary of the interview is posted below.
– Since working alongside Nintendo, Monolith Soft has realized just how important it is for a team to work closely together
– There has been a great increase in meetings between Nintendo and Monolith over the past year
– Nintendo has been actively consulting on the studio’s work and providing feedback with tweaks and ideas on how to make things better
– Monolith Soft is amazed by Nintendo’s ability to work and think together as a team
– Monolith thinks this is a major asset in producing quality products
– From a developer’s standpoint, seeing how Nintendo communicate and their companionship as the foundation of their hard work, has inspired Monolith Soft to do the same with their studio
– Monolith designer Shoko Fukuchi mentions making people feel included by—for example—asking programmers, who aren’t often in talks with designers, for ideas
– Some of the staff had been worried about moving to Kyoto, but these concerns have since dissipated
– Having taken a page from Nintendo’s book, Monolith Soft have been livelier than ever
– Monolith Soft has been working closer together as co-workers and as a family with the common goal of developing great games
Dark Horse pleased with Zelda: Hyrule Historia’s success thus far
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is now out in the wild. Thus far, the art book has performed excellently for Dark Horse Publishing.
A total of 400,000 copies have been printed up to this point. Hyrule Historia has also nabbed the top spot on the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Bestseller list.
Dark Horse believes things are just getting started for Hyrule Historia and will continue to print copies of the book in order to keep up with demand.
“We believe the buzz on The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is just beginning and will be reprinting as many as needed to keep up with demand.”