Off-screen Super Mario 3D Land footage
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
Off-screen Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL footage
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
Heavy Fire: Afghanistan due out in November
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
Available for PlayStation®3 system , WiiTM and PC
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., October 18, 2011— Mastiff, LLC, a leading publisher of video games for all major consoles, mobile platforms and PCs, today announced the November release of the much-anticipated military action title Heavy Fire: Afghanistan, available for multiple platforms including the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii™ from Nintendo, and the PC.
Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is a super fast playing, high-intensity experience set in modern-day Afghanistan. Whether fighting up close and personal with guns and grenades, raining down fire from a helicopter or laying waste with a main battle tank, Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is all about constant, edge-of-the-seat action and beautiful graphics combined with straightforward, intuitive controls to give hardcore gamers and novices an immediately fun, pickup-and-play experience.
Nintendo believes you will be able to select items in Zelda: Skyward Sword without looking at the screen
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
In most Zelda games, players would need enter an item screen and assign an object to a button before the tool could be used. Skyward Sword handles things very differently.
A circular inventory appears on the screen, and you can select an item by tilting your arm. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believe that you’ll learn the location of each item on the menu and, thanks to the simple tilt control, will be able to choose an item without even looking at the screen.
Iwata: Wii MotionPlus allows you complete control over Link’s sword, and you can stop that sword in mid-swing, fire a sword beam, and dash up using the A Button, but another big point is the big change from previous games in the UI for choosing an item.
Aonuma: That’s right. As alluded to earlier, in The Legend of Zelda games you have to be able to switch items in a flash.
Iwata: Yes. Aonuma: Until now, you had to open the item screen and choose the Bow or a bomb, disrupting the flow of the game. And that didn’t seem right even to me. But the director Fujibayashi-san and Tanaka-san in charge of UI totally resolved that big problem.
Iwata: Fujibayashi-san, how did you do that?
Freeing up the “A” button in Skyward Sword allowed for the dashing mechanic
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
Generally, the “A” button in Zelda games is used to swing Link’s sword. But since that function is now mapped to the slashes of Wii Remote Plus, the developers were able to add a new gameplay element: dashing. This was the perfect situation, as, based on tradition, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi wanted to include a new action.
Satoru Iwata, Eiji Aonuma, and Fujibayashi explained:
Iwata: Stopping the sword was revolutionary this time, but also important was freeing up the A Button.
Aonuma: Yes, that’s right. (laughs)
Iwata: Up till now in the series, swinging the sword with the A Button was a matter of course, but using Wii MotionPlus frees up the A Button—an important point this time.
Aonuma: Yes, you can swing the sword without pressing the A Button.
Iwata: How did you decide to make use of the A Button then?
The development of the sword beam in Skyward Sword, game’s title explained
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
A new Iwata Asks focusing on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword provides insight to the development of the sword beam as well as an elaboration of the meaning behind the game’s title.
Shigeru Miyamoto came up with the idea of holding your sword still to be used for other things. He also thought of releasing a sword beam once you’ve held the Wii Remote Plus in the air, allowing it to charge up.
This gameplay idea contributed to Skyward Sword’s title – holding the sword in the air. But there’s another meaning as well. Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma explained:
“From what I heard from the NOA (Nintendo of America) localization team, the word ‘ward’ also means to protect and guard something, so ‘skyward’ can also mean ‘protector of the sky’, and ‘one who is protected by the sky’.”
Here’s the relevant excerpt from the Iwata Asks interview:
Aonuma: Speaking of sword movements, before all this there was an idea about being able to stop the sword mid-air
Iwata: You mean the sword is something you use to swing to defeat enemies, but now you’re able to hold it still mid-air, and use it for other things. Who’s idea was it that you could be able to hold the sword still?
Aonuma: Miyamoto-san, right?
Fujibayashi: I remember it clearly. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, Miyamoto-san called us in and said, “Have it stop.” I was like, “Have what stop?” and he said, “The sword.” When I first heard “stop,” I didn’t think it was possible, but a moment later, I understood and was like, “Stop…? Oh, stop… I get it!”
And there was more to that late-night conversation. After he suggested stopping the sword, he said, “Then you raise up the Wii Remote and while you’re in that pose, energy builds up, and then you release a sword beam.”
Iwata: Stopping the sword led to the sword beam?
Skyward Sword team on the difficulties of incorporating Wii MotionPlus
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: What obstacles appeared in making a game for Wii MotionPlus?
Kobayashi: In Wii Sports Resort, we use Mii characters, so making them is simple, but Link has a realistic figure.
Iwata: And he’s equipped with items like a shield.
Kobayashi: That’s right. And Swordplay in Wii Sports Resort uses sticks, so whichever way you swing, as long as the trajectory is right, no problem. But Link is holding a sword. You can’t have him flap an enemy with the flat of his blade.
Iwata: Oh, I see. If the edge isn’t facing the direction you swing, handsome Link would look rather foolish.
Aonuma: Exactly. He has to look cool when he swings his sword. He can’t just have a sword stuck to his hand and simply move it. So we tried all kinds of things for that at first.
Kobayashi: Yes, we tried many things many times.
Skyward Sword team couldn’t tame Wii MotionPlus, originally scrapped it for buttons
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 0 comments
The Zelda: Skyward Sword team went through an incredibly difficult process of incorporating Wii MotionPlus into their game. It caused so many issues that producer Eiji Aonuma asked the developers not to use the attachment.
The team then started working on an interface in which players would use the original Wiimote along with the nunchuck, like in Twilight Princess. Also, buttons were used for fighting controls. Satoru Iwata said in a new Iwata Asks interview, “So the detour started right at the beginning of development!”
Eventually, though, Aonuma asked the team to consider MotionPlus once again.
Iwata: Wii MotionPlus is an incredibly sharp device, but a little distinctive. It’s like an unruly horse.
Aonuma: Yes, exactly. No matter what we did, we couldn’t tame it. Then Wii Sports Resort came out as the first game for Wii MotionPlus.
Iwata: That’s right.
Aonuma: We played that and realized all you could do with it. Wii Sports Resort has all kinds of games like Swordplay and Archery and you can play each one as its own separate game, but in The Legend of Zelda, you play everything on the same field.
Fujibayashi: That’s right. You may be fighting with your sword and the next instant use the Clawshot or shoot an arrow or throw a bomb, so it was really difficult to make the game so you could use Wii MotionPlus to do those things smoothly all on the same field.
Aonuma: So I proposed to the staff to not use Wii MotionPlus afterall.
Confirmed: Skyward Sword has been in development for five years, fewer detours compared to Twilight Princess
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 0 comments
Quotes from Shigeru Miyamoto in the past have confused fans as to how long The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has been in development. In early 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto exapleind that “the Zelda team is forming again to work on new games”, before clarifying a few months later that a new project was already underway.
In any case, the first edition of Iwata Asks for Skyward Sword confirms that it has definitely been in the works for about five years. The discussion below also hints at some of the troubles the team faced – MotionPlus incorporation specifically.
Aonuma: I’m Aonuma, the producer. There have been all kinds of twists and turns since development began almost five years ago. Until completion of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I talked with Director Fujibayashi about how we could take the project in a good direction, backed up the staff, and consulted with Miyamoto-san.
Iwata: You say that there were twists and turns, but I heard there were few detours this time compared to the last game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Aonuma: Well…
Iwata: You can’t say there weren’t any? (laughs)
Aonuma: Yes. (laughs) I can’t say there weren’t any at all. I thought I would talk about that today.
