Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

16 years ago today, the Game Boy Color launched in Japan. That means it’s time for a birthday celebration!

The Game Boy Color was the first Nintendo system I personally owned (be it home console or handheld), so I certainly have a ton of nostalgia for it. I believe Pokemon Gold was the first game I purchased!

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

Satoru Okada was a pretty important figure at Nintendo. He played a big role in the creation of the company’s earliest handheld systems, which continued until his retirement back in 2012.

Okada was recently interviewed by the Japanese publication “Shooting Gameside”. Here are a few of the more interesting excerpt that specifically pertains to Nintendo:

—Since you’ve participated in the creation of so many different handheld gaming consoles, I was thinking you’d be more particular and high-strung. But in fact you’re very open and relaxed.

Okada: The first thing I made using a computer was the Game and Watch series. After that handheld gaming consoles became the main focus of my work at Nintendo. Speaking of being particular, you know, I didn’t originally apply to Nintendo with any special ambitions or designs. Originally my friend was supposed to have taken the company’s entrance test, but due to circumstances he couldn’t make it out. In his place I was chosen to take the test. When I say “in his place”, though, I don’t mean that I was a mere susbtitute; I was given the chance as part of a job-search program at my school. I knew if I took it lightly that it would damage the reputation of my school, and I couldn’t allow that. Still, I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I ended up being late to that test, but thanks to the kindness of the test administrator, I was allowed to take it anyway.

Nintendo’s entrance exam had a section where you had to actually engineer something. You were given a design and had to make a model of it using small metal pieces. Since I had spent so much time in Junior High doing those electrical engineering projects, it was an easy task for me. As a result, rumour got around at Nintendo that “someone good at soldering has joined!” It seemed I was the first person to join Nintendo with any electrical engineering abilities, a fact which would turn out to be a huge investment in my future.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment

Those who purchase Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker from the Nintendo UK store will receive a special gift. Orders will come with a keychain featuring Toad himself. Since Nintendo doesn’t explicitly say “pre-order” in its tweet, I assume that some consumers will be able to nab the keychain if they purchase Captain Toad after launch as well.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 69 Comments

Nintendo recently put out a job listing for a lead graphics architect. This person will be “responsible for the architecture of Nintendo’s game console SoCs”, according to the post.

Here’s a full look at the listing:

Description of Duties

Nintendo Technology Development is looking for a lead graphics architect in the system-on-chip architecture group in Redmond, WA. The group is responsible for the architecture of Nintendo’s game console SoCs. The graphics architect plays a key role in determining the SoC architecture. The job responsibilities are:
Evaluate HW graphics (GPU) offerings from SoC solutions available in the market based on performance, power, and silicon area.
Evaluate the performance of the SoC solutions for both proprietary and standard graphics APIs.
Determine workloads and simulation models for both performance and power characteristics of GPUs.
Keep track of GPU architectural improvements in the industry and devise strategies to incorporate them for future Nintendo gaming platforms.
Act as the graphics architectural evangelist working with global Nintendo teams for future and on-going programs.
Work with external SoC vendors as the Nintendo focal point for graphics GPU architecture.
Should be prepared to work through architecture, design, validation, and bring-up stages of SoC design in cooperation with internal and external teams.

Summary of Requirements
The ideal candidate will have had experience working directly in a GPU architecture and design team with significant responsibilities.
Low power and SoC design experience would be a plus.
The candidate is expected to have good architectural insights and the ability to apply that for setting future graphics direction for Nintendo.
A bachelors degree (graduate degree preferred) in computer science/engineering or electrical engineering.
5+ years of lead or architectural role experience are required.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Nintendo published this listing given how new systems are in development years before launch. Still, it’s a neat thing to see!

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Screenshots | 0 comments

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