Podcast Stories

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Thus far, we haven’t seen many of Nintendo’s franchises running on Wii U. The company has only released a side-scrolling 2D Mario and has shown Pikmin on the new console.

But what about Nintendo’s other series? Fans are very much interested in seeing what Zelda, Metroid, F-Zero, and others would look like on Wii U.

The same goes for developers. Many have ideas about Nintendo’s many IPs and how they can be brought to the Wii U.

Below you’ll find commentary from creators at Sumo, Q-Games, Gaijin Games, and more, who have shared some of their suggestions.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

THQ won’t be closing and it will continue to operate as usual, but it seems that the publisher is nonetheless on the market. And thus another company could step in to purchase THQ’s assets… like Ubisoft, maybe?

MCV is indeed reporting that Ubisoft has great interest in purchasing THQ’s assets, labeling them as “one of the front-runners”. Once THQ’s financial issues have been settled, Ubisoft could swoop in.

The site also says, through its sources, that Ubisoft “is already in lengthy discussions with the firm (and presumably its new owners at Clearlake investments) to forge a deal.”

One of the main holdups at the moment is price. Ubisoft is apparently looking for a “bargain buy”, and could “hold-out until THQ is forced to sell off specific assets”.

Ultimately, what could this mean? If a deal is struck, Ubisoft could most notably be in possession of THQ’s franchises such as Darksiders and Saints Row, while also obtaining the rights to licences such as the WWE.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

Polygon has published a new report about Disney Infinity which contains a ton of details about the game. While some minor aspects may change since the article is based on assets from earlier in the year, most – if not all – of the major elements should still be in place.

What may be interesting about all of this is that Disney Infinity doesn’t actually seem like any sort of Skylanders competitor, as was initially assumed. It’s more of a way for Disney and Pixar IPs to come together in a huge world.

Disney Infinity hasn’t been confirmed for a Nintendo platform yet, but I’d be stunned if this wasn’t brought to the Wii U (or even the Wii) at this point.

Details (and a few images) stemming from Polygon’s report are below.

– Open-world sandbox game
– Like a combination between the best of Minecraft creation with the absurdity of Just Cause’s over-the-top action moments
– Child-friendly world with popular Disney and Pixar characters
– “gaming platform”
– Pulls from Disney and Pixar’s library of movies and TV shows
– IP-specific playsets packed with new characters, settings, toys and building blocks
– Reinvent the way video games tell stories by handing off the controls to the players
– Disney Infinity will run on a multiple of devices including consoles, iPad, Android
– Some of the information below could have changed somewhat, since leaked assets were from early in the year
– Control a character from a collection of Disney movies
– Explore wide-open expanses in cars, on foot, or by flying
– Split-screen mode included
– Will support a plethora of ways to play including racing, shooting, building and destroying
– Players ran around together as different Disney and Pixar characters, hopping on top of structures, using ray guns, driving tanks in impromptu battles
– In one scene, Toy Story’s Woody uses a “sticky hand” toy, Disney Infinity’s version of Just Cause’s grappling hook, to grab a passing plane being flown by Buzz Lightyear
– The stretchy, neon-green leash attached to the sticky hand elongates, dragging Woody off his feet and into the air behind the plane
– Another scene: a player plants a toy slingshot in the ground and then uses it to shoot various explosives and toys at a distant block castle, eventually hitting a stack of red blocks which explode, knocking the building down
– Third scene: player crafting an elaborate racetrack with pre-created track pieces and then speeding along the creation as Cars’ Lightning McQueen
– Not all characters will be able to do all things in the game
– Some characters can ride mounts or drive cars, others won’t
– More than 30 abilities like invisibility, super damage, swimming and ranged combat
– Pre-created game modes included such as soccer, king of the hill, capture the flag
– Pre-created cities and settings
– Players not forced to do anything
– Seems to have some pre-created stories and missions
– Game may remind some of Toy Story 3’s “Toy Box” mode
– From the same developer
– Went by the codename “Toy Box”
– Made by Avalanche Software, the studio behind Toy Story 3: The Video Game and Cars 2: The Video Game
– Developers say in the video that they sensed they were onto something with Toy Box mode and pursued creating a more realized version of that mode
– Disney Infinity is a way for people to play with all of the Disney properties any time, any place, across devices
– Unclear how cross-platform play will work
– Also unknown how many platforms are supported
– Xbox 360, iPad, and Android phone devices confirmed thus far
– Console gameplay featured building, iPad/phone was more about controlling characters and exploring
– Disney Infinity is broken down into two elements: playsets and the rumpus room
– Virtual playsets are themed after well-known Disney creations like Cars, Buzz Lightyear, Woody’s Round-Up, The Incredibles, Wreck-it-Ralph and Peter Pan and Aladdin
– Included are settings, backdrops, toys and action figures
– Reference to playing cards with character cost and attributes on them, but it was unclear if they would be physical creations or virtual ones
– Rumpus room: big blank slate where a gamer can create virtually anything they want with both these themed playsets and toys that aren’t from any playset
– Rumpus room is likened to a child’s bedroom, a place where you can dump all of your favorite toys on the floor and play with them
– Video shows players controlling a Buzz Lightyear in the rumpus room
– Buzz walks up to a capsule machine, selects an item from a menu and the item drops out in a capsule
– When he tosses it, it pops up and becomes what he ordered
– Other scenes from the video: characters dropping massive building blocks to create castles, running around inside a highly detailed city as the buildings grow and shrink, change shape and float
– Disney Infinity designed to be around for a long time, a platform for play that will support the ever-growing cast of Disney characters

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Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo TVii is live on Wii U. You don’t have to download any special update – simply boot up the app and you’ll be good to go. Nintendo TVii is completely free to use.

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

“Technically speaking, the Goblin Menace expansion is not “exclusive” to Wii U as such. It’s exclusive as of right now because we haven’t had enough resources to look into getting it to XBLA and PSN. The levels in the expansion are quite a bit more demanding than the original campaign, so we’re not quite sure if we can squeeze them onto the older consoles properly. We probably could if we did some minor changes to the levels, but that can end up as quite a bit of work…”- Joel, Frozenbyte team

I know that technically speaking it’s better for more people to have access to a game, but man, it sure does feel good to hear stuff like this! He also went on to say that they don’t really like PSN or XBLA, and definitely prefer the Wii U’s eShop for releasing content:

“Truth be told we’re not very big fans of XBLA nor PSN at the moment, their processes are a bit too heavy to our liking and we also need to go through the XBLA/PSN publisher ATLUS, so it’s all a bit more complicated. And frankly there’s a big psychological factor as well – We had a very stressful time getting the game onto XBLA and PSN, and we feel like it wasn’t really up to us, so we dread having to do that again.”

There are a lot more comments from Joel, but I’ve yet to read through them all. As I do I’ll post em up!

Eurogamer via Reddit

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in DS, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

“When we developed the DS, we started from the question, ‘If we make a high spec Gameboy Advance, is it something people will want?’ If you make the same sort of thing, there’s no uniqueness to it. When there’s nothing unique, all you get as a result is a price war. [Former Nintendo President] Mr. Yamauchi had no direct input in the development of the Wii U, but indirectly, you could say his idea from the DS is connected.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

The idea Miyamoto is referring to is Yamauchi’s philosphy of adding something new and unique to every console or handheld, a concept he applied to the original Nintendo DS, and then carried over (more than just functionally!) to the Wii U. I’d say this has worked out for the better so far for Nintendo, and– sales notwithstanding– it looks like it’s going to work out well for Wii U as well!

Via Kotaku

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo has published the much-anticipated Reggie Asks: Nintendo TVii discussion. This is the first time Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has participated in a talk focusing on the development of a product.

You can read the discussion here.

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity is coming to North America. NOA has announced that the game will be released in the states on March 24. Consumers will be able to purchase Gates to Infinity, which marks the series’ debut on the 3DS, at retail or on the eShop.

For the official announcement, head past the break.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Good news, Wii U Internet browser users: YouTube once again works on the console. Things are working properly once more after roughly a week of downtime. That means you no longer have to use the sluggish, inconvenient app to access video content from the site.

Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

Following the release of Nano Assault Neo, developer Shin’en will continue its support of the Wii U eShop. The studio said that Neo only “scratched the surface”, with two more projects planned. Shin’en is currently working on a game “in the racing genre”. A sequel to WiiWare’s FAST – Racing League, perhaps?

And speaking of Nano Assault Neo, it’s one of the company’s “fastest selling games ever”. Shin’en will bring its first update to the downloadable title soon, which Manfred Linzner says “will fix a display problem in the online rankings, and a minor issue when the GamePad does disconnect.”

“We’ve already submitted a first patch to Nintendo that will fix a display problem in the online rankings, and a minor issue when the GamePad does disconnect. To our knowledge there are no restrictions in such updates by Nintendo.”

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