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

Gamasutra recently had the chance to speak with Bayonetta 2 director Yusuke Hashimoto and producer Atsushi Inaba about the upcoming Wii U game as well as Platinum as a whole. Topics include working with Nintendo, elements of the actual game, and general talk about the studio.

You can find a few excerpts below, and the entire interview here.

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

Nintendo and Masahiro Sakurai have put out yet another screenshot from Super Smash Bros. Wii U today, but this one’s a bit special. The image shows what appears to be a brand new stage featuring Pilotwings.

Sakurai unfortunately didn’t say much on Miiverse. Along with the image, he simply wrote: “This island looks familiar!”

Hmmm…

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

The Wonderful 101 will feature at least two prestigious voice actors. The game’s official Japanese website confirms that Roger Craig Smith will be voicing Wonder Blue while Tara Strong is behind Wonder Pink. Both have been involved with plenty of video game roles in the past.

Source, Via

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

This week’s European Nintendo Downloads are as follows:

Wii U download

Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party – €6.99 / £5.99

Wii U VC

Romance of the three Kingdoms IV Wall of Fire (US version) – €7.99 / £5.49
Galaga – €4.99 / £3.49

3DS download

SteamWorld Dig – €8.99 / £7.99
Tangram Style – €5.99 / £5.39
Deer Drive Legends – €4.99 / £4.49

Special offers

escapeVektor – €5.00 (£4.49) until 22/8/13, 23:59 local time – was €10.00 (£8.99)
Crash City Mayhem – €9.99 (£8.99) until 22/8/13, 23:59 local time – was €19.99 (£17.99)
Rising Board 3D €1.49 (£1.29) until 22/8/13, 23:59 local time – was €1.99 (£1.79)

Source: Nintendo PR

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 5 Comments

How do new projects inside Nintendo begin? How are new ideas fostered? Company officials gave an inside look of sorts through an explanation provided to SAIPO:

“In software development, there’s no proposal to the actual company. At first, 2-3 people bring the idea to the table, and then actually write the program and build a prototype game. As the project moves forward, more people are hired, and the game gradually takes shape. In the end, the team will end up between 30-50 people, and if it is a large title, it can get up to 70 people.”

For Japanese manufacturers, elements such as the suggested retail price, date, overview, expected costs, and making a proposal describing the workforce along with other items are what leads to approval for the beginning of development. When it comes to Nintendo, however, there is no proposal to stop the ability to develop freely. Employees can actually build a prototype, and as long as the game is interesting, it has a shot at getting the green light.

Mid-level executives from Nintendo also said:

“We don’t have a concept of ‘continually getting better and better’ within the company, because this doesn’t apply to making new things. We don’t mission statement, motto, or song to support this thinking either. We are just a company that is blind to this idea.”

Also worth noting, the privileges of the development team are rather large – even if the president has a chance to intervene, he doesn’t do so often. As an example, some consoles such as the Nintendo 64 didn’t sell particularly well, but from possible failure, there is a simple corporate thinking of always being able to challenge the situation.

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

Way back in the day, Yoshihiko Maekawa worked on Super Mario RPG. 17 years later, he’s now with AlphaDream and is still making Mario RPG games through the Mario & Luigi series.

Recently, Maekawa took a moment to reflect on his past work while speaking Kotaku. Maekawa was asked if he has any interest revisiting the world of Super Mario RPG. His answer was pretty clear:

“Actually, I don’t feel like I want to return to that world and use those characters in another game. I feel like I was able to accomplish what I wanted to with that world and those characters and the gameplay ideas that came out of those, and now I mostly feel like I want to make something different.”

Question for you all: would you like to see Nintendo return to Super Mario RPG one day?

Source

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments

This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:

Wii U retail

Pikmin 3 – $59.99 – available August 4
Disney’s Planes – $49.99 – available August 6

Wii U download

Cloudberry Kingdom – $9.99

Wii U VC

Harvest Moon – $7.99

3DS VC

Kirby’s Dream Land 2 – $3.99

3DS retail

Disney’s Planes – $39.99 – available August 6

3DS download

Bike Rider DX – $5.99
My Farm 3D – $7.99
Family Kart 3D – $4.99

Nintendo eShop Special

Make Your Summer Awesome With Hulu Plus – Instantly watch hit TV shows and also check out THE AWESOMES – a Hulu Original Series from the comedic minds of Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker. Get two months of Hulu Plus free and start watching THE AWESOMES by visiting www.huluplus.com/WiiU2months to register. Then download Hulu Plus from the Nintendo eShop on Wii U.

Source: Nintendo PR

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 10 Comments

Warner Bros. announced an online multiplayer component for Batman: Arkham Origins today. Surely this significant feature will be coming to Wii U, right? Well, not exactly…

As far as I can tell, Origins’ online multiplayer will not be available on Wii U. Warner Bros.’s announcement only mentions the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and the official trailer is also conspicuously absent of a Wii U logo.

I’m not quite sure what reason there would be to keep Batman: Arkham Origins’ online multiplayer off Wii U, but we’ll try to get some answers.

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

Newegg has a slight combo deal on Shin Megami Tensei IV and Fire Emblem: Awakening. Buy the two together, and you’ll get $10 off. You’ll also be eligible for the $30 eShop credit if you handle things on Club Nintendo, so it’d be like getting Fire Emblem for free.

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 14 Comments

Nintendo has been emphasizing its “digital business” over the past few years, and it sounds like an even greater focus will be placed in this area going forward.

Recently, president Satoru Iwata stated, “It’s important for us to expand our revenue opportunities.”

Means of downloading content, other than the eShop, have been looked at. Nintendo officials have confirmed that a system will launch by year’s end so that users can purchase items from a PC or smartphone.

The company’s statement reads:

“By the end of the year, we will launch a system where you can purchase (content) from your computer or smartphone through strict account management.”