Get double the coins for NSLU on Club Nintendo, chance to win Luigi pin
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Those who download New Super Luigi U from the Wii U eShop will earn twice the amount of coins on Club Nintendo. Fill out a survey by August 1 and the points will be yours.
Nintendo will also be holding a Club Nintendo contest to promote the DLC. Download the game and complete the aforementioned survey to be entered for a chance to receive a Luigi pin – pictured above. 980 winners will be selected.
You can find more details here
Aonuma on learning from Zelda: Wind Waker HD for Zelda Wii U
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
There’s a lot of Zelda on the horizon. Zelda: Wind Waker HD is hitting Wii U in October, followed by Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS in November.
Of course, fans are also looking forward to Zelda’s first original Wii U outing. Series producer Eiji Aonuma won’t say much about it, but he did discuss with Kotaku how Wind Waker HD is preparing Nintendo for the big project, and how it’s a” kind of testing ground”:
“Wind Waker HD is kind of a testing ground for us. With Wind Waker we were able to accomplish, for the first time, to create a seamless experience. You traveled a great sea… also [we are adding] the Miiverse communication of playing with others virtually. So we’re going to take things like this and add to those so the Wii U [new Zelda] experience should be one that is satisfying to players.”
Aonuma also confirmed that the Wind Waker HD will merge with the new Zelda Wii U team once the project is done. It will be a “super-team!”
Iwata accpets blame for Wii U struggles, price drop not in sight
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
The Wii U isn’t doing so well right now in a number of respects. It’s not selling like Nintendo hoped it would. Numerous third-party publishers aren’t supporting the system. Consumers still haven’t caught on with messaging.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is, however, taking full responsibility for the Wii U’s struggles. Speaking with CNN, Iwata said: “We are to blame”.
“We are to blame. We relaxed our [marketing] efforts, so the consumers today still cannot understand what’s so good and unique about the Wii U. Because we’re always trying to be unique, it takes some energies on our side to [make] people understand the real attractions about whatever we are doing.
Sakurai: Not enough time to bring back every Smash Bros. character
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 2 Comments
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai was recently asked if all characters who have previously appeared in the series will be back for the Wii U and 3DS games. The short answer is no.
Sakurai explained that the team simply doesn’t have enough time “to fully recreate every single character who’s been in Smash Bros at this point.”
He said:
“I can answer that: no. We don’t have the time to fully recreate every single character who’s been in Smash Bros at this point. Adding new characters is not a simple addition – it’s really multiplication. The amount of work, adding a character is multiplied and becomes bigger and bigger as you go. We can’t because of the amount of work it takes. However, I do believe I understand that each character has its own set of fans out there who really like that character. So we’re not going to cut characters out of the way, we’re going to put in as many characters as we can, we really want to do that, because it’s good for the fans and good for all of us. But in the event that we do have to cut some characters, I’d like to apologise in advance to those fans.”
Nintendo open to free-to-play Animal Crossing
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Nintendo is open to exploring a free-to-play Animal Crossing game, but it doesn’t sound like there are immediate plans to pursue this route.
Animal Crossing lead designer Katsuya Eguchi told GamesBeat that finding a business model appropriate for a free-to-play entry is imperative. Additionally, they would need “to determine what we’re going to make available from the beginning.”
“I think the main thing that we need to think about before even considering doing something like that is to determine what we’re going to make available from the beginning. I think that’s key in deciding whether we do something like that. If I find a business model that works, however — that works for Nintendo and the end-user — then I can’t say that [free-to-play] is something we wouldn’t consider.”
Eguchi also drew a comparison to the demographic playing Animal Crossing and the audience in Japan who enjoy casual free-to-play smartphone titles.
“When you look at our main audience in Japan, they are definitely that audience that has smartphones. [They are] women in their late teens and early 20s. They are certainly playing free-to-play games on their smartphone.”
Suda51 remains interested in making another No More Heroes
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 0 comments
Suda51 created two No More Heroes games for Wii. There hasn’t been many developments in the series since No More Heroes 2 came out a few years ago, but he’s still interested in the series.
When asked about the possibility of No More Heroes 3, Suda51 said:
“Travis [Touchdown] is one of the characters I’m really fond of, that means a lot to me. So if there was the opportunity to create another sequel then yeah, I’m always up to the idea.”
Come on, Suda… you basically promised another No More Heroes for Nintendo’s new console (which we now know is the Wii U) way back in 2009. The fans demand it!
Aonuma: Twilight Princess was the Zelda project most impacted by fan opinion
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 1 Comment
Nintendo usually does its own thing when it comes to creating games – especially with Zelda. No one asked for a cel-shaded Zelda after Ocarina of Time, but that’s exactly what was delivered.
However, there are some instances in which Nintendo has taken fans’ opinions into consideration. For Zelda, Twilight Princess was the project most impacted and influenced by fan opinion.
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma told Zelda Universe:
Hmm… I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly as a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.
I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well.
Peter Molyneux talks Nintendo, says their hardware is starting to get in the way of their success
Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Game developer Peter Molyneux took some time with GamesIndustry International the other day all about Nintendo, and he outlined some of the things he feels the company is doing right, as well as some of the things they’re doing wrong.
You know what Nintendo did – this is a fascinating thing – Nintendo created gamers by the software they made. They created millions of gamers with Donkey Kong and Mario – they were the birth of gamers. That exact same thing is happening on this platform today. Millions of new gamers are being created almost every month, and they’re being created with titles not from Nintendo, not from Microsoft, not from Sony, not even necessarily from Activision or EA. They’re being created by companies like Supercell and Rovio. They’re the ones that are bringing and creating new gamers. And now there are millions of people interacting with franchises, which Nintendo won’t even touch, which seems a shame to me because Nintendo are brilliant about bringing people into the industry, and I think their hardware is starting to get in the way of that.
I caveat all of this by saying that they are a factor more intelligent than I am, and they’ve probably got a plan, and you should never underestimate Nintendo. We’ll probably be sitting here in a couple years saying, ‘Oh that’s what they were doing’.”
– Peter Molyneux
I must admit, sometimes I feel the same way as Molyneux! Occasionally it feels like Nintendo is using their hardware in ways that are simply “different” rather than “better”, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but perhaps their focus could be better shifted to incremental improvements to gaming while bringing in more people with games themselves.
That being said, I think the Wii U is a perfect example of an incremental improvement, rather than something different for the sake of different’s sake. I have a feeling Peter disagrees with me on that point! And he also said that the Wii U is a reaction to Microsoft’s SmartGlass, which is somewhat troubling and shows that perhaps he isn’t paying as close attention to the timeline of the industry as he should be!
Iwata says make games people won’t want to sell, forgetting to talk about games
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Because of how the Xbox One will be implementing certain policies, the topic of used games has come up often in recent weeks. IGN asked Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata for his thoughts in a recent interview.
For Iwata, the best approach is making a game that people won’t want to sell.
“The best possible countermeasure against people buying used product is making the kind of product that people never want to sell. Taking as an example Mario Kart or Smash Bros., even though you might think, ‘I’ve done enough with this,’ you’ll still have second thoughts. ‘Wait a minute. If one of my friends comes over, I might need this again.’ You’re never going to want to sell these games. That’s something that always occupies our minds. We need to make software that players don’t want to sell.”
“We’re competing with each other in terms of who’s creating the most fun games. Unfortunately, however, as I saw the reports dispatched from E3 this year, they’re pretty much occupied by talk about which machine is more friendly to used games, or which machine is $100 cheaper than the other. I’m sorry that we’re missing the most important discussion – about video games.”
Iwata also said that he never thought about implementing anti-used games measures or “typing down” any Nintendo system with restrictions.
Miyamoto on always-online, more powerful systems, competitor price comparisons, Zelda toon-shading style could return
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Shigeru Miyamoto has weighed in a number of prominent topics, including always-online, the need to make creative games in the wake of more powerful systems, price comparisons of Wii U’s competitors, and the possible return of the toon-shading style introduced with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Head past the break for Miyamoto’s comments.
