October 2013: Nintendo’s response, 3DS hardware sales double, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 3 Comments
Nintendo has responded to the October 2013 NPD data report.
The company’s results are highlighted by 3DS sales, which came in at 452,000 units last month. October 3DS sales doubled last month’s total, and according to Nintendo, “marked the most units any portable video game system or home console has sold in a single month in 2013.”
Pokemon X/Y were the top two selling titles in the US last month. Both versions sold 1.7 million copies in the US.
Thanks to the new Pokemon releases, October was the biggest month for 3DS software. Nintendo said in its NPD response today, “Total Nintendo 3DS first-party software sales hit more than 2 million units sold, the highest tally since the report for December 2011, which included sales of hit games Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7.”
You can find Nintendo’s full NPD response below.
October 2013 NPD: top 10 best-selling games in the U.S.
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
NPD Group has released a listing of the top ten best-selling games in the U.S. for the month of October. The results can be found below.
1. Grand Theft Auto V (360, PS3)
2. Pokémon X (3DS)
3. Pokémon Y (3DS)
4. Battlefield 4 (360, PS3, PC)
5. Batman: Arkham Origins (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
6. Assassin’s Creed IV, Black Flag (360, PS3, Wii U)
7. NBA 2K14 (360, PS3, PC)
8. Skylanders: Swap Force (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS)
9. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PC)
10. WWE 2K14 (360, PS3)
Worth noting, the 3DS came out on top as the best-selling system in the US last month.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag graphics comparison
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 2 Comments
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds director worked on plenty of Zelda games, Pikmin, and even Geist
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Wondering who directed The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds? That would be Hiromasa Shikata.
Shikata has worked on a bunch of Nintendo titles in the past – some of which may surprise you.
Shikata began making the backgrounds and fields of Zelda games, including Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker. You may be interested to learn that he created the design of the Kakariko Village windmill in Ocarina of Time and a great deal of Wind Waker’s Forsaken Fortress. Shikata also helped out with Twilight Princess as an assistant director and was a lead planner on Spirit Tracks.
Shikata also contributed to the first Pikmin, Geist, and Nintendo Land before eventually moving on to A Link Between Worlds.
The Worlds of Mario and Zelda Combine for a Launch Event at Nintendo World in Rockefeller Plaza
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Fans Can Purchase Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Mario Party: Island Tour Early
REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo:
| WHAT: | Video game launch events don’t get much more exciting than this! On Nov. 21, Nintendo is hosting a combined celebration for three giant games: Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Mario Party: Island Tour for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. The event will take place at Nintendo World in Rockefeller Plaza in New York. | |
| Fans will not want to miss this event, as they will be able to purchase all three of these huge Wii U and Nintendo 3DS releases (while supplies last) starting at 8 p.m. ET, a day before they launch in stores and in the Nintendo eShop. In addition to early access to the games, chalk artist Chris Carlson will be on site to reveal an epic art piece featuring iconic imagery from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Costumed characters from both the Mario and Zelda series will also be enjoying the festivities and taking pictures with fans. | ||
| Franchises as big as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda don’t often launch on the same day. This celebration is sure to be an absolute treat for fans. | ||
| WHO: | Nintendo fans, families, characters from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series | |
| WHEN: | Thursday, Nov. 21 | |
| 8 p.m. – midnight | ||
| WHERE: | Nintendo World | |
| 10 Rockefeller Plaza | ||
| New York, NY 10020 | ||
| VISUALS: | ||
| • A chalk artist revealing a beautiful piece of chalk art inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. | ||
| • Costumed characters from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series interacting and taking pictures with fans. | ||
| • Fans dressed as characters from their favorite Nintendo games. | ||
| • Families playing Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Mario Party: Island Tour on game-play kiosks. | ||
| • Attendees purchasing some of the top games of the holiday season before they launch. | ||
Source: Nintendo PR
Japanese Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games site open
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo has opened up the official Japanese website for Japanese Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Access it here. It features what you’d expect – images, a few videos, and more.
Thanks to Tytygh for the tip.
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World summary – including Galaxy talk
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
I’ve thrown together a summary of the Super Mario 3D World Iwata Asks, as the original discussion is quite long. There are definitely a number of interesting points, plus some talk about the future of the Super Mario Galaxy series. Without further ado, here’s the summary in full:
– No upending the tea table from Miyamoto this time
– Miyamoto “only needed to be involved with occasional spot-checks in areas where I wanted to take a closer look”
– Hayashida: “To be upfront about it, ever since we started developing Super Mario 3D Land, we thought about making Super Mario 3D World in continuation afterward.”
– The team originally wanted to include a multiplayer mode in Super Mario 3D Land
– Team initially started out at 40-50, was at about 100 at the end
– The team has tons of ideas for Mario’s transformations
– Cat transformation forms a pair with Statue Mario
– When you turn into Cat Mario under a certain condition, he can make bonus coins appear with Ground Pounds
– Moving multiple Marios was considered before, but wasn’t tried since the team thought it’d be too taxing from a control perspective
– Double Mario came about when a staffer made a mistake with the placement tool and put in two Mario players
– NOA staffers said Mario 3D World has a high replay value
– Free Camera Mode is in single-player mode only
– Captain Toad’s Adventure was put in so that players ” would try it out as a way to experience a game in which you control the camera yourself as you would in a 3D Super Mario game.”
– Motokura insisted on putting in the secret character
– This character loses its ability when in cat form
– This character also becomes a black cat when transformed
– The Luigi Bros. game and the secret character appear after reaching the end once
– Luigi Bros. appears on the title screen
– If you have New Super Luigi U data, you can play from the start
– Hidden Luigi pixels are included in the game
– Random button randomly assigns characters before each course
– Can do a Ground Pound to steal someone’s double power
– Random selection is also available in single-player
– Hayashida on the stamps: “We had always wanted to do something with Miiverse, and I tried posting, but the world is full of people who can draw well. I can’t draw, so I couldn’t get into it.”
– Over 80 stamps are in the game
– Some stamps you get deep in the second half
– Mii characters of other people online show up as Sprixies
– When you clear a course, the ghost of the person who cleared it will replay through that gameplay
– Time Attack Ghost will appear, which is the ghost of another player who’s clear time is just a little faster than yours
– The team had a strong desire to call it “3D World” from the beginning
– Miyamoto realized “Land” was for handhelds and “World” was for home consoles
– Miyamoto: “Some opinions against it arose along the way, and there was a time when it looked like it wouldn’t fly, but it’s a name with a lot of thought behind it that suggests anyone can feel easy playing the game and that it’s a culmination of all the fun of a 3D Super Mario game, so the name had to be Super Mario 3D World, and in the end that’s what it is.”
– Koizumi says he had some regrets about some things when making Super Mario Galaxy, which he feels he was able to address with 3D World
– Koizumi has long wanted Luigi to appear alongside Mario in a 3D game, and also felt Galaxy was more geared toward boys
– With Peach’s inclusion, he feels this has been addressed
– Miyamoto: “Just so there is no misunderstanding, I should point out that this doesn’t mean we’ll never make another Super Mario Galaxy game.”
– Koizumi: “When we first started making Super Mario 3D World, Miyamoto-san asked me if this was going to be more like Super Mario Galaxy or more like Super Mario 3D Land. When we made Super Mario 3D Land, we had our eyes on the form of this game, so we made it this way without any hesitation.”
– Miyamoto: “The same team can’t make both at the same time. And we can’t bring in a second party and slap the name Super Mario Galaxy on it. I suppose we could idealistically make both in Tokyo, but we want to do something new too, so there was that dilemma.”
– Miyamoto “Personally, I would like to take on a variety of new challenges with Super Mario Galaxy and design 2D Super Mario games in an easy-to-understand way within certain restraints.
– Iwata: “Either way, to fans of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World is in no way a different beast that they won’t be able to enjoy.”
Super Mario 3D World original soundtrack heading to Club Nintendo Japan
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Club Nintendo Japan is getting the Super Mario 3D World soundtrack as an original reward. It comes with two discs and a total of 77 songs.
Random note: the black blob you see on the soundtrack cover was my own doing, as I wanted to cover up the secret character in Super Mario 3D World. Most of you probably know who I’m talking about at this point with spoilers floating around since today’s Nintendo Direct… but I tried!
