CVG has gone live with a short interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. You can find comments below regarding work on HD games, Wii U’s slow start, and playing music.

Miyamoto on lessons he has learned working on his own debut HD projects such as Pikmin 3…

What I learned the most is that the HD visuals are really particularly suited to Pikmin 3, and I say that because I think the lesson I learned is that the high resolution graphics are really good at portraying lots of little details within the environment.

But also of course in completing those HD visuals it’s taken a lot of time, and what’s particularly important is that in that process of developing the games you really need to stay true to that core game design. Because if you don’t then it’s very easy for a game’s production values to overshadow what’s going on with the gameplay itself.

Of course at the same time if you don’t have that core game design locked down then the development keeps extending and extending as you try to polish the quality of the graphics along the way.

Peach wasn’t always intended to be playable in Super Mario 3D World

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Princess Peach is finally playable in a mainline Mario game. Super Mario Bros. 2 was the last title to offer something similar.

This is something that Super Mario 3D World producer Yoshiaki Koizumi is quite pleased about.

Koizumi told Polygon:

“I feel like Mario games, as you know, have done lots of representation of male characters over the years. Perhaps much more so than female — so it’s actually really nice to be able to have a female playable character in the game.”

Interestingly, Peach wasn’t always intended to be playable. But once Koizumi mentioned the idea and told the team that they should “definitely” include her, Peach’s role in 3D World was set.

According to game director Koichi Hayashida:

“I think she adds a lot to the sense of competition when you get in multiplayer. You can have different people choosing different characters based on their personality or whoever they like. And princess Peach is just really a lot of fun to play!”

Source

Ubisoft discusses Watch_Dogs’ E3 2013 trailer leak

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Watch_Dogs’ E3 2013 trailer leaked out right before Ubisoft’s press conference. The video popped up online on Sunday, but Ubisoft’s briefing wouldn’t be taking place until Monday.

Naturally, the leak was a disappointment for Ubisoft. Head of sales and marketing Tony Key reacted to the situation with Polygon and discussed the difficulty in keeping secrets:

“When you spend so much time and effort on something and it leaks out a day early, it’s disappointing for everyone involved. It was supposed to be a big moment at our briefing. If half the people have already seen it, then it’s half as effective.”
“There’s a lot of other triggers in place. It’s not just what’s shown in the briefing, it’s all the assets that are about to be released associated with that, the press packages, the uploads to YouTube, the mobilization of your social media efforts. You may even have TV advertising tied to an announcement. We have an entirely integrated machine around these pulse points and when things don’t hit when they are supposed to it causes a lot of inefficiency and generally lowers the impact.”

Ubisoft says Wii U needs to sell more before it makes more exclusives, teases more ZombiU

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Ubisoft put out a few Wii U exclusives in time for the console’s launch – most notably, ZombiU. But chances are we won’t be seeing similar efforts from the publisher until the Wii U picks up on the market.

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot told Kotaku:

“We need more sold. They are coming with five of their biggest brands ever. And the Yen went down. So maybe they will take steps that will increase the number of consoles sold.”

Guillemot added that Ubisoft was able to take what it learned from making two-screen experiences with Wii U and apply their knowledge to other consoles. Still, he feels that there is ample content coming to Wii U.

“Our job is to be agile. We have to adapt the company to the potential of the market. So, what we did last year, was we knew we could learn second-screen with Nintendo, so we went full-speed to use this capacity the console was bringing. And we were able to develop Rayman, which will come at the end of this year and which is fantastic, using this second screen. What we saw is that, in learning that, we can also use it with the other consoles with [Xbox] Smart Glass, for example, and it’s a good option that is coming to us. If you look at us this year on Wii U we will have a lot of products.”

And what is the future of ZombiU? Guillemot seemed to hint that the series could have a future.

“We are still following the gameplay that was created [for that game,], so you will see something emerge one day.

Source

Zelda Wii U to offer “high-quality visuals with the art style”

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

A couple of years ago, Nintendo demonstrated what Zelda could look like on Wii U through a tech demo of sorts. The footage, dressed with full a realistic art style, was well received.

Nintendo last adopted a realistic design with Zelda: Twilight Princess. Could we see a similar direction with the next Zelda game for Wii U, similar to what was shown in the tech demo?

Geoff Keighley posed this question to Shigeru Miyamoto in a recent interview, who noted:

“Unfortunately I can’t say right now. I’m prohibited from speaking on that point. But what I can say is that this Legend of Zelda game is going to be one that we are making so that it is the perfect Zelda for Wii U, both in terms of new types of gameplay but also from a visual standpoint. So you can look forward to some very high-quality visuals with the art style in this game.”

Source

Video: Miyamoto talking Pikmin 3 at Wii U Software Showcase

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Super Mario 3D World to have Frog Suit

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo is bringing back a classic mechanic for its next Mario game.

During yesterday’s Wii U Software Showcase, Nintendo announced that Super Mario 3D World will make use of the Frog Suit. The item was originally introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, but hasn’t been featured too prominently since.

We also know that 3D World will include the new Cat Suit. What other kinds of suits might we see?

Source, Via

Media Create hardware sales (6/3 – 6/9)

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:

3DS LL – 27,172
3DS – 12,700
PS3 – 10,394
Vita – 9,733
Wii U – 6,330
PSP – 5,076
Wii – 1,060
Xbox 360 – 432

For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:

3DS LL – 28,807
3DS – 14,057
PS3 – 11,832
Vita – 11,783
Wii U – 6,680
PSP – 5,807
Wii – 1,171
Xbox 360 – 441

Miyamoto on Wii U’s price, struggle to bring out software, Wii U Zelda news possible for this year, new IP, Iwata the best at managing Nintendo, more

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments

GamesIndustry published a new interview with Shigeru Miyamoto today. You can find his responses below.

Miyamoto on not holding a press conference at E3 this year…

Obviously we’ve been coming to E3 for many years now and one thing we always try to think of when we come to E3 is: how can we show what’s really unique about Nintendo? What you described about [the media being invited to play games] was really an effort to do something that was different and show what is truly unique about Nintendo through the games, because if all we’re doing is the exact same things the other companies are doing, you just all start to look the same and I really believe we have a lot of unique things to offer.