Iwata discusses third-parties and Wii U
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
A few third-parties are taking a big gamble on Wii U. Ubisoft, for instance, is readying a full slate of titles. Warner Bros. is also preparing a variety of different games.
These publishers are probably hoping that they’ll find a larger success on their core titles compared to the Wii, which was a platform notorious for seeing poor third-party sales and eventually experienced a lack of support.
Thus far, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is encouraged by third-party support on Wii U. When asked about third-parties during the company’s most recent investor briefing Q&A, Iwata explained:
Let me first explain how software publishers in the video game industry are seeing the Wii U system. Naturally there are publishers that simply fell in love with the possibilities of Wii U, and as exemplified in “ZombiU” by Ubisoft, some are developing Wii U-exclusive titles. In addition to this, there are multi-platform titles that nevertheless take advantage of the Wii U GamePad or the Wii U system itself, and at the same time, there are purely multi-platform titles, so it is true that our publishers have varying degrees of commitment. However, the fact that we were able to announce such a rich launch lineup of games, particularly from overseas software publishers, does give us confidence. While the future of dedicated gaming platforms is now widely discussed, as the graphs for the U.S. market justify, I believe that this lineup proves that Nintendo’s vision is shared by many, and there is active support for that too. My aim is to set a successful example towards and after the end of the year that rewards the investment our third-party publishers put into their titles and will then create a chain of other successful titles. Establishing this kind of example at an early stage is crucial since it gives others the incentive to follow suit, while failing to do so casts a dark shadow over their future prospects of the platform. We should therefore not be content with having a good game lineup. It is important to produce examples of success from these titles.
Unofficial Wii U video featuring size comparisons, more
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The Official Nintendo Magazine produced the video above showing a number of size comparisons to previous Nintendo hardware. We also get another look at the console in general.
European ZombiU Premium Pack – Limited Edition box
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Transformers Prime Wii U trailer
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Miyamoto tidbits: online, Retro making Zelda, more
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
Following Shigeru Miyamoto’s acceptance of the Prince of Asturias Award, Gamereactor chatted with the legendary Nintendo designer about a variety of topics. Miyamoto talked about online (specifically related to the Wii U), the possibility of Retro making a Zelda game (yes, again!), and more.
Check out a few tidbits from the interview below.
– Premise: almost every Wii U user will already has Wiimote, Nunchuk and even WM+ – this gives freedom to devs. IR alternate pointing to both screens highly possible
– Miyamoto-san doesn’t think they fell behind with online, but now is the right moment and you ‘have’ to be online with the Wii U.
– Retro qualified for Zelda game, but being in America would leave less-dependent games for them (story, design Japan-only)
– They’ll encourage handwritten chatting with Miiverse
– 2 current goals are: own creation and creating teams which doesn’t need him.
– iPad Mini screen size is another indication they took the right path with GamePad design
Tekken Tag Tournament 2’s accidental “Allah” reference to be removed
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
A reference to “Allah” has been spotted in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Namco Bandai has plans to remove it.
The game’s “Saudi Arabia” stage contains a floor texture with a pattern of repeating stars. Collectively, they contain the Arabic script for “Allah”.
This was not at all intentional, but it could upset some Muslim gamers. Namco Bandai will fortunately be updating the stage in the near future so that the stage can be modified.
When informed of the script’s meaning, producer Katsuhiro Harada wrote on Twitter:
“We didn’t know that. We will change stage design data as soon as possible. We couldn’t read that.”
Iwata on Wii U pricing, other tidbits from investor’s Q&A
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Update: A few more details have come in. We’ve posted those below as well.
– “If we can’t provide overwhelming fun not possible with free or 85-yen games, Nintendo and consoles have no value.”
– Iwata wants to explain Miiverse service in detail through a Nintendo Direct before Wii U launches
– Can become friends with others through Miiverse
– It’s a critical mission for Nintendo to increase the number of friends to play with
– Iwata contrasted this with the prior requirement of Friend Code exchanges to prevent a few bad apples from ruining a safe gameplay experience
– Iwata thinks third-party share of software sales on Wii U to increase earlier than on DS or for foreign publishers on Wii
Original post: The transcript of Nintendo’s latest investor’s briefing Q&A has been published online. Although it’s only available in Japanese at the moment, a few tidbits have been translated.
First, one of the major points to come out of the Q&A concerns the Wii U price point. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the 3DS’ quick price cut affected pricing of the upcoming console, as the company did not want consumers to worry about a similar situation. The Wii U price was determined based on customer expectations as well as to keep people from holding out for a big, sudden price drop.
Iwata also spoke briefly about the popularity of Nintendo Direct. Between 600,000 and one million viewers have tuned in to the past few broadcasts. The Japanese Animal Crossing: New Leaf presentation has been viewed over 1.1 million times on YouTube.
It also looks like Iwata addressed the topic of new IPs. He told investors that criticizing a lack of innovation over IP-heavy lineups means you’re looking only at the titles and not their contents. Iwata noted that franchises such as Mario and Pokemon would decay if they lacked innovation.
First Darksiders II Abyssal Forge DLC footage
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Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition screenshots
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