Hayashi: Razor’s Edge is still Ninja Gaiden III
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
We have a somewhat clearer picture of how Ninja Gaiden III will turn out on Wii U. Based on comments from team Ninja, including some words from Hayashi recently, it sounds like the experience will be very similar to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. The only major difference seems to be related to controls.
Said Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi:
“Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is still Ninja Gaiden 3, but we plan to utilize the new controller for the Wii U to do new things. You may remember Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS, we’re thinking implementing that kind of action and gameplay in an enhanced way for Wii U using the controller’s touch screen.”
Monolith Soft talks Wii U – prepared for HD development, want to show Japanese tech doesn’t lose out to America, more
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Like Satoru Iwata’s interview with Mashiro Sakurai regarding the next Smash Bros. games, Monolith Soft posted an interview on their website involving their next Wii U project. By discussing their ambitions and goals, the company hopes to attract new employees.
Monolith CEO Hirohide Sugiura. Toshiaki Yajima (main programmer on Xenosaga and Dragon Ball Kai), Katsunori Sakai (main programmer on Xenoblade, event system programmer on Disaster) and Michihiko Inaba (Xenosaga, Soma Bringer) all participated in the interview. You can read up on what they had to say below:
– Monolith Soft has been doing continuous research/development on other company’s products including HD machines
– Sugiura thinks that the company will be able to show the fruits of their work with Wii U
– Yajima says that they’ve been doing R&D for awhile now, so they aren’t experiencing issues on the technical front even though this is their first HD game
– Yajima believes that the potential expressive ability of the game has risen because they can use physics and shaders
– Yajima feels that they can really show their skills as programmers as a result
– Inaba interested in Wii U’s controller, could be interesting to play on the TV and the second screen
– Yajima wants to try out the controller quickly and possibly show different things on each screen
– Inaba wants to make something that surprises everyone since it’s Monolith’s first HD game
– Inaba wants to show that Japanese technology does not lose out to America
– Inaba said that he wants to be at the level of Bethesda Softworks, but joked that maybe he’s going too far
– Sakai excited about the design document for their Wii U game since it would require a high level from the staff
– Yajima wants many people with specific knowledge in such areas as Havok and Shaders
– When trying to portray realistic expressions on the screen, you end up needing to use external programming libraries
– Sakai wants people who are interested in using such libraries for game development
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
Ken Levine: “No plans” to make Wii U games
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Despite being featured in Nintendo’s developer reel for Wii U at E3, Ken Levine reiterated to IGN that he has no plans to make any Wii U games at the moment. Levine, however, does appreciate the idea of being able to play a full-blown console game on the controller and likes that the “pad” features two control sticks.
“Just to be clear, there are no plans. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but we have no plans to do any games for that platform. There are things about it that, as a core gamer, really appeal to me, that have nothing to do with Fruit Ninja. I have nothing against Fruit Ninja, I respect all kinds of games, I love all kinds of games, there are just certain kinds of things that are more suited to my taste. There are some things, as a core gamer, as a guy who likes lying in bed playing… I’ve always had to sacrifice that core gaming experience when I lie in bed playing games. We’re now getting to a place with Vita and what Nintendo’s doing where that’s not necessarily going to be the case, where you can play full-on hardcore games in bed with the lights out while your wife’s asleep. I like that a lot. That means a lot to me. On the airplane? That means a lot to me as a core gamer, that you’ve got two sticks. That’s so important to me. The fact that the Wii U has got two sticks… I feel it’s like… It’s a great year for the core coming back and saying, okay, have your touch screens, have your motion control, we’ll try to make that work, and if you can pull that off it’ll be really good. But I want to have my cake and eat it too. I think these experiences are starting to allow that to happen. I love my iPad, but I mostly work on it, I don’t play a lot of games on it, because I’m not into that style or form factor, that three-minute experience.”
Levine has never been involved with the development of a Nintendo game before. Might he be more inclined to work on Wii U in the future? He did leave the door open by saying “I’m not saying it can’t happen”, so you never know what may happen.
The Irrational Games co-founder has also expressed some interest in 3DS, though hasn’t shared any plans to develop for the portable.
Batman: Arkham City trailer
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
That One Show: More Wii U Hate Because I Hate Nintendo Grrr
Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
New episode! Aww yea! Topic this week is the Wii U and why a more powerful console could actually be worse than a less powerful console.
XSEED willing to publish games for Wii U
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
XSEED Games released a few titles on Wii, such as the niche title Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (which Austin seemed to love) and Ivy the Kiwi?. Now that a new Nintendo console is on the way, will the publisher be moving on to the platform? Ken Berry, Director of Publishing at XSEED, sounds interesting in localizing some games for the system depending on the type of content that’s involved:
“With the right opportunity for us, with the right title, absolutely. Their showing and demonstration was very impressive. I think everyone was floored with what the unique new controller can do. If there’s a game creator out there that puts out something very compelling and we get a chance to publish that, then yeah we would like to seize that opportunity.”
Batman: Arkham City Wii U controller mockups
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
EA’s Riccitiello: Wii U “transcends anything I’ve ever done before”
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
In case you haven’t already heard, EA is a big supporter of the Wii U. So much so that EA CEO John Riccitiello took the stage at Nintendo’s E3 2011 media briefing to talk about the potential of the console. Riccitiello once again demonstrated how excited he is about the Big N’s new system in an interview with IndustryGamers, even say that it “transcends anything I’ve ever done before.”
“It’s a high definition platform and I love the controller. I just think it’s cool. You’re a gamer – so you’ve got the screen here [in your hands] and you’ve got the [TV] screen there and you’ve got full control. Personally, while there’s some great experiences on Move, and there’s some great experiences on Kinect, I’m not a motion control guy. It’s still too imprecise for me. I like shooting something and hitting it. I like turning a corner and feeling precision. So I still like my swizzle sticks and my shoulder buttons and my Xs and Os, etc. But there is something about having that second screen that transcends anything I’ve ever done before. I can draw a pass pattern for Madden, I can be playing an FPS up here while I’m calling in air strikes or whatever I want to do. I can give all the detailed control off the screen, I can see another part of a map… I always find it breaks the spell for me when I’m playing a game with a squad and I have to stop the action and move up for them. Now I can just move them down here [on the tablet]. I think there’s something really powerful about a second screen that I think really matters. I think we’re just beginning to realize what we can do with it and I think it’s obvious we can do a lot with it.”
Bleszinski thinks Wii U is neat, believes skeptical gamers will purchase the console
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Cliff Bleszinski continues to throw his support towards Wii U. The Gears of War creator likes the idea of being able to play a console game on the controller and also believes that those who have been hateful of the system thus far will eventually purchase it. Bleszinski made a… somewhat humorous remark when discussing how you’ll be able to take the game with you even if there isn’t a television in sight:
“From what I’ve seen, it looks pretty cool. It seems like you can stream your game from your television directly to your [tablet] controller, so if you have irritable bowel syndrome, or a small bladder, you can still play it in the toilet. That’s great. But, you know, from what people are saying online, they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s just a DreamCast, whatever.’ But it’s like, ‘Dude, what’s old is new sometimes.’ The Power Glove [back on NES] led to the Wii, right? The Virtual Boy led to the 3DS, right? A lot of these older technologies that you forget about are [the technological predecessors]. The Kinect is a sophisticated webcam, right? So I’m just dying to see it. It’s Nintendo. I’ll buy it. I know I’ll buy it. They’ll (skeptical gamers) talk sh*t but they’ll buy it.”
Iwata likes the idea of automatically pushing demos to 3DS and Wii U owners
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
The only type of real demos we’ve seen on a Nintendo service thus far have come through the Wii Shop Channel. Unfortunately, the process of actually downloading content can be tedious and it doesn’t help that demos are automatically removed after a few weeks. On the bright side, it sounds like Satoru Iwata might be open to changing Nintendo’s demo methods in the future.
“…Additionally, when Nintendo would like to ask users to try a specific new game, we should deliver it to their Nintendo 3DS, and possibly Wii U, with their prior consent and recommend that they just try it and, if they like it, they can pay for it. In this way, we need to introduce users to unknown products. Consumers are likely to be convinced to pay about 5,000 yen for a well-established franchise product, but not all the people are willing to pay a certain amount of money for an innovative but unknown product. Now is the time to prepare for these situations. We would like to respond to some of the concerns surrounding our business in this manner.”
I could see this happening very easily on the 3DS and I imagine it could be easy to implement on Wii U. Demos for both retail and downloadable games are heading to the eShop later this year, but it would be great if there was an option to automatically receive demos. It’d probably be demos that Nintendo selects, but it could be an great feature.
