Kamiya shares a message as The Wonderful 101 launches in Europe and Japan
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
The Wonderful 101 has officially launched in Europe and Japan. Director Hideki Kamiya is celebrating the occasion with a special message on the Platinum Games blog. You can find the full thing here or after the break.
Ubisoft: Nintendo has some of the best IPs in the world, Wii U can find an audience
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 1 Comment
For the second time in as many days, Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre has spoken positively about Wii U.
Corre shared a few comments about the console as well as Nintendo in general while speaking with IGN. He was quick to point out the popularity of Nintendo’s IPs, which are among the world’s best. Regarding Wii U, Corre believes “that they’ll be able to sell more machines in the future”. He also noted: “It’s up to them to work on more communication to get the machine into more hands.”
Corre’s comments in full:
“There are millions, tens of millions of fans of Nintendo brands. I’m sure you’ve played Mario Kart for hundreds of hours. I did too. There are so many great franchises that are still making people dream. We think these brands will stay with us. After that, it’s up to Nintendo to make sure that the machine can reach as many consumers as possible. We all think that they’ll be able to sell more machines in the future. They have some of the best IP in the world, and some of the best memories for their players. If you’ve played Smash Bros. in the past, you want to play the next one. So these brands have a future, for sure. It’s up to them to work on more communication to get the machine into more hands.”
Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Zelda: Wind Waker HD t-shirts hit Club Nintendo Japan
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 10 Comments
The Japanese Club Nintendo website tends to get the best rewards. As an example, numerous soundtracks and original downloadable rewards have been available in the past. To put it simply, there have been many more noteworthy prizes in Japan than in the US and Europe.
The trend is continuing, as a new set of fantastic items have arrived on the Japanese site. Nintendo gamers can order Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, and Zelda: Wind Waker HD t-shirts for 600 points each. The cost will be reduced to 400 if users register corresponding software.
Zelda: Wind Waker HD Hero Mode trailer
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 1 Comment
Not sure how long this will stay up. Watch it while you can!
A better look at the Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games boxart
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Wii U | 1 Comment
The image above is quite a bit bigger than the original Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games boxart we posted. I figured we should make a new post given how you can actually see it this time around!
Zelda: Wind Waker HD bundle confirmed, comes with special GamePad design
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 7 Comments
A now-pulled trailer for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD confirms rumors of a Wii U bundle. The package will come with a 32GB console and a copy of the game.
Perhaps best of all is the special design included on the GamePad. There’s a small chance that it’s a decal, but given how Nintendo approaches its limited edition 3DS releases, it’s likely embedded right in. You can get a look at the controller through the image above.
Disney Infinity update adds new Toy Boxes, more coming every week
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment
Disney Infinity has received a free update, which brings along five new Toy Boxes: Wonderland Maze, Medieval Arena, Tron vs. Sugar Rush, Happiest Place, and Floating Castle.
As the name implies, Tron vs. Super Rush is a mashup area. The Happiest Place Toybox looks similar to the Disneyland theme park.
More Toy Boxes will be coming to Disney Infinity weekly.
The Wonderful 101 has a “really hard mode”, Kamiya couldn’t beat it
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
The Wonderful 101 includes a number of difficulty modes, one of which was so tough that director Hideki Kamiya couldn’t complete it.
Nintendo’s Hitoshi Yamagami, producer Atsushi Inaba, and Nintendo director Shingo Matsushita shared the news in a new Iwata Asks. The three said:
Yamagami: That’s right. We’ve also prepared a really hard mode that should probably be called ‘A challenge from Kamiya.’ How hard is it? Probably only Kamiya-san and the super debuggers from Mario Club are able to beat it.
Inaba: No, Kamiya can’t do it.
Matsushita: It was so challenging, I asked Kamiya-san to help us out with the debugging process, but he said he couldn’t do it.
GameStop says holiday 2013 is key for Wii U, sees potential for improved performance thanks to upcoming titles
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Michael P. Hogan, executive VP of strategic business and brand development at GameStop, had new insight for Wii U during a recent financial call.
Holiday 2013 will be a “key” period for the console, according to Hogan:
We’ve been asked a number of times about the performance of the Wii U and how that factors into the model projections. In previous versions of the model, we assumed the success rate for the new 2013 consoles, the Sony and Microsoft consoles, at 80% to 85% of prior generation. Based upon what we knew at the time however, we had modeled the Wii U at a much lower multiple of prior generation sales for both hardware and software. Thus, we already had very conservative assumptions for the Wii U. And at launch, the Wii U exceeded those expectations. They all since then have been softer, but the key will be holiday 2013 performance.
Hogan also addressed the Wii U’s struggles, once again highlighting the importance of new games. GameStop’s own research has indicated that the lack of prominent software is the top reason for consumers’ disinterest. But with big releases scheduled to arrive over the next few months and leading into the holidays, Hogan said: “we do see the potential for significantly improved performance this fall and holiday.”
It is worth noting that in our PowerUp Rewards consumer research, the No. 1 reason consumers give for not yet purchasing the Wii U is the limited number of new games for this console. Post E3, we are excited about the number of new games from Nintendo, and we do see the potential for significantly improved performance this fall and holiday.
Lead writer compares Assassin’s Creed IV to the first two games in the series, includes open-ended assassinations
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
“I think we were actually looking back at Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Assassin’s Creed 3, both of which had kind of gone towards a more linear Uncharted style of experience. We wanted to go back to Assassin’s Creed 1/Assasson’s Creed 2 style open-ended assassinations, so even before we saw the result of what Assassin’s Creed 3 was doing, we just knew this was a philosophy we wanted to follow.”
– Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag lead writer Darby McDevitt
Darby also talked about the character of Edward Kenway, saying he’s perhaps a bit more like Ezio (ACII, Revelations) than Connor (ACIII) in terms of personality, but ultimately he’s different than any other characters in the franchise.
