Wii U’s 2015 software lineup, more titles to take advantage of the GamePad
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 25 Comments
At the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January a year ago, I explained that we were focusing on enriching the value of the Wii U GamePad, and at E3 in June Mr. Miyamoto showcased a couple of specific examples. In 2015, we will be releasing Wii U titles that fully utilize the GamePad.
This slide shows the Wii U titles that have already been announced for release in 2015. Even though there are more to announce, this slide contains many titles which fully utilize the GamePad.
In addition to Mr. Miyamoto’s GamePad Utilization Project, UGC (User-Generated Content), where players can enjoy other players’ creations, is possible in titles such as “Mario Maker” (temp.). Gameplay that utilizes the GamePad possesses a large amount of potential, and it can further expand the way parents and children have fun together.
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Iwata on Wii U sales, including Mario Kart 8 and Smash
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments
We showed a graph at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing to indicate the growth of the Wii U hardware and software sales in the first half of this fiscal year over the corresponding six months a year ago in Japan, the U.S. and in Europe, and this is the same graph but with the data from Australia.
The sales figures of both hardware and software improved due to various reasons, such as the release of “Mario Kart 8” in May and the re-evaluation of the Wii U platform after E3 in June. The strong growth in Australia can be mainly be attributed to “Mario Kart 8” released in May just before Australia’s unique June-July winter sales season, known as the Toy Catalogue Season.We shipped 4.77 million units of “Mario Kart 8” worldwide as of the end of the last calendar year. I can say it marked a very high attach rate if we consider the current installed base of Wii U hardware.
Following the Nintendo 3DS version, we released “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U,” which had shipped 3.39 million units by the end of last year.
As these two classic multiplayer franchises for Nintendo consoles were brought out together,As you can see, the year-on-year comparisons of software sell-through sales in the October-December period show increases in all regions. They especially improved in the U.S. market. We can see larger improvements if we make comparisons among Nintendo titles, especially in the overseas markets.
This is not directly related to this graph, but if we look at the sales figures of only Nintendo titles just in the U.S. for the full calendar year of 2014, the total figure of retail and digital sales represents 175 percent of those for the previous year.On the other hand, hardware sales increased smoothly in overseas markets but decreased in the domestic market. Our analysis of this situation is that in addition to our offers not attracting consumers in the same way as the Premium Family Set bundles did in Japan in 2013, New Nintendo 3DS gained more attention than Wii U, many of the big titles were released for Nintendo 3DS to encourage younger consumers to choose multiple Nintendo 3DS titles, and the priority of purchasing the Wii U console decreased.
More Nintendo sales data and info – big rise in Wii U software sales, New 3DS XL, amiibo, digital sales boost
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Additional information has come out of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing – sales data in particular. You can find the latest details below.
– Wii U’s software sales in Japan, US, Europe and Australia from April to September increased by over 200 percent from the same period last year
– Multiple factors for this
– One factor is the release of Mario Kart 8 in May and E3 2014
– The increase is especially high in Australia, which is due to their “Toy Catalog Season” in June-July, which lines up with Mario Kart 8’s launch
– Hardware sales also saw a spike in Australia due to the same reasons as the software sales rise
– New 3DS XL in U.S. and Europe sold over three times as much as the original 3DS XL did during its own launch period
– Once again, worldwide amiibo shipments were 5.7 million at the end of 2014
– Iwata says that normally sales of items such as amiibo would drop after the holiday seasons and so the release of new waves and deploying them with titles such as Mario Party 10 will hopefully keep the momentum following
– Nintendo does plan on making a finite number of certain amiibo and letting them sell out
– Though again, some figures will consider producing more stock of figures if there is demand from retailers and consumers
– At the end of third quarter, download sales of digital titles reached 21.1 billion yen
– This is a 17 percent increase from last year
– Nintendo has seen huge increases in digital sales
– There is a significant spike in the US in particular starting from fiscal year 2013
Hyrule Warriors update 1.6.0 update also due out next week, details
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 10 Comments
Koei Tecmo isn’t just bringing out the new Ganon Pack for Hyrule Warriors next week. Update 1.6.0 is also on the way, which brings about the following:
Max level raised
New mixture potions added
New medals added
Challenge mode expanded
Score recording function added
Challenge scenarios added
Bug that extends load times when entering battles fixed
This update and the new Ganon DLC are due out on February 26 in Japan.
More: Hyrule Warriors, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, Team Ninja, title update, top
Hyrule Warriors Ganon Pack screenshots
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii U | 7 Comments
More: DLC, Hyrule Warriors, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, Team Ninja, top
Hyrule Warriors DLC Ganon Pack coming to Japan on February 26
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments
New Hyrule Warriors DLC is coming to Japan next week. On February 26, players will be able to purchase the Ganon Pack.
The DLC features a Boss Challenge mode, where you defeat the game’s big bosses for high scores. It’s possible to obtain costumes for Lana, Link, and Zelda as rewards.
Additionally, there’s a Ganon Play Mode. Players take on the role of Ganon and earn high scores by destroying the battlefield. There are costumes for Ganondorf and Cia as rewards.
Pricing for the DLC is set at 500 yen. It’s included free for those who bought the “all-in-one” pack.
More: DLC, Hyrule Warriors, Japan, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, Team Ninja, top
Nintendo planning NES and SNES trials for amiibo
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Nintendo will be doing something a bit different with amiibo later this year. During its latest financial results briefing, the company revealed plans to incorporate NES and SNES titles with the figures.
amiibo owners will be able to scan amiibo, which will then allow them to experience “famous scenes” of different NES and SNES games on Wii U. There are play time limits, however – similar to what’s offered in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Nintendo compares this to being able to switch out carts on a real console rapid fire.
Note that scene selections will be rotated, and you won’t be able to play an entire game for free. The functionality will be introduced in the first half of this year.
You can perform a spin attack in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos, Wii U | 13 Comments
Did you know that it’s possible to execute a spin attack in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker? That’s something that director Shinya Hiratake shared in his Miiverse interview earlier today.
Below are his full comments:
“This might be going off on a bit of a tangent, but another one of the questions we received was ‘Why did you include an attack for Captain Toad where he gets dizzy from spinning around?’ This action is actually supposed to be Captain Toad attacking enemies with his backpack! We added it in because we wanted to give his backpack another purpose besides preventing him from jumping! We also wanted to add another means of attack besides throwing stuff, for players who have got used to playing the game!”
If you haven’t seen the spin attack before, you can get a look at it in the video above.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Miiverse interview with director Shinya Hiratake
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment
A rather large Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker interview has been posted over on Miiverse. “MariChan” chatted with Shinya Hiratake, the game’s director.
Hiratake talked about Captain Toad’s development, amiibo support, and more. You can find the interview in full after the break.
The Wonderful 101 concept art for Wonder Red
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Wii U | 0 comments
Unseen64 has updated its beta article for The Wonderful 101. In it, we get to see a few things, including first designs for Wonder Red.
One design has a large blade placed on Wonder Red’s back, and he’s wearing a white helmet with a green visor. A second design features a machine gun under his right arm. He has less hair in this piece of art as well.
