Shigeru Miyamoto recently conducted an interview with Japanese publication 4Gamer. A portion of the talk was unofficially translated a few days ago, and now the second piece has appeared – it’s all about Pikmin 3 this time. You can find the full thing here.
Sonic has made a transition over the years. The series has always offered a mix of platforming with some sense of speed, but the more-recent games have placed a greater emphasis on the latter gameplay element.
This is something that Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka is aware of. And so with Sonic Lost World, SEGA hopes to “win back the platform fans” – not just longtime Sonic fans, but also “Mario players and other platform gamers”.
Iizuka told ONM in its August issue:
“Sonic started out as a platform title but, as we got to the more recent ones, it changed to be a more speed-based game. Recent fans will be familiar with that speed-based gaming, but with Lost World, we wanted to win back the platform fans. We don’t just want old Sonic fans to come back, though: we want Mario players and other platform gamers to enjoy the new game, too.”
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Wii Party U may be getting a budget release – at least on Amazon.
Similar to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Amazon is listing a lower price for Wii Party U
compared to other retailers. Best Buy
and GameStop have the game for $60, but you can get it over at Amazon for $40.
Based on information provided by reliable NPD leaker “Creamsugar” and others, hardware sales for unannounced June 2013 figures are now available. We previously knew about the 3DS and Xbox 360 thanks to official statements, but data for other systems are now in as well.
Here’s the full lineup:
1. 3DS – 225,000
2. 360 – 140,000
3. PS3 – ~108,000
4. DS – 54,000
4. Wii – 53,000
5. Wii U – 42,000
6. Vita – ~27,000
8. PSP – ~8,000
9. PSP Go – 34
Creamsugar was also able to share the following software details:
Animal Crossing: New Leaf retail sales (standalone, bundle) account for 80% of total sales
Game & Wario – about 12,000 units
Project X Zone – less than 54,000 units
Thanks to an interview published by 4Gamer a few days ago, it was revealed that Rodea: The Sky Soldier is still in development. We now have some direct quotes that may make the game’s development status even clearer.
First, 4Gamer shared concern for the game since nothing has been mentioned since its announcement in 2011.
To this, Kadokawa’s Yoshimi Yasuda expressed that everyone in the media has been asking about Rodea, but that he hasn’t heard much himself. But in concern over it being forgotten, he accepts to talk about it for a little bit. Yasuda then expressed that when it was initially announced for both the 3DS and Wii, the project was originally in development just for Wii.
The name “TNT Racers” may sound familiar – that’s because the game was released on WiiWare last year. A souped-up version is now heading to the Wii U eShop, and it should be out in Europe in the very near future.
Keen Games has confirmed to us that TNT Racers’ Wii U version will be called “Nitro Machines Edition” and includes a few exclusive elements. It features new cars, tracks, and pickups, along with a touch-input interface and off-TV play.
TNT Racers: Nitro Machines Edition is planned for release on the European eShop on August 8 (or maybe a week later). A North American date hasn’t been confirmed due to a few difficulties in the submission process, but there is a possibility of an August launch in the states as well. We’ll hopefully have some media to share with you soon.
Both of Nintendo’s latest systems came slowly out of the gate. For the 3DS, this led to a price drop just a few months after the hardware launched. The Wii U has also performed under expectations thus far, which has been attributed to a lack of strong software.
The 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan may be one reason for the Wii U and 3DS’ slow starts. Speaking with Japanese monthly magazine SAPIO, Nintendo discussed how the natural disaster impacted both systems:
We launched the Nintendo 3DS on February 2011 and sales were strong. Two weeks later we were hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake (Editor’s note: that’s how the Japanese call the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake) and that stopped the momentum. In august of the same year we lowered the price from the initial 25,000 Yen to 15,000 Yen, and enhanced software development at the same time, to enrich the game line-up.
That paid off and we regained momentum in Japan, but due to that we could not spare many developers for the Wii U (released in November 2012), and that led to the slow start of the console.
01./00. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team #
02./02. [3DS] Youkai Watch
03./01. [WIU] Pikmin 3
04./00. [3DS] Little Battlers eXperience W: Ultra Custom
05./04. [3DS] Friend Collection: New Life #
06./03. [PS3] Earth Defense Force 2025
07./06. [PSV] Toukiden #
08./05. [WIU] New Super Luigi U
09./07. [PSP] Toukiden
10./10. [3DS] Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
11./12. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf #
12./13. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
13./08. [PS3] Dead Island: Riptide
14./16. [PSP] Dangan-Ronpa (PSP the Best) #
15./14. [PS3] The Last of Us
16./22. [3DS] Kuma-Tomo
17./19. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition #
18./11. [PS3] Gundam Breaker
19./00. [PS3] Final Fantasy XIII-2: Digital Content Selection
20./17. [3DS] Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode
