Platinum Games has updated its Wonderful 101 blog with a tenth post. You can find it here. Today’s update covers Unite Morphs.
And so it appears that Nintendo is sticking to the Japanese boxart for Zelda: Wind Waker HD’s European release.
Let’s take a look at the cover:
And here’s the Japanese boxart:
That leaves North America as the odd man out. For the US cover, Nintendo went with a golden hue:
Speaking in Famitsu this week, Platinum Games’ Hideki Kamiya discussed just how big a project The Wonderful 101 is. Not only does the game possess Platinum’s largest team, but it also went through the longest development cycle.
Kamiya, at one point, also commented on the volume of The Wonderful 101. He’s not usually a fan of saying how much content there is until players reach the end, but he did confirm that the title has “more volume” than Bayonetta.
Kamiya stated:
Let’s take a look at the original piece of artwork for Zelda: A Link Between Worlds:
And here’s the latest image sent out by Nintendo today:
See any differences? Link certain looks different, as does his shield and background wall somewhat.
What do you prefer? The original drawing or the latest design?
When Nintendo-published games are hitting western territories and Japan at the same time, localization becomes a much-different beast. So how does the Nintendo Treehouse approach these situations?
Localization manager Nate Bihldorff explained to Siliconera:
“We’re in touch with the dev teams from long before formal localization begins, giving feedback on all manner of game elements, and once formal localization starts, we talk every day. As such, we’re constantly asking questions about the plot, background on characters, and even series etymology on enemy and character names. We feel a real responsibility to curate these worlds and preserve the vision of the developers, so I’m sure we get incredibly annoying as we pester them about whether, say, a particular enemy is related to a Moblin or an Octorok.”
Nintendo announced Darumeshi Sports Store during today’s Japanese Nintendo Direct today, and then subsequently released the game on the 3DS eShop. You can find details about the game below. There’s also an official site to check out here. We’ve rounded up the footage above.
– Free to play
– Play as your Mii
– First enter the Darumeshi Sports Store run by Inuji Darumeshi, a 10 year-old dog
– Players are welcomed and given a boiled egg, his favorite food, as a gift for coming to his store
– Inuji’s wife has left him and his store is failing
– Children don’t want to play baseball any longer and instead play inside
– Inuji went to Hotendo to get a “4DS” and some baseball games to sell
– Inuji figures kids will play baseball on their 4DS if nothing else
– Players are given a 4DS and a demo of one of his baseball games for listening
– Inuji talks about how hard it is raising ten kids without his wife around
– As a result, players look after one
– Kids’ names vary, but look the same
– Pick which kid you want
– Take the kid back to your home and play the baseball demo by climbing inside the 4DS and running along the cable to the TV
– Press “A” when the baseball comes
– Given points for your timing (one, two, or three points)
– If you reach three dead balls, it’s Game Over
– Each challenge requires a certain number of points to complete it
– Graded on your performance
– Earn stamps based on your performance
– Use stamps to earn items including boiled eggs and and nose hair trimmers
– 6 challenges in the demo
– 50 challenges in the “full game”
– Different types of challenge
– One challenge has two ball machines shooting at players
– Another was nothing but trick shots
– Each had 5 levels of difficulty
– Once practice is over the seemingly regular ball machines stand up and are effectively men dressed in full suits with the ball machines for heads
– Emerge from your 3DS when done with all challenges
– Magic or technology allows the items you collected in-game to be transferred to the real world
– Go back to the sports store and talk with Inuji
– He shows off his full collection of titles
– 10 in total
– Each is a variation on baseball
– Some are hitting, some catching, some aiming, some bat making
– Each game costs 400 yen
– Use real money to pay for these games
– Negotiate the price with the help of the child you picked
– Do this by using the boiled eggs you collected from getting stamps as well as the items
– Ex: let him use your nose hair trimmers to clear up his prominent nose hairs and get 100 yen off the price
– You can keep negotiating
– If you have enough items and patience you might even be able to get the game(s) for free, but not sure if this is actually possible
– The better you are at the games, the more stamps/items you would get and the more you would have to negotiate with
– Can also get coupons to get money off (10, 30, 50 yen)
– The game uses Chinese characters extensively and without readings,
– Intended for an older audience than most of their titles
– As does the story of Inuji’s separation and the fact that you could spend as much as 4,000 yen on the title getting all the games
– Spoken in a heavy Kansai dialect, which is very different to traditional Japanese taught in schools and colleges
– Language of Kyoto
– Beleaguered salesman with a Kansai accent is almost a trope in Japan
The new Band Brothers game for 3DS was announced for Japan quite some time ago. However, it resurfaced during today’s Nintendo Direct with an official name and details.
Footage we posted to the site earlier today showed Satoru Iwata performing. As it turns out, players can be turned into a Vocaloid thanks to the 3DS microphone’s ability to record voices. The Yamaha Vocaloid synthesizer software is then used to product a Vocaloid. The game will also support additional musical instruments at the same time and enhanced sound quality.
Band Brothers P will be available in Japan this winter.
Disney Interactive’s latest financial results aren’t so hot having posted a loss of $58 million for the quarter ending June 29. That’s even worse than the $42 million loss the company experienced in the 2012 April-June quarter. Revenues are also down, dropping 7 percent to $183 million.
While Japanese mobile business lifted the company somewhat, it wasn’t enough to make up for negative impacts such as lower console game sales.
Disney Interactive was Disney’s only business branch to have posted a loss this past quarter.
Things may begin to look up for Disney starting this month. Disney Infinity will finally make it out to market, and it’s something that Disney CEO Bob Iger is encouraged by and proud of.
“We are also looking forward to the launch of Disney Infinity on August 18. We have showcased Infinity to a number of audiences and we are very encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response we are getting across the board from retailers, reviewers, and consumers alike. And we are also very proud of the several best of awards that Disney Infinity earned at this year’s E3.”
