How does Reggie Fils-Aime feel about the competition? Not too strongly.
Regarding the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launch lineups, Nintendo of America’s president gave a “Meh”. In contrast, he has good feelings about the Wii U’s upcoming titles and “the value proposition we’re putting out there for the consumer.”
“It’s all about the games. The competitive systems have announced their launch lineups. I’m allowed to say ‘Meh’. I look at our lineup of titles and I feel good about our lineup. We’ve got Zelda. We’ve got Mario. We’ve got Donkey Kong. In addition to great titles like Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, I feel very good about our lineup, and I feel very good about the value proposition we’re putting out there for the consumer.”
When asked how Nintendo can compete with new services offered by the competition such as cloud gaming and more, Reggie responded:
“We’ve got cloud technology that we’re delivering with Wii U. Nintendo TV is all cloud-based technology. But the difference is, we don’t talk about the tech. We talk about the experience. We make sure that the consumer has fun with the game experiences that we provide. And so I think as you compare and contrast Nintendo with other players in the space, for us it’s about games, about the fun, about the entertainment value, and not about the tech.”
Update: Bumped to the front page with more images.
SEGA Australia had interest in creating a remake of Golden Axe. The studio even pitched the game under a new label known as “SEGA Reborn” – a name SEGA Australia hoped would turn into its own series. Streets of Rage and Shinobi were also targeted as potential remakes.
Each title would receive new content and address issues with the originals. Apparently, SEGA Australia wanted to have all of the classics taking place in the same universe. So as an example, Out Run would take place hundreds of years after Golden Axe.
Sadly, none of these ideas panned out and they weren’t meant to be. You can find a pre-alpha video showing Golden Axe above.
The 3DS and 3DS XL both have separate screens. The 2DS, however, does not. As it turns out, the system is made up of a single larger screen.
USGamer reports:
“Curiously, the 2DS is even more of a tablet-style system than it appears at first glance, as it actually features a single large screen in its center, not two separate ones. As one of their cost-cutting design measures, Nintendo reduced the number of screens in the system from two to one, and the appearance of separate screens is merely simulated by the way the case masks out the extraneous portions. This means the entire screen is by necessity a touchscreen, with the upper screen protected by a layer of plastic that sits above it.”
This isn’t too surprising given how the 2DS is made. It’s definitely interesting nonetheless.
“Having alternating studios is one of the secrets to the franchise’s success. You have different creative people who are strong-willed and have minds of their own. Everyone gets what makes a great Call of Duty game. Treyarch and IW are the masters, and have built this thing. So, there’s a lot of common DNA from year to year. But then people come in and want to top each other. There’s some healthy competition. There’s a desire within the creative team to not do the same thing and not be stagnant, the same way there is in the player community.”
– Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg
Hirshberg also mentioned how Call of Duty releases have become a sort of “pop culture event” that people want to take part in simply because it’s topical. He compared to to the release of Avatar (2009 movie), saying “a lot of non-hardcore sci-fi fans saw Avatar because it was an event. You felt you had to be a part of it. We’ve reached the status with Call of Duty of this sort of pop-cultural inevitability.”
Nintendo is localizing Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. But earlier today, it was revealed that a newer version is in the works which adds things such as numerous save files, difficulty settings, and battle elements.
Now the question is: which version will Nintendo bring over? One would assume that localization work began before Bravely Default: For the Sequel was announced.
Nintendo won’t say much for now. In fact, they’re not commenting at all. Guess we’ll be left waiting for more information…
The 2DS is mainly designed to appeal to a younger demographic, according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.
Fils-Aime told IGN that the idea for the new system came about in hopes of appealing to children under the age of seven. With the 3DS and 3DS XL, those products were designed for players seven and up.
Fils-Aime stated:
“We’re always thinking about what we can do that’s new, unique, different, and brings more people into this category that we love. And so with the Nintendo 3DS, we were clear to parents that, ‘hey, we recommend that your children be seven and older to utilize this device.’ So clearly that creates an opportunity for five-year-olds, six-year-olds, that first-time handheld gaming consumer.”
“We’ve always been thinking about, ‘how do we approach that as one target?’ And that certainly helped spur the idea of the Nintendo 2DS. Let’s have the consumer have access to all of these great games – Mario Kart 7, Animal Crossing – but do it in a 2D capability with a device that has a dramatically lower price point. That’s just an example of how we’re always thinking about, ‘how do we get more people playing games? How do we get more people playing Nintendo games?’”
