Etrian Odyssey: Millennium Girl contains a number of changes and additions from the original DS title. This week’s Famitsu reveals another new element: Madhouse-made cut-scenes.
You may know of Madhouse as the team that produced intros for Solatorobo and Persona 4 Golden. The company has also worked on Trigun, Chobits, Marvel Anime and Cardcaptor Sakura.
When Satoru Shibata apologized for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate shortages in Europe, he promised that more copies would be hitting store shelves soon.
The Wii U version was replenished at retail last week. This week, it’s the 3DS’ turn.
Nintendo UK confirmed on Twitter yesterday that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the 3DS should now be more widely available in Europe:
We’re pleased to confirm that further stock of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for Nintendo #3DS is now available at various retailers #MH3U
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) April 24, 2013
Miiverse launched for the PC (and some mobile devices) today. It does offer a number of functions made available through Wii U, but there are some drawbacks.
You can make posts through Miiverse’s newly-launched browser interface. The thing is, you can’t actually create new ones. It’s only possible to make comments by replying to others.
On the bright side, Miiverse now allows you to view and grab screenshots posted in communities and save them to your PC – a convenient function.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said during a financial results briefing today that Miiverse is in beta for PC and mobile devices. Over time, we’ll likely see additional features added to the interface.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re an avid Nintendo fan – or a gaming fan, at the very least. That likely means you try watching the Nintendo Direct presentations live. Or perhaps you view them on YouTube a few hours later.
Not everyone operates this way. In fact, Satoru Iwata revealed during today’s investors meeting that more and more consumers are viewing the Nintendo Direct broadcasts through the eShop.
Iwata noted, “It is no exaggeration to say that the most preferred viewing option has now become the Nintendo eShop, and it is not uncommon to find that approximately 60 to 70 percent of total views come from the Nintendo eShop.” Iwata additionally stated that with recent shows, “it became common to see total views for a single video reach five hundred to six hundred thousand in a matter of about 10 days on the Nintendo eShop while they did not show apparent growth on YouTube”.
The Wii U has not been able to maintain any momentum. This is most apparent in the marketplace, where the console has struggled to sell worldwide.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed the Wii U’s lack of momentum during the company’s investors meeting earlier today. Iwata pointed to a few key issues like extended development of important first-party titles, consumer confusion, and slow release pace of games.
Iwata’s comments in full:
Nintendo has a solid lineup of 3DS games planned through the rest of 2013. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is out in May, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is due in June, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Mario Golf: World Tour are both launching this summer, and others are on the way such as Zelda, Pokemon X/Y, and Mario Party.
The one downside of the 3DS’ lineup concerns third-parties. Western developers haven’t been throwing a ton of support the system’s way, but Satoru Iwata told investors today that “the release of several key titles has already been announced, and I have also heard there are more unannounced titles to come.” Which kind of overseas games could Iwata be referring to?
Iwata additionally commented on the status of Japanese 3DS games in the west once again, noting that “we plan to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas.”
Iwata closed by saying that he is aware “that our third parties are planning to launch other software titles that they have not announced yet.”
Update: To clarify – Nintendo isn’t ditching E3 as a whole. It sounds like there won’t be a traditional conference, but they’ll still have a presence at the trade show. The media and analysts will be given a chance to try out upcoming games, for example.
A good portion of Nintendo’s Wii U titles confirmed for E3 are already known to the public. Mario’s 3D debut, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros. are among the games to be featured in some fashion.
Satoru Iwata commented briefly on Nintendo’s E3 plans during an investors meeting earlier today. Along with statements suggesting that a traditional press conference won’t be held, Iwata told attendees that the expo will be used as an opportunity to reveal details about Wii U games coming this year. Additionally, he cryptically said that Nintendo “will attempt to use this year’s E3 to make announcements in a new way that we have not tried before.”
“At this years E3 we will not be announcing a new hardware system, so E3’s primary mission will be to have [press, analysts] experience our software. Many people would like to know more about the titles for Wii U that will be announced. We will use the timing of E3 to focus on providing details about our Wii U titles for release this year, and intend to create opportunities for guests to the conference to experience them immediately. We will attempt to use this year’s E3 to make announcements in a new way that we have not tried before.”
Update: Added in official translation.
Nintendo has held annual press conferences at E3 for nearly two decades. But this year, it sounds like the company will be bowing out of the typical proceedings.
Speaking with investors during a meeting today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata indicated that the company will not be hosting “a large-scale presentation where new news is presented to a general audience from all over the world as in previous years.”
Below are Iwata’s comments in full, which have been translated by NeoGAF’s StreetsAhead:
First, we decided not to host a large-scale presentation targeted at everyone in the international audience where we announce new information as we did in the past.
Instead, at the E3 show this year, we are planning to host a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market. There will be one closed event for American distributors, and we will hold another closed hands-on experience event, for mainly the Western gaming media. Also, I did not speak at last year’s presentation, and I am not planning to speak at these events at the E3 show this year either. Apart from these exclusive events for visitors, we are continuing to investigate ways to deliver information about our games directly to our home audience around the time of E3. We will share more information about them once they have officially been decided.
During the E3 period, we will utilize our direct communication tools, such as Nintendo Direct, to deliver information to our Japanese audience, including those who are at this financial briefing, mainly focusing on the software that we are going to launch in Japan, and we will take the same approach outside Japan for the overseas fans as well.
