Warren Specter’s latest game was Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, and it wasn’t terribly successful either critically or commercially. The esteemed game designer has been very quiet recently, likely deciding what he wants to do with his future in the industry, but just yesterday he spoke out about various topics, the most interesting of which was his opinion on where the industry is going:
The biggest risk associated with consoles, at least to me, is that they’re frozen, hardware-wise, while mobile platforms – phones and tablets – will continue to get more and more powerful. I mean, where do you think the iPad or Kindle Fire or Surface or whatever will be in 3 years? 5 years? It’s crazy to think about. And the consoles will still be right where they were in 2013 or whenever they come to market. That’d be a little scary to me if I were a console manufacturer.”
– Warren Specter
I think he hits on a really important point: Speculation is useless. Listening to folks five or ten years ago about talk about the gaming industry, they get more or less everything wrong, and yet we consider them “experts”. Take Michael Pachter for example: That guy said it doesn’t matter if he’s wrong, and he’s said he essentially makes stuff up when he’s predicting things. It’s a silly market niche without a doubt, and I’d argue that it’s more fun to speculate for imagination’s sake than for actually being taken seriously, since… well, you can’t take speculation too seriously!
Game & Wario may be released at a slightly cheaper price than Nintendo’s first round of Wii U titles. GameStop is listing a $39.99 price point, which may very well be its standard MSRP.
Fans are still waiting on overseas release dates for Game & Wario. It was originally supposed to arrive during the Wii U launch window, but I’d say we’re passed that point now.
There’s one other piece from Rolling Stone’s Shigeru Miyamoto piece that we wanted to highlight on the main page.
Miyamoto revealed to the publication that players will be able to take on the role of three different captains/leaders in Pikmin 3 by switching off between them. Each will control a group of Pikmin and will likely offer their own advantages, as Miyamoto said that their inclusion “sort of allows you to approach the game from a much more strategic position.”
Speaking about Pikmin 3, Miyamoto said:
“With Pikmin 3, you’ll have the ability to have three different captains or leaders of Pikmin groups and you can switch between them. So it sort of allows you to approach the game from a much more strategic position. The volume of work that you can get done within the timeframe has increased dramatically. And so that in and of itself really enhances the depth of strategy that’s available to you in that game.”
Over the past couple of years, there’s been a lot of talk about Shigeru Miyamoto’s retirement. Miyamoto himself has confirmed a few times before that he’s already transferred some of his duties to younger staff and has looked to prepare Nintendo for the day when he isn’t around.
When the topic of retirement came up once again while talking with Rolling Stone, Miyamoto delivered an interesting response. Miyamoto said that he’s still enjoying what he does and “this is something that I can still continue to do for a long time.” He added: “You know, possibly until I die.”
Good news for fans of the Umihara Kawase series: the latest entry won’t be staying in Japan. Developer Agatsuma Entertainment has confirmed plans to bring the 3DS game overseas.
Agatsuma general manager Rica Kuno Matsumara said:
“Yes, we are planning to release [Farewell Umihara Kawase] in future, but not fixed anything yet. Maybe we will discuss during E3 with other new titles?”
Code of Princess made it to North America through Atlus. Maybe the two companies could work together for Umihara Kawase?
Notion Games’ Kickstarter campaign for Super Ubi Land has ended – successfully, might we add. The title has surpassed its original target goal by far. Notion Games hoped to raise $5,000 in the span of around a month and a half, but managed to collect over $6,300.
Super Ubi Land is coming to the Wii U this spring. It will be available through the eShop.
KnapNok started to show off Spin the Bottle – the studio’s first Wii U eShop game – at GDC 2013 last month. It also gave members of the press an opportunity to experience the title at other private venues.
Spin the Bottle is most definitely unlike any Wii U game we’ve seen before. For details, check out the summary below.
– “an innocent game for innocent children”
– Spin a virtual wheel on the GamePad
– This determines what peculiar motion-controlled challenge you’ll be taking on with a partner
– TV is never used
– Blind Dog: sit down and stand a Wiimote behind you while ordering your blindfold partner
– Partner is also chosen with a wheel spin
– Partner needs to crawl and retrieve the controller without knocking it over
– Most mini-games only need the GamePad and a Wiimote or two
– Doesn’t require much room either
– Grab the Rooster: four Wiimotes are placed on a surface and players huddle around to see which one emits a rooster cluck
– Can be played in teams of four vs. four
– One team hits the “A” button once the rooster sound comes out of the Wiimote speaker
– Other team sits facing the main team and must hit the “1” button upon hearing the same sound
– Chicken calls act as false alarms
– Saw: partners push and pull their Wiimotes in unison like cutting through a tree
– Vibration provides feedback on how in step you are
– Bonus challenge lets you sing a lumberjack song
– Another mini-game: hold the GamePad and guide a rocket to collect stars and avoid bombs in a 2D wraparound arcade game resembling Asteroids
– In this game, the rocket is controlled by your partner holding the Wiimote close to their chest
– Rocket pivots down as they bend forward; pulls up as they lean back
– Need to communicate with your partner about what they need to do
– Picking Flowers: retrieve the Wiimotes without moving your feet
– Pass the Badger: two players have their back to each other passing a Wiimote from a player’s chest over their heads then under their legs without jostling it too much
– Need to have it back at its starting point under a certain amount of time
– Bonus challenge for this game: sing Happy Birthday
– Games sometimes get the audience involved
– Hide the Monkey: two chosen participants must hide a Wiimote behind one of their backs while the other players try to guess who has the metaphorical monkey
– Bonus challenge allows the audience to tickle the Wiimote-concealing participants
– Spin the Bottle chooses whoever hasn’t played the longest to take a spin
– Those who haven’t been chosen to play in awhile make up a larger section of the partner-selecting pie chart that the bottle is spun upon
You can find a little bit of extra information and developer quotes over at Eurogamer.
