Update: Turns out this is fake, guys. Seems that Hall does not exist given the photo found here.
Independent game developer Calvin Hall has published a new blog post about apparent Wii U-related rumblings from the D.I.C.E. Summit last month.
Hall echoes some of the previous talk we’ve heard – mainly that developers are saying Wii U projects “were being cancelled left and right”, including “a big multi-console project” from EA.
One Activision staffer allegedly said the following about sales disappointment for Call of Duty: Black Ops II and ports on Wii U:
“Activision didn’t expect much from Wii U sales of Black Ops 2, but they sure didn’t expect it to be that abysmal. Activision gave Wii U owners the best version of Blops 2 with Off TV features, and Nintendo fans didn’t support it. It’s easy for Nintendo fans to trash publishers for not giving them ports, but publishers have wisened up. They realize Nintendo fans are all talk. Nintendo fans are vocal with their mouths, but when it’s time to open their wallets, they’ll spend that $60 on New Super Mario Bros instead.”
The same employee said the following when asked about the thoughts of fellow employees he knows of from other publishers:
“There’s just no enthusiasm for it. The only reason publishers are still going to bring games to Wii U is because they don’t want to damage their relationship with Nintendo.”
Assuming these quotes are true, keep in mind that they don’t represent Activision’s feelings as a whole.
Retro City Rampage is finally here. The game was confirmed for WiiWare way back in 2010, so it’s been close to a three year wait for its arrival.
Making Retro City Rampage for Nintendo’s online service wasn’t so easy. While the company has made improvements in terms of how it handles indie titles, it did enforce some rather odd limitations and requirements in the past. For instance, indies were required to have an office space, which drained the funds of Retro City Rampage creator Brian Provinciano. Nintendo also wouldn’t pay studios for sales they earned unless a certain threshold was met.
Keeping these two points in mind, Provinciano has said that Retro City Rampage is a “$20,000 gift to the fans.”
The only weaknesses on Nintendo’s end during the Wii development have both been fixed for future platforms, so a big kudos must go out to them. They listen to feedback and take action to improve things if there’s a better way. In both cases, the original policies had the best intentions, but turned out to be a bit problematic.
If you’re a game developer who is solely (or majority) owned by folks who are not Japanese, Nintendo says you’re going to have to partner up with a Japanese company if you want to release your game in that region on one of their consoles. It’s an interesting rule to have in place, and one that doesn’t affect too many publishers– but indie developers get hit pretty hard when trying to bring their games overseas.
Various developers have chimed in on the subject below:
– Renegade Kid’s Jools Watsham
“Do we wish we could self-publish in Japan? Certainly. But we trust that they have their reasons for the above rule, and we will do our best to get our games to eager Japanese fans, whatever it takes.”
– Gaijin Games
– Two Tribe’s Shan Poon
Watch Dogs is shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated titles of the year, in part due to the fact that after its E3 reveal– and the positive reaction from press and gamers– Ubisoft significantly ramped up the development of the game, adding people to the teams until they had enough minds working on the project to realize the vision while simultaneously launching it across platforms and across generations.
“You always have great ideas, but you need enough people to bring it to life. After E3, we really made sure they had all the teams they needed and all the capacity they wanted to fullfil their dream. It’s an open world that is well-adapted to what people want to play today. So there’s good potential for success.”
– Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot
I think that the game is bound to be successful given where and when it’s launching, but which platforms it will be successful on remains to be seen. I would guess a strong PS3/360 showing, and a fairly weak (due to install base) showing on Wii U and PS4/720. As a small sidenote, Guillemot once again iterated that Ubisoft does like the Wii U, but they need it to sell more before they can go all in with it.
Mario Kart is the topic of choice for this next podcast’s discussion/list/thing! Vote away, everybody.
This is a two question survey that requires no signing up, accounts, clicking through ads, or anything. Just answer a required question, answer a non-required question (if you want) and make your voice heard in yet another NintendoEverything reader survey poll thing! Results will be read in the form of our top ten list on the next podcast, and if you opted to answer the written question your answer could be read on the show! So don’t say anything ridiculous.
Thanks very much. As stated above the question for you guys this week is “Which ‘Mario Kart’ game do you personally consider to be the best?”
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked will finally launch in Europe on April 5, publisher Ghostlist has announced. The company just confirmed yesterday that Overclocked is now in production.
Those who pre-order the 3DS title from the Ghostlist Store will receive a double-sided poster. Overclocked’s boxart is on one side, while the other side features “an amazing panoramic view of Tokyo handpicked from the wealth of incredible artwork created by the Atlus team.”
Source: Ghostlight PR
The following Rock Band Music Store songs will be made available on March 5:
- All-American Rejects – “Kids in the Street” – keyboard support
- Blink-182 – “Always” – keyboard support
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Give It Away” – keyboard support, Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99
Each song can be purchased for 200 Wii Points.
Source: Harmonix PR
Nintendo is launching a demo for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity in just a few days. Starting on March 7, 3DS owners in North America will have an opportunity to try out the game prior to the game’s release. Nintendo plans to publish Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity on March 24.
