Nintendo says that these posters feature “special printing effects” – whatever that means!
No Wii U insight, but there are many Wii and 3DS games playable at the show. The 3DS XL is there as well. I think I even see a GameCube station in one of those photos…
Japanese Club Nintendo members can enter a raffle for a chance to win new Kirby rewards. A cushion, a pin set, a plush pouch, and a set of circular playing cards are among the prizes.
Basically, it works like this: register Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, and Kirby’s Dream Collection. You’ll automatically enter the raffle as soon as this is done. That’s it!
European publisher Ghostlight has a new 3DS game localization to announce. The company teased the unknown title on its blog today.
The only hint given is that it isn’t an RPG. Also, the game in question will be released this year.
Ghostlight wrote:
“In other news, we’re making excellent progress on Devil Survivor 2 (DS) and Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS). They really are both excellent games so watch out for more news on these two over the next few weeks. I’ll also be announcing that Ghostlight has secured another Japanese 3DS game for release this year and before you start guessing, no, it’s not a JRPG this time!”
Hmm… I wonder if this could be Code of Princess. We know that it’s been picked up for Europe, but its publisher hasn’t been announced. Some may see Code of Princess as an RPG, but I’d say that it’s more of a beat-em-up.
Shigeru Miyamoto has a couple of top picks in terms of Nintendo franchises he’d like to see on Wii U.
One franchise Miyamoto would choose to bring to the new console is Metroid. While it’s not an indication that the series is confirmed for the system, he thinks “it’s very easy to imagine some interesting implementation for Wii U.”
Miyamoto commented on how the GamePad and gyro support “really gives you a lot of interesting opportunities for development”:
“With Metroid it’s very easy to imagine some interesting implementation for Wii U. I think that having another screen with the gyro built in really gives you a lot of interesting opportunities for development, and we can bring a lot of our games to life in a completely unique way with that.”
Miyamoto later said:
“I feel like the possibilities of the GamePad for Metroid could be really fantastic. There’s certainly a lot that you could do there for that game.”
A second series Miyamoto would like to see on Wii U, and perhaps above all else, is Star Fox. He didn’t go into detail beyond this sadly.
Following a little bit of maintenance, Club Nintendo is back up and running. Members who reached Gold or Platinum status this past year can now order their prize.
Remember, you have until July 31 to redeem your reward. Boxed prizes will ship before the end of the year while digital downloads are available immediately.
You can place an order here.
Another batch of details from the latest Rune Factory 4 Iwata Asks interview has been translated. Once again, producer Yashimoto Hirofumi was the main participant in the discussion.
The latest information is as follows:
– Hashimoto started out with Nintendo’s VS Tennis
– Hashimoto dreamed of making movies as a kid
– He ventured into the game industry since he wanted to have more of a personal hand in the creation of the final product
– Hashimoto wanted to work with fewer people as well
– With games, it’s at least somewhat possible to do independent work
– Hashimoto’s first company was SNK
– He contributed to a number of fighting games
– Marvelous was his next stop
– Even after this move, his fighting game experiences stayed with him
– Battles were a point of contention on the design board for Rune Factory
– There were concerns that battles might distant current fans who like Harvest Moon’s “peaceful life” feel
– After Hashimoto saw so much resistance, it compelled him even more to try it
– Hashimoto’s solution to the repetitive actions inherent in farming also stemmed from Hashimoto’s fighting experience
– Hashimoto wanted to make each movement satisfying
– Wanted to do more than make people feel, “Yes! I managed my own farm!”
– He wanted the satisfaction to extend to simple functions like the swing of a hoe or picking of crops
– Partially inspired by Pikmin, with Olimar pulling Pikmin out of the ground with a satisfying pop, and Yume Koujou: DokiDoki Panic
– Wanted to include a 60FPS frame rate
– This way each press of the button smoothly elicits an action from the character onscreen, leaving the player with a satisfied feeling
– Hashimoto stated that he could somehow already see the way the fans would react to the change because of his experiences with fighting games, where every installment to a series would introduce enormous changes
– He felt Rune Factory would one day spin off into its own series rather than one that just piggybacked off of Harvest Moon
– With Rune Factory 2 he placed special effort in separating the two series
– With Rune Factory 3, Hashimoto received fan-mail stating that people were being introduced to Harvest Moon from the Rune Factory games rather than the other way around
– Hashimoto gives himself and all of the staff three months to come up with anything and everything they can at the start of the creation process
– All planning ends after the three months end
– While this may sound harsh on the staff, Hashimoto says that he believes it’s very important for his staff to be conscious of a time limit from the very start
– Restriction forces them to work to the edge of their limits
– All ideas are put together and the team reviews the idea at the end of the three month period
– Because of this creation process, some features of previous games may be absent in the next installment
– Ex: There was a wireless and Wi-Fi function in Rune Factory 3, but not in Rune Factory 4
– Each game isn’t necessarily directionless
– Each game’s core has a theme and goal
– Harvest Moon: A New Beginning’s goal to “create a ranch story greater than ever before, now that we have full 3D capability”
– One way they did this was through the customizable farm house
– When the staff heard about this idea, they all froze stiff the moment the words left his mouth
– Rune Factory 4’s story theme is “a prince (or princess) who falls from the sky”
– Goal is to “experience a new fantasy on a new system”
– Although the 3DS’ 3D abilities are powerful, they weren’t what Harvest Moon or Rune Factory needed because the games weren’t about impact or impressive 3D graphics
– Hashimoto emphasized that this doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t use 3D
– Not using 3D on the 3DS would just be a failure on the part of a creator
– In A New Beginning, Hashimoto tried to create a wondrous world that declared, “Wow, now that Harvest Moon is on the 3DS, it’s gotten so interesting!”
– Company specializing in 3D animation was picked to make Rune Factory 4’s cut-scenes
– Over 10 cut-scenes in the game
– It’s the same company that did the opening for the first game on DS
– Has more voice to suck the audience further into the fantasy world
– Hashimoto was extremely unconfident about the movie when it was first shown during Nintendo Direct
– In the end he believed it was very helpful since it was like he was being brought one step closer to the audience
– Movie was adjusted based on fan reactions to certain parts
