A couple of weeks ago, Nintendo of Canada added a terse entry to their official website about an upcoming “Spring Break Surprise”. The post simply reads, “Come back March 1st to see what it is!!”
It sounds this could be specific to Canada, as the news was not included in Nintendo of America’s “What’s New” section. I’m not expecting the tease to be about a major new title announcement, but this could be interesting!
Thanks to 3DSponesiPod for the tip!
To prepare fans for the March 23 launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo of America will host multiplayer tournaments at select GameStop stores across the United States starting March 8 and culminating in a national championship event in New York on Thursday, March 22. Three winners from each market will participate in the final round. The final national championship event at the GameStop store at Broadway and 84th Street in New York will also feature a special pre-sale opportunity, allowing consumers to purchase the game one day before it goes on sale throughout North America.
The bracket-style tournament will include regional competition at select GameStop locations in San Francisco (March 8), Orlando, Fla., (March 11), Los Angeles (March 15) and New York (March 22). Winners from each of the four markets will be eligible to win prizes including an all-expenses-paid trip to New York to participate in the national championship and a variety of exclusive Kid Icarus-themed items. Even if they are not participating in tournament play, consumers will be able to visit GameStop tournament locations to play Kid Icarus: Uprising before its nationwide launch on March 23.
A new third-party Iwata Asks has gone live on the Japanese Nintendo website. AM2 head Makoto Osaki, director Motoshi Takabe, project manager You Utsumi, and Satoru Iwata participated in the interview.
Andriasang picked out some of the more important details from the discussion. We’ve compiled the information into a handy summary. You can find it below.
– Osaki is the head of AM2
– He’s been working on Hastune Miku since Project Diva Arcade
– Osaki describes his role as “probably what would generally be called something like a producer”
– The producer is very involved in the development scene like that of an old-style game
– Takabe wrote the design doc, gave instruction for creation of the “PV” videos that play during the game, and oversaw the development scene
– Takabe left money/staff issues to Osaki
– Iwata said that he played a lot of Daytona USA
– AM2 has been making Hatsune Miku since 2009
– Technology in Miari and the special Miku videos they make for live concerts comes form Virtua Fighter
– Creation of PVs, simulation of Miku’s hair (the basics and the staff making them) are from Virtua Fighter
– Future Stars shows the Hatsune Miku vocaloids in SD/big-headed style
– According to You Utsumi, the game at first showed the characters in their standard proportions
– The team felt that something wasn’t right about this
– Miku looked smaller when dancing on the 3DS screen, and this was without even considering that they’d have to show the notes for the rhythm gameplay
– The staff eventually decided on making the characters SD style and settled on proportions of Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid figures
– There were some suggestions of other head sizes before this
– Nendoroid proportions made sense because the Nendoroid figures for Miku are the second best selling licensed Hatsune Miku products (Sega’s games are first)
– Voice and face recognition in the game
– Use your voice to select songs
– Facial recognition used for the game’s alarm clock mode
– In this mode, Miku will wait to make sure you’re gone, then will come out and look around
– There were concerns about how the player would be able to see this in action
The 3DS eShop definitely has some sort of file size restriction. This was made clear by Capcom’s Christian Svensson last year. However, contrary to what we reported on last night, 2GB might not be the limit after all – it could be more, it could be less.
Reader “joclo” sent us information regarding the file size limit, and it appeared that Team Meat’s Tommy Refenes confirmed the 2GB restriction in a recent issue of Nintendo Gamer. This wasn’t the case, though.
Refenes took to Twitter to clarify the situation:
“Original Quote on size restrictions: ‘…or if they do they are reasonable restrictions (40MB is horrible….2GB is reasonable).’ Never said that 2GB was the size restriction on eShop. I do not know what it is.”
“joclo” did provide me with a photo of the quote a short while ago, and Nintendo Gamer’s wording is a bit odd. This is what the relevant excerpt states in full:
“Refenes, however, doesn’t think there’s much wrong with the current setup (‘it’s honestly pretty easy’) though he’s hoping that Wii U doesn’t have size restrictions on download games – ‘or if they do, they are reasonable restrictions. [WiiWare’s] 40MB is horrible, but [3DS’s] 2GB is reasonable.'”
It looks like Nintendo Gamer added in the extra “3DS”, even though this isn’t what Refenes actually said…
Apologies for the confusion, folks!
Software
1. Super Mario Bros.
2. Dillon’s Rolling Western
3. Pushmo
4. Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
5. Photo Dojo
6. 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure
7. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
8. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
9. GO Series Undead Storm
10. Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!
11. Plants vs. Zombies
12. GO Series 10 Second Run
13. Cut The Rope
14. Art Academy: First Semester
15. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
16. Super Mario Land 2
17. Bloons TD
18. Mutant Mudds
19. Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 – From the Abyss –
20. Mario Clock
Videos
1. Super Mario Bros. Video
2. Nintendo Direct: February 22, 2012
3. Mario Tennis Open Video
4. Swapnote Video Valentine’s Day #1
5. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D Video
6. Mario & Sonic: London 2012 Olympic Games Video
7. Dillon’s Rolling Western Launch Trailer
8. Nintendo Show 3D: February 23, 2012
9. Dillon’s Rolling Western Walkthrough
10. Mario Party 9 Video
11. Kid Icarus: Uprising Multiplayer Video
12. 3D Classics: Kid Icarus Video
13. Kid Icarus: Uprising Weapons Video
14. Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir Video
15. Kid Icarus: Uprising Game Overview Video
16. Tekken 3D: Prime Edition Video
17. Tales of the Abyss Video
18. PokPark 2: Beyond the World Video
19. Rhythm Heaven Fever Video #3
20. Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword Video
