This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured games:
WiiWare:
Just JAM – Pick up that Wii Remote™ controller and get ready to mix, match and lay down your own tunes. Just JAM offers a live music experience featuring your favorite genres and cool artists. (For Wii™)Nintendo eShop + Nintendo DSiWare™:
Jewel Keepers: Easter Island – With mind-blowing visuals and an engaging storyline, this game will keep you entertained for hours as you travel across Easter Island and help to unravel its mysteries. (For Nintendo 3DS™ / Nintendo DSi™)
IGN has posted the images above on their website along with an article comparing Nintendo of America’s localization history with Nintendo of Europe’s record. It’s interesting to see which titles have been brought over to each region. I actually wasn’t aware that Dolphin the Giant made it to Europe!
Satoru Iwata on how the Wii U will better appeal to hardcore gamers compared to Wii…
“When we considered what to do with the graphics capability of the Wii, we put more attention and focus on the ability to create new experiences rather than the quality of the graphics. For popular genres in the Western world such as the shooter games, the picture quality is actually very important. And as a result, we have not been able to provide hardcore video game players with the option they really want with the Wii. That sort of picture-processing issue is going to be solved this time around.
As we mentioned earlier this week, Cinderella Life – once known as Kyaba Jo Pi – resurfaced in Famitsu this week. The magazine has just published an online preview of the game, which contains a bunch of brand new details. I’ll be posting the new screenshots shortly, but feel free to check out the new information about Level 5’s upcoming 3DS title below.
– Based off of Level 5’s cell phone title under the Kyaba Jo Pi name
– New title was chosen for the 3DS game to reduce the ties with the hostess (often a seedy profession)
– Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino thinks some people might be against the idea of hostesses
– Hino is serving as the executive producer
– Directed by Sapporo-based Game Do CEO Megumi Nakamura
– Produced by Ken Ogura
– Character designs are from Miho Tanaka
– Level-5 targeting a female audience
– In-game profession is Neosienne
– Play as a custom avatar
– Character comes from the countryside to Neo Ginza
– In pursuit of the legend of the butterfly that is said to bring luck
– Find a girl who gives you a card, says butterfly exists in the place listed on the card, Castle
– You decide to go to the castle as a Neosienne
– Castle: Neosienne offer a happy time to customers here
– Idols, politicians, CEOs, other VIPs visit the place
– VIPs are customers you interact with
– Take part in interactive conversations
– Multiple responses for conversations
– Get customers to order foot items
– Higher bonus if you get them to order from the high priced menu
– Some VIPs are based off collaborative characters
– SpotPass: Exchange business cards with other players
– Other players’ avatars show up in the game
– Receive dresses, wallpapers, other items from these avatars
– Can access the Neo Ginza city and a My Room area
– My Room: on the second floor of a flower shop
– Change your clothes and do your makeup in “My Room”
– Customize the interior, change the wallpaper and furniture as well
– Neo Ginza has fashion shops, cafes, restaurants, parks and other facilities
– Map is provided in case you get lost
– Changes in the game depending on daytime or night
– Head out of town when you wake up in your My Room in the morning
– Select your clothing before you leave
– Free to do what you want in the city
– Customize your avatar’s
– Customize the avatar at the beginning of the game by choosing items such as eye shape and body type
– Make changes to your avatar as you progress such as hair style, skin color, eye shade, contact color, lipstick, hair accessory, necklace, ear piercing, ring, glasses, handbag and other areas
– Over 1,000 items
– Select a voice for your character
– Nakamura’s voice is in the game
I haven’t played enough third-party 3DS games, so I can’t say much about how the 3D visuals look. However, I have heard that some games just look downright awful. That seems to be more of a problem with ports, such as how Tales of the Abyss lacks 3D completely.
What does Satoru Iwata think of 3D in third-party games? He wouldn’t comment directly, though he did say that there are some games that have made him say “This 3D is wonderful!”. Iwata also acknowledged “that some stereoscopic images are high in quality but not all of them are.” Having said that, Nintendo is interested in assisting third-parties so that they can achieve the highest level of 3D graphics on the handheld.
… Also, concerning the difference in the quality of stereoscopic images between Nintendo games and games from other software publishers, there are actually some games from the third parties that make me feel that “This 3D is wonderful!” I feel uncomfortable about drawing a line to separate the quality level between Nintendo and non-Nintendo software because I was originally a developer (working for an outside company), but I have to admit that some stereoscopic images are high in quality but not all of them are. With that in mind, it is a fact that consumers purchase games with expectations of attractive stereoscopic effects, and to realize this, a certain level of know-how is required. Even for Nintendo games, I have heard that there was some trouble in the beginning (of the development) because the stereoscopic effect did not work well. So I have talked about this with Mr. Hatano, one of our executive directors, who is in charge of contacting our software publisher partners, and we believe that if we could provide them with effective support, we would like to do so. Providing such support will raise consumer satisfaction and, in the end, it will help the Nintendo 3DS to gain momentum, so I would like to consider it in that direction.
I admit that I haven’t done much with StreetPass Quest and the StreetPass Mii Plaza because I haven’t carried my system with me enough. Or it could be due to the fact that not a lot of people have a 3DS near me. But I digress…
If you’re one of the 3DS owners out there who has engaged in much of the StreetPass functionality, you’ll be happy to hear that Satoru Iwata thinks that Nintendo “can proceed in a way” to make people want to bring their handheld along with them when they’re out of the house. That includes the possibility of StreetPass Quest 2, which even Shigeru Miyamoto has been bringing up “for several months”.
…So if I understand what you said correctly, you have already enjoyed almost all of what can be done in these two games, so you have nothing to do now. To tell the truth, inside Nintendo is a very unique environment. Because there are so many people who have the Nintendo 3DS in the company, most of the people finished “StreetPass Quest” in such a short time and, as a result, many people are saying, “We want something new!” Even Mr. Miyamoto has been asking, “Does anyone have a plan for ‘StreetPass Quest 2’?” for several months, and several departments are currently considering such a possibility. Therefore, I cannot say when or what we can deliver, but we would like to change the minds of the people who are temporarily thinking, “I cannot see the point in carrying my Nintendo 3DS with me,” to make them think, “Oh, I want to carry it around with me again.” I believe we can proceed in a way that answers your request.
Unfortunately, the Wii has suffered from a number of “droughts” throughout its lifecycle. One such drought was in 2009 for Japan, when there just weren’t many games to play. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told investors last week that this was a result of the unpredictable nature of development and lack of support from third-parties:
I would like to explain about it in an organized way. First, in the first half of 2009, when the Wii lost its momentum, we could not offer new titles for a certain period of time. We ourselves have to reflect on this situation. We usually plan to release software in a way like, first we release this, then this and then that. But the development does not always proceed as it is planned. For example, if we feel that certain software will end up being boring if we continue to develop it in the same way, we will have to polish it. We sometimes change the content substantially, and in that case, the date of the release schedule has to be significantly changed.
