Rumors about The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower being playable at the Japan Expo in Paris have been confirmed. A pair of Twitter photos reveal that both games are at the show (one is straight from Mistwalker’s account). However, I still can’t say if The Last Story has been presented in English or not since we don’t have any clear photos or footage of the title in action.
This may very well be the first step towards an official announcement from Nintendo of Europe regarding localization for these much-desired Wii RPGs. I don’t think North American gamers would be happy… start assembling the mob and gather your pitchforks!
The information below comes from Eiji Aonuma. In addition to the quotes below, he said that the Skyward Sword team did not make the Zelda Wii U demo. However, Satoru Takizawa, art director of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, was deeply involved.
“You probably remember that when we introduced the GameCube, we showed a somewhat realistic Zelda demo. And what we actually created was the cel-shaded Wind Waker. So when we show a graphic demo, people think, ‘Oh, this is what the next Zelda will look like,’ but that’s not necessarily the case. I’m on one of the committees that oversaw the general steering and direction. We talked to each other a lot about several elements, one of which was, ‘How exactly will the HD graphics work?’ In doing concepts for that … we used Zelda assets quite often to examine, OK, how real will we make this look?”
One of the features of the Zelda Wii U demo allowed the inventory/weapons to be displayed on the controller. These elements could also be moved to the television. But Aonuma says that he’d like to bring much more to the table when an actual Zelda game for Wii U is made:
“I’d like to do things that are more surprising than that.”
This information comes from Super Mario producer Yoshiaki Koizumi…
“As a developer at Nintendo, I had some information about the new system, but I didn’t really have all of the information prior to the announcement at our presentation. I only knew some of the things that were considered to be safe. …We’re always asking ourselves questions like this as we’re researching new games, about the opportunities presented by the hardware. When I think about the two screens being used at the same time, it seems like an interesting opportunity to allow us to create a console game where two people are playing at the same time but can’t see each others’ screens. It’s certainly an interesting approach, but I have to clarify that it’s not something that we’re working on just yet.”
Here’s an additional nugget from Koizumi: Like his idea above, Koizumi was working on a feature in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask that connected the Nintendo 64 and original black-and-white Game Boy systems to play on two screens. Obviously, that idea never made it into the final product. Koizumi wouldn’t share additional details, only saying that “The information’s going to be shared at some point, but I don’t think today’s the time.”
This information comes from a Nintendo of Europe press email…
“A key date for your diary – Tuesday 19th July 2011.
We would love you to join us on 19th July 2011 for an exclusive Nintendo 3DS event. More will be revealed next week, but trust us when we say you won’t believe your eyes!
Hope to see you there.”
Could this be at all related to Nintendo Video for 3DS? The service is scheduled to go live this summer. Perhaps Nintendo will introduce the video application to the media just like what we saw with the eShop and introduce it to the rest of the world a few days later.
Rumor has it that the two other “pieces” of the Japanese Wii RPG puzzle have shown up in Europe. The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower are both apparently at the Japan Expo in Paris. The Last Story is supposedly playable in English while Pandora’s Tower is represented in Japanese. Still, if true, the fact that both these titles are at the show is a very positive sign that the games will be released in Europe.
Other titles playable at the event include:
3DS
Super Mario
Mario Kart
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Star Fox 64 3D
Luigi’s Mansion 2
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
Resident Evil: Revelations
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
Wii
Kirby Wii
Rhythm Heaven Wii
Xenoblade Chronicles
Platinum – Mario & Friends Pin Badge Collection
• Official Club Nintendo collection of 25 commemorative pins representing the world of Super Mario Bros.™
• The pins come packaged in six specially created puzzle-like boxes that can be arranged to represent Mario, Goomba, and Mushroom!
• Measures approx. 9.75” H x 9.5” W x 1.5” D (box set) and 1.38” D (each pin)
Gold – Club Nintendo Original Calendar – 2012
• Desk calendar for 2012 with a built-in display stand
• Each month is represented with a two-sided calendar page full of specially designed artwork from some of your favorite Nintendo games!
• Measures approx. 4.5” H x 5.75” W
* Images shown are of the 2011 calendar. The 2012 calendar will have all new designs and artwork.
– Calling All Pirates! Set Sail for Exciting Adventures with ‘One Piece: Unlimited Cruise Special’ Coming Exclusively On Nintendo 3DS –
CERGY-PONTOISE, FRANCE – 30 June 2011 – NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe S.A.S. today announced that animated TV series One Piece is set to come to life in astonishing 3D on Nintendo 3DS™ with a new series of One Piece: Unlimited Cruise games. Join Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates as they embark on a search for the ultimate treasure in these all-new game original quests. Combat, adventure, and drama await with One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP scheduled for release in November 2011 exclusively for Nintendo 3DS.
In One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP, the motley crew of Straw Hat Pirates find themselves aboard the Thousand Sunny Ship, the ship of 1,000 seas, as they set sail to a variety of mysterious islands and begin their fantastic adventures.
