The situation for Rayman Origins and Nintendo platforms has been a bit confusing. Ubisoft announced the game for Wii just a few days before E3. Later, we saw the title pop up on a 3DS game list published by Nintendo, though it wasn’t on the Wii list.
But yes, Rayman Origins has been 100% confirmed for both platforms. Nintendo Power has the scoop on the game in their upcoming issue. The magazine has the following blurb in the table of contents:
“Rayman is finally back in action in Rayman Origins! Get all the details on this visually stunning four-player platformer that’s making its way to Wii and Nintendo 3DS.”
According to a Famitsu poll, readers were most pleased with Nintendo’s showing at E3 2011. Additionally, fans voted The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword as the most anticipated title from the event. Satoru Iwata took home the award for the person who had the greatest impact at E3.
Although gamers were pleased with Nintendo, one analyst was not. SMBC Nikko Securities analyst Eiji Maeda shared the following comments with Famitsu:
“Nintendo’s stock price plummeted after the Wii U announcement, partly because of 3DS sales falling below expectations. I also think that while the E3 presentation explained the device well, the mainstream press just described it as a ‘tablet controller’ and didn’t make a great effort to push the value of it. It was a lot easier for people to get the impression that Sony was trying hard with the PS Vita, especially on the price.”
Maeda also commented on the show overall:
“I think it was the most interesting E3 in several years. The hardware conferences had a lot of impact, as did the sheer number of third-party titles. The popularity of Capcom’s booth was also something that caught my eye. While they didn’t get the flashy displays of the console titles, there were a lot of private showings held for smartphone and social games, and a great deal of companies are putting a remarkable amount of resources into those markets.”
Game-shop owner Hisako Akitani also provided some commentary, discussing how she was disappointed by the lack of Japanese games at E3:
“Activision and the other Western third parties put on a good show, but my impression was that Japanese publishers weren’t putting in much effort. I’d like to think that they were saving their ‘A’ game for the Tokyo Game Show, but it was still disappointing.”
3DS Downloadable Titles
@Simple DL Series Volume 1: The Misshitsu kara no Dassuhatsu Fushigi na Kummadonaru Burger hen – 500 yen
Labi Labi Gaiden Witches Cat – 700 yen
Virtual Console
Golf – 300 yen
Red Arremer Makaimura Gaiden (Gargoyle’s Quest in NA and Europe) – 400 yen
Video Content
More Spot TV content
Star Fox 64 3D clip (stream) – 47 seconds
Yikes… what a terrible debut for Earth Seeker. It’s not the best game in the world, but at least it’s a nice, fairly hardcore title that Japanese gamers are able to experience. Why did it sell so poorly?
01. / 00. [PS3] Atelier Meruru: The Alchemist of Arland 3 (Gust) {2011.06.23} – 82,585 / NEW
02. / 00. [PSP] Steins;Gate (Kadokawa Shoten) {2011.06.23} – 63,558 / NEW
03. / 00. [PSP] Gundam: Memories of the Battle (Bandai Namco) {2011.06.23} – 52,067 / NEW
04. / 01. [PSP] Little Battler Xperience (Level 5) {2011.06.16} – 38,326 / 204,513
05. / 02. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo) {2011.06.16} – 37,452 / 201,563
06. / 00. [NDS] Prince of Tennis Gyutto! Doki-Doki Survival – Survival Umi to Yama no Love (Konami) {2011.06.23} – 30,234 / NEW
07. / 00. [PS3] Bleach: Soul Ignition (SCE) {2011.06.23} – 23,516 / NEW
08. / 03. [PS3] Yakuza: Of the End (Sega) {2011.06.09} – 24,247 / 376,738
09. / 11. [WII] Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Nintendo) {2010.11.11} – 9,874 / 362,957
10. / 00. [PSP] Gloria Union (Atlus Co.) {2011.06.23} – 8,933 / NEW
11. / 12. [NDS] Pokemon Black/White (Pokemon Company) {10/09/18} – 7,086 / 5,211,443
12. / 09. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {10/07/08} – 5,980 / 1,923,731
13. / 00. [PS3] Mass Effect 2 (Electronic Arts) {11/06/23} – 5,885 / NEW
14. / 07. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 – Professional (Square Enix) {2011.03.31} – 5,814 / 543,834
15. / 06. [3DS] Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom) {2011.06.02} – 5,633 / 89,038
16. / 00. [PSP] Mother Goose’s House of Secrets (Limited Edition) (Quinrose) {11/06/23} – 5,295 / NEW
17. / 00. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Collection (Take 2) {1/06/23} – 4,629 / NEW
18. / 10. [3DS] One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP (Bandai Namco) {2011.05.26} – 4,289 / 116,463
19. / 15. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) {2008.04.10} – 4,154 / 3,249,050
20. / 00. [WII] Earth Seeker (Kadokawa Shoten) {11/06/23} – 4,055 / NEW
– Many new elements
– Main character will suffer from memory loss at the beginning of the game
– Lest and Frey can exchange thoughts with dragons
– Love components
– Be boyfriend and girlfriend with the partner of your choice
– Have multiple lovers the boyfriend/girlfriend time
– Margarete: girlfriend candidate, voiced by Aoi Yuuki
– Margarete is an elf who works plays music at the dining hall
– Vishnal: boyfriend candidate, voiced by Daisuke Namikawa
– Vishnal is training to be a butler
– Character-specific movie when you encounter a lover candidate
– Doki Doki Zoom feature: Zoom in the screen when an event scene heats up
– Farming and dungeon elements as well
– Not restricted to a grid while farming
– Layout your crops freely
– Make monsters you find in dungeons into allies and raise them on your farm
– 50% complete
Isn’t it refreshing to hear positive comments from third-parties about Wii U? EA in particular has been very supportive of the console, even showing up at Nintendo’s E3 2011 briefing to discuss the possibilities of producing Battlefield and other titles for the console. EA’s Frank Gibeau was once again asked about Wii U and you can hear about what he told GamesIndustry below.
Q: John Riccitiello was on stage at Nintendo’s E3 conference earlier this month, the first time he’s been on stage with the company before. EA is obviously betting big on the Wii U.
Frank Gibeau: We were really blown away by the unique innovation that Nintendo brings with the Wii U controller on a high performance machine. The ability to do HD graphics and access game experiences in a completely novel way and a way that’s never been seen before, it really struck our fancy. We were excited by what Nintendo presented to us, we thought about it and it fits well with what we’re trying to do with our franchises like FIFA and Madden and Battlefield. There’s great horsepower there, great innovation and Nintendo’s got fantastic branding. We’re platform agnostic as a company so if we find something we believe will have success commercially and critically, and has a business model that works for us, we’re in.
PSP – 29,168
3DS – 27,905
PS3 – 16,993
Wii – 9,511
DSi LL – 4,903
DSi – 4,503
Xbox 360 – 2,152
PS2 – 1,332
DS Lite – 134
PSP go – 21
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week.
3DS – 40,649
PSP – 31,741
PS3 – 16,081
Wii – 6,678
DSi LL – 5,464
DSi – 5,322
Xbox 360 – 2,875
PS2 – 1,346
DS Lite – 109
PSP go – 55
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma has shared a ton of information about his upcoming game with Famitsu. Aonuma was asked about elements such as Zelda’s role, whether or not Ganon will show up, and much more. Believe me, if you’re a Zelda fan, you’ll want to check out the details below. But be warned that there might be a few spoilers here and there…
“She’s not a princess this time, which is something I’ll pretty much have to put forth right now in order to talk about this title. She’s a childhood friend, but she goes away in the midst of the game and it’s Link’s job to search for her.”
“This game’s plot is something like a school drama, you could say. The flying sequence at the E3 demo is Link competing against his classmates. One of them looks kind of a like a bad guy, as you saw, and he shows up in other ways in the game too, since he has a major thing for Zelda.”
In Japan earlier today, Nintendo hosted a meeting for shareholders. Satoru Iwata answered a slew of questions about Wii U at the event, among other topics. For the important information from Iwata, read on below.
– Nintendo is releasing text book software through DS, has been well received, but many are against bringing game systems into classrooms
– Brain Age changed some minds about the above
– Earnings for board members dropped as did the lowered company earnings
– Iwata was the only person to make over 100 million yen (137 million yen)
– Six directors topped the 100 million yen mark
– Iwata’s earnings dropped 50 million yen from last year
– Wii U received great reactions from those in L.A.
– Iwata said a majority of overseas media offered congratulations to him
– Reaction for Wii U differed greatly between those who covered the product at the show and those who just covered it online
– Nintendo needs to consider how to convey the value of the product
– Nintendo hoping that low software output for Wii U launch won’t be an issue, unlike the 3DS’ situation
– Is Nintendo’s HD development ability okay? Iwata: Regarding Zelda HD, Japanese developers said that it could not be replicated on other machines. It was made in a relatively short period, so Iwata feels that HD development will not be a problem.
– Iwata said Wii wasn’t accepted by the core since they didn’t want to abandon their preferred control approach and it didn’t offer HD
– Wii didn’t have HD since HD const performance at the time was low
– Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls
– Wii U controller not as big/heavy as it looks
– 3DS can technically be used as a Wii U controller
– You can’t go online if you use 3DS as a Wii U controller (unclear if this is for Wii U or 3DS)
– Iwata explained that if you connect Wii U and 3DS, then players have to purchase both systems
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
