Nintendo has been trying to capture the casual audience with the DS, though now the company is essentially attempting to do the opposite with their next handheld. Satoru Iwata, in an interview with Nikkei, hinted that the DS primarily attracts consumers who don’t play games often. However, Iwata is hoping that the 3DS’ graphical capabilities and gameplay will appeal more to the core demographic.
Iwata also explained that third-party support is of huge importance for Nintendo. The 3DS was created with requests from external developers in mind and Nintendo is looking to work with third-parties in order to “expand into elaborate games targeting serious gamers.”
Lastly, Iwata briefly mentioned 3D gaming for the Wii’s successor again, noting that “a full-scale entry into this field will take some time because 3D televisions will not catch on right away.”
Capcom has officially announced that Okamiden will be released in Japan on September 30. Since Capcom will have three months in 2010 to localize the title, hopefully North American and European gamers will be able to play it early next year.
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
Also, just in case you were curious about how the PS3 title compares, I’ve included a trailer of it below. In the future, you can expect full coverage of that version on our sister site.
– 352-page book comes with the game
– Releasing December 9 in Japan
– 6,800 yen
– Find monsters, recruit them with the Imagine system, then raise them
– Mission + map on the top screen
– Action on the touch screen
– Magic Master shows the world map, info about each area is provided
– Many NPCs and buildings
– Name your Imagine monster once it’s been recruited, use certain patterns to open doors
– Magic Book shows how to write a spell on the touch screen
– Game has an underground sewer area
– Use Magic Master to find out about an enemy’s weakness
– DS version will be different than the PS3 version, but both will take place in the same world
1. [Wii] Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 53,000 / 572,000
2. [DS] Ghost Trick – 24,000 / NEW
3. [DS] Egokoro Kyoushitsu DS – 21,000 / NEW
4. [Wii] Xenoblade – 21,000 / 104,000
5. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City – 21,000 / 85,000
6. [DS] Tamagotchi no Pichi Pichi Omisecchi – 17,000 / NEW
7. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen – 16,000 / 122,000
8. [DS] Tomodachi Collection – 14,000 / 3,277,000
9. [PSP] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen – 13,000 / 69,000
10. [PS3] Hakuoki: Junsouroku – 13,000 / NEW
11. [DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
12. [PSP] Fairy Tail: Portable Guild
13. [Wii] Wii Fit Plus
14. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii
15. [DS] Let’s Make a Pro Soccer Club! DS World Challenge 2010
16. [PSP] Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
17. [Wii] Mario Kart Wii
18. [DS] Medarot DS: Kabuto / Kuwagata
19. [Wii] Trauma Team
20. [PS2] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Blue Samurai Challenge
21. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP the Best)
22. [PS3] Just Cause 2
23. [DS] Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo: Machiteba Tengoku! Makereba Jigoku! Ryoutsuryuu Ikkakusenkin Daisakusen!
24. [Wii] Wii Sports Resort
25. [PS3] Lost Planet 2
26. [DS] Mega Man Zero Collection
27. [DS] New Super Mario Bros.
28. [Wii] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Blue Samurai Challenge
29. [DS] Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver
30. [PSP] Hisshou Pachinko Pachislot Kouryaku Series Portable Vol. 1: CR Neon Genesis Evangelion – Tamashii no Kiseki
Sakamoto on how Other M started…
“I should probably start by saying that I’ve come this far by mostly making 2D Metroids – I hadn’t had any real experience making a 3D action game like we’re trying to do this time. I quickly realised that to accomplish that, we’d need the expertise of a partner.
When I started thinking about who could handle the kind of control scheme we wanted with Metroid: Other M, I immediately thought about Team Ninja and their work on Ninja Gaiden. When I played Ninja Gaiden, it actually changed my thinking in terms of 3D action games and how complex they would have to be. It seemed they were an obvious partner from that perspective.
And when you say that Team Ninja and Metroid isn’t an obvious pairing, I think that’s kind of fun. You might assume Nintendo and Team Ninja are very different based on image alone, but once we started to discuss the project, I realised that we had very similar shared goals and very similar ideas about how to achieve them.”
– No MotionPlus, doesn’t fit in with the gameplay
– Red Fly Studios chosen due to business decisions (time frame/dev cycle more flexible, Krome was busy)
– Bigger support from LucasArts
– No 3DS version, but Star Wars will end up on the platform in the future
– Wii game has the same content as the HD versions
– Exclusive 4-player fighting mode for Wii
– Unconfirmed: MotionPlus Star Wars project in the works
Thanks to Robert for the tip!
