I think it’s pretty safe to say right now that the Big N has some important news to discuss. The first Nintendo-related tease we heard about was from Nintendo Dream, which involves the magazine unveiling a new game in a popular franchise this month. Then we heard about Nintendo holding a media event in Europe, followed by teasers from Nintendo Power and the Official Nintendo Magazine. Now IGN has confirmed that Nintendo of America will be holding their own media summit on February 24. We’ll find out what all of this is about in roughly two weeks.
Magical Adventure Puzzle Game Makes Its Way to Nintendo DS and Wii March 23
San Mateo, Calif. – Feb. 9, 2010 – Gamers are getting ready to slide their way to freedom this March as Rooms: The Main Building for Nintendo DS™ and Wii™ has gone gold. Published by Hudson Entertainment, the North and South American subsidiary of HUDSON SOFT, Rooms: The Main Building will challenge the minds of Wii and DS players on March 23, 2010 when they are asked to solve sliding puzzles in order to escape a series of surreal mansions. Players use various items and the guidance of their host, Mr. Book, to navigate the mystical new world.
“Rooms: The Main Building is a fun puzzle adventure game that will provide hours of entertaining and brain stimulating fun,” said Mike Pepe, director of marketing of Hudson Entertainment. “Players not only solve puzzles but can also explore a magical world that literally opens up in front of them. Using wit, strategy and various random objects – like a fishbowl to breath under water, players will discover that solution is only a doorstep away.”
Earlier today, Ubisoft revealed a new entry in the Ghost Recon franchise, subtitled Future Soldier. The announcement only confirmed a release for the 360, but Nintendo fans shouldn’t feel left out. On a conference call, Ubisoft shared the news that Future Solider is also in development for the Wii and DS. The company did not say how the Wii and DS games will differ from the other versions, although I’m sure we’ll find out more details in the coming months.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (Wii) – 8.0
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (DS) – 6.0
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii) – 9.0
Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii) – 7.5
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) – 8.0
Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (Wii) – 5.5
Ragnorok DS (DS) – 5.0
Data East Arcade Classics (Wii) – 6.5
Shiren the Wanderer (Wii) – 6.5
Today, Ubisoft® reported its sales for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2009.
Sales
Sales for the third quarter of 2009-10 came to €495 million, down 2.7%, or 2.0% at constant exchange rates, compared with €508 million recorded during the same period of 2008-09. For the first nine months of fiscal 2009-10, sales totaled €661 million versus €852 million in the corresponding prior-year period, representing a decrease of 22.5%, or 22.1% at constant exchange rates. This performance is in line with the revised targets announced on January 13, 2010.
Dengeki Online is reporting that Level-5 has new games in development for both the Wii and PS3. On the Wii side of things, the company is most likely working on their first Inazuna Eleven title for the console. There hasn’t been much news regarding Inazuma Eleven Break since it was announced in 2008, so it wouldn’t be surprising if development is nearing completion. Aside from Break, though, Level-5 is working on unannounced titles. Perhaps Level-5 will announce the new games they are creating later this year.
Nintendo confirms the settlement of a Federal Court action against an individual in Australia for illegally copying and uploading to the Internet the first game file of Nintendo’s highly-anticipated video game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the Wii™ console. The game file was first made available for illegal download worldwide on 6 November, 2009, a week prior to its official release in Australia.
This legal proceeding was commenced to protect the creative rights and innovation of game developers, and to combat the growing international problem of Internet piracy. Under Australian law, copying and distributing games without the permission of the copyright holder is a breach of the Copyright Act.
Setting
– Developers considered different types of settings like medieval Japan (main character would be a samurai) and modern day (main character would be a high school boy)
– Team chose Scandinavian mythology instead of Greek mythology
– There was a lot of trial and error with character designs, devs did motion capture for some characters before the design was finished
– Giants took a long time to create
– Sandlot found making a natural landscape difficult since they had experience mainly with cities
– Dev team researched Scandinavian nature
– Script more than 10 cm thick when piled up
– Over an hour of cut-scenes
