The following information comes from a portion of an EDGE interview with Shigeru Miyamoto…
“As soon as we’ve finished a project, I always have regrets about what we could or should’ve done. But then there are these great ideas that we can utilise with future projects, one way or another. Some people might say Wii Music is a good example. It’s been said that it could have sold much more than it actually has to date, but it simply means that I have some assets right now that, by tweaking something, we might be able to have great success with in future.”
I think it’s pretty safe to say that Wii Music has been Nintendo’s biggest “Wii” failure. The game didn’t sell as well as the company had hoped, but the title was also hit pretty hard with reviews. There have been a number of fair complaints, though. I’m not too sure that this quote from Miyamoto necessarily means there’ll be a sequel, but Nintendo would need to take a look at the title’s criticisms to achieve greater success.
The information below comes from Yoshio Sakamoto, who spoke with Nintendo Power in the magazine’s latest issue…
“It’s certainly possible that in the future we’ll go back to another 2-D Metroid using some of the ideas that have been generated on this Other M project. So please don’t get the idea that this is the end of 2-D Metroid games.”
“There were certainly some members on staff who weren’t entirely comfortable with committing us to a single control scheme, so they would ask questions like, ‘Couldn’t we just make it possible to connect the Nunchuk and have an alternate control scheme in the game?’ But I felt like that was essentially the wrong way to think about it. Like if you have to tack on other options like that, then you really are admitting defeat as a game designer. …I felt like I really needed to prove something about why this was correct for the Samus universe in the first place.”
“We (Nintendo) would set forth a lot of design limitations where we’d say, ‘This is what a Metroid level looks like,’ and set those forward as prescribed ways of doing things for a Metroid game, but these guys (Team Ninja) had all of their own ideas from working on so many 3-D games recently that there was the opportunity for a lot of fermentation between the conflict of our two ideas. During the development process, I was going to Tecmo every single week to play the latest build, and I was shocked by how much the level-design concepts were changing and evolving.”
“I’ve come to think of her (Samus) almost as a daughter. I helped her grow up and I want to take her to as many high places as possible. I want to make sure that when she’s in a game, she always has the chance to look cool and look really beautiful, and also that she has the opportunity to experience new challenges. So her development as a character is really the most important thing to me, and as I mentioned, this is a “serious touch” game. It might sound strange that I have such strong feelings for the heroine of a game, but I hope those feelings aren’t out of place.”
I really, really, really would like to see another 2D Metroid one day. In fact, wouldn’t it be great to see such a title on the 3DS? I know I’d buy it!
Thanks to Robert and Ovelli8l for the tip!
The following information comes from an Iwata Asks interview with Shigeru Miyamoto…
– Galaxy 2 (another 3D Mario) gave Miyamoto a similar feeling to Majora’s Mask (another 3D Zelda on the N64)
– Majora’s Mask was going use Ocarina of Time’s 3D framework
– Miyamoto said that it takes a year working on player movements for a new game
– Having spent the year on controls, Miyamoto/Iwata felt it would be wasteful to simply make a few stages and that’s all
– Iwata/Miyamoto noticed that they hadn’t fully taken advantage of the spheres, believed new tricks/gimmicks could make something more interesting, even if an original stage formation was used
– Galaxy 2 initially had same stage formations as the original
– Was called Galaxy 1.5 internally to keep the pressure lower, but the developers thought the game could become more interesting with new stages, which eventually grew to over 90% new levels
– Goal was to make the game in one year (like Majora’s Mask), but the time expanded to 2.5 years; not
having to use a year to refine player movements allowed the team to create new stages and tune
– Hint TVs allow things to be explained, but hardcore gamers can skip over them
– Miyamoto believes this game is more difficult than the first, he shots/slam his table when playing alone late at night (Iwata wants to see this)
– Iwata came up with the DVD for Japan/Europe
– Miyamoto hopes players try the Co-Star mode
– Miyamoto worked on text editing, first time since Mario 64; He enjoyed it, though he thinks it resulted in some trouble for other developers
Thanks to Thomas N and Robert for the tip!
Videos
Nintendo Week 5/10
Picross 3D TV Spot
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver Remembering Pokemon Gold and Silver Versions #3
Iron Man 2: The Video Game Info Video – Wii/DS
Green Day: Rock Band Info Video
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Life Style Movie
Rage of the Gladiator Trailer – Boss: Ixthid the Beholder
Chess Challenge! Info Video
Earthworm Jim Info Video
Demos
Picross 3D
America’s Test Kitchen Pots de Creme Demo
America’s Test Kitchen Roasted Red Potatoes Demo
Rooms DS
Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects
Deca Sports DS – Cheerleading Demo
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DS
Deca Sports DS – Ping Pong Demo
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Disney the Princess and the Frog
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
James Patterson Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion
Warning: There may be a few notes after the break for Super Mario Galaxy 2 that some may consider spoilers.
Wii Party
– Announced last week
– Part of the “Wii” series
– Craig doesn’t think it’s the next generation of Mario Party
– Peer says Mario Party skews a little younger
– Wii Party instead looks like an expanded audience game
– Nintendo of America not announcing anything
– Will almost certainly be at E3
– Nintendo probably won’t make their conference mainly about this game
– Don’t know when it’s coming out
Photo Dojo
– Released today in North America
– Nintendo giving it away for the first month
– Have to play on the same system for 1 on 1 fighting
– It’s a fun toy
– Worth it when it starts costing money as well
Here are another round of comments from Iwata, who was responding to questions at the Q&A session of Nintendo’s investors briefing last week…
Iwata on whether there will be a jump in development costs in moving from 2D to 3D…
“If a game is originally made as a true 3D space, you make the 3D image by drawing two lines, one matching the left eye and one matching the right eye, so converting a game that already takes place in a 3D world into 3D is not all that difficult. If you try to make something that’s not in a 3D world into 3D, you’ll probably have some cost. However, I don’t really feel that there’s any substance to that. Naturally, you won’t make a game interesting by just making the visuals 3D. It’s when you offer an interactive experience in the 3D visuals as part of a set with something that is interesting that you first have value as entertainment. Regarding this, there’s still no foundation, and it’s an area that requires trial and error. It is that trial and error alone that could see an increase in development cost. However, the trial and error is there for any development where you try to make new entertainment experiences, and not just 3D.”
Iwata on whether there will be surprises at E3 other than the 3DS…
“I can’t say if there will or will not be surprises. If, for example, I said, ‘there will be a surprise,’ there wouldn’t be any meaning, as everyone would be disappointed because of anticipation being exceedingly high.”
Iwata responding to 3DS rumors…
“When we made the 3DS, we wanted to make it into a platform that would attract a wide variety of things, from high end games to extremely casual games.”
Iwata on decreasing Wii sales…
“The target of 18 million units that we gave for this term is itself a high target when you consider that four years have passed since the system’s release. If, in the games that we release this year, one were to make it big — explode like we hadn’t expected, it is, of course, possible that we’d exceed last year. However, making announcements of earnings forecasts on the basis of the assumption of such an explosion would be irresponsible for the management of a public company.”
Iwata on the possibility of Nintendo limiting Wii resources in favor of the Wii’s successor…
“We are in no way thinking the Wii is near the end of its platform cycle so we will limit our investments.”
Iwata on the 3DS’ real name…
“We’ve said that it will be released during this term, so the announcement of the formal name will not be too far off.”
Iwata also commented on software prices/space for the 3DS. Nintendo’s President stated that prices are determined by third-parties and details can only be provided over time.
Additionally, Iwata provided an explanation as to why the 3DS was announced before E3. Apparently Nintendo is interested in having other companies showcase their software for the system at the event. Because of this, other developers outside of Nintendo would become aware of the portable’s significant features. Before information was released to the public and speculation ran wild, Nintendo revealed the 3DS.
Last but not least, Iwata noted that is is possible that consumers will be hesitant to purchase a DS as a result of the 3DS announcement, especially in North America. However, he does not believe it will have a huge impact because the current DS buyers are not similar to people who immediately go out to purchase a system like the 3DS.
