Photo one:
In this photo released by Nintendo, Roxana L., 32 and Jaime M., 33, of Los Angeles, buy a Wii video game system on Nov. 27, 2009, in GameStop at the Westfield Culver City in Culver City, Calif. Consumers continue to seek out the Wii system, now with a new suggested retail price of $199.99, and top new games such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Photo two:
In this photo released by Nintendo, Esmeralda G., 11, of Maywood, Calif., tries out Style Savvy, a new fashion-focused video game for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems, with the help of Nintendo representative Parthana G. at the Westfield Culver City in Culver City, Calif., on Nov. 27, 2009. Nintendo is traveling to more than 35 malls across the country to let consumers try the latest Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi video games before deciding what to buy.
Thanks to Ross M for the news tip!
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov 27, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that the Call of Duty(R) franchise has surpassed $3 billion in retail sales worldwide, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack, GfK and internal Activision estimates.
Since its first release, the award-winning Call of Duty franchise has sold in excess of 55 million units worldwide. The latest title in the franchise, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty(R):Modern Warfare(R) 2, recently shattered box office and video game records with a worldwide estimated five-day sale through of approximately $550 million, establishing the game as the biggest entertainment launch in history.
In the latest edition of Nintendo Power, the magazine interviewed George Kamitani, the president of Vanillaware. While there was no mention of the company’s next project in the actual interview, there was a small piece of information in the article, which mentions that their current game is “an unannounced title to be revealed in 2010.” Other than that, there was also a slight mention that the “it will be another 2-D offering,” similar to Vanillaware’s previous works. It’s possible that it may be a Wii title, especially seeing as how their latest title, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, was for Nintendo’s console.
“In that sense, the distance between me and Mr Miyamoto – any producer and Mr Miyamoto – has been expanding, and even I have been taking care of multiple titles simultaneously. But actually Mr Miyamoto doesn’t like the idea: he would like to be as close as possible to the actual game development.
That’s why, in the case of the new Legend of Zelda on Wii, he’s trying to take more direct hands-on and specifically at least once every month we are having a very intimate meeting where we confirm the status quo, we discuss what needs to be done and Mr Miyamoto gives instructions as to what we need to do.
And in such a situation, of course there are some heated arguments, because each of us has his own idea as to what a Zelda game should look like, should play like. As time passes and as we are growing in terms of number of people working for the same department, naturally Mr Miyamoto has to keep some distance away from any other producers and developers, but I think we always try to have as close communications as possible in one way or the other. That’s how I think everyone including me has been communicating with Mr Miyamoto at Nintendo.” – Eiji Aonuma
I agree with Aonuma that it’s natural for there to be arguments throughout the development process. Really, that goes for any title. It’s interesting to hear that Miyamoto is still very involved in the development of the console Zelda games, even after all of this time. And based on what Aonuma said, it actually seems as though Miyamoto has a bigger role than before.
FC:
-Famicom Tantei Club Part II – Ushiro ni Tatsu Shoujo Zenkouhen (Nintendo)
SFC:
-Final Fight 3 (Capcom)
Neo Geo:
-The King of Fighters ’95 (D4 Enterprise, Dec 1st)
MSX:
-Yie Ar Kung Fu II (Konami)
-Metal Gear (Konami)
Virtual Console Arcade:
-Ordyne (Namco Bandai, Dec 1st)
-Rompers (Namco Bandai, Dec 1st)
-Zaxxon (Sega)
