Videos
Nintendo Week 3/15
WarioWare D.I.Y. Tutorial – Beginner Lesson #1
WarioWare D.I.Y. Tutorial – Beginner Lesson #2
Monster Hunter Tri Crabs Spot
Monster Hunter Tri College Spot
Monster Hunter Tri Beast of the Sands Video
Monster Hunter Tri Their World, Your Hunt Video
Rage of the Gladiator Info Video
Rage of the Gladiator Info Video – MotionPlus Support
Cave Story Developer’s Voice
Calling Developer Interview Video
Calling Launch Video
Disney Alice in Wonderland Info Video
Car Jack Streets Info Video
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs – Fight for Survival Info Video
101 MiniGolf World Info Video
Zoo Frenzy Info Video
Demos (Expire 3/21)
Rooms DS
Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects
Deca Sports DS Cheerleading Demo
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
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
At the Game Developer’s Conference last week, Metroid: Other M producer Yoshio Sakamoto gave a lecture and discussed the development of titles such as Tomodachi Collection and WarioWare: D.I.Y. But the topic that received the most attention was Sakamoto’s remark about Other M being on-rails at one point. His comment quickly caused a stir among Metroid fans, even though many of them hadn’t realized that Sakamoto was simply interpreted.
IGN’s Craig Harris had a chance to catch up with the cocreator of Metroid after his lecture and asked him about the idea of Other M being on-rails. Harris, roughly quoting Sakamoto, explained on the latest Nintendo Voice Chat podcast that “you can move back and forth within this area, but the camera would just follow along in the 3D world.” In other words, the game would have played similarly to Klonoa.
“…I asked him about the idea of being on-rails and how long into development did it change, and he was like, ‘Oh, I think people misinterpreted what I meant by on-rails. I meant that you can move back and forth within this area, but the camera would just follow along in the 3D world.’ And then I said, ‘Well, I didn’t misinterpret it. At least in my interpretation of what you were saying was a game like Klonoa, where you can move to the right or to the left and the camera would follow around dynamically, but you couldn’t hop off this rail that you were going on…’ It’s a side-scrolling game, but just done with a camera and 3D elements…It’s a fixed path. And when I brought up Klonoa, he was like, ‘Oh, yup, exactly, that’s exactly what I meant.’ And so that was pretty cool…”
“I’ve talked to people about it. I, personally, have not played ‘Zelda.’ I’ve played more of our content that’s closer in and that we’ve already announced. I look forward to my next trip to Kyoto to get my own hands on it.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
We were supposed to find out if Reggie has played Zelda Wii not on GameTrailers TV, but that question was never answered. Although, now it is clear Reggie hasn’t played it. I’m sure he’ll get a chance to before E3.
WiiWare
Rage of the Gladiator (1000 points) – 294 blocks
Triple Shot Sports (500 points) – 104 blocks
VC
Castlevania Rondo of Blood (900 points) – 267 blocks
DSiWare
Car Jack Streets (800 points) – 128 blocks
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs – Fight for Survival (800 points) – 126 blocks
Zoo Frenzy (500 points) – 88 blocks
101 MiniGolf World (500 points) – 68 blocks
First, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime responded to the fact that publishers have been allocating resources toward the PS3/360 and how Nintendo may assist third-parties…
“Let me answer the question two different ways. First, as a platform holder our responsibility is to create a large installed base for developers to create content, to provide them with the tools and the insight to help them create great games, and to have in place a profit model that motivates them to create the content and reap the rewards. We’ve done that; global installed base is over 67 million for Wii and there are 120 million in the DS family. So there’s a large installed base, an easy platform to develop for and a strong set of tools out there. In addition to that, part of the reason why we come to a conference like this, and bring some of our key development talent is also to challenge the mindset of what content can be. To have someone like Sakamoto-san talk about Tomodachi Collection and [Metroid’s protagonist] Samus and share his experiences really is a way that we’re trying to encourage developers to open their mind to do different things.”
Next, Reggie discussed the long-tail sales curve of hardcore titles…
“On the other hand, the interesting thing about this business is that developers love to create technically advanced games, and very visually stunning games, but the fact of the matter is not all of that content is selling exceptionally well either. Look at the most recent NPD results. I’m not sure how much was infested into a game like Dante’s Inferno, or how much is invested into a game like BioShock 2, but if that sales level is the best that they will do in a particular month, and it’ll fall off rapidly from there, then those games aren’t going to pay off their investment. So to me, it’s a much bigger question than ‘why aren’t developers creating core content for the Wii?’ It’s a much broader question: ‘How can the development community create content that will strike a chord with consumers and be financially attractive?'”
Finally, when asked why Nintendo should care about third-parties, Reggie said…
“Well, luckily we don’t have that mentality. For us, it is important that third parties bring their very best content to our platform. You could say ‘Why?’ It’s because… well, let me focus in on the West. There are 28 million Wiis out there in the marketplace. We know, based on our data, that we’ve got consumers from 5 to 95 playing on that platform. The fact of the matter is we know we create great content for younger consumers, we know we’ve got great content for more casual players, and we want fantastic content for that more active player who loves Metroid or Zelda but maybe also wants something like a BioShock 2 to play as well. And we also recognize that we don’t create that type of content ourselves. We’re not good at it and it’s not a key focus area. So we want that content on our platform, so we have to court third-party developers and encourage them to make [those games], but it also has to be financially viable for them as well.”
Thanks to NintenDaan for the news tip!
530 Eco Shooter (WiiWare) – 40%
“Aha! I Found It” Hidden Objects Game (WiiWare) – 18%
Alice in Wonderland (DS) – 78%
Bit.Trip Void (WiiWare) – 82%
Brain Cadets (WiiWare) – 30%
Calling (Wii) – 48%
Flight Control (DSiWare) – 82%
Flips: Terror in Cubicle Four (DSiWare) – 68%
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii) – 72%
Frogger Returns (WiiWare) – 52%
Infinite Space (DS) – 90%
Let’s Golf (DSiWare) – 62%
Legends of Exidia (DSiWare) – 55%
Overturn: Mecha Wars (WiiWare) – 54%
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All (WiiWare) – 75%
Puzzle to Go: Wildlife (DSiWare) – 49%
Rune Factory Frontier (Wii) – 85%
Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii) – 81%
Snakeoid (DSiWare) – 40%
Sonic Classic Collection (DS) – 83%
Sonic and Knuckles (VC) – 85%
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (VC) – 69%
The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces (Wii) – 79%
Melbourne-based game developer Tantalus today announced the imminent release of its first ever game for the Nintendo DSi™. Built from the ground up and exclusively for that platform, Drift Street International is the ultimate high-speed, white-knuckle street racing experience. Gamers will slide and boost their tightly tuned performance car around challenging city streets across the US, UK and Japan, in high-intensity midnight races. Drift Street International will be available for download in North America on March 22, with Europe and Australasia to follow.
Tantalus is one of the world’s foremost handheld racing developers, with a string of hits including multiple titles in the Cars and MX vs ATV series, and the now legendary Top Gear Rally on Game Boy Advance. Despite this impressive pedigree, CEO Tom Crago says Drift Street International represents the company’s greatest achievement yet. “To have Top Gear published by Nintendo and win a number of Game of the Year awards was a huge rush, but we all feel as though we’ve made something even more special with Drift Street International,” said Crago. “Visually, it stands apart from anything else out there, and in terms of car handling and gameplay it’s in a league of its own.”
NEW YORK, March 14, 2010 – Celebrating the launch of the Pokémon HeartGold Version and Pokémon SoulSilver Version video games for the Nintendo DS system, brothers Adrian and Damian K. from New York join beloved Pokémon, Pikachu, on a walk in Times Square. The games come with the Pokéwalker accessory, a special pedometer that lets players take their favorite Pokémon with them wherever they go. (Anders Krusberg for Nintendo)
