The Nintendo Zone Viewer service has come to an end. In the past, Nintendo provided unique and location specific content through different hotspots.
3DS users can still access other services from Nintendo Zone locations, including free Internet at more than 29,000 hotspots across North America.
Nintendo writes in its discontinuation notice of the Nintendo Zone Viewer:
What’s Changed:
The Nintendo Zone Viewer service, which provided unique, location specific content for Nintendo 3DS family systems’ users via Nintendo Zone hotspots, has been discontinued.
Note:
This change does not affect any other services available through Nintendo Zone. Nintendo 3DS family systems users can continue to enjoy free and automatic Internet connection at more than 29,000 Nintendo Zone hotspots across North America and enjoy network services such as online game play, Nintendo eShop, Miiverse, Internet Browser, SpotPass, StreetPass Relay Points and video-on-demand services. The wireless icon in top-left corner of the Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu will turn blue when users are in range of a Nintendo Zone.
Details from Nintendo’s 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Update: All over! You can find the information rounded up below.
Nintendo’s 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is currently progress. We’ll be posting everything that was shared during the event below, courtesy of translations from Cheesemeister.
Intro
– New 3DS selling well, but the old 3DS did not, so HW sales were 8.73m. SW selling well. Pokemon, Smash numbers.
– Mario Kart 8 at 5.11m, Smash Wii U at 3.65m. Wii U HW 2.88m.
– Entertainment has value, centering on dedicated platforms. Providing premium experiences only available on such. Making more SW.
– Xenoblade for New 3DS released. Rhythm Heaven, FE: if released. Supporting 1st-party and strong 3rd-party SW.
– On Wii U, Splatoon, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Super Mario Maker are being released.
– Card-based and yarn amiibo are being released. The NFC dongle for old 3DS and 2DS being released. Looking to increase demand.
– Supporting amiibo on Smash 3DS with the NFC dongle.
– About DeNA, starting smart device apps this year. Smart devices different from dedicated consoles, so even w/ same IP, adapting play styles to suit smart devices will maximize value and drive the expansion of the gaming population.
– Continuing with film adaptations and character merchandising to increase mind-share of IPs. Ex: Universal agreement. More later.
– Making a marketing appeal for the IPs through experiences only possible at theme parks.
– Making progress with QOL. (No details given.)
– 1st measure: distribution of dividends.
– 2nd measure: selection of board members.
Nintendo’s Yugo Hayashi is the director of Star Fox Zero. Prior to this, he was involved with level design on Zelda: Twilight Princess and directed Wii Fit.
Having developers work on a variety of different projects is part of an intentional plan from Shigeru Miyamoto. In an interview with Kotaku, he explained:
Miyamoto: In terms of trying to develop a developer I always try to get them to do lots and lots of different things. Mr. Aonuma is kind of always working on Zelda but for most other people I like to try to get them to try lots of different things. So someone who worked on the art direction for Zelda would then go on to Wii Fit U. That’s kind of how I like to do things. And now Mr. Hayashi is working with me pretty much every day.
Hayashi and Miyamoto went on to discuss something a bit random. Hayashi actually mentioned that he feels that him being the closest to Miyamoto in terms of seating helped him land the job for Star Fox Zero.
Kirby Squeak Squad hit the European eShop today as one of the latest Wii U Virtual Console downloads. For those that are interested, footage from the game can be found below.
Footage from The Legend of Legacy’s English build has come in from E3 2015. Check it out below.
Shigeru Miyamoto has been responsible for some of Nintendo’s biggest gaming franchises. Without Miyamoto, the likes of Mario and Zelda wouldn’t exist today.
Nintendo games will always be the most important element for Miyamoto, but the company’s Shinya Takahashi feels that his creativity could be extended into other areas. Speaking with USA Today, Takahashi stated:
“For me, because it’s Mr. Miyamoto, I want him to continue making things as long as he wants to continue making things. I really think that Mr. Miyamoto will continue to be creative — and not just in the area of video games.”
Shigeru Miyamoto shared a bit more about Nintendo’s partnership with Universal and plans for attractions while speaking with USA Today. In doing so, he may have partially hinted at a Mario attraction – which would definitely make sense.
Below are Miyamoto’s comments in full:
“We’ve come to the point where the kids who grew up playing Nintendo games are now parents who have their own kids. I think for them it will be a tremendous experience. We have all the knowledge of who the Mario character is, what the Mario world is and how it’s represented. We have been in constant communication with (Universal) communicating our vision to them, and they’re turning it into something that could exist within that park. It’s really about that partnership. That’s the challenge put forth to Universal Studios. How do you take something digital and bring it into the real world in a way that people can experience it in real life? That’s where we’re working together.”
Nintendo doesn’t have much of a clear policy when it comes to voice chat. Some of its games support the feature, whereas others simply don’t.
Nintendo’s Julie Gagnon offered some insight into the company’s approach to voice chat while speaking with Nintendo Enthusiast last week. She responded by explaining that, in the end, developers make the decision so that they can “appeal to the maximum number of players.”
Below is Gagnon’s full response, in which Splatoon was specifically mentioned:
“The thing with Splatoon is that the game is so visual and we really feel that the people in the game do not need voice chat in order to communicate with each other because we have ‘oh, stay here’ or ‘come here’ icons. We have many ways to communicate in the game. Plus, with the gamepad and the view, you can easily see if one of the members of your team is in trouble, or if there is a part of the map that you need to cover. So, this is something that we made a decision on so that the game can appeal to the maximum number of players. So, ultimately, the developers need to decide, depending on the features and the game itself, whether voice chat is included.”
At this point, many of you know about the Villager amiibo reprint. The figure received a bit of an update when it was re-released in Japan, and it now looks like this version is making its way to North America as well. The Villager reprint – updated design and all – was recently spotted at Nintendo World in New York City.
Siliconera posted a new preview of Project X Zone 2 today based on the game’s E3 2015 demo. Find some details roundup below, and the full piece here.
– E3 demo was a fight outside of what seems to be Kogoro’s headquarters in Shibuya
– Juri Han (Street Fighter) and V-Dural (Virtua Fighter) appear
– The characters repreise their roles as rival units in Brave New World
– Sigma (Mega Man X) makes his debut
– Juri has a newly animated special attack with her known as Kaisen Dankairaku
– Sigma has his scythe and eye lasers
– Kage-Maru replaces Pai Chan to make a new pair unit with Akira Yuki
– Akira excelled at launching enemies upward in the first game
– In this one, his side combos launch an enemy horizontally
– Only his neutral attack seems to launch enemies up
– On the Tekken side, Kazuya Mishima replaces Ling Xiaoyu to make a pair unit with Jin Kazuma
– Their neutral move is Leaping Side Kick & Rising Uppercut
– Left attack is Spinning Flare Kick & Hell Lancer
– Right combo is Savage Sword & Roundhouse to Triple Kick Spin
– Their moves launch the opponent horizontally and excel at keeping the enemy at mid-height in combat
– New to this game: Yakuza: Dead Souls pair Majima and Kiryu
– Their neutral move is Double Yakuza Kick
– Right attack is Backbreaker & Knife Combo
– Left attack is Anti-Materiel Rifle & Shotgun
– These two hit fewer times, but do a lot of damag
– Left attack keeps the enemy floating at mid-height just before the last hit, if you want to use a solo unit to deal cross damage
– X and Zero are together and seemingly playable from the beginning
– Their neutral move is X-Buster and Z-Saber
– Right attack is Triad Thunder and Ryuenjin
– This can be followed up by their left attack, which is Frost Tower & Hadangeki
– Neutral move keeps launches an enemy horizontally
– Directional attacks send enemies straight into the air
– Bandai Namco nods heavily toward Mega Man X3 here, as the pair unit gets a remixed version of the game’s introductory stage as one of their themes
– Get a “Charge Bonus” at the end of every fight scene in the demo
– This seems to power up one, two, or even three of a pair unit’s attacks the next time they fought in battle
– To the bottom right of the XP gauge on the battle screen is a turn counter
– Even if it’s only by a little, the battle system has been sped up
– In the first game, if the player K.O.’s an enemy, they’ll be stuck in the combo until they touch the ground
– This time around, when lethal damage is dealt to an enemy, they will simply disappear in a puff of smoke soon afterward
– Clearing the scenario yielded no second wave of enemies, which suggests that there isn’t wave after wave of enemies
