A translation coming from Nintendo’s recent investor Q&A meeting shows the President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, admitting that the port strike on the west coast of America has had an impact on shipments regarding amiibo and the New Nintendo 3DS XL.
This would explain the amount of delays, shortages and vague dates we’ve been getting since amiibo first launched alongside Super Smash Bros. for Wii U back on November 21st, 2014, which is the only time there’s been a solid date on an amiibo release in the US. Video games, on the other hand, haven’t been impacted in this strike, as “games are light and can be flown to America”, Iwata says.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t go on for much longer so both the consumers and Nintendo can go about amiibo and any future products stress free.
The Q&A meeting is currently available in Japanese here
Podcast Crew: Austin (Twitter), Jack (Twitter), Laura (Twitter)
Welcome to episode 106 I mean episode 109. How are you? I’m okay. I hope you’re okay too. Here’s an overview of what we’ll be talking about on this episode:
Segment 1, Intro: Star Tropics makes its first appearance on this podcast, and we discuss some cool tidbits about its development and how it’s similar to Metal Gear Solid in a certain respect.
Segment 2, What We Played: Austin gives his impressions of the New 3DS XL, Laura waxes poetic and tells a story from her time with Majora’s Mask 3D, and Jack updates us on chemistry, computer science, and other collegiate affairs.
Segment 3, Book Club: Our next week of the A Link to the Past book club creates a rift that eventually morphs into a learning experience for everyone involved! Jack likes the Dark Palace and dislikes the Swamp Palace, but Laura and Austin think the opposite! Some interesting notes about Zelda temple design in this segment.
Segment 4, Listener Mail: Listener mails brings about a particularly interesting topic this week: Are 2D Zelda games really just gimped versions of 3D Zelda games? Are they just a stopgap between the “real” Zelda games? We don’t go quite as in-depth as I’d like to someday, but it’s a fascinating idea.
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Monolith Soft updated the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X website today. We have a look at another character, plus some other game elements.
New character Ru is introduced by Monolith Soft (voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu). Ru is an inventor and native from Mira, who makes his living by selling his inventions to Nopon and other native species. He has a very curious personality and feels close to the newly arrived humans. Ru also is very familiar with idioms for some reason.
Head past the break for a bit of information the Segment Map and Data Probes.
Toys “R” Us is in talks to sell custom amiibo from creator “Evilos”. While the two sides are in the negotiating phases, everything is proceeding as planned and the fan-made figures will be sold online at some point. Pricing and other details are up in the air at the moment, but we’ll let you know more as soon as we receive more information.
There are plenty of pre-order bonuses for Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition in Japan. One of these, as shown on Nintendo’s Twitter account today, is an original stylus. View a picture of the bonus above.
It was previously announced that there will be early purchase bonuses as well. These include a Tamadra 3DS theme code, a special ticket to claim monsters in the arcade game Puzzle & Dragons Z Tamer Battle V2, and an original promo card for the Puzzle & Dragons trading card game. An image showcasing these three items are posted below:
A New 3DS XL Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is coming to Japan next month. The package includes a blue system, 16GB microSD card, and AC adapter.
Pricing is set at 24,000 yen. The bundle launches on March 12.
Famitsu published its full interview with the developers behind Splatoon on its website today. Producer Hisashi Nogami, director Yusuke Amano, and co-director Tsubasa Sakaguchi participated in the discussion.
Siliconera translated some excerpts from the interview. You can find a summary of what was shared below.
“Many staff members that have worked on Wii U launch titles are working on this game, so now that we have a grasp of the Wii U’s functions, it started out with discussions about wanting to make something new with what we already know. There were many plans, but the one that stayed until the end was Splatoon.”
– Nogami says that it was just around the time Sakaguchi finished working on Nintendo Land, and Amano with New Super Mario Bros. 2, that Splatoon’s plans began
– Wasn’t always about squid characters
– Originally had tofu-like square characters
– Eventually chose to make it a competitive 4-on-4 game that required spraying the environment with ink
A New 3DS cover plate based on Xenoblade is coming to Japan. The one pictured above will be available on April 2, with pricing set at 2,000 yen. We’ll let you know if Nintendo makes a similar announcement for Europe.
Gemology is heading to the Wii U eShop in April, BNC Design Studios has announced. A teaser for the game can be found above. Not much is shown, though BNC Design Studios says this was “very intentional.” The developer intends to share steady information about Gemology “and its intense two year development” over the next couple of months.
Source: BNC Design Studios PR
