Image & Form on how Switch makes it much easier to submit games, talks ease of development
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 5 Comments
Image & Form recently revealed that Switch developers only need to submit one version of their game for the entire world. Speaking with MCV, community manager Julius Guldbog further explained why this is so significant, and said Nintendo is “basically taking the Steam or App Store approach”.
Guldbog said:
“With the Wii U and 3DS, [Nintendo] started to realise that they had to get with the times. Publishing for Nintendo consoles has been, in the past, not a nightmare, but pretty close. They make sure every QA gate is good enough. It takes months, and you have to do that for every region, and if you fail, it takes even longer. You have to get a new slot, and release dates are pushed back.
But with the Switch, we only have to make one version and only have one launch – and that’s one version for the entire world, so we’ll have the same version in the US, Europe and a little bit later, Japan and China as well. That saves so much work. It means we can do the translations ourselves, we don’t have to have a new publisher for one specific region – it’s going to be so much easier. They’re basically taking the Steam or App Store approach: one version of the game for the entire world.”
More: Image & Form, interview, Julius Guldbog
Square Enix considering which titles to port over to Switch
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 72 Comments
We’ve already heard that Switch is receiving huge attention from Square Enix this year. Additionally, CEO Yosuke Matsuda informed Nikkei that the company is considering previously-released titles for the platform. “We’re even thinking about what feasible existing game titles we want to successively port [onto the Switch],” he said.
Any and all titles may be up for consideration here. Seiken Densetsu Collection is coming to Switch in Japan soon, which features games that came out many years ago. On the other hand, Square Enix brought Dragon Quest Heroes I-II out for Switch’s Japanese launch last month, which had titles that were made within the past couple of years.
More: interview, Square Enix, top
Former Nintendo dev on working at the company, Miyamoto wanting Pikmin to be the next Mario, Mario 64 DS, scrapped Wii Play games
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 6 Comments
Today, Gamasutra published a big interview with Motoi Okamoto. Okamoto spent a decade at Nintendo beginning in 1998, and contributed to games like Pikmin, Super Mario 64 DS, Wii Play, and Wii Fit.
Gamasutra spoke with Okamoto about his experiences at the company in its interview. He touched on Shigeru Miyamoto’s high aspirations for Pikmin, rejected Wii Play games, and more.
Head past the break for notable excerpts from the interview. You can read the full thing here.
More: interview, Motoi Okamoto, top
Zelda: Breath of the Wild devs on Ganon and Zelda, story positioning, using open air concept in the future
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 129 Comments
This week, Famitsu is publishing an interview with some of the developers behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about the game in-depth, among others. Ahead of the magazine’s official release tomorrow, some tidbits from the interview have appeared online.
First, Famitsu asks about how Nintendo settled on Ganon’s role in the game. Zelda was given a fairly deep portrayal, but Ganon only exists as a calamity. Fujibayashi responded by saying that, role-wise, it was unnecessary for him to be personified. If he talks, then his background would need to be shown and that would only be an obstruction in the game. That’s why Ganon is shaped as it is.
Former Nintendo exec Ken Lobb on GoldenEye 007’s rail shooter origins, Klobb gun, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
Ken Lobb might not be a name everyone is familiar with, but he had a major impact on Nintendo back in the day. As a former executive at Nintendo of America, he influenced both software and hardware.
The N64 megahit GoldenEye 007 was one game Lobb was involved with. In a lengthy interview with Game Informer this month, Lobb discussed the game in-depth starting with its origins up through release.
GoldenEye 007 started out with “a tiny team at Rare,” Lobb said. Speaking about why this happened, he explained:
“Let’s just say, the ‘bigs,’ or the more experienced Rare developers were busy. They also weren’t super thrilled about making a game with a license. The license had come from Japan, from Mr. [Hiroshi] Yamauchi. He started the negotiations for it. Tim and Chris had agreed to take on the project. But the people making Donkey Kong, Banjo, Killer Instinct – they’re all busy. So, Martin Hollis and a little group of people began working on it.
They worked in barns at the time. Rare was called the Manor Farmhouse. It was this beautiful old farmhouse with a bunch of developers in it, and all these barns that were converted into development spaces. One was for Banjo, one was Killer Instinct, the smallest one had Martin Hollis, David Doak, and the whole team behind GoldenEye. I was visiting Rare a lot, once every 8 to 10 weeks to work on Killer Instinct 2. Actually, the end of Killer Instinct and into Killer Instinct 2, while they were making GoldenEye. I developed a friendship with Martin. That had a couple, shall we say, interesting impacts…”
More: GoldenEye 007, interview, Ken Lobb, top
Hearthstone designer says Switch version is “a good discussion worth having”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 31 Comments
Hearthstone, Blizzard’s popular collectible card game, has stayed on mobile and PC since its launch a few years ago. With Switch out on the market, fans are wondering if it could eventually land on the new console.
Express Online did ask Hearthstone senior game designer Mike Donais about the possibility. “I personally haven’t talked about it but I’m more focused on card design,” he said. “Hearthstone is available on iPads and phones, so it’s a good discussion worth having.”
Director Jeff Kaplan recently said in a Reddit AMA that bringing Hearthstone to Switch would be “very challenging”. However, he also noted that the team is “always open minded about exploring possible platforms.”
More: Blizzard, Hearthstone, interview, Mike Donais
CI Games will consider supporting Switch in the future
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 1 Comment
It won’t come as much of a surprise, but CI Games says there are no plans to have Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 on Switch. However, level designer Tomasz Pruski told finder.com.au that the company is “definitely looking at it for future products.”
Pruski noted:
“So we will not be releasing Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 on Nintendo Switch, but we are definitely looking at it for future products. We met with them [Nintendo] and talked about the possibilities. Sniper is not our only IP, so we’re looking to put different games on there. But nothing is official as of now.”
More: CI Games, interview, Tomasz Pruski
Yacht Club Games says next project will likely be “very different than Shovel Knight”, Shovel Knight 2 possible
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
NextN recently interviewed Sean Velasco from Yacht Club Games. Some of the more interesting comments came about while discussing the company’s future.
First, when asked about Yacht Club Games’ next title, Velasco said that the project “will probably be something that is very different than Shovel Knight”. He said:
“It will probably be something that is very different than Shovel Knight, but still retains our distinctive Yacht Club Flavor. Nintendo made Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, but they are all distinctly Nintendo. I’d love to make another franchise that people love even more than Shovel Knight!”
Don’t think that returning to Shovel Knight is completely off the table. Regarding the possibilities of Shovel Knight 2, Velasco noted,
“Yes, but it would also be really amazing to work on something fresh and new. For now, start thinking about what the next 8 knights could be like!”
Yooka-Laylee will see a Switch release “as soon as possible”, Playtonic wants to focus on developing own IP
Posted on 7 years ago by Zack in Switch eShop | 130 Comments
Playtonic’s Andy Robinson, the writer and comms director for the studio, recently answered some questions about Yooka-Laylee during an interview with Game Reactor. Some of the topics covered include the release of the game on the Switch eShop and whether or not Playtonic would be interesting in creating games with already established characters, such as Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong.
On the Switch release for Yooka-Laylee:
“It’s a bit too early to go into specifics with this version, but rest assured we’re working directly with Nintendo to get it out as soon as possible for our many fans and Kickstarter backers on that platform. We’re big Nintendo fans here, so it’s very exciting to be working on Nintendo Switch.”
On how Playtonic would feel about developing a game for older, legendary characters like Banjo-Kazooie:
“The most important thing for the team at Playtonic is that we maintain the autonomy and culture that allows us to create the kind of games we want to make. When working with another company’s IP, you inherently lose some of that independence, so right now we’re focusing on expanding the Playtonic Universe of stories across many different game genres.”
With an answer like that, one has to be curious as to what Playtonic has planned for the future of their universe. You can read the full interview here.
More: interview, Playtonic, Yooka-Laylee
Zelda: Breath of the Wild devs on starting out with 10 people, showing Miyamoto the 2D prototype, Great Plateau made first, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 4 Comments
IGN caught up with Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, technical director Takuhiro Dohta, and art director Satoru Takizawa to discuss the game’s creation in greater depth. Some interesting comments were shared about the game’s development. Fujibayashi, Dohta, and Takizawa talked about starting out with a small team, the 2D prototype, making The Great Plateau first, and more.
You can find a summary we’ve done below. For the full piece, head on over to IGN here.
