interview

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 25 Comments

On the latest episode of Fragments of Silicon, Tantalus CEO Tom Crago stopped by for a chat. A majority of the conversation centered around The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, of which the studio was largely responsible for.

Crago went in-depth about developing Twilight Princess HD. That includes how Tantalus landed the job, Nintendo’s involvement and working with series producer Eiji Aonuma, coming up with the new Wolf Link amiibo and Cave of Shadows functionality, how long it took to come together plus the amount of people involved, and more.

Read on below for Crago’s comments about working on Zelda: Twilight Princess HD.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 8 Comments

Nintendo UK has a new interview up with Ghost Town Games about Overcooked: Special Edition on Switch. The studio’s Phil Duncan and Oli De-Vine spoke about bringing their popular game to Nintendo’s new platform.

Duncan started out by discussing Overcooked origins on Switch. The team was actually thinking about a Wii U port, but that changed when Switch surfaced.

According to Duncan:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in News, Switch eShop | 6 Comments

Nintendo UK recently published an interview with Christian Stewart from Cardboard Robot Games, developer of the upcoming Switch 2D retro fighting game Pocket Rumble, on their website. Make sure to read the full interview here if you’re interested; below are some interesting excerpts:

On why the game is designed like a Neo Geo Pocket Color game:

Two buttons was a big, big thing about Neo Geo Pocket. Somehow SNK got really complex, complicated fighting games that felt close to the Neo Geo arcade games in portable format, with two buttons. There was some magic there that we wanted to replicate in which we could make a game that has only two buttons, but still have the complexity that something like Street Fighter, with six buttons, could have.

On why the game is a natural fit for the Switch because of its local multiplayer capabilities:

Right, that’s exactly why we need to be on Nintendo Switch! This is the first time a handheld has really had the feel of playing on one console in local multiplayer. It’s perfect. We didn’t know anything about the Nintendo Switch when we were first designing the game but as soon as we heard about its capabilities we were like “this is perfect, this is exactly what we need to be on. This is a local, multiplayer, portable console and here we have this very important local multiplayer game that’s focussed on portability.” So it was a perfect fit!

On the challenges of making a game with the limitations of a Neo Geo Pocket Color-inspired art style:

The resolution of those sprites is very, very small. It is very hard to convey certain things. Subtle nuances are very difficult to convey at such a small resolution. It’s absolutely worth it, because I think the Neo Geo aesthetic on top of the nostalgia just complements what the game is trying to do very well.

We’re trying to get rid of a lot of executional barriers and keeping things to their bare fundamentals, but those fundamentals are still very complex because they’re the inherent mechanics of 2D fighting games.

We’re simplifying as much as we can. So those simple, lower resolution graphics and limited colour palettes work really well with how much we’re focussing on the core combat mechanics.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 9 Comments

Over on Reddit, developers from Vertex Pop have been conducting an AMA about its recently-released Switch game Graceful Explosion Machine. Initial sales, potential plans for more content in the future, how the team implemented HD Rumble, and more were all discussed.

Notable responses from the AMA about these topics and more are below. You can catch up on the full AMA here.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch | 94 Comments

Xbox boss Phil Spencer often tends to share positive vibes when speaking about Nintendo. On two separate occasions for example, Spencer praised Switch.

Spencer is back at it again with a new interview from Gamasutra. He finds Switch “interesting”, and likes how Nintendo is quick to innovate. 

Spencer’s full words:

“Nintendo, I thought, did a cool thing with picking mobile. They kind of said okay, Switch is going to be a console that you can take with you. That’s an interesting idea. Nintendo always does cool things, right. They did the second screen with Wii U, they obviously did the Wii and motion gaming in the room. I love that innovation.

Having innovation that really brings third-parties along is critical to us, I think; Nintendo tends to have great success in their first-party on their platforms and then third-parties usually come in a little bit later, usually because Nintendo creates things that are less like other things. Which is, you know, kudos to them. I think it’s a fantastic part of the industry.”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 51 Comments

This week, Nikkei published a significant interview with Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda. Matsuda had a decent amount to say about Switch and expressed significant interest in supporting it with many titles going forward.

We thought it would make sense to fully translate Matsuda’s statement, which include a couple of extra comments. His full words are as follows:

“Our developers with a strong interest in the Switch are eager to challenge themselves to find new ways for people to play games. Having more gaming platforms available is a good thing for us. I really want the Switch to succeed. We’ll be developing new titles, and we’d like to port existing titles that the Switch can support often as we can.

Nintendo creates a variety of new gameplay possibilities. I think other companies will comes up with some surprising gimmicks using the Switch’s unique capabilities. We have our own way of doing things, so we’ll be marrying the Switch’s unique features to the kinds of games we’re known for.”

We do also want to take this opportunity to clarify something about the interview. Some translations had Matsuda as saying Square Enix is prioritizing Switch over other platforms such as Xbox Scorpio. However, this was simply not said. Matsuda’s enthusiasm for Switch is clear, but no comments were made about Square Enix focusing on the system over others.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 5 Comments

Wccftech caught up with Elliot Grassiano, VP game production at Microids, for a chat about Syberia 3. While the game is gearing up for its initial launch, a Switch version will follow later in the year.

When Syberia does come to Switch, it may incorporate Switch-specific features such as HD Rumble. Grassiano teased:

“We are working on a faithful port of Syberia 3, it was important for us to offer mobility to players, to allow them to embody Kate Walker wherever they want. We are thinking about a specific development on Nintendo Switch with new features, including HD Rumble support. We will use the best of this console to offer an unforgettable experience for players.”

Grassiano also spoke about Switch in general, stating:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 162 Comments

Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan noted last month that Blizzard is open to bringing the shooter to Switch, though doing so would be “very challenging”. Express followed up with Kaplan and pushed further about the possibility of it happening.

Kaplan pointed to a couple of challenges in porting Overwatch to Switch. First, the team “would have to revisit performance”. A Switch version would also require Blizzard to support another platform with patches alongside the other systems. Kaplan did reiterate that Blizzard is “very open-minded about what platforms we could be on.”

He said:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 34 Comments

A little while back, Famitsu published an interview with Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi all about Switch in one of its issues. It was extremely extensive, covering the system’s origins and early development (including some involvement from Satoru Iwata). The two developers also touched on numerous other topics such as going with a single screen, choosing the name out of thousands, tying in smartphone usage to online play and making it paid, system updates, VR, and why the January event was held in Japan. Again, there is a lot here.

We’ve now readied a pretty complete translation of the interview. Continue on below for the extensive discussion featuring Takahashi and Koizumi.

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More: Famitsu, interview, Shinya Takahashi, top, Yoshiaki Koizumi

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 41 Comments

SEGA is looking to reinvigorate the Sonic franchise with Sonic Forces, according to product manager Jim Dyer.

Twinfinite asked Dyer in a recent interview if SEGA views Sonic Mania is a ways of rebuilding interest in the series prior to Sonic Forces’ launch. To that, Dyer said “Sonic Mania is for the fans” while Sonic Forces “is a Sonic game for everyone.”

Additionally, Sonic Forces “is a broader game, a different sort of Sonic than what we’ve done before.” SEGA isn’t necessarily trying to make the Blue Blur relevant, as it’s more about having “flagship IP, this brand powerhouse that SEGA wants to get back to what it should be.”

Read Dyer’s full comments on Sonic Forces below.

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