Niantic again talks about wanting to improve gyms in Pokemon GO
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
A big priority Niantic has for Pokemon GO is to improve the gym system. Studio CEO John Hanke recently spoke about the need to improve the gameplay, and that’s something senior product manager Tatsuo Nomura discussed with Polygon as well.
Nomura told the site:
“The gym portion [of Pokémon Go] needs a lot more work, and we are trying to improve it and make a bigger change to how the system works. Overall, I think we need a little bit more time to think through how we do it.”
“We needed to define [gyms] in a way that works in a mobile game. For example, we didn’t have … there’s no non-playable characters. That’s not how the game works. We’re an MMO, and we expect people to play with other people.”
“We expected more people to play that portion, and a lot of that is game balancing and just mechanics-wise, there’s some part of that that needs refinement.”
Niantic hasn’t shared a timetable as to when we can expect a new approach to gyms in Pokemon GO. The company does have a few updates planned for 2017 though, so it’s possible that there could be something by the end of the year.
More: interview, Niantic, Pokemon GO, Tatsuo Nomura
Reggie – Switch still Nintendo’s best-selling system in US after five days, bringing franchises, special story
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 47 Comments
A few days ago, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that Switch’s first 2-day sales in the Americas were the best for any Nintendo system in history. The trend continues five days in for the console.
During his new interview with Katie Linendoll, Reggie said the following about Switch sales:
“So we announced the first two days, so now we have data for the US five days in. Continues to be the best-selling system we’ve ever had in the United States. And I’ve launched five systems now with Nintendo, and by far this is the most remarkable given the pace of sales, given what’s happening on the software front – obviously Legend of Zelda – so this is an amazing time for us.”
Speaking of Zelda, he said the new entry is “killing it” in Japan. That’s important to note since the series has always done well in the west, but may not have always caught on in Nintendo’s native territory – especially as of late.
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Reggie talks Switch, 3DS, and more in a new interview
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Switch, Videos | 16 Comments
Katie Linendoll interviewed Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime through a Facebook live stream a short while ago. Reggie weighed in on Switch, 3DS, and more during the talk. For the full recording, continue on below.
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Reggie says video apps for Switch “will come in time”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 29 Comments
Right now, Switch doesn’t offer any video apps. The likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon currently aren’t offered on the system. However, it’s only a matter of time before that changes.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated that the company is talking with the aforementioned video providers about supporting Switch. Their apps “will come in time,” according to Reggie.
He said:
“What I would say is this: We built the Nintendo Switch to be a world-class gaming device, meaning we want you first and foremost to play games on the system and have an incredibly fun experience.
We’re talking to a range of companies about other services, companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon — things that will come in time. In our view, these are not differentiators. What differentiates us is the way you play with the Nintendo Switch and what you can play. And that will continue to be our focus into the future as we continue driving this platform.”
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Zoink, Image & Form say dev tools and power on Switch are a step up from previous Nintendo systems
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 2 Comments
Nintendo has made a big deal early on about how third-party development tools are very compatible with Switch. This is a big contrast to previous Nintendo hardware, as some engines and technology weren’t supported until later on. And when they were, such as with Unity on Wii U, they weren’t in the best of shape. Nintendo made sure to rectify this with Switch.
Speaking with GamesIndustry, Zoink CEO and creative director Klaus Lyngeled talked about how Unity is well supported on the new console:
“When we tried to do Zombie Vikings for Wii U – when I got Unity I could see it just wasn’t going to work, it was too slow an engine; then we got Unity for Switch and we saw directly, ‘wow it’s actually working’ and the tools are much better. So that part is very important for most indies. Most indies are using Unity and that makes a huge difference. It feels like they are pushing Unity more to make it good from the beginning.”
On a similar note, Image & Form CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson spoke about how developing for Switch is easy thanks to its straightforward nature and power.
“We’ve made games for the 3DS, the DSi, for the Wii U and they all had some issues – the 3DS and DSi were just weak. Since we were developing for them specifically it wasn’t like we were watering down our games, but all the time through development we had to think about how not to overtax the system. With the Wii U there was more power but you had the gamepad where you could use the [screen] and TV at the same time and so you had to show different things and take that into consideration. This is straightforward, period. What you see on the big screen is what you’re going to see on the handheld as well. It’s very simple and powerful, and ingenious – it’s a home console and a portable unit. Everybody’s wanted to say that in the past but here it is now. It’s powerful and really easy to develop for. There’s not very much wrong with the system.”
Breath of the Wild director on cut items / ideas, rearranging for Switch, wanting to make the next best Zelda
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 54 Comments
Kotaku has more comments from Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi. His remarks are pretty darn interesting, as we’re able to hear about some of the ideas that were cut during development – including the Hookshot and Beetle from Skyward Sword. Aside from that, Fujibayashi spoke about having to rearrange the game when Switch came into the picture, and always wanting to make the next best Zelda title.
Read up on Fujibayashi’s comments below. You can check out Kotaku’s full article here.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild director on having fun with falling and dying
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 32 Comments
Many would agree that Breath of the Wild is the toughest Zelda game in years. That’s something the development team accepted early on.
Last week, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi spoke about the game’s difficultly with The Verge. Nintendo observed that many players were falling off of Hyrule’s towers while development was ongoing, resulting in deaths. The team ended up making some tweaks, but in the end, they accepted the fact that many players would fall and die.
Fujibayashi said:
“When we saw that, we also didn’t see it as something negative. There’s actually kind of a fun to be had from falling and dying. You learn to be careful and to be cautious. And we felt that that gave a lot of players the emotional preparedness to take on the rest of the world. So we ultimately decided that we should let them die.”
Zelda: Breath of the Wild director on how the game initially came together, Miyamoto climbing trees in the prototype
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 6 Comments
The concept for Zelda: Breath of the Wild began with Shigeru Miyamoto and series producer Eiji Aonuma asking what would players would be able to do in the new game. Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who became the project’s director, responded by saying you could do everything.
Fujibayashi told Kotaku:
“But I had to sell it to them. How we’re going to make this happen. And I felt like the best way to convey this idea to them was to show them that you could climb walls.”
Work on Breath of the Wild began with a prototype. The team created a starting area with a small field and trees, along with rupees hidden throughout. Fujibayashi describes how Miyamoto played the demo:
Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s map is based on Kyoto
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s huge map is based on Kyoto, Japan. That’s according to director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who revealed the information while speaking with The Verge.
Fujibayashi told the site:
“When I first started looking at this game, I had Link in an empty game field and I would just walk around and try to map out and get a feel for the distance and where landmarks should be. What helped me with this was my hometown, Kyoto. I took a map of Kyoto and overlaid it on the game world, and I tried to imagine going to places that I know in Kyoto. I’d think ‘It takes this much time to get from point A to point B, so how does that translate to the game?’ And that’s how we started mapping out the world in Breath of the Wild.”
Fujibayashi added that using Kyoto as a base was helpful during development since developers were familiar with the region:
Zelda: Breath of the Wild director on cutting Wii U touch features
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 77 Comments
Before the Switch version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the game was planned to have some touch features on the Wii U GamePad. Ultimately, those ideas were scrapped. The GamePad simply tells players that they can tap on the controller to enable off-TV play.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi recently chatted with IGN about the decision to cut the game’s touch features on Wii U. Once Switch was brought in and tests were done, Nintendo “noticed looking back and forth between the GamePad and the screen actually took a little something away from this type of Zelda game.”
Fujibayashi’s full comments are below.
