Nintendo wants Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma to make a new IP, likes the idea of living as a thief
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 38 Comments
Eiji Aonuma has been closely tied to The Legend of Zelda having worked on the series since 1998 with Ocarina of Time. Could he eventually branch out and try something new in the future, though? Possibly.
In an interview with EDGE, Aonuma revealed that Nintendo has actually told him to make a new IP. But at the same time, they want him to continue with Zelda. Aonuma wouldn’t say too much more beyond this. He did mention that he’s interested in the idea “of a game where I can live as a thief,” but didn’t elaborate further.
Aonuma’s full comments:
“Actually, Nintendo has been telling me to create a new IP. But then, they’re also telling me to make more Zelda games. I can’t really share much; I’m not sure I’m allowed to say anything. But I really like the idea of a game where I can live as a thief. That’s all I’ll say.”
More: EDGE, Eiji Aonuma, interview, The Legend of Zelda, top
Aonuma offers up a different reason for Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s delay, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 49 Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wasn’t originally supposed to come out next year. Nintendo had a target year of 2015 set in mind, but that was pushed back last March. It was delayed once more following an announcement this past April, when Nintendo also confirmed an NX version.
Shigeru Miyamoto and Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma both spoke about the reason to delay Breath of the Wild at E3 last month. The main thing we heard about was difficulty in implementing the physics engine. That’s still true, but while talking with EDGE, Aonuma also discussed how development itself ran into some issues.
He explained:
Game Freak’s Masuda on Pokemon music – process, favorite tracks, composing / directing, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Junichi Masuda is one of the most well-known developers behind the Pokemon series. He started out as a composer and programmer before becoming a director (and still making music at the same time).
Game Informer reached out to Masuda for a chat about music in the Pokemon games. He talked about what the process is like when he creates songs, his favorite tracks, juggling responsibilities between being a director / composer, and more.
Head past the break for a roundup of Masuda’s important answers. You can read the full interview on Game Informer.
More: Game Freak, interview, Junichi Masuda, Pokemon, top
Pokemon GO causes some GameStop store sales to spike 100%
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 10 Comments
This past weekend, there were 462 GameStop stores that were either a PokeStop or Gym. According to CEO Paul Raines, sales were up 100 percent at these locations. Raines added that merchandise sales are up “significantly across the board.”
Here’s the full interview:
More: GameStop, interview, Niantic, Paul Raines, Pokemon GO, sales
Metroid Prime director surprised and thankful of the series’ longevity
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 38 Comments
Mark Pacini acted as director for Nintendo and Retro’s three Metroid Prime games. Then in 2008, he went on to co-found Armature Studio.
Pacini is now directing the Xbox One title ReCore – a game that actually takes a decent amount of inspiration from the Metroid Prime series. GamesBeat took a brief trip down memory lane with Pacini while interviewing him about his new game, and asked if he’s surprised by the longevity and how people still play the titles he made back with Retro.
He said in response:
“For sure. I was thankful to be part of the team that made those games. When we were making those, that was never one of our goals. We were just trying to make something cool. It was an unexpectedly great thing, that people started to do that. It’s awesome that people are still playing those games, but it’s a big surprise to us.”
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
More: interview, Mark Pacini, Metroid Prime, Retro Studios
Pokemon GO not out in Japan yet due to lack of “server capacity”, Niantic targeting end of July
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 17 Comments
Pokemon GO has landed in more and more countries over the past few days. Japan, however, still has yet to receive it.
Speaking with Forbes, Niantic CEO John Hanke explained that the delay comes down to server capacity.
He said:
“At present, the server capacity in Japan is not powerful enough. We are working hard with our partners in Japan to enable the servers to keep up with demand once the game goes online there. We expect it to be released by the end of July.”
Forbes also has its own speculation about what’s going on, and says “other game watchers and those familiar with Japan’s network complexities are suggesting that mid-September looks more likely.” I don’t think they can afford to wait that long. We’ll see what happens!
More: interview, John Hanke, Niantic, Pokemon GO
Paper Mario: Color Splash producer on the humor, cards, level variety, art style
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 50 Comments
Paper Mario: Color Splash will have a big emphasis on story. Humor is a big part of that, as producer Risa Tabata told GameSpot.
She said:
“When we think of what we cannot do in a traditional Mario game, what we came to was, ‘Well, definitely humor.’ So we wanted to focus on humor as much as possible. All these different people got together in meetings room and basically very, very diligently and seriously thought of how we could do the stupidest, craziest things possible.”
Color Splash takes inspiration from the last game in the series, Sticker Star, through the use of cards. You’ll use cards in battle gathered throughout the adventure to take down enemies. They can also be painted to perform more powerful attacks.
Tabata said of the card variety:
“There are tons of different cards in the game. Obviously Mario is going to be throwing fireballs at some point. There’s kind of like a spring jump where you can actually jump a ton of different times on one end.”
Tabata also elaborated on the cards by saying that it’s possible to “open up more card slots, [and] the amount of paint you’re able to store in your hammer will expand.”
Something else fans can look forward to in Color Splash is variety. According to Tabata, levels will offer different types of challenges.
“We kind of focused on trying to have each course have a different feel. One course might be more focused on battle, but another course might focus more on puzzle-solving. There are definitely different places where you will need to have platforming skills.”
Lastly, Tabata had this to say on the game’s style:
“The artists spent a lot of time thinking like, ‘Maybe we can try this and it’ll look really like paper. Maybe we’ll have to do this to make it look like paper.’ The base of everything is made from cardboard and then on top of that you’re layering different types of paper.”
More: interview, Paper Mario: Color Splash, Risa Tabata, top
Video: 13AM Games talks Runbow Pocket, teases for the future, and more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
At E3 last month, NintenDaan was able to interview a couple of folks from 13AM Games: Dave Proctor and Alex Rushdy. You can watch the full discussion below as the two talk about Runbow Pocket, tease when we’ll hear about future announcements, and more.
More: 13AM Games, Alex Rushdy, Dave Proctor, indie, interview, Runbow
Zero Escape creator on origins and making Zero Time Dilemma, series as a whole, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 9 Comments
Around the time when Zero Time Dilemma was launching in Japan, Famitsu caught up with series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi about the new game. Uchikoshi spoke about how it came to be, the different aspects of gameplay, and even the ending (don’t worry, there’s only a bit on this and not much in the way of spoilers).
Since the interview was quite lengthy, we’ve opted to summarize the discussion. Continue on below for all of the important points.
The conclusion to the series, restarted to respond to enthusiastic requests from overseas fans
– When Uchikoshi joined Spike Chunsoft, the first title he worked on was 999, but at first it was planned to be a standalone game. Later on it received a “Platinum” from Famitsu reviews, as well as a good reception overseas, which was why there were talks of making its sequel only afterwards.
– They were making both the second and third games for the DS, but at that time (in 2010) the new generation handhelds 3DS and PlayStation Vita were announced.
– They wanted to work with the new systems, but considering they were developing two games at the same time, they didn’t have enough time and budget. In the end they decided to only make the second game (Virtue’s Last Reward) first, and waited to see its reception before deciding to continue the third game.
– Requests for another sequel after Virtue’s Last Reward were high, but most especially from overseas. Thanks to that, the company also gave a “Go” sign for the third game.
– When asked about the similarities and differences between Japanese and overseas fans:
Similarity: The elements they enjoy in the games may be actually the same.
Difference: Overseas fans have much enthusiasm. Uchikoshi thinks it’s because of a difference in history. Japan has had games in the same genre since long ago, such as Banshee’s Last Cry. On the other hand, the west’s first experience with such a genre was 999, so it felt very fresh to them, which was why the hype built up quickly. It also helps that games within the genre are still relatively rare in the west.
More: Aksys Games, Famitsu, interview, Kotaro Uchikoshi, Spike Chunsoft, top
Severed Wii U footage, dev interview
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
During E3 last month, Guacamelee developer DrinkBox announced that they’ll be bringing its new game Severed to Wii U and 3DS next month. Nintendo World Report has now shared some footage from the console version. Watch 11 minutes of gameplay below, along with a developer interview.
