RIVE delayed for Wii U, may land on NX instead
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U eShop | 17 Comments
RIVE is the last game from Toki Tori developer Two Tribes. The studio has been working on its upcoming project for a couple of years, and previously announced plans for Wii U. It’s shaping up to release in September, but there’s a chance that Nintendo’s current-gen console may be off the table.
Two Tribes co-founder Collin van Ginkel told Nintendo Life:
“It’s very important to us that Nintendo users will get a great version of RIVE, but unfortunately we don’t know at this point when or how we’ll be able to deliver this. There are two main reasons for this, one technical and one business related.
The Nindies demo in 2015 was specifically optimized to perform well in hand-picked levels and didn’t manage 60FPS consistently. We’ve added a lot of stuff since then and we haven’t been able to reach the performance level required yet. We won’t release RIVE unless it’s a solid 60FPS, and if that means delaying it to a future platform, we will make that call and make sure Nintendo fans get the perfect experience.
The market has also changed. The game was supposed to ship over a year and a half ago, and things are a lot different now. Nintendo is exiting the Wii U market early in favor of the NX which means a long tail in sales is not looking likely. So that is the business part; do you release a game on a platform in its last days or on a new one that’s better suited and can reach gamers for years to come?”
When asked how long it’ll be before RIVE hits Nintendo hardware, van Ginkel said: “At the moment I can’t easily answer that. We’re going to try one last time to perfect the Wii U version, but if that fails we’ll need to focus on the future.”
More: Collin van Ginkel, indie, interview, RIVE, top, Two Tribes
Aonuma: Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s E3 2014 trailer “became the basis for the whole game”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 31 Comments
Nintendo gave us a first look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild during E3 2014 with a trailer. At that time though, the project hadn’t been completely shaped yet.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma reconfirmed to EDGE this month that the video was running in real time and in-engine. However, the scene shown was made especially for the trailer. When we saw Link shooting arrows at the Guardian on his horse, jumping off, and firing off one last arrow in mid-air at the enemy in slow motion, you couldn’t actually do that.
Aonuma mentioned how he “really wanted to put that in the game” and realized his vision following the trailer. It also made the team expand on Breath of the Wild in terms of story. Interestingly enough, the trailer ended up as “the basis for the whole game.”
Aonuma’s words in full:
Pokemon Sun/Moon devs on gameplay changes / improvements, setting, Battle Royal, Pokemon GO, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 40 Comments
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon are still a few months away, but Famitsu reached out to director Shigeru Ohmori and producer Junichi Masuda for an interview. There were a lot of juicy tidbits here, with topics including gameplay changes / improvements, the setting, Battle Royal, potential linkage with Pokemon GO, and more.
We’ve prepared a lengthy summary of the four-page interview. Head past the break to read it in full.
More: Famitsu, interview, Junichi Masuda, Pokemon Moon, Pokemon Sun, top
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.”
