Level-5 on Yo-kai Watch sales and potential for big success overseas
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 6 Comments
The first Yo-kai Watch game did alright when it arrived in North America last year. However, it’s not quite the same sensation as it is in Japan currently.
Level-5 president and CEO Akihiro Hino noted in an interview with The Verge that the series is on the same path as when it debuted in Japan a few years ago. Much like in the states, Yo-kai Watch only sold adequately. It was when the second entry released that the franchise really picked up steam, and Hino thinks something similar could happen overseas.
According to Hino:
“We have to understand that it takes time. But then at the same time we have to work as hard as we can to shorten the time as much as possible.”
“I think we’re following the same kind of sales trend as Japan. Meaning that our first game in Japan had OK sales, but it only became a huge phenomenon when we released the second game. I think our launch here in the US is kind of the ideal sales that we had expected.”
“For the markets where it takes more time, we have to change the messaging, trying to push the aspects that are more familiar to those markets. Not just push the game as-is, but pick the unique aspect that will be familiar.”
“We do believe that Yo-kai Watch can be as big of a social phenomenon [in the West] as it is in Japan.”
More: Akihiro Hino, interview, Level-5, sales, top, Yo-kai Watch
Aonuma, Miyamoto, Trinen on Zelda: BotW – towns, clothing, missions, story
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 24 Comments
IGN is back with another feature on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The site has more commentary from producer Eiji Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Bill Trinen on the game. Topics include towns, Link’s clothing (including the blue tunic), missions, and story.
Head past the break for the rundown of Aonuma, Miyamoto, and Trinen’s comments on these aspects. The rest can be found here.
Reggie – Zelda: BotW is a system seller, effective transition from Wii U to NX
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 51 Comments
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has once again sounded off about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The latest comments were published by Associated Press, in which Reggie speaks about mixing up the Zelda formula, offering players an “open-air experience”, and how the new game will be a system seller.
Below are all of Reggie’s words on Breath of the Wild:
“The typical Zelda formula has been going from dungeon to dungeon, beating a variety of different bosses, to get better weapons. The formula has been totally up-ended. You’re in a wide-open space, you can do whatever you want, but your weapons will break over time, you have to find different types of elements to solve puzzles. So, it’s an open-air experience – that’s what we’re calling it – where you as the player can essentially navigate through this wide open world.”
“We wanted to focus on this new Zelda experience because we knew that once fans got a chance to play that it would increase their desire for the game. And the fact that we’ll be launching it simultaneously on Wii U and NX (upcoming Nintendo console) really means that we’ve just shared with consumers around the world the system seller or one system seller for NX. So that’s why we’ve focused on it, there’s lots of time to share more details about our upcoming system, but right now it’s all about Zelda.”
SEGA: “huge emphasis on quality” with Sonic, wants him to be “an entertainment icon”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments
Over the past year, SEGA has often spoken about wanting to ensure that the series returns to quality. This is something that Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and Sonic chief brand officer Ivo Gerscovich reiterated in the latest issue of MCV.
First, Iizuka said: “We want to release good titles to all the players, and that is the challenge for us moving forward – making sure our games are great.”
Gerscovich spoke about the Sonic franchise as well, offering the following comments:
“SEGA is really – as of this last year – putting a huge emphasis on quality. One of the things about Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is that we held the title for a year, which is not something SEGA has traditionally done, but this focus on quality is really about trying to take Sonic back to where it used to be.”
“We are really focused on turning Sonic into an entertainment icon, not just a games icon. We want to go across all platforms and elevate his status even further, which explains why we are doing so much.”
Gerscovich also said that there are a “lot of new announcements” to come for Sonic.
Breath of the Wild is purely single-player, but Aonuma wants to make another multiplayer Zelda
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 50 Comments
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has confirmed that Breath of the Wild will focus purely on a single-player experience. However, that isn’t to say he isn’t interested in multiplayer – far from it actually.
Aonuma told IGN when it comes to multiplayer and Zelda:
“I would like to take what I learned from Breath of the Wild and see if we can somehow fuse those learning points into another multiplayer Zelda. For example, with Triforce Heroes, which followed a similar format of Four Swords, there was a multiplayer involved in that game. That’s definitely a possibility and we will continue to [experiment] throughout the Zelda franchise.”
When Zelda: Breath of the Wild was first teased in a January 2013 Nintendo Direct, Aonuma spoke about going against the conventions of Zelda. One of these points involved challenging the notion of playing by yourself. While it doesn’t seem like Breath of the Wild will be tackling this in the end, perhaps it’s something we can look forward to in the future.
SEGA on why Dr. Robotnik started to be called Eggman
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 30 Comments
Depending on who you ask, Sonic’s main antagonist goes by one of two names. We’re referring to Dr. Robotnik, who is also known as Eggman.
Game Informer caught up with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and asked why everyone began to call Dr. Robotnik as his other name “Eggman”. His explanation is as follows:
When the game was originally developed in Japan, they called the character Eggman. That was the name of the character, but when the game got localized and ported into the Sonic the Hedgehog that we know in the West, they decided to, without confirming with the development team, change his name to Ivo Robotnik or just Robotnik. That’s kind of when everyone first learned about the character. Of course, this was without consulting the people who made the game. They just kind of went off and did it. It became super popular and everyone in the West kind of learned about the character as Robotnik. That went on through the “classic” series in the Genesis/Mega Drive era, but as far as the developers are concerned – the ones who made the character and the leaders of what this character is doing next – we really didn’t want to have anyone in the universe with two names. To us, he’s Eggman, but in the rest of the world he’s called Robotnik. We wanted to unify that into one name moving forward. This is something I actually did in the Sonic Adventure series. I made it so that we understand the character’s name is Robotnik, but his nickname is Eggman, and as far as everyone is concerned in the world now, we’re just going to call him Eggman as his official name.
Miyamoto, Aonuma on why Zelda games tend to see delays
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch, Wii U | 18 Comments
Zelda games – the mainline console ones in particular – have a propensity to be delayed. When asked why this tends to happen, Shigeru Miyamoto told Kotaku:
“First of all, it would be great if I didn’t have to put a release date out at all. But I have to.”
“I think there’s different reasons for delays. One could be that the direction just hasn’t been decided, which is probably the worst kind of delay. And the other is that the direction has been decided but putting that into reality—implementing that—is taking time. So it might have taken us six months to do this much. It’ll take us a year to do that much.”
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma also weighed in, sharing the following:
Miyamoto keeping quiet on Link’s green tunic in Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 17 Comments
We’ve yet to see Link’s classic green tunic in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Is it in the game, or will it be absent this time around? Shigeru Miyamoto won’t say.
GameRant approached Miyamoto at E3 last week about the tunic. He said:
“I don’t know, but there are just a lot of clothes in this game. So maybe if we had green clothes people would want to wear it all the time. And yeah, with the variety of clothes you get, that this game offers, you can really customize your character. And I can’t really divulge too much more than this.”
Zelda producer Aonuma was similarly quiet when asked about the tunic as well.
Yes, Sonic Team is developing a new Sonic game
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 57 Comments
SEGA has dropped plenty of not-so-subtle hints that a new Sonic game is in the works. As if any other confirmation was needed, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka told Famitsu this week outright that “a completely new game” is happening. That’s in addition to a new movie from Sony and the ongoing Sonic Boom show.
Iizuka’s words in full:
We at Sonic Team – are developing a completely new game, as well as developing a full movie, actively done by Sony Pictures, and animation on Sonic Boom. We are also ready to improve sponsor ties. The most important thing is not the fact the series survived for 25 years, but how many games was developed. Our goal – add something new and overcome any potential hardships.
Many are anticipating that the new Sonic game will be unveiled during a 25th anniversary party on July 22.
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog, Takashi Iizuka
Warner Bros. indicates that the company will support NX
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 22 Comments
Warner Bros. has brought several games to Wii U over the company’s lifespan, and it looks like that support will continue with NX. In an interview with GamesBeat, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad addressed a question about making games for the new systems on the way, including NX. He mentioned that the publisher has “great relationships with all the console platforms” and will “play a role in each of them.”
Warner Bros. was at Wii U’s launch with games such as Scribblenauts Unlimited and Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition. That support has continued through to the present. In fact, next week, the company will ship LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Wii U.
