XSEED localizer on why Story of Seasons sold so well in the west
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 6 Comments
Story of Seasons ended up being XSEED’s fastest-selling game. In an interview with Nintendo World Report, the publisher’s Tom Lipschultz commented on why he believes it sold so well despite no longer carrying the Harvest Moon name.
He said:
“Because Bokujo Monogatari fans know that STORY OF SEASONS is the new name for the series they’ve grown up with, and they’re very dedicated to that series. It could’ve been called anything in English (my suggestion was “Cornutopia,” though that got vetoed pretty quickly!), and fans would still know right off the bat that regardless of what it says on the cover, the game they’re playing is Bokujo Monogatari. With all the good will this series has built up over the years, and the consistent level of quality seen in the games that bear its name, it only stands to reason it would sell well. After all, when you buy a Bokujo Monogatari title, you know exactly what you’re getting, and you know before your system even powers on whether or not you’re going to like it.”
XSEED announced last July that Story of Seasons had sold 100,000 copies. It beat out Rune Factory 4 as the previous record holder as the company’s fastest-selling game.
More: interview, marvelous, sales, Story of Seasons, Tom Lipschultz, XSEED Games
Zelda: Twilight Princess retrospective – episode 3: “Gameplay & Dungeons”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 8 Comments
Nintendo has continued its new retrospective video series for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. Check out the third episode below, which has a few staff members reflecting on the gameplay and dungeons.
Capcom shares interesting insight into Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, Ace Attorney 6
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
Last month’s issue of Nintendo Dream has a big interview with Takeshi Yamazaki and Motohide Eshiro from Capcom about all things Ace Attorney. The two developers provided some interesting insight into Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies as well as Ace Attorney 6. It’s several pages long, so we went ahead and made a summary.
The most difficult aspect of developing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies was moving platforms from DS to 3DS. At the time, Capcom hesitated as to whether to keep the series in 2D or make it 3D. Because of the 3DS’ selling point had been about three-dimensional views, they decided to pursue the latter option.
Something similar happened with Ace Attorney Investigations. That title took more time to develop because they needed to create a new gameplay mechanism from scratch. However, when Capcom then made Ace Attorney Investigations 2, they already had the base game set up so they could focus more on the scenario.
Sakurai on Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS DLC stages and Mii Fighter outfits
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 6 Comments
This month’s issue of Nintendo Dream has a lengthy interview with Masahiro Sakurai, director of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS. He discussed the two games in general as well as specific topics like DLC fighters.
We now have an overview regarding what Sakurai shared in terms of DLC stages and Mii Fighter outfits. For a summary of this portion of the interview, head past the break.
Niantic says more news about Pokemon GO will be shared “soon”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 4 Comments
John Hanke, chief executive of Niantic, says that the company will have more to say about Pokemon GO “soon.” That information comes from an interview conducted by GamesBeat.
Hanke told the site:
“Pokémon Go is looking good. We’ll share more details with the world soon. There certainly are a lot of fans.”
In other news, Niantic has raised another $5 million from companies such as Alsop Louie, former Havas boss David Jones, Fuji Television, Lucas Nealan, and Cyan and Scott Banister. The Pokemon Company, Google, and Nintendo also invested $30 million last October.
Niantic should be discussing Pokemon GO at GDC 2016 next month. Attendees “will get a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokemon GO, the collaborative approach to design and development for the game and the next evolution of augmented reality and real-world mobile gameplay experiences.”
More: interview, John Hanke, Niantic, Pokemon GO
Video: TT Games on pushing the LEGO formula forward
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 2 Comments
Game Informer recently caught up with TT Fusion’s design director Mike Taylor and game director Jamie Eden to talk about pushing the LEGO formula forward. Listen to what the two developers shared in the video below.
More: interview, LEGO, TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive
Unravel director open to NX port
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 4 Comments
GamingBolt recently spoke with Coldwood Interactive’s Martin Sahlin, the director who worked on Unravel.
When asked if he’d be interested in bringing the game to NX, Sahlin said:
“I wish I knew more about it, but they’re really secretive about it. I actually had a really fun discussion with a person from Nintendo a while back. It was basically ‘I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours’ (laughs). So he wanted me to pitch something for the NX, and then he could tell me more about what it was. But basically, it’s kind of hard to pitch something when you don’t even know what it is! So if you manage to guess it right, we’ll tell you what it is. So, I don’t know. But I am just as curious as everybody else to see what they’ve been making.”
EA was actually the publisher behind Unravel. I imagine that if anything were to happen, they’d need to be involved as well.
Bandai Namco on how Pokken Tournament evolved into more than just a Tekken engine game
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 11 Comments
Pokken Tournament’s connection to Tekken is known. The game does take some elements from that series, but the two are very much different.
Speaking with IGN, Bandai Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada said that the project began as “a Tekken engine [game] with some Pokemon characters.” Yet with the introduction of the Field Phase, a new rendering engine, and an “entire new battle system,” Pokken Tournament became its own unique title.
Harada’s full words:
“(Pokken Tournament started life as a Tekken engine [game] with some Pokemon characters. As we worked on it. We knew we wanted to show off the Pokemon, and that led to implementing the [free movement] Field Phase, and we just really realized quickly in that prototype phase that we needed to just kind of create this whole thing from scratch. We even built an entire new rendering engine, and kind of came up with and entire new battle system for it. But it really is just built from the ground up for this entirely new type of fighting game.”
More: Bandai Namco, interview, Pokken Tournament
Genei Ibun Roku #FE devs on reproducing Shibuya, game structure, scrapped battle intro idea
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 14 Comments
Several developers behind Genei Ibun Roku #FE were interviewed in Nintendo Dream’s February issue. Surprisingly, the March edition has another interview with the team as well. The lengthy lineup of staff who participated include producer Hitoshi Yamagami (Nintendo), director Kaori Ando (Nintendo), producer Shinjiro Takata (Atlus), director Eiji Ishida (Atlus), chief director Wataru Hirata (Atlus), art director Fumitaka Yano (Atlus).
Nintendo Dream’s latest feature isn’t quite as interesting as last month’s where we learned that Genei Ibun Roku #FE was originally planned for 3DS and considered a wide array of genres. But there are still quite a few juicy tidbits. After the break, you can see what the developers had to say about reproducing Shibuya, the game structure, and an idea for battle intros that was scrapped.
Sakurai considered Geno for Smash Bros.
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 189 Comments
There’s a pretty big interview with Masahiro Sakurai in this month’s issue of Nintendo Dream. We already covered quite a bit of it earlier today, but there’s additional news emerging from the magazine as well.
As spotted by Source Gaming, Sakurai states that he wanted Geno to be a playable fighter in Brawl, and apparently Wii U/3DS as well. He also acknowledged that Geno is popular, especially when talking about old characters.
We did end up with a Geno costume in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Obviously that’s very different from a playable fighter, however. Maybe we’ll see him in the franchise’s next entry?
