interview

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment

Simogo director Simon Flesser and Dakko Dakko lead Rhodri Broadbent have opened up about bringing Year Walk to Wii U. The two commented on the origins of the project, how the game is taking advantage of the console, and future interest in the eShop/Nintendo in general.

Head past the break for excerpts from the interview. For the full discussion, visit the original piece on Nintendo Life.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 2 Comments

SEGA has been up a translated interview about 3D Gunstar Heroes on its blog today. Producer Yosuke Okunari and M2 president Naoki Horii were interviewed.

During one part of the discussion, the two developers commented on why Gunstar Heroes was chosen to be one of the ports:

Yosuke Okunari: When we first began work on the SEGA 3D Remaster Project, we decided to go with a few arcade titles and a few Mega Drive titles. We believed that if we are able to perfectly emulate the console itself, similar to how we worked on the Virtual Console, we wouldn’t run into as many architectural problems and thus development would proceed according to schedule. Out of the eight titles during the first batch, five of the games were Mega Drive titles and the other three were from the arcade. The intention was to ensure we could actually develop (the much harder) three arcade titles. You see, we made the overall schedule easier to manage by buffering things with the Mega Drive games. Since arcade games tend to vary from game to game in the way they interact with the hardware, by adding these predictable Mega Drive games in, we could better handle delays caused by unforeseen issues on the arcade games. I mentioned this in a previous interview as well, but the reason why we picked the titles that have previously been ported to PS2 or Wii was also to mitigate any unexpected issues. But even taking that into consideration, just having these Mega Drive games in the lineup really helped lock in the schedule. That’s why we had those five titles originally. Since we successfully released the ports for the arcade titles during the first batch, we had a better idea of what the schedule would be for subsequent titles, and that gave us lee-way to work on titles we’d never touched before for the second batch, like Out Run. And now here we are releasing three new games for the second batch, games we decided to pass on the first time around for reasons other than hardware. These are titles that M2 actually refused to develop at the time.

Naoki Horii: We discussed in our previous article about 3D Streets of Rage 2 as to whether or not we would actually be able to get the backgrounds into 3D or now, and one might expect, there were those who said that Gunstar Heroes’ backgrounds wouldn’t be convertible anyway, so it was removed from the list of porting candidates. For example, the background on the 4th stage is not a true isometric projection, but rather it’s just a simple 45 degree angle line going into the screen, and thus is difficult to put into true stereoscopic 3D.

Okunari and Horii also spoke about Gunstar Heroes’ popularity, which is one reason why it was selected.

YO: Gunstar Heroes has been ported to a variety of game systems to date. The number of times this game has been ported is testament to its popularity, and as far as priorities go, this game was on the top of the list and would have been in the first batch.

NH: Oh yes, absolutely.

YO: It’s just the process of converting a game into stereoscopic 3D is a step above normal porting. Originally, this project stemmed from wanting to make a Mega Drive Virtual Console, but these days just a straight port doesn’t really capture the attention of the 3DS audience. I mean, it’s been a rough time for the Game Gear Virtual Console games [on 3DS], you know. And so Gunstar Heroes was regrettable not chosen for a 3D conversion in the first batch.

Be sure to give the full interview a look here.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments

In a recent issue of Famitsu, the magazine caught up with several of the developers behind Splatoon. The lineup included producer Hisashi Nogami, art director Seita Inoue, and designer Keisuke Nishimori. Toru Minegishi and Yuki Tsuji, who worked on the game’s sound, were also in the discussion.

We’ve been poking through Famitsu’s interview again, and came across a few more interesting excerpts. We now have those ready to share.

During the interview, Famitsu asks if things like the characters’ “heads tall” ratio were firmly decided when characters were still rabbits. The developers were basically asked about body proportions and how big the head was going to be compared to the body as a whole.

Inoue and Nogami replied:

Inoue: “That wasn’t changed to an extent. As this is an action game, if you don’t make the action easy to see to a certain degree, it feels out of touch, so it was decided to have big legs and hands.”

Nogami: “There was also a reason to have a low ‘heads tall’ ratio. You can tell when a character is covered in ink from an attack because the head is big. It isn’t so just to make them look cute.”

Another topic brought up during the interview was the design points of the Inkling boy and girl. Inoue mentioned that they wanted to make elements such as the eyes and tentacles easily visible, but the form and silhouette were given a great deal of attention.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments

Back in July 2013, Toyo Keizai Online conducted an interview with Satoru Iwata. But there was one part of the discussion that was never published.

At one point of the interview, Toyo Keizai Online asked Iwata about the game he likes the most. These comments have now finally made their way online for all to see.

Here’s what Iwata shared at the time:

“Ummm… that’s a difficult question. I was a game developer myself, so I have special attachment to all the products that I was deeply involved in as a programmer or a producer, whether it’s “Kirby Super Star (known in Japan as Hoshino no Kirby)”, “Earthbound (MOTHER 2)”, or “Super Smash Bros. (Dairanto Smash Brothers)”. So it’s pretty hard to name only one.”

“I look at all these games that I produced at very close range, as if they were my children, so to say. The proximity of my perception therefore differs from other people. When I was developing them, I was working almost every day (all night long) till I saw the sun rising over Mt. Fuji. So when I think about them, the memories of those creative endeavors come flashing back altogether as one set?about how I came up with the original concept, what I was thinking at the time to shape it into a tangible form, what portion of these thoughts actually reached the customers and what didn’t, and what kind of struggles and dramatic events I went through during the development process?you know, things like that. These emotions clearly separate my way pf perceiving them from any other person who can get fascinated in these games strictly as one of many ordinary players.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 40 Comments

Eurogamer recently spoke with Xbox boss Phil Spencer. When the site asked if exclusive games are needed to sell hardware and pointed out the Wii U should be selling more if that’s the case, Spencer responded:

On the Wii U, I think people downplay how many units they’ve sold. I’ve got a Wii U, I think there’s some great games on there. I think Splatoon’s a really nice game and I don’t think there’s a first-party out there that has the strength of IP that Nintendo has. They’re always a beacon to me when I look at what it means to build a first-party portfolio of products, they’ve done a great job.

This isn’t the first time Spencer has praised Nintendo. Back in January 2014, he also spoke about the company’s franchises with high regard.

Source, Via

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 8 Comments

In an interview with God is a Geek, Atlus USA John Hardin spoke about the company’s decision to pick up The Legend of Legacy for localization.

Hardin pointed to a few aspects in his response. He brought up Atlus’ close working relationship with FuRyu, its positive reception in Famitsu, and the fact that it looks like the sort of game that people would be interested in.

Hardin’s full response is as follows:

“Legend of Legacy is officially official now. I can no longer leak anything else. We’ve been working with Furyu for a couple of titles now. We are working with them on Lost Dimension already. We have a great working relationship with them. Furyu’s Legend of Legacy caught our eye because it received positive mentions in Famitsu. It was one of the top new IPs that people were looking forward to. I really like it. It’s a properly difficult JRPG and I think fans of the SAGA series in particular will love it. The text is presented in little speech bubbles and it really has that classic JRPG feel to it. It is one of those games that, a couple of years from now, will end up in people’s collections and they will say ‘If you’re a fan of JRPGs and don’t have Legend of Legacy in your collection, you don’t have a complete collection.'”

“It was really fun being able to show Legend of Legacy and Stella Glow at the same time at E3. They are so unashamedly JRPG but at different ends of the spectrum. I think Legend of Legacy has more subtlety to the story and characters. Stella Glow is super easy to get into. Legend of Legacy also has a pretty aesthetic. When you’re walking around in the world, the background scenery pops in and even though the draw distance is small, the effects are a lot of fun and it looks awesome.”

Hardin also teased a first print edition for The Legend of Legacy. There’s no specific news yet, but Atlus is currently working on plans in this area.

“We are working on it. Nothing concrete to say right now but we are working on getting it taken care of. I don’t think there will be a different priced edition like Persona Q’s Wild Cards Edition but we will do the typical Atlus release with a first run printing. It is nice having something physical to go along with the game. We can’t make an infinite supply of these editions and it is the nature of niche gaming. It is super helpful for our fans if we add something extra for them. I know we sometimes get blasted on the internet for not offering enough but we try and do something special every time. The good news is, there is a lot of time for that. Legend of Legacy is coming out in the back half of 2015. We are also looking at what they did with the music release in Japan. (He confuses Legend of Legacy with Stella Glow here). We are working on getting things sorted out and stay tuned for more info. Thank god that both these games are announced. Haha.”

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More: Atlus, FuRyu, interview, John Hardin, The Legend of Legacy

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 19 Comments

During Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015, DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako further commented on DeNA’s partnership with Nintendo.

He said:

“The Nintendo deal is a huge, huge deal. Nintendo has the best IP, and IP that’s perfect matched to smartphones”.

Asako also spoke about how talks with Nintendo began years ago. Originally, DeNA hoped that Nintendo would be interested in releasing games on Mobage.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo of France published a video interview with Rayman creator Michel Ancel last week, who is making a level for Super Mario Maker. Naturally, it was only available in French at the time. But Nintendo UK has now uploaded the same video with English subtitles, which you can watch below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

Hideki Kamiya spent many years at Capcom. He worked on the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry series, and eventually moved on to Clover Studio – a subsidiary of Capcom – where he directed Okami as well as Viewtiful Joe.

Despite what some may think, there’s no bad blood between Kamiya and Capcom. It was actually his decision to leave the company, which he “felt a little bad for”. And if the opportunity were to present itself, he’d be very much open to teaming up with Capcom once again.

Kamiya told Metro during an interview at Gamescom last week:

…I can honestly say that if there’s ever an opportunity, that makes sense for me or the studio, to work with Capcom again I would very much welcome that opportunity. Of all the publishers, not just Japanese publishers or partners, I can say with confidence that Capcom still holds a very, very special place in my heart and I love them dearly. It’s one of my favourite companies.

[laughs] And why I say that is because they really helped shape me to who I am today. I spent a long amount of time with them and they helped me grow into who I am. They are one of the few remaining companies in Japan… you know we’ve seen so many other companies being merged and bought out and acquired but they remain the Capcom that they started out as. So seeing that strength and power that still is Capcom today is very reassuring. And it shows the confidence, it shows the love and passion of what they do. So I really do welcome the opportunity to work with Capcom again.

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More: Capcom, Hideki Kamiya, interview, PlatinumGames

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 67 Comments

Over the past few days, Examiner has been putting up a bunch of quotes from Scott Moffitt, executive VP of sales at Nintendo of America. There are still comments from Moffitt to read up on, including topics that cover franchise annualization, the Wii U GamePad, the 3DS, and more. Head past the break for a roundup of his different remarks.

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