Nintendo producer wants to expand the Metroid universe with Federation Force
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 26 Comments
With Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Nintendo wants “to expand the Metroid universe.” That’s according to producer Kensuke Tanabe, who also explained to Eurogamer that his desire to create a co-operative experience meant that Samus needed to take a back seat. This is because having players control different versions of the character wouldn’t make sense.
Tanabe also commented on how load-outs work on Federation Force and again talked about Federation Force’s plot.
Here’s a roundup of some of what was shared by Tanabe:
“[Metroid Prime: Federation Force] is an attempt to expand the Metroid universe. As you can play with up to four players it wouldn’t make sense to play as four Samus characters! The game will be focused on co-op, working together as a team with up to four players. And obviously it is available as a single-player experience as well.”
“You have the option to choose load-outs for you to bring to the battle. However, you have to consider that there will be limitation for how much can carry as a character. If you carry the Super Missile then you’re classed as a Warrior type. If you have lots of Repair Capsules you could focus on being a Healer type.”
“I’ve always been thinking about having a battle between the Galactic Federation and Space Pirates. The Metroid Prime series fits between Metroid 2 and Super Metroid, as you may be aware. So it falls under that same timeline, but looking at it from a different perspective.”
“It’s set on a planet which the Galactic Federation used, way back when. The plot involves a struggle to retake that planet. You find out that Space Pirates now reside there and are building a weapon to use against the Federation. Players will fight the Space Pirates to stop them.”
Takumi on The Great Ace Attorney – origins, started with Sherlock Holmes, motion capture, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
A discussion with Shu Takumi was recently published as part of the “Capcom Legends” interview series. Takumi had much to say about his latest game, The Great Ace Attorney.
Takumi touched on a number of topics in the interview. This includes the project’s origins, how it started with Sherlock Holmes, pressure he faced, motion capture, and more.
We’ve posted a number of excerpts from the interview below. You can check out the complete translation here.
More: Capcom, interview, Japan, The Great Ace Attorney
Nothing’s off the table for Disney Infinity, but new stuff is taking the focus
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Could we ever see Howard the Duck or Secret of Monkey Island in Disney Infinity? While Disney says that nothing’s off the table, the developers are instead choosing to focus on newer content.
Ada Duan, vice president of business and franchise management at Lucasfilm, and Disney Interactive’s John Vignocchi told Polygon:
“In terms of Star Wars content, there’s definitely more Star Wars coming out. What these guys have been saying is that Disney Infinity is a platform for all the IP across the company, Star Wars being part of that. You’ll see more. As more movies and TV shows come out and there’s evaluation of what we can support, I think Infinity is going to support all the IP across the company. As Lucas comes out with more IP and more Star Wars.” – Duan
“I’ll be like, please, can we do Secret of Monkey Island? And she’ll say, ‘Can we talk about how relevant this is? There are so many other things we could do.’ We have so much new content coming out.” – Vignocchi
“It’s natural that we’re going to want things to be supported coming up. It’s not out of the question [that we’d approve something from the archives], but I feel like there’s so much new that that’s probably going to be the focus.” – Duan
“We’re listening to the fans. We do the Facebook fan stuff all the time. We do these informal polls, and they wind up in the senior executive meetings with guys throwing stuff around and yelling at each other. ‘OK, this is what the fan poll said we should be doing, these characters.’ That’s how I lost Darkwing Duck to Olaf this year. That would have been awesome, right?” – Viggnocchi
There have been two Disney Infinity games thus far, with a third following this year. Disney Infinity 2.0 introduced Marvel characters while the 2015 edition is featuring Star Wars for the first time.
More: Ada Duan, Disney Infinity, interview, John Vignocchi
Reggie acknowledges Metroid Prime: FF’s negative reactions, asks fans for trust, need to transform IPs
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 57 Comments
Speaking with Mashable, Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime acknowledged the negative reactions that Metroid Prime: Federation Force has been receiving thus far. However, he was quick to point out that those who went hands-on with the game at E3 2015 have “come across really pleased.” Reggie ultimately asked fans for their trust.
“We’re taking our great IP and transforming them and making them new again — making them fresh and appealing for the fan who feels they know the franchise. But we’re giving them new things to enjoy. What the fan at home saw was something in the Metroid Prime universe that they weren’t expecting. The reaction has been negative. There’s no sugar coating it. This is an example where fans who aren’t able to get their hands on the game may be at a bit of a competitive disadvantage. Everyone who has played what we are showing regarding Metroid Prime, they’ve come across really pleased. My ask is that fans trust us.
Reggie also spoke about the need for Nintendo “to keep the franchises fresh.” This is what Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has set out to do with Zelda, and it’s what the company believes is necessary “in order to propel the franchises forward”.
Mr. Aonuma has said that he is challenging many of the conventional wisdoms of Zelda gaming in this new Zelda, and that’s what we do. We believe we have to do that to keep the franchises fresh. We believe that in order to propel the franchises forward, we have to be the ones to constantly challenge the paradigms, challenge the conventional wisdom, challenge what we thought was the essence of the particular franchise, and a particular form of gameplay.”
Zelda: Tri Force Heroes director on why you can’t play as a woman in the game
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 54 Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes lets players put on the princess’ dress, but you can’t actually play as a woman in the game. Some may wonder why this is so.
Director Hiromasa Shikata offered up an explanation as part of an interview with IGN. When asked about only being able to play as Link, Shikata brought up Tri Force Heroes’ story in his reasoning.
He said:
I’m going to tell you a little bit about the story quickly and we’ll circle around, here. There’s this kingdom, an event happens, and the king needs heroes. So, he puts out a call for heroes to gather and one of those is this guy Link. He sees this audition, basically, ‘Heroes needed; apply here.’ And, that’s the start of his adventure.
The story calls for this sort of legend/prophecy where heroes will come together to help solve a problem. And in that, they are male characters. So, because the game is set with that as the story background, you cannot choose a gender; you are a male character.
I understand what you’re saying (being disappointed), and just as general information, we do have a lot of female staff members who are playing this game and enjoying it. It doesn’t seem to be a big issue to them. They still are getting emotional investment in this game. And to be honest, Link isn’t the most masculine of guys in the world, depending on how you want to project yourself into the character.
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes launches this fall on 3DS.
Metroid Prime: FF – not just an FPS, important plot, meeting Samus, more talk of wanting to continue after Prime 3, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii | 9 Comments
Wired is the latest outlet to have published an article with commentary from Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe. Tanabe discussed Metroid Prime: Federation Force in-depth, including how it’s more than just a shooter, bits about the story (and how it’s important to Prime’s overall plot), how it’s players’ “first chance to actually see Samus in-game”, and more. He also again touched on wanting to continue the Prime series after the ending of the third game.
Read on below to read up on what Tanabe said. You can also find Wired’s full article here.
Animal Crossing devs discuss Happy Home Designer and amiibo Festival
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Animal Crossing developers Aya Kyogoku and Katsuya Eguchi shared a few words about Happy Home Designer and amiibo Festival over on Nintendo of America’s Twitter account. Have a look at what they had to say in the image above.
Nintendo open to bringing other franchies into Animal Crossing
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo | 4 Comments
Nintendo isn’t against bringing some of its franchises into Animal Crossing.
Longtime developer of the series, Aya Kyogoku, told GameRant in an interview that this is something that could be considered. However, it sounds like IPs and characters won’t be thrown in just for the sake of doing so.
Kyogoku’s full comments are as follows:
“Obviously we don’t know what the next Animal Crossing is going to look like, but if the addition of other IPs in the next Animal Crossing is going to really excite both fans of Animal Crossing and fans of those other IPs even more then that’s something we’d really like to consider and take into account. But at the same time, we really wanted to make sure that the gameplay we put into the next Animal Crossing is fun and new. I wouldn’t want to add a feature where people thought it was about time or expected the next iteration would have. So instead of that, I’d like to have fun and good surprises in the gameplay.”
More: Animal Crossing, Aya Kyogoku, interview, top
Warren Spector has high praise for Nintendo, talks about meeting Iwata and Miyamoto
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
Warren Spector, creator of Epic Mickey, shared high praise for Nintendo in a recent interview.
Spector mentioned how Nintendo tends to make unique and different games. While he’s unsure what the company’s future looks like from a hardware perspective, he feels that having games on mobile devices will allow Nintendo to be just fine.
I’m kind of a Nintendo geek. I don’t want to get myself in trouble….you know, I’m looking around the show floor here. And let’s say there are 2500 games being shown. 2400 of them all look exactly alike. You can’t even tell which one you’re looking at, you know? And it drives me crazy.
And then you go to IndieCade, and you go to Nintendo, and all of a sudden it’s like, “Oooh, games can be different. Cool!” So I think from a creative standpoint, from a design standpoint, from an IP standpoint, from a graphics standpoint, I think Nintendo rocks.
The thing is, I mean, from a hardware standpoint it’s hard to say what Nintendo’s future looks like, let’s be honest about that. But the fact that they’re finally gonna put their IP on mobile…they’re fine. There are a billion smartphones on the planet. They’re gonna do just fine when Mario hits that.
Reggie on Nintendo’s E3 showing, hardware, Wii U sales, Skylanders, amiibo, and mobile
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Mobile, News, Switch, Wii U | 11 Comments
A new interview with Reggie Fils-Aime was added to Forbes’ website today. Reggie discussed several topics, including Nintendo’s E3 showing, hardware, Wii U sales, Skylanders, amiibo, and mobile.
Those who are interested in reading up on what Reggie had to say can head past the break for the Q&A breakdown. You’ll find Forbes’ original piece with a few additional comments here as well.
