Yooka-Laylee developer interview with Grant Kirkhope and Andy Robinson
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 1 Comment
At E3 2015 this week, GameXplain sat down with Grant Kirkhope and Andy Robinson to talk about Yooka-Laylee. You can watch the full half-hour discussion below.
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. dev toned down the American comic book-styled visuals
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 4 Comments
In this month’s issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. art director Takako Sakai opened up on the game’s art style and visuals as a whole.
According to Sakai, he wanted there to be as few differences as possible between the 2D illustrations and in-game 3D models.
Sakai began by creating character illustrations that imitated the feel of American comics from 1960 since he felt that was nicely compatible with polygons. However, this style was also chosen since he personally liked it.
Next, Sakai shares the following about why and how the art style in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. changed a bit:
Zelda: Tri Force Heroes gives a game over screen if someone drops out during co-op
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 3 Comments
Throughout E3, we’ve heard that Zelda: Tri Force Heroes’ co-op only allows for either three players to team up together, or for one person to go through the game alone. Two players is not an option unless you want to experience the optional Colosseum mode.
Wondering what happens if you’re playing with friends and one of them drops out or quits? Well, director Hiromasa Shikata told Kotaku that you’ll be presented with a game over screen. On the bright side, your progress will be saved.
Producer says Project X Zone 2 has new battle system elements for added depth
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 3 Comments
Project X Zone 2 is going to include “some new elements” that will “add more depth to the battle system”. This was teased by producer Kensuke Tsukanaka during an interview with Siliconera at E3.
Tsukanaka said:
We haven’t officially announced this yet, but, we are going to include some new elements to the existing battle system. We actually took it out of the hands-on demo here at E3, but, we’ll be announcing it soon! We know it’ll add more depth to the battle system.
Siliconera also asked if the team is adding additional comments. Tsukanaka wouldn’t comment on specific details, and would only offer up the following: “whatever it is, it’ll add depth!”
Miyamoto – Mario’s origins, VR, approach to consoles, Wii U’s struggles, training staff, staying with Nintendo, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 74 Comments
NPR has put up a massive interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. There’s tons of talk about Mario’s origins, but plenty of other topics as well.
We’ve posted the Q&A breakdown below. You can find the original piece here as well. I’d recommend giving this interview a look, since it’s very interesting!
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Activision on why this was the right time to bring back Guitar Hero
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Guitar Hero games were releasing yearly between 2005 and 2010. From that point on, however, the series went on hiatus. It’s only just now that Guitar Hero is returning in the form of Guitar Hero Live.
So why bring back the franchise after all of this time? Activision’s Eric Hirshberg told GamesBeat:
We had the right idea and the right execution. We set a very high bar for ourselves internally. It’s obviously a strong brand and a strong franchise. It’s something people had a lot of love for. But it was clearly also out of gas. It was in need of meaningful reinvention. We made a deal with ourselves that we wouldn’t bring it back just to bring it back. We wouldn’t bring it back unless we felt like we had reinvented it for the next generation of gamers and hardware, and we have.
Miyamoto: “I would never call Mario a kids game or a mascot that only kids understand”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments
Mario has the capacity to resonate with kids, but that doesn’t mean that’s the franchises only demographic. This is something that creator Shigeru Miyamoto echoed in an interview with NPR.
He told the publication:
I would never call Mario a kids game or a mascot that only kids understand. It taps into fundamental building blocks of play. It’s fun to jump and it’s fun to run and feel free and fly up into the sky and all those things.
You can have a full listen to the interview below.
More: interview, Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Inafune on Mighty No. 9 – IP ownership, didn’t want to copy Mega Man, next game won’t be on Kickstarter, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
In an interview with Engadget, Keiji Inafune commented on a number of topics pertaining to Mighty No. 9. He commented on the benefits of owning the IP, how the team didn’t want to copy Mega Man, confirmed that a sequel wouldn’t be funded via Kickstarter, and more.
Read on below for Inafune’s comments. You can find Engadget’s original piece here.
On owning the IP…
“As a creator, as myself, the best thing that happened to this project [Mighty No. 9] is that I have the IP. The IP is mine. The IP is the company’s IP, so we can do whatever we want. And that will actually speed things up really nicely because once the backers ask for something, we don’t have to go over to the publisher or the first-party [studio] … or whoever we’re working with. We can just make the decision.”
More: Comcept, Deep Silver, interview, Inti Creates, Keiji Inafune, Mighty No. 9
Reggie indicates that NX is a home console
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 288 Comments
Nintendo announced a few months ago that it’s working on a new platform called “NX”. The company hasn’t elaborated any further, and never confirmed if we can expect it to be a home console or new portable system.
That’s why recent comments made by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime are quite interesting. Here’s what he had to say about NX in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (see a Q&A breakdown here):
We’ve also said publicly that we are already hard at work on our next home console and that’s another element we’ll be talking about much later.
Remember: Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe, speaking with Eurogamer this week, also referred to NX as a console.
So what can we make of this? This definitely seem to be a strong hint – if not a confirmation – that NX will be a console rather than a handheld.
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Reggie on the Skylanders partnership, amiibo shortages, Wii U sales, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos | 24 Comments
The quotes below comes from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime…
On how the partnership with Activision for Skylanders SuperChargers came about…
Reggie Fils-Aime: Activision came to Nintendo at the outset of Skylanders development four years ago. So there was always this thought of, wouldn’t it be great if Nintendo [intellectual property] could somehow be integrated into the game?
Jump forward to last year’s E3, when we introduced amiibo, (Nintendo figurines that work with its games) and we articulated our strategy of having figures that could work across games. At the same time, Activision shared with us their vision for their next installment of Skylanders that would include vehicles. And that’s when the conversation became serious.
On why Donkey Kong and Bowser were chosen…
Fils-Aime: Skylanders is all about creatures. So as we looked at our roster, those two fit the game. They’re much more creature-like in their gameplay mechanics and their movements, so those were the two that we agreed would make sense.
On the business strategy behind the collaboration…
Fils-Aime: It was a great opportunity for Activision to create something special that would play only on the Nintendo platforms. It was an opportunity to create these figures that would work on both the Skylanders games, as well as all the compatible games that either Donkey Kong or Bowser plays in. And so it really was an opportunity to do something unique but fit what each company was trying to do.
