SEGA on why Sonic Boom isn’t on Wii U this year, appealing to both Sonic audiences, Fire & Ice talk, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 9 Comments
GameSpot published a new interview yesterday regarding Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. The site spoke with SEGA producer Omar Woodley and PR representative Aaron Weber about the new 3DS game and beyond. That includes talk about why Sonic Boom is skipping Wii U this year, appealing to both Sonic fanbases, and more.
Read on below for the full Q&A. Be sure to check out GameSpot’s full article here as well.
More: interview, Sanzaru Games, SEGA, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, top
Reggie – classic titles for 3DS, why standard New 3DS didn’t hit NA, 3DS E3 teases, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 13 Comments
GameSpot has a new interview up with Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime. Reggie was asked about a variety of topics, including classic games for 3DS, why the standard New 3DS didn’t come to North America, and more. He also left a tease stating that more 3DS announcements are coming past E3.
Head past the break for the full Q&A. GameSpot’s full piece is located here.
More: E3 2015, interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Disney Infinity exec says toy shortages are “irresponsible” and “rude” to the fans
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments
It’s well known that Nintendo’s amiibo figures have been suffering from shortages almost since launch. That’s unlike other toys-to-life brands, which have been relatively well-stocked.
John Vignocchi, the executive producer of Disney Infinity, was recently asked by Game Informer if the company is doing anything to prepare for the high demand for Star Wars figures in light of the amiibo situation. To this, he said:
There is never an intention to create a shortage of any figures. It is irresponsible and rude to your hardcore fans. They don’t want to create frustration or the hunt. So they will be stocking the shelves well!
We can’t say for certain that Vignocchi was blasting amiibo specifically, but his words do apply to Nintendo’s situation. No one is really happy with the lack of stock and consistent shortages!
More: Amiibo, Disney Interactive, interview, John Vignocchi
Splatoon – devs wanted to make something new and fun, amiibo, appealing to everyone, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 25 Comments
Nintendo Life has an extensive interview up with Hisashi Nogami, the producer of Splatoon. Nogami commented on a variety of topics, including the single-player campaign, amiibo, the game’s ability to appeal to different age groups, and more.
Excerpts from the interview are posted after the break. The full discussion can be read here.
More: Amiibo, Hisashi Nogami, interview, Splatoon, top
Splatoon producer once again comments on lack of voice chat, staggered content roll-out
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 187 Comments
The developers behind Splatoon have commented on the game’s lack of voice chat on numerous occasions. But if that wasn’t enough, producer Hisashi Nogami commented on the situation once again.
Nogami recently mentioned:
We want everyone to play this game from the same point, so that all players – those who haven’t played shooters before, as well as those who have – can enjoy the game. Getting to this though meant going through a selection process for all features that should appear in the game, and as part of this process we decided to leave out voice chat.
We think there are two reasons for wanting to use it: to play strategically, and to know what you opponent is feeling. We designed the game so that it’s still possible to play strategically, while also giving due consideration so that there is no extreme advantage one way or the other. In terms of knowing what your opponent is feeling, we really do understand the fun that can be had with this, but we hope that you will also understand that it can also have a negative effect too.
More: Hisashi Nogami, interview, Splatoon, top
LEGO Dimensions will be supported with new content over the next three years
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
With Skylanders and Disney Infinity, we’ve become accustomed to yearly releases. However, with LEGO Dimensions, Warner Bros. won’t be taking the same approach.
Speaking with GameSpot, TT Games founder and creative director Jon Burton noted that Warner Bros. won’t be bringing out a new Starter Pack next year. Fans can instead look forward to new content, likely in the form of different packs.
Burton also mentioned that there are plans in place to support LEGO Dimensions for the next three years.
Burton’s comments in full:
We absolutely see Dimensions as a platform. They’ll be no new Starter Set next year, but lots of new content that will be compatible with everything we release. We already have plans for the next three years and plenty of companies have approached us to get involved. We’ll have lots of exciting new announcements in the new year.
Humble co-founder talks about the Nindie Bundle
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 9 Comments
Nintendo Life recently had the opportunity to speak with John Graham, the co-founder of Humble. Graham was asked all about the Humble Nindie Bundle, including the lineup, region-locking issue, and more.
Head past the break from some excerpts from the interview. You’ll find the full discussion here.
On whether he was surprised Nintendo came through…
You know, I wasn’t sure how things would play out, but I think with anything like this it needs somebody that believes in the promotion idea on the other side. We’ve been working with great guys at Nintendo that figured out what this opportunity was, and I’m very proud of its performance so far.
We try to be the friendly guys that talk to everyone and we strongly believe that, where there’s valuable digital content, Humble Bundle can be very useful.
On the Humble Nindie Bundle performance thus far…
I’m a little superstitious so I try not to make too many hard bets in advance. It gets interesting because this is a promotion only for people in the Americas, and we weren’t quite sure ahead of time exactly who in our existing audience is in the Nintendo community. So there are a couple of X factors here, but I’m very proud of the performance of this promotion; it’s doing really well, and I think it’s meeting my expectations if not exceeding them.
On the Humble Nindie Bundle lineup…
Certainly. We’ve got a great set of Indie games here, so it’s in line with our Humble tradition of promoting amazing Indie games, and when we saw the intersection of that with what’s on the eShop, we realised we probably had something and should go for the promotion.
On any challenges with the Wii U/3DS eShop platforms…
Since Humble Indie Bundle 1, when customers asked whether we could include Steam keys, we’ve had some infrastructure for just administering keys that unlock digital content. Nintendo just generated a batch of keys on their side and that’s all it takes.
The key component is on the curation side – have we got a batch of content that people are going to value and get excited about? That’s always the more interesting challenge, the game key part was easy and Nintendo was easy to work with.
On whether he foresees a future where something like eShop products are sold through Humble in different ways…
I don’t want to speak for Nintendo directly, but if we take the Steam example, that’s pretty progressive-minded in that a if a developer wants to produce and distribute keys, Steam is pretty awesome about getting them into developer’s hands to use as they see fit. I think an open-door policy can only strengthen your platform long term, instead of building a walled garden to keep people out you can do things to bring people in.
As crowded and noisy as the internet and online connected world is, it’s critical to be thinking about that long term strategy instead of just “oh, we do things this way, and this is how we wall the garden”. So kudos to Nintendo for even trying this experiment with us, and I do hope it leads to other things and that it’s smart business to be open to the world instead of trying to close yourself off.
On the region issue…
Of course we always try to be as inclusive as we can be, and region-locking is not ideal. This is a case where we – and Nintendo – pushed as hard as we could to be inclusive, we got as far as we got for this promotion. I sincerely believe it was the right call to run the promotion, and help as many gamers as we could in getting this initial experiment out of the door. I do hope it leads to big things in the future. I have seen blog posts around in the news where Nintendo execs have been considering whether they want region-locking to be a thing in future iterations of consoles. The way things are currently designed it just wasn’t possible for this promotion, but we’re nevertheless really excited to be doing it.
On the average purchase price ($9 or so) in comparison to other current bundles or PC promotions…
I think this is a higher average than many, and we tend to see that when we’ve struck a chord with a vigorous community that can galvanise in one direction. I think we saw that, for example, with the Sid Meier bundle – if you’re really into Civilisation games you’re really into the promotion, and you don’t want to just get a small piece, you want the whole thing. I think that’s what we’re seeing with the Nindie bundle.
On the choice of Code.org as the charity…
It’s always collaborative, but Nintendo gets credit for pushing to have that awesome organisation as part of its promotion.
Overall thoughts…
This is a big deal, a new frontier, and we’re really excited not only to have this initial experiment out of the door and being successful, but to look into the future and see what doors it may open next.
On the definitive factor driving buzz for the Nindie Bundle…
Well, we’re doing something new, as I said it’s a new frontier. But also the content is awesome. These are fantastic Indie games, and I guess we have a platformer theme going on here, but if you look at it each game is different and emphasizing a different aspect. We’ve got puzzle platformers, some stealth platformers, world crafting platformers, skateboarding platforming. Whoever you are as a gamer, there’s at least one or two – or maybe all – of the games that can get you excited.
More: Humble Bundle, interview, John Graham
Disney Infinity team on how they managed to include a lightsaber in the first game
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
Back in late 2012, Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise. Avalanche was also hard at work on Disney Infinity at the time. Although the team wasn’t able to create anything too significant surrounding Star Wars, they did want to include a treat for the fans. This ended up being the lightsaber, which players could unlock by owning all Disney Infinity 1.0 characters.
Disney Infinity vice president of production John Vignocchi was able to get in touch with one of his friends from Lucas before hearing about the Stars Wars acquisition, and after the deal went through, he began making calls.
Vignocchi told Game Informer:
“We want to do an ultimate unlock in the game. We’d like to put a lightsaber in the game. Here’s what we’re thinking: If you own all the figures then this is like this super-secret end of the end – the Yoshi on top of the Princess’ castle.”
Vignocchi also mentioned how the team needed to scramble in order to get the lightsaber in the game. Rather than sending it out via an update, they wanted it to be included as part of the game that shipped to stores.
Nintendo on the Humble Nindie Bundle – origins, how games were chosen, future, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment
Nintendo Life has a new interview up with Nintendo of America’s Senior Manager in Marketing and Licensing, Damon Baker. Baker talked all about the Humble Nindie Bundle, including when the company started looking into it, how games were chosen for the digital package, interest in future collaborations, and more.
Head past the break for the Q&A breakdown. You can also check out Nintendo Life’s original article here.
More: Damon Baker, Humble Bundle, interview, top
Tomonobu Itagaki on the theme of war within Devil’s Third
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 11 Comments
People’s Daily was recently able to speak with Tomonobu Itagaki from Valhalla Game Studios. In one question, Itagaki was asked about how his team will will work the Chinese mobile game market into their strategy. That doesn’t have much revelance here, but he did end up discussing the upcoming Wii U title Devil’s Third and how it incorporates the elements of war.
Itagaki’s comments are as follows:
We always seek to innovate in games, and so it means they will not be the same. We’re currently working on a game called “Devil’s Third.” It is different than previous games up until now, as it is not just about fighting, but about diplomacy and forming treaties in the midst of a war in a realistic world setting. All of this is mashed up into one game. It is a world where peace is sought. My colleagues and I worked to put all this within a “war game.” Eventually it became a household game for the Wii U, but we are currently developing games for mobile too.
Devil’s Third was re-revealed as a Wii U title at last year’s E3, though we haven’t seen it since. It’ll be interesting to see if it appears at E3 2015 next month.
