Nintendo on the company’s indie push, indie relationships, desire for exclusive features, low-quality titles
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
At Nintendo’s indie showcase at GDC 2015, Engadget spoke with Damon Baker, senior manager of licensing at Nintendo. Baker was asked about a bunch of questions with regard to the company’s approach to indies. Read on below for comments about Nintendo’s relationships with indies, the company’s desire for exclusive features when a game comes out later on Wii U/3DS, and more.
More: Damon Baker, indie, interview, top
Aonuma on the 5 stages of grief fan theory in Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 26 Comments
This month’s issue of Game Informer has an interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma tackled several topics pertaining to Majora’s Mask, including the 5 stages of grief fan theory.
Here’s the full exchange between the two:
Game Informer: Some fans speculate that Majora’s Mask is a metaphor for the stages of grief. The towns-folk are in denial of the moon falling; the Deku King is punishing the monkey out of anger; the ghost in the snow temple is bargaining for a return to the world of the living; Lulu in the Zora Temple is battling with depression; and the final temple could be considered acceptance as it wraps up Link’s journey. Was this considered during development, or is this just a fan interpretation?
Eiji Aonuma: It’s certainly true that each one of these different episodes you talked about has a different emotional cast to it. One feels like it’s tinged with sadness, and another with anger – that certainly was intentional. But, I also want to point out that it’s not that each one of these episodes only has the one emotion that they are conveying. There are certainly other notes that we’re trying to hit as well, and the reason we did this is always to allow the player to experience that emotion – to give them a chance to hook into the emotional tone of this scene and react to it and feel like they want to accomplish something in the game as a result.”
No More Heroes devs reflect on the game’s creation
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 3 Comments
In an issue published towards the end of last year, EDGE included an article that provided insight into the development of No More Heroes (see what was said about the series’ future here). That piece has now been published online in full. Creator Suda51, battle programmer Toru Hironaka, and senior character artist Takashi Kasahara shared the No More Heroes commentary.
We’ve rounded up some of the interesting comments from EDGE’s article below. You’ll also find a few pieces of art. For the full piece, head on over to GamesRadar.
More: Goichi Suda, interview, No More Heroes, Suda51, Takashi Kasahara, top, Toru Hironaka
Aonuma talks Majora’s Mask – Majora and Termina name origins, lots more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
This month’s issue of Nintendo Dream has a rather large interview with Eiji Aonuma, longtime producer of the Zelda series. While the Japanese magazine asked Aonuma about a variety of topics, Majora’s Mask was the main focus. Aonuma talked about the origins of the Majora and Termina names, the Mirror Shield’s connection to a mask owned by the Happy Mask Salesman, and more.
Head past the break for our full translation. The discussion is definitely interesting!
Takashi Iizuka says he has no plans to stop making Sonic games for consoles
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 19 Comments
There’s been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about SEGA’s shift in development. The company now intends to focus on PC and mobile as opposed to traditional gaming systems. However, that doesn’t mean SEGA is stopping console development entirely – especially when it comes to Sonic.
Japanese outlet 4Gamer recently interviewed Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Team. In one question, 4Gamer asks if SEGA is transitioning Sonic into a smartphone franchise.
Iizuka confirms that this isn’t the case. With the recently released Sonic Runners, SEGA simply felt that mobile was the most suitable platform for the game. Iizuka added, “Personally, I don’t plan to stop Sonic for home-video game consoles.”
So there you have it! We should eventually hear about another Sonic game for consoles. Let’s just hope it isn’t as disappointing as Sonic Boom.
Thanks to Mii for the tip.
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog, Takashi Iizuka, top
Endgame wants to make Fractured Soul 2
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Endgame Studios is seriously interested in Fractured Soul 2. The team actually began working on the project well over a year ago, and even prototyped levels.
That all sounds promising, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that Fractured Soul 2 won’t ever happen. Endgame co-founder Grant Davies told Cubed3 in an interview that the studio “couldn’t face spending more years trying to convince publishers to invest in a sequel – we were just mentally washed out from the eight years trying to get the first game out.” He added, “it’s very difficult to secure investment in such a novel idea as Fractured Soul, so unfortunately, I’m not holding my breath.”
Davies’ full comments:
We’d love to do Fractured Soul 2. We started work on it 18 months ago, prototyping some levels. We had some really great ideas. But again, it takes money to build games, and we couldn’t face spending more years trying to convince publishers to invest in a sequel – we were just mentally washed out from the eight years trying to get the first game out. I think if we ever did a sequel, we’d go for high quality pixel art, and maybe try to return to that original storyline. But it’s very difficult to secure investment in such a novel idea as Fractured Soul, so unfortunately, I’m not holding my breath.
Square Enix CEO aware of overseas Dragon Quest demand, has ideas about how to make it successful in the west
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 18 Comments
Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda sat down with French website Gamekult for a lengthy chat. Among the various topics discussed was the company’s handling of Dragon Quest overseas.
Matsuda acknowledged that a number of Dragon Quest games were not released in France – and in turn, the west as a whole. However, he added that the Dragon Quest team has some ideas about how to make the series successful overseas. He asked fans to look forward to upcoming announcements and to a “bright future” for the series.
Square Enix actually ended up announcing Dragon Quest Heroes for North America and Europe earlier today. But you do have to wonder if we still have any sort of chance of seeing any of franchise’s other recent releases here. Dragon Quest VII, Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D, Dragon Quest Monsters 2, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime 3, and Dragon Quest X have all stayed in Japan.
More: Dragon Quest, interview, Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda
Former SEGA of America CEO says Nintendo should continue what it’s doing, but extend to mobile
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 44 Comments
Former SEGA of America CEO Tom Kalinske shared high praise of Nintendo while speaking with GamesIndustry.
Kalinske said that Nintendo should continue making hardware and consoles. At the same time, he feels that it would be wise for the company to try expanding its games to mobile devices like the iPhone or iPad, since it would be “a form of marketing”.
That might just be a small suggestion. Ultimately, Kalinske proclaimed: “I don’t think they should give up what they’re doing because they’re damn good at it.”
I don’t think [Nintendo] should give up hardware or consoles. I am surprised that they haven’t formed a division to extend the IP. I’d love to play some of their games on my iPhone or iPad. It’s really a form of marketing for them in a sense. They wouldn’t even need to make that much money off it, but it would keep their brands relevant with the users, including people that are older, like me. So it seems to me it’s a marketing mistake, but I don’t think they should give up what they’re doing because they’re damn good at it.”
More: interview, SEGA, Tom Kalinske
Captain Toad producer wants to see the character in a variety of games… and maybe Mario Kart
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 26 Comments
Nintendo’s Koichi Hayashida wants to see Captain Toad “featured in a variety of games”. It also seems as though Hayashida would be interested in having the character end up in Mario Kart. That information comes from the latest issue of GamesMaster, which contains a short interview with the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker producer.
When asked what he foresees in the future for Captain Toad, Hayashida said:
At this stage we don’t know. I personally want to see him featured in a variety of games. I’ve even ‘secretly’ emailed the director of Mario Kart to see if he’d consider including Captain Toad, but I haven’t heard back from him yet!
Director Shinya Hiratake also answered the same question. His thoughts are as follows:
Through the development of this game I’ve grown even fonder of Captain Toad. he can’t jump, and struggles to defeat his opponents, but it’s precisely that he is not a powerful character that he can show us his unique take on all these situations. as a developer of his game, and one of his fans, I look forward to seeing where he goes next.
More: interview, Koichi Hayashida, Shinya Hiratake, top
Aonuma on Zelda: Majora’s Mask – reusing character models, bottles tease, why Clocktown’s bank vault isn’t affected by time, and more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 7 Comments
Surprise, surprise! Another interview with Eiji Aonuma has appeared. The latest one comes from Game Informer, who spoke with the Zelda producer.
There are actually quite a few interesting questions and answers. Aonuma was asked if Majora’s Mask is all a dream, teased a special event in the 3DS version for finding all of the bottles (plus there’s an extra one in this version), and shared a development nugget about Twilight Princess’ development.
Head past the break for some interview excerpts. The full talk can be found here.
