interview

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Takashi Tezuka divulged the origins of Yoshi’s Woolly World while speaking with USgamer.

Tezuka ended up playing Kirby’s Epic Yarn while developing one of the Mario titles. He was extremely impressed with the visual style Good Feel managed to include with its Kirby title, and “thought it would be a good idea to ask Good Feel to create a Yoshi game”. Good Feel then suggested working with Tezuka to create a Yoshi action game.

Below are Tezuka’s direct comments:

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 3 Comments

USGamer posted a new interview today with Mario Maker producer Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka spoke about swapping levels through the Internet, the possibility of a 3DS version, and whether interconnected courses is something Nintendo is looking into.

Check out a few excerpts from the interview after the break. You can find more comments from Tezuka here.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Team17 came close to losing its Worms IP – not once, but twice.

In the late 1990s for example, Team17 signed a publishing deal after receiving extra funding for a game behind schedule. The Worms IP would have been relinquished to the publisher if sales targets for the title were not met within 12 months.

Thankfully, everything ended up working out, as the target was eventually beaten by 1.7 percent.

Team17 owner Debbie Bestwick wrote in a Develop column:

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments

Back in May, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 8 would be receiving Mercedes-Benz DLC. The news was accompanied by a commercial featuring a crossover between Mario and the car company.

According to Mercedes-Benz Japan president and chief executive officer Kintaro Ueno, the ad “has exceeded our expectations.” No surprise there, as the video has been viewed over two million times. Mercedes-Benz Japan has also confirmed an increase in visitors to its showrooms and demand for the car.

Ueno said:

“[The commercial] was quite a talking point, bringing a lot of people to the showroom. This is a new market segment for us, but it has exceeded our expectations. I can say that it’s going well.”

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments

Eiji Aonuma has shared the one Zelda-related memory that moved him the most.

Back in the day, Aonuma received a fan letter from the mother of an elementary school girl who was sadly hospitalized due to an illness. She gave her daughter Zelda: Ocarina of Time to play.

After initially thinking that it would be impossible to complete, the girl started to get the hang of things and ended up deciding, “if Link is trying this hard, then I will, too!” – referring to her rehabilitation. “And before they knew it, she was back to her healthy self,” Aonuma said.

Check out Aonuma’s full words below.

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More: Eiji Aonuma, interview, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, top

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 55 Comments

The latest issue of MCV has a few more comments from Ubisoft about Wii U, courtesy of CEO Yves Guillemot and Alain Corre.

First, Guillemot commented on how the Wii U needs additional sales to become a mass market device. He also spoke about Nintendo’s games and how fans are waiting on them to arrive.

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More: Alain Corre, interview, top, Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 4 Comments

In the latest issue of Famitsu, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino commented on a wide array of topics pertaining to the Youkai Watch franchise. This includes the creation of the actual IP, the anime, Youkai Watch 2, and more.

Head past the break for Hino’s comments.

“We’ve created a lot of different IPs, and I figured it was about time that we made something like Doraemon, that could be loved by many people over a long period of time. That was the start of it. I researched what would give something appeal and longevity, and pondered what would be relatable to people and developed the open world RPG that children could play, Yokai Watch. I think title’s popularity is the fruits of trial and error.”

“Anime is content that is offered for free, and I strongly promote its use. The [Yokai Watch] anime focuses on problems that modern children face and is made so that the audience can laugh off such problems and be entertained as well.”

“Keita isn’t a child who always does the right thing, but has his own flaws as well, like trying to watch naughty TV shows late at night or making fun of people. Keita’s actions are depicting what is ‘normal’ for modern children. He’s not a good boy, but someone who says what he thinks. I believe that character setting made him very relatable to people.”

“I’m working on bringing out a third yokai that is different from those 2. It’s like with a variety show – you don’t continue with the same members all the time, but switch them out every now and then to change the atmosphere. That’s what makes a show last longer. I believe that Yokai Watch needs such a device.”

“When planning the first Yokai Watch, I already thought to release the sequel as 2 different versions. Children like having things that other people don’t have, so from a marketing perspective, having 2 versions is a good idea. Also, a lot of people play Yokai Watch with their parents. Where people would have some hesitation about getting 2 copies of the same game, if you have different versions, it’s a lot easier for them to buy both.”

“The key for a long-lasting hit piece of entertainment is whether the business side like merchandise, games, and movies is successful. That’s why you develop commercial goods necessary for cutting edge entertainment and include the latest features in your games.”

On another important note, international expansion for Youkai Watch is “in consideration in a big way.”

Source

More: Akihiro Hino, Famitsu, interview, Level-5, top, Youkai Watch

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 4 Comments

Shin’en’s Manfred Linzner provided a very brief update about FAST Racing Neo while speaking with Mii-Gamer in a recent interview.

Linzer acknowledged that fans “really want to see the game”, but the studio will only have one opportunity to show FAST Racing Neo for the first time and make a strong impression. He also mentioned that the team “knew there was so much more possible on Wii U than anyone showed so far”, and they’re trying to “push the hardware.”

Linzer’s comments in full:

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Posted on 10 years ago by Jarop(@gamrah) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments

Many fans were curious as to why the upcoming One Piece Unlimted World Red had an original story rather than something closer to the original series. Producer Koji Nakajima sat down with the folks over at Siliconera to go over the thought process behind that and a few other aspects of development, here’s a summary:

• Re-writing parts of the One Piece storyline was exciting for him from the perspective as a fan
• Nakajima wanted every One Piece game he produces to focus on a side story or certain arc, to further explore the game’s universe
• After all characters for the game had been created, they are tweaked to be consistent within the One Piece universe
• He wanted the game to feel like adventuring as Luffy and living the adventurous life of a pirate
• That meant not just focusing on battling, but fishing and other elements
• With the Red update, the emphasis on battling was re-focused with the additional of the coliseum along with characters Boa Hancock and Trafalgar Law
• The game has giant boss battles and Nakajima said the Red Dragon fight was one of his favourites
• Unsure what’s next for the series, but contemplating releasing One Piece Unlimited Cruise in North America (previously only released in Europe)

Source

More: Bandai Namco, interview, One Piece: Unlimited World Red

Posted on 10 years ago by Jarop(@gamrah) in Videos, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

Nihilumbra was one of the many indie titles showcased for Nintendo platforms at E3 this year and the folks over at Mii-gamer sat down with developer Beautiful Games to talk about their design process and more, here’s an excerpt of the interview:

7. Nihilumbra is your first game to be released on Nintendo platforms. Why did you decide to bring Nihilumbra over to the Wii U? What is your opinion on the Wii U? Is it a good platform?

Kevin: When we started developing Nihilumbra, the WiiU didn’t exist at all, but as soon as we saw it announced we thought that it was a great platform for our game, mainly because it’s mechanics. It would be really hard (if not impossible) to port Nihilumbra to a console with a typical controller, but with that touching interface… it was perfect.

Sometime later, in a convention, we met someone from Nintendo Europe and we showed him the game. “We think that this game would be great on a WiiU” we said, “Well, what can we do to make it happen?” he answered. Everything was really easy an natural after that.

I guess that I have two different subjective opinions about WiiU, as a game designer and as a gamer.

As a game designer, I would say that it’s absolutely great. I always say that it’s the best thing that happened to console hardware since they added joysticks to controllers. With it we can make games that weren’t possible before, we can introduce asymmetric local multiplayer because, for the very first time, we have two different screens and two different input modes at the same time in one console. Really, as a game designer, I am constantly having new ideas of games that were not possible before.

As a gamer, I would say that I am concerned about the same stuff that concerns everyone: The games. It seems that there are not too many great games right now. It’s impossible to predict the future, and I’m no analyst. Let’s just say that, if Nintendo manages to build a strong base of games, it will have everything it needs to be a great console.

You can check out the full interview here

(Thanks to Mike for the tip!)

More: BeautiFun Games, developer, interview, Nihilumbra