Splatoon devs talk more about the game’s origins and new IPs at Nintendo, original characters were the only fit
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Game Informer caught up with Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami and co-director Tsubasa Sakaguchi at E3 2014. The two were asked about several topics, including what it’s like to get new IP started at Nintendo, and they also discussed why original characters were the only fit as opposed to established ones.
As usual, we’ve picked out some excerpts from the interview below. You can find the full interview on Game Informer.
More: Hisashi Nogami, interview, Splatoon, top, Tsubasa Sakaguchi
Aonuma may have something to show about Zelda being more than a single-player experience next year
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 19 Comments
During a Nintendo Direct last year, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about changing the conventions of the series. One of these points concerned the tradition of playing by yourself.
Hyrule Warriors, while not an actual/traditional Zelda game, does offer a multiplayer component. This led Game Informer to ask Aonuma in a recent interview if the Wii U title is a step in this direction and if there will be multiplayer in the next true Zelda release.
Aonuma responded by stating that we “will see in the future, maybe next year.”
Aonuma’s comments in full:
More: Hyrule Warriors, interview, top, Zelda Wii U
Hyrule Warriors – dev length, put in elements because of fan feedback, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Game Informer published a new Hyrule Warriors interview today with general producer Hisashi Koinuma and development producer Yosuke Hayashi as well as supervisor and overall Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. The three spoke about how long the game has been in the works, talked about how fan feedback influenced the game, and more.
You can check out a few excerpts from the interview below. More comments can be found on Game Informer.
More: Eiji Aonuma, Hyrule Warriors, interview, Omega Force, Team Ninja, Tecmo Koei, top
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate producer on the game’s Guild Quests
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
In an interview with Siliconera, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate producer Ryozo Tsujimoto opened up on the game’s Guild Quests. These are a series of new elements introduced in the franchise.
Tsujimoto said:
“The big difference is that the standard quests are a little rigid in their structure. You get a very specific task, and you go out and do that task—kill that monster and come right back. It feels a little bit like work in that sense.”
“What we wanted to do was have something a little lighter, where you can goof around a little bit. Maybe you don’t fulfil the objective you intended to, and just get some items or whatever and come back. It still feels like you did something. So it’s kind of a lighter affair, and this is where the Guild Quests come into play.”
“There’s an element of randomization to the Guild Quest system, where you’re not entirely sure what kind of map you’re going to get, and what’s going to be out there. Within this randomized system, there are maps we consider to be ‘good’ and maps that are ‘not so good,’ and you can actually exchange these back-and-forth with other players.”
“The way it works is that you’ve got these pre-determined [map] parts, and all that really changes in the randomization is how they’re connected together, since the Monster Hunter maps are always a big ‘master map’ with smaller ones within. When we talk about the idea of there being good or advantageous maps versus bad ones, the best kind that you’re really after is where, as soon as you leave your camp—boom—there’s a big monster for you to fight. There’s lots of elevation shifts so you can do jump attacks. That sort of thing.”
“Up until now, you could collect all the weapons in Monster Hunter, and once you’ve collected them all, you say, ‘Okay, now what? I’ve got all there is to get.’ No more. Because now there are randomly-generated parameters, so you will never truly have all of them, and there will always be something for you to get your hands on.”
Nintendo on how Splatoon came to be, couldn’t have been made without the GamePad
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment
In an interview with Eurogamer, Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami opened up on the game’s origins. It started out as a prototype with an idea from programmer Shintaro Sato, who was attempting to create something new.
Nogami said:
“It’s something we do a lot of at EAD. We’re constantly making different prototypes with different game ideas to see what’s going to be good. One prototype that a programmer made was just this kind of idea of shooting ink on the ground, and doing a territory control game. We played it, thought it was really fun and maybe we can make a full game out of this.”
More: Hisashi Nogami, interview, Splatoon, top
Miyamoto and Takahashi comment on Minecraft
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 18 Comments
Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi, who oversees the Nintendo SPD teams, both commented on Minecraft as part of an interview with Kotaku. Both had pretty positive things to say.
First, here’s what Miyamoto shared:
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, top
Nintendo teases Wii U/3DS communication plans, including unannounced projects – Mario and Donkey Kong
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 5 Comments
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are the first two games to truly take advantage of communication features between both of Nintendo’s systems. You might be wondering why this functionality hasn’t been pursued sooner.
Shinya Takahashi, the GM of Nintendo Software Planning & Development, told IGN:
“With Smash Bros., because the two games have the same gameplay and the same controls, that game in particular is designed where you’ll want to start playing on the 3DS first and build up your characters there, and then transfer that character data over to the Wii U and play with them there.”
Shigeru Miyamoto also chimed in:
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, top
Reggie says Tomodachi Life sales “significantly higher” than expected
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 24 Comments
Tomodachi Life appears to be off to a good start from a sales perspective. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently told Kotaku, “The Tomodachi Life numbers were significantly stronger than we had forecasted and planned.” Reggie explained that this is because the 3DS is “a vibrant platform.”
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, Tomodachi Life, top
Miyamoto says “it’s always in those difficult times that we have a tendency to find that next new thing”
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Nintendo isn’t experiencing the same kind of success as it did during the Wii and DS days. But perhaps that’s not entirely a bad thing.
Shigeru Miyamoto told Kotaku that “the numbers have never been as bad as they are now.” But he also added, “what I’ve found is that it’s always in those difficult times that we have a tendency to find that next new thing.”
When Kotaku mentioned that what Nintendo is doing with its games at E3 makes it feel like a bolder company, Miyamoto responded:
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Nintendo talks more about third-party Wii U support, Ubisoft and EA weigh in
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 23 Comments
Nintendo of America senior director of communications Charlie Scibetta has commented further on the situation surrounding third-parties and Wii U.
Scibetta told Ars Technica:
“We want the same thing that the third parties want, which is to grow the installed base. We’re confident that if we can do that by driving the installed base through first-party software, like Mario Kart 8, like Super Smash Bros., then the third-party developers will follow because then they’ll see there’s a large enough installed base that it’s worth their investment to bring their games to our platform. So it’s our job to grow that installed base to make it more attractive for them to come to our platform.”
“Sure, everybody would like to have games earlier, but the good thing about Nintendo is that product quality is really important to us, so we would never ship it early just to help our bottom line or our financials for the holiday season. It’s much more important for us to protect the brand, the goodwill we’ve built up with fans over the years.”
“The good thing about Nintendo is we’ve been dedicated to gaming for over 30 years now, and it’s not like we do anything else. It’s not like we’re going to go away from what we do and try something different. We’re in for the long haul in gaming.”
A couple of prominent publishers have weighed in regarding their support for Wii U as well.
First up, Ubisoft:
“We think that by releasing good games from fan favorite brands, like Mario Kart, Nintendo is taking steps to increase the Wii U’s adoption. We have games coming out for the Wii U this year, including Just Dance 2015 and Watch Dogs. For any other games we announced at E3, it’s too soon to say.”
An EA spokesperson also said the following:
“So far, we haven’t announced any new titles for the Wii U, but that doesn’t preclude us from doing so in the future.”
