One Piece: Unlimited World Red producer Koji Nakajima on the game’s original story
Posted on 11 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)
Developer BeautiFul Games on Nihilumbra, designing for the Gamepad and more
Posted on 11 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
Itagaki not worried about Devil’s Third finding an audience on Wii U
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 35 Comments
Devil’s Third may not be the traditional kind of game that we’re used to seeing on Nintendo platforms – not to mention the type of game that Nintendo typically publishes – but creator Tomonobu Itagaki isn’t worried that his game won’t find an audience on Wii U.
Speaking with Canada.com, Itagaki mentioned that he’s already seen comments from fans stating that they’ll purchase a Wii U just to play Devil’s Third, and he believes that “gamers are the ones who make the future.”
You’ll find Itagaki’s full comments below.
Next Level – being a second-party Nintendo dev, quiet on projects, more could be done with Punch-Out!!
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 12 Comments
Next Level Games’ Ken Yeeloy, in a recent interview, sounded off on several topics. Yeeloy commented on the studio’s development process, how being a second-party Nintendo dev affects projects, projects in the works (nothing could be revealed as expected), some continued interest in Punch-Out!!, and more.
Read on below for a few of Yeeloy’s words.
More: interview, Ken Yeeloy, Next Level Games, top
Nordic talks more about Darksiders, says it will have a future
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
Nordic Games still isn’t ready to make any announcements about Darksiders. The company is currently “looking at all possible design directions”, product development director Reinhard Pollice told GenGAME.
That being said, Nordic says that Darksiders has a future “and it will be awesome.” Pollice also mentioned how fans should keep the series on their radar and keep track of what the company is announcing in the future.
Check out the exchange between GenGAME and Pollice below:
More: Darksiders, interview, Nordic Games, Reinhard Pollice
Reggie on Amiibo crossovers, Wii U vision hasn’t changed, alleviating game droughts
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
IGN has gone live with several new quotes from Reggie Fils-Aime. The Nintendo of America president was asked about the possibility of Amiibo crossovers, Nintendo’s vision for Wii U, and how the company intends to avoid game droughts.
You can find a few interview excerpts below, and more over at IGN.
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Final Fantasy Explorers devs on befriending monsters, game’s difficulty, game’s world
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 5 Comments
In the latest issue of Famitsu, Final Fantasy Explorers director Atsuhi Hashimoto and project manager Takahiro Abe spoke more about befriending monsters, the game’s difficulty, and the game’s world. You can find their comments below, courtesy of Siliconera’s translation.
Yacht Club talks about its relationship with Nintendo
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 2 Comments
Shovel Knight has been highly trumpeted by Nintendo since the game’s early days of development, up through release. Heck, the title is even playable at the Nintendo World store right now.
All in all, Yacht Club Games’ Nick Wozniak says Nintendo has “been really accommodating to our weird requests, and getting stuff done to see if they can promote us better.”
You can find Wozniak’s full comments about working with the Big N below.
More: indie, interview, Nick Wozniak, Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games
Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus could get the remake treatment as well
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning is open to remaking another one of the series’ entries, Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus.
Lanning told Wired that it may very well be the next project the team takes on depending on success. If New ‘n’ Tasty sells well, we should eventually be seeing Abe’s Exoddus in HD.
Lanning said:
With success, yes. The number one thing is selling games — when they profit, we can make more games. With success, Exoddus will be the next game we make and with a LOT of success we’ll start making new IPs.
Also while speaking with Wired, Lanning discussed why it wasn’t possible for Oddworld Inhabitants to make a new IP. The studio ended up rebuilding Abe’s Oddysee since that’s what fans requested the most.
Yacht Club on what’s next for Shovel Knight, possibility of sequels, interest in original titles
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
Shovel Knight designer/director Sean Velasco and pixel artist Nick Wozniak recently spoke with Hardcore Gamer and gave some lengthy insight into what the studio has planned next for the game. Additionally, Yacht Club discussed the possibility of sequels – again touching on ideas like a 16 bit version or N64-styled game with 3D visuals – as well as interest in pursuing original titles as well.
You can find Velasco and Wozniak’s comments below and the full interview here.
