Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley doesn’t support same-sex marriage, but Natsume is listening to the fans
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
Like previous entries in the series, Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley won’t offer same-sex marriages. However, Natsume has suggested that this is something that could be included in future titles.
Joystiq spoke with a couple of folks at Natsume and was told the following:
“It’s obviously something that we’re going to look into as we continue the Harvest Moon series. We’re going to look into all aspects of it.” – Graham Markay, Vice President of Operations
“We always listen very carefully to fans’ voices. Fan voices, media voices. We know what the fans are looking for. We are always carefully listening to fans’ voices.” – Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO of Natsume
Reggie – Amiibo price talk, no Wii U price cut, won’t be force to release a new console soon, sales vs. PS4/Xbox One, lots more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 17 Comments
The Seattle Times has put up a massive interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. There’s quite a lot of important topics, so we’ve included a good part of the interview below. You can find The Seattle Times’ full article here.
More: Amiibo, interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Takashi Tezuka talks more about Mario Maker’s origins – “inspired to bring the fun of Mario Paint into this course editor”
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo’s Takashi Tezuka shared a little more on the origins of Mario Maker while speaking with Polygon. You can find a summary of what was shared below.
– Started out as a course-making tool for Nintendo’s internal teams
– The people on the tools team typically don’t design video game courses
– Instead, they only build the tools for Nintendo’s game designers to use
– In this particular instance, the tools team was working on a Mario course editing tool when they decided to pitch it to Tezuka as a standalone game
“They brought the idea to me thinking it would be a great game idea because they had so much fun with [it].”
– Tezuka had been meaning to make a new Mario Paint game that uses the Wii U’s GamePad
– He saw an opportunity in Mario Maker to make a game that encourages players creativity in a similar way to Mario Paint
“There are lots of drawing utilities in the world, but does everybody like drawing? Not necessarily. In order to make a [Mario] course, all you have to do is put different parts together. It’s not as difficult or out of reach as drawing is. Instead of creating another Mario Paint, when I saw this course editor, I was inspired to bring the fun of Mario Paint into this course editor to make something fun and creative for people to enjoy.”
– Tezuka expects people to be silly in their course designs and to create levels that are impossible to complete
– Mario Maker isn’t just about finishing courses
– It’s about enjoying the process of creating a course, no matter how silly or impractical it may be
– Ex: a team of Nintendo employees created a course that required Mario to run to the end of the course, then run back to the beginning, then run back to the end in order to complete it
“We think this is a game that will showcase people’s sense of imagination. Seeing the courses made by [those folks] made us realize it had much more potential than even we imagined.”
More: interview, Takashi Tezuka, top
Miyamoto on the transitions between hardware, not saying much on combining portable and console systems
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
This information comes from Shigeru Miyamoto, speaking with IGN…
“Well, we’re always experimenting with a lot of different kinds of new hardware. Certainly, we’ve put a focus more recently on what we can do to better improve the transition from one hardware system to the next. Going from GameCube to Wii, we were able to mature a smooth transition from one to the next in terms of the development environment. But with Wii to Wii U, there were some hurdles there that we had to overcome in making that transition to the new hardware system.”
“The question of whether or not we want to take a portable system and a home console system and decide if maybe, as the computer processing power improves, we could just simply say we’ll stick with a portable and make it something that could also be a home console system is a question that ties directly into product strategy, and is something I can’t really go into detail on.
“But what I can say is that, for the time being, our focus is really on developing and building these environments that will allow us to have a smooth transition from one hardware system to the next going forward. Other than that, you can look forward to what comes next.”
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Mario Maker getting more graphical styles, Tezuka wants non-Mario graphics, music composition feature confirmed
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 12 Comments
This information comes from Takashi Tezuka…
“Obviously, there will be other graphical styles included. And nothing’s been decided yet, but I’d also like to include other graphics that aren’t Mario.”
“No, it won’t be top-down (if something like Zelda graphics were included). It’s always going to be a 2D platformer.”
– Tezuka said he plans to integrate more enemy and object types than what appeared in the E3 demo
– Tezuka also emphasized the inspiration Mario Maker draws from Mario Paint
– He said that he hopes to include features similar to those of Mario Paint, including a music composition feature
– As for Internet sharing and Miiverse integration, Tezuka admits those details are still being worked out as well, but that he’s mindful of players’ desire to show off their level designs to friends
“Sharing with friends is really the whole point of making levels.”
More: interview, Mario Maker, Takashi Tezuka, top
Nintendo on Amiibo – standard Mario figure line likely, will extend into future platforms, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Check out this exchange between IGN and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi…
IGN: What are some high level applications for that you both have in mind for amiibo?
Takahashi: “I think the biggest distinction for the amiibo figures is first, we’re releasing them with Smash Bros. and there will be figures for the different characters in the game. You can take the Mario amiibo and use it in Smash Bros., but then you’ll be able to use it across different games that Mario appears in. For example, you can use the Smash Bros. Mario figure and use it in Mario Kart 8 when that functionality releases. You can also use that same Mario figure in Mario Party 10. So for the amiibo project in general, we’re looking at having all of the figures be useable across a lot of Nintendo titles and not just the one game the figure was [visually] designed for.
To get technical, the amiibo is able to store data, and within the full data set you have this much data (mimics a large space with his pointer finger and thumb) which is reserved for Smash Bros. But then you have a subset of data (mimics roughly half of the space from the previous example) that says this is the Mario figure. Smash Bros will use the big chunk of data in the Smash Bros. amiibo, but the other games are able to read that this is a Mario figure through this other set of data that identifies the character, and that is how the characters are able to interact with the Mario amiibo.
When you use the Smash Bros. Mario amiibo in Smash Bros., it’s able to do all of the different things designed for that game. When you take that amiibo and you use it in different games, it’s not the Smash Bros. Mario, it’s just a Mario. It’s a more simple use for [amiibo functionality] but it’s able to do those two things.”
More: Amiibo, interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, top
Aonuma says he hears the fans about revisiting Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 19 Comments
Check out this exchange between Kotaku and Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma about The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask…
Schreier: I have to ask… I asked readers what questions I should ask you, and the number one question was that you’ve hinted so many times about a new Majora’s Mask or a Majora’s Mask remake for the 3DS—will we ever see that?
Aonuma: I do know that fans want to see Majora’s Mask. I’ve heard that voice, it’s very, very strong, and I’m always listening, is what I would say.
Schreier: I think people reacted to the teaser in A Link Between Worlds, the mask in the house. People saw that and thought it was a hint for the future, so that’s why people are excited about that.
Aonuma: Maybe I was toying with them a little. (laughter) I’m doing everything I can. I hear the voices of the fans. There are so many out there. It’s very loud, and just to acknowledge the fact that the need, the want is out there, I put that in there.
Reggie on Nintendo going with digital plans over a traditional conference
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
This information comes from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime…
“My first E3 was ten years ago and ten years ago YouTube and Twitch didn’t exist. Ten years ago you could actually get media to pay attention. We’re reflecting the current realities. We couldn’t have a video like the one with myself and Iwata in a press conference.”
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime
Story of Seasons dev on the theme of life and death
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 2 Comments
This information comes from head of development Yoshifumi Hashimoto…
“[The original Harvest Moon] released at a time when games were all about battles and monsters, and we made a game about being a farmer, but not a farmer with a tractor,” he said. “You took care of things with your bare hands. If you didn’t take care of your animals, they would die. Initially, we received complaints from parents who said the game was too dark. But this whole game is about a farmer’s life. I want people to experience what life is like.”
– Hashimoto doesn’t see a game like Story of Seasons or any of the Harvest Moon titles forcing a message onto players
– He believes the actions and consequences in the game make it easier for players to understand life and death
– He said he recently heard on Japanese radio of a kid whose pet died, and who explained to his parents that the pet had “run out of batteries”
– He hopes Story of Seasons helps younger players understand that the world is a bit more complex than that
“Death is a touchy subject to talk about. But it’s one of the things I’m really proud of doing in my games. I was thinking of what kind of life I could have the user experience … I wanted to make it easier for players to understand life and death.”
Nintendo’s Scibetta on Luigi’s death stare, Robot Chicken in the Digital Event
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
This information comes from Nintendo of America marketing boss Charlie Scibetta…
“There are different examples of when its the right time for us to take something that happens organically and make it part of corporate messaging. It was a late addition, and we thought that we could pay homage to the fans. With the Luigi Death Stare, people started to pick up on it and share it — and sometimes we just let that play out and enjoy watching it like any other fan would. We like to see how the fans evolve stuff like that. Other times we may decide to give something a boost like we did with this. If you’re into that, and you see it, you immediately get it and the fact that Nintendo acknowledged it.”
“It was a collaborative effort. They came up with ideas, and so did we, but they let us know, from a comedy standpoint, what they thought would work well.”
