Ken Lobb talks about initial fan resistance in making Metroid Prime first-person
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
Ken Lobb, now the creative director at Microsoft Studios, once played a prominent role at Nintendo and worked on several games. This includes Metroid Prime – a title that, at the time, stirred up some controversy for turning the franchise into a first-person adventure.
Lobb spoke about the initial fan resistance surrounding Metroid Prime as part of an interview with EDGE this month. He said:
The fight, in the pre-internet world, was that we were getting a lot of pressure from fans. Nowadays, you’d be buried under Twitter, NeoGAF — both of which I love, by the way — but those voices are even louder today than they were back then. It comes back to a lesson I learned a long time ago: always listen to your customer, but also understand that if you do focus testing what you’re going to hear is, “I want that thing you did last time, because that was awesome.” Every once in a while, you have to learn to not listen to that and go, “Actually, Metroid in firstperson we think could make more sense.” Great creatives are going to disrupt their earlier designs and make things that are new, or build completely new games or new genres.
Yoshio Sakamoto still interested in working on traditional games, wants to challenge himself
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 23 Comments
Yoshio Sakamoto is most well-known for playing a prominent role in three Nintendo series: Metroid, WarioWare, and Rhythm Heaven. But Sakamoto has mainly acted as a producer in recent years, and hasn’t done too much with Metroid as of late aside from Other M.
That being said, Sakamoto is still interested in working on the franchises he is most famous for. He told CVG the following when asked if he will continue to contribute to some of his more traditional game series:
I do not intend to do so. There might [currently] be various tasks I might be involved in with past series. However, even if so I would always like to introduce new entertainment and new fun to those series.
I would like to satisfy fans of those series, but also working with other talented individuals I would like to create entertainment that’s completely different and that brings new emotions. I would like to challenge myself in those unique directions.
This might be indirect, but if we can make new types of gamers enjoy video games for the first time through Tomodachi Life, then they might eventually become interested in the more conventional games. I think we need to ensure that video games remain attractive to consumers, and in order to do so new concepts and ideas are important. I would like to challenge myself to do that.
More: interview, top, Yoshio Sakamoto
Bill Trinen talks more about Tomodachi Life’s localization changes
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 9 Comments
Nintendo is changing Tomodachi Life for its western release. There aren’t many drastic overhauls, but there are some modifications in place to better suit the game’s new audience.
As for what’s changed, Nintendo of America’s Bill Trinen told GameSpot:
More: Bill Trinen, interview, Tomodachi Life
Bill Trinen talks Tomodachi Life – name, changes for the west, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
IGN published an article about Tomodachi Life earlier today, and it’s filled with a bunch of quotes from Nintendo of America senior product marketing Bill Trinen. Trinen tackled topics pertaining to the game’s name, changes for the west, and more.
You can find Trinen’s comments below. IGN’s full article is located here.
More: Bill Trinen, interview, Tomodachi Life, top
Super Mario 3D World devs – next Mario title in the works, could use the GamePad more, Double Cherry and Cat Mario origins
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 16 Comments
What’s the team behind Super Mario 3D World working on next? Why, a new Mario game of course!
Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi wouldn’t say if the new project is for Wii U or 3DS while speaking with EDGE. He did mention, however:
“That’s still a secret! I can tell you, though, that we’ve already started approaching our next challenge.”
“There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.”
Mario Kart 8 devs talk game’s graphics and using Wii U’s power, balance, original Rainbow Road is “really spectacular”, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
GameSpot has published a series of articles featuring commentary from Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno and director Kosuke Yabuki. During a roundtable session held at GDC last month, the two touched on the game’s graphics, balance, brand new Rainbow Road course, and more. You can find the Q&A roundup below.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top, Yabu
Nintendo open to revisiting Mario Kart: Double Dash’s dual racers feature
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
The Mario Kart series has yet to see the return of dual racers since Mario Kart: Double Dash. Yet even though this feature hasn’t been revisited, Nintendo is still open to the idea of featuring two racers per cart.
Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno said during a GDC 2014 roundtable session:
“It wasn’t just a simple case of, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do that again.’ We really think the two racers together in one kart of Double Dash was really unique, and we thought it worked really well.”
“We’ve got that in our pocket, so if we come up with any new, cool ideas that utilize having two players racing together, we will definitely grab that and possibly bring it back out.”
“Having two players racing together, it does have a pretty high cost in terms of processing power, so that is an obstacle. That being said, if we could come up with some ways around that processing cost, we may have two players, maybe even three players, racing together. If we could come up with some cool ideas, we’ll definitely use them.”
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Mario Kart: Double Dash, top
Renegade Kid explains why Cult County is no longer on 3DS, taking to Kickstarter, using Unity, game details, parity on all platforms
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
Prior to today’s console and Kickstarter announcement for Cult County, the good folks over at Nintendo Life caught up with Renegade Kid co-founder Jools Watsham to discuss the project. Watsham tackled topics pertaining to the 3DS version, taking to Kickstarter, Unity, and more.
Check out the Q&A below. You can also find Nintendo Life’s full interview here.
More: Cult County, indie, interview, Jools Watsham, Kickstarter, Renegade Kid, top
Takashi Iizuka on Sonic Lost World’s Yoshi/Zelda DLC – development, no Mario stage, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
When Sonic Lost World was first revealed, not many would have predicted that the game would eventually feature crossover DLC with Yoshi and The Legend of Zelda. So how the heck did these two Nintendo collaborations come to be?
Producer Takashi Iizuka, speaking with Japanese outlet 4Gamer, said the concept came to him about six months prior to releasing the game. “This time, Sonic Lost World is a title that only released on Nintendo hardware, which is an opportunity that I couldn’t believe, collaborating together,” he said.
Originally, Iizuka hoped to include the Yoshi and Zelda Zones in the main game. But scheduling was too late, and they became free DLC items instead.
4Gamer did ask if Mario was ever considered as a potential candidate for Nintendo DLC. The short answer: not really.
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic Lost World, Takashi Iizuka, top
Square Enix reconsidering JRPG approach following Bravely Default’s success – will come out with more “heavy JRPGs”
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 13 Comments
Bravely Default has been a strong success for Square Enix, which may be a bit surprising given that its a brand new kind of JRPG. It sold well not only in Japan, but the west as well.
Thanks to Bravely Default’s reception, it sounds like Square Enix is reconsidering its approach to the genre. Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said in a recent interview that the company will now be putting its efforts into “heavy JRPGs” so that the company “can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results.”
Masuda told Nikkei Trendy the following when asked if Square Enix have any global titles for smartphones in its upcoming lineup:
