Reggie says 60% of Nintendo’s American revenue come from holiday sales, talks embracing risk and innovation
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Switch | 0 comments
This holiday season will be especially important for Nintendo. The heavy hitters of the year – Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – are finally launching, and the company will need success in order to reach its goal of selling 20 million Switch systems this fiscal year.
The holidays are also important for Nintendo due to the high amount of sales collected during the period. Reggie said that “in the Americas, about 60% of our revenue during that time frame.”
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime
Mojang talks designing the Minecraft 2DS XL Creeper Edition, including scrapped ideas
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, News | 0 comments
In Europe and Japan, Nintendo recently shipped a Minecraft-themed New 2DS XL system. The design was based around the Creeper, one of the game’s hostile mobs.
Lydia Winters was one of the staffers at Mojang heavily involved with the creation of the new look. Winters was able to talk about working on the design, including a couple of scrapped ideas.
More: interview, Lydia Winters, Minecraft, Mojang
Art director on why Zelda’s art style constantly changes, and how Breath of the Wild’s look was made
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
The Legend of Zelda series has experimented with many different visual styles over the years. Nintendo aimed for realism with Twilight Princess, but before that, Wind Waker offered a completely opposite feel with its cel-shaded look.
As part of an interview published in the newly-translated Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion book, art director Satoru Takizawa commented on the series’ ever-changing visual style. Takizawa had this to say on the topic:
Virtuos on making the Switch version of Starlink – “extremely technically challenging” meeting parity with other platforms
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
We’ve known that Virtuos worked on the Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas. But as it turns out, the studio was extremely involved and handled a significant amount of development on Nintendo’s console. GamesIndustry spoke with senior technical director Jonathan Boldiga about what the process was like.
According to Boldiga, creating Starlink for Switch wasn’t easy. Ubisoft apparently “had very high standards in terms of what they wanted on the Switch platform” and the team had to do what it could to maintain visual parity across Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. In the end, Boldiga believes they were able to deliver “one of the best-looking Switch titles out there.”
Aonuma says Nintendo will never reveal Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s timeline placement
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
Where Breath of the Wild sits specifically in the Zelda timeline is something that has been a big question since the game’s release last March. However, series producer Eiji Aonuma has indicated that Nintendo will never place it in the chronological timeline.
In the newly-translated Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion book, Aonuma explained that “people were enjoying imagining the story that emerged from the fragmental imagery we were providing.” If Nintendo were to say where Breath of the Wild sits in the timeline, “then there would be a definitive story, and it would eliminate the room for imagination, which wouldn’t be as fun.”
Sakurai says it’s a miracle each time a Smash Bros. game is created
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
In an interview with Game Informer, director Masahiro Sakurai spoke about the miracle that is creating a Super Smash Bros. titles.
Sakurai started out by explaining that these new games can’t be made unless the rights from all I.P. holders are granted. He says that for each installment, “we are walking a fine line.” Sakurai also discussed how the franchise has been able to continue even after he left HAL Laboratory.
More: interview, Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros., top
Sakurai on Smash Bros. Ultimate – deciding new characters, reveal trailers, how Spirits came to be, more
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Game Informer published a new interview today with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai had plenty of interesting comments to share about how decisions are made regarding new characters, the handling of reveal trailers, how and why the Spirits mode was implemented, and more.
You can find a few excerpts from the interview below. Head on over to Game Informer for the full discussion.
Redout dev says Switch version is still “very much” in the works, starting to wrap up
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Redout might just be the most elusive Switch game at the moment. It was announced for the console nearly two years ago, but it still hasn’t released. There also haven’t been made status updates since then.
Thankfully, Redout still remains in the works for Switch and could be coming sooner rather than later. Guiseppe Franchi, from developer 34BigThings, told Fragments of Silicon that it’s “very much” still happening.
More: 34BigThings, Guiseppe Franchi, interview, Nicalis, Redout, top
Darksiders II dev recalls rushing to make a Wii U demo for E3, only for Nintendo to never show it
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
When Wii U had its unveiling at E3 2011, you may recall that a number of third-party developers and publishers announced a number of games for the platform. One of these was Darksiders II. Although that announcement went off without a hitch, what we didn’t know is that there were originally plans to have it be playable on Wii U during the same expo.
David Adams, who now works at Gunfire Games, recalled in a recent episode of the Game Informer Show about how a small team scrambled to get a demo build running in time for E3. Unfortunately, Nintendo decided against showcasing the game in a playable form at the last minute.
More: Darksiders II, interview, THQ Nordic, top, Vigil Games
Mario Tennis Aces devs on the game’s mechanics, story mode, how new characters were decided, name, more
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
A recent issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream had a massive interview with some of the developers behind Mario Tennis Aces. Nintendo producer Toshiharu Izuno as well as Camelot president Hiroyuki Takahashi and Camelot vice president Shugo Takahashi participated in the discussion.
The interview had lots of talk about the game’s mechanics, including the energy system, Zone Shot, and breaking rackets. We also get some interesting insight into the story mode, how certain characters like Chain Chomp were decided, an explanation of the game’s name, and plenty more.
