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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 104 Comments

Shigeru Miyamoto previously discussed why the Wii U struggles in an interview with NPR. Speaking with Fortune, he once again touched on this topic and pointed to the fact that “people never really understood the concept behind Wii U and what we were trying to do.”

He said:

“I feel like people never really understood the concept behind Wii U and what we were trying to do. I think the assumption is we were trying to create a game machine and a tablet and really what we were trying to do was create a game system that gave you tablet-like functionality for controlling that system and give you two screens that would allow different people in the living room to play in different ways. Unfortunately, because tablets, at the time, were adding more and more functionality and becoming more and more prominent, this system and this approach didn’t mesh well with the period in which we released it.”

Miyamoto also shared some regret about how the console won’t live up to its potential, in which he stated: “I still feel it was a very novel approach—and a very interesting idea.”

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More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 14 Comments

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is coming to the European Wii U Virtual Console next week, Nintendo announced today. Fans can get their hands on the classic title starting on July 2.

Nintendo wrote on its European Twitter account a few minutes ago:

This is the second time that Ocarina of Time will be arriving on the Virtual Console. The original VC release took place in February 2007 on Wii.

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More: Europe, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, top, Virtual Console

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 19 Comments

Like many Nintendo games these days, Star Fox Zero will have amiibo support. But the one thing players won’t have to worry about is content being locked away behind figures.

Shigeru Miyamoto told Kotaku at E3 2015 last week that amiibo usage in Star Fox Zero will be on the lighter side of things. Tying in significant content like abilities or a special mode isn’t planned. Instead, having amiibo will offer players “a little something extra” – perhaps “a different skin for the Arwing or something like that.”

Miyamoto said:

“In terms of being able to unlock content, I don’t really want to go down that path. For this game, I think of it more as, for people who have the Amiibo, they’re going to get a little something extra and that’s how I’m planning on it with this game. So rather than actual abilities or things like that changing in the game, it would be like getting a different skin for the Arwing or something like that.”

“So, I don’t really want to talk about Nintendo in general today, but in terms of what I’m doing with Star Fox, I’m really not thinking about there being locked content or there being a mode that you won’t be able to play if you don’t have one. Since we already have the existing Smash Bros. Amiibos I basically want to put in something so if you already have those Amiibos, I imagine people will try and tap them on Star Fox anyway, and I want to make sure there is something that gives them a nice charge when they do that.”

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More: Amiibo, interview, PlatinumGames, Shigeru Miyamoto, Star Fox Zero, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

Polygon has posted a new interview with Damon Baker, the man leading Nintendo’s indie efforts. Baker discussed how Nintendo is more open to approving content these days, the Humble Nindie Bundle, the importance of indies, and more.

Read on below for some excerpts from the interview. You can find the full article on Polygon here.

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More: Damon Baker, Humble Bundle, indie, interview, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 24 Comments

Update: Bumped to the top. Nintendo’s official patch notes have been added in.

A new update for Splatoon is releasing next week, Nintendo has announced. The game will be brought up to version 1.3.0.

Splatoon’s latest update makes improvements and changes to the Splatfest, weapons, and gear. The full breakdown is posted below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments

Last night, Nintendo held its 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Ten proposed candidates were re-elected to the board, including the following key figures:

Director and President – Satoru Iwata
Senior Managing Director – Shigeru Miyamoto
Senior Managing Director – Genyo Takeda

We’re also hearing that Nintendo is remaining in a position of strength in the stock market. You may recall that after Nintendo made its announcement about bringing games to mobile devices in partnership with mobile, it spiked to over 20,000 yen per share. Shares took a slight dip during E3, but they’ve now returned to their new norm of 21,780 yen.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments

GamesIndustry published its own interview with Nintendo of America executive VP of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt. Metroid Prime: Federation Force, amiibo, shortages in general, and the Humble Nindie Bundle (not ruling out its own bundle) were among the topics discussed.

You can read up on what Moffitt had to say in this latest interview below. Be sure to check out GamesIndustry’s original article here as well.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments

Damon Baker, who heads up Nintendo of America’s third-party relations and indie development, has told Polygon that the company is “certainly exploring options and capabilities” regarding an early access program.

He said:

“We don’t have anything to announce, but I can say that we’re certainly exploring options and capabilities. So anything is possible. I guess the important part of it is we’re very conscious of it and definitely looking at it.”

In terms of the benefits of what an early access program would program, Baker noted that it could act as a beta program of sorts.

“Working out some of the kinks, the server loads or what matching those expectations so that it’s a prime experience when it does, when the full version actually launches. So there could be some benefits there, but I think it’s a very sensitive topic, because you wouldn’t ever want to ask for money for something that doesn’t become fully-realized.”

Lastly, Baker also commented on the Nindies@Home initiative that was held during E3 week.

“We had to change policies over this, guidelines. I mean we basically created almost an early access-type of situation because some of this content isn’t even coming out until towards the end of the year. So to be able to give such early visibility to some of the developers and these builds, there was a lot of work that went into it.”

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More: Damon Baker, interview, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | 128 Comments

Update: All over! You can find the information rounded up below.

Nintendo’s 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is currently progress. We’ll be posting everything that was shared during the event below, courtesy of translations from Cheesemeister.

Intro

– New 3DS selling well, but the old 3DS did not, so HW sales were 8.73m. SW selling well. Pokemon, Smash numbers.
– Mario Kart 8 at 5.11m, Smash Wii U at 3.65m. Wii U HW 2.88m.
– Entertainment has value, centering on dedicated platforms. Providing premium experiences only available on such. Making more SW.
– Xenoblade for New 3DS released. Rhythm Heaven, FE: if released. Supporting 1st-party and strong 3rd-party SW.
– On Wii U, Splatoon, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Super Mario Maker are being released.
– Card-based and yarn amiibo are being released. The NFC dongle for old 3DS and 2DS being released. Looking to increase demand.
– Supporting amiibo on Smash 3DS with the NFC dongle.
– About DeNA, starting smart device apps this year. Smart devices different from dedicated consoles, so even w/ same IP, adapting play styles to suit smart devices will maximize value and drive the expansion of the gaming population.
– Continuing with film adaptations and character merchandising to increase mind-share of IPs. Ex: Universal agreement. More later.
– Making a marketing appeal for the IPs through experiences only possible at theme parks.
– Making progress with QOL. (No details given.)
– 1st measure: distribution of dividends.
– 2nd measure: selection of board members.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo’s Yugo Hayashi is the director of Star Fox Zero. Prior to this, he was involved with level design on Zelda: Twilight Princess and directed Wii Fit.

Having developers work on a variety of different projects is part of an intentional plan from Shigeru Miyamoto. In an interview with Kotaku, he explained:

Miyamoto: In terms of trying to develop a developer I always try to get them to do lots and lots of different things. Mr. Aonuma is kind of always working on Zelda but for most other people I like to try to get them to try lots of different things. So someone who worked on the art direction for Zelda would then go on to Wii Fit U. That’s kind of how I like to do things. And now Mr. Hayashi is working with me pretty much every day.

Hayashi and Miyamoto went on to discuss something a bit random. Hayashi actually mentioned that he feels that him being the closest to Miyamoto in terms of seating helped him land the job for Star Fox Zero.

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More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top, Yugo Hayashi