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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 12 Comments

Warner Bros. shared first details about Cars 3: Driven to Win, which is being created by Disney Infinity developer Avalanche Software.

Here’s the full overview:

“Picking up after the final big race in the film, Cars 3: Driven to Win extends the storyline of Cars 3 with all-new action packed adventures and takes players through a high-speed competition that is filled with both familiar and new faces. Players will be able to join Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez as they prepare to take on rival racer Jackson Storm. The game features more than 20 customization playable characters including popular heroes from the Cars franchise and next generation racers. Players can also select their favourite race environments from a series of iconic settings from the film, such as Radiator Springs and Florida International Speedway, with over 20 unique tracks to choose from across 13 different locations.

Cars 3: Driven to Win is a game that empowers players to master their driving skills for the ultimate competitive racing experience. With six thrilling modes for gamers to learn and advance their abilities, players can progress their character through training and tests of racing proficiency that unlock new modes, tracks, characters and more. Players can hone a wide variety of skills and abilities including Drifting, Turbo, Two-wheel Driving, Driving Backwards and Side-Bash. Each unique mode and ability allows players to explore the deeper gameplay mechanics and earn rewards for their expertise. Cars 3: Driven to Win provides an exhilarating, action-packed experience where training and skill give players an edge in a racing experience that anyone can win.”

Cars 3: Driven to Win will also let players experience the game “with their friends or on their own to perfect the various racing styles and modes available to them.” A local split-screen cooperative mode is included so that players can compete or team up with others.

Cars 3: Driven to Win launches on Switch and Wii U on June 13. View the first trailer below.

Source: Warner Bros. Interactive PR

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | 23 Comments

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:

Switch – 45,509
New 3DS LL – 25,719
PS4 – 25,006
Vita – 7,780
2DS – 6,240
PS4 Pro – 5,051
New 3DS – 1,995
PS3 – 1,724
Wii U – 449
Xbox One – 187

For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:

Switch – 78,441
New 3DS LL – 29,771
PS4 – 25,472
Vita – 7,574
2DS – 6,722
PS4 Pro – 5,261
PS3 – 2,930
New 3DS – 2,866
Wii U – 411
Xbox One – 115

And here are the software charts:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 6 Comments

Today, Gamasutra published a big interview with Motoi Okamoto. Okamoto spent a decade at Nintendo beginning in 1998, and contributed to games like Pikmin, Super Mario 64 DS, Wii Play, and Wii Fit.

Gamasutra spoke with Okamoto about his experiences at the company in its interview. He touched on Shigeru Miyamoto’s high aspirations for Pikmin, rejected Wii Play games, and more.

Head past the break for notable excerpts from the interview. You can read the full thing here.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 33 Comments

Update (4/4): Now up for pre-order on GameStop.

Original (4/3): A couple of months ago, Nicalis’ Tyrone Rodriguez shared an image of Switch’s Home Menu. It depicted the icons of a few games: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, 1001 Spikes, Hydra, and Cave Story. We pretty much knew that last game was happening, but now it’s been made official.

Cave Story is coming to Switch as Cave Story+. Like The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, it will have a physical release.

Along with upgraded HD graphics, the game will have seven play modes such as Wind Fortress and Boss Rush, more than twenty boss battles, fifteen levels, ten unique weapons, and four unique endings.

Switch is getting Cave Story+ on June 20. Pricing is set at $29.99.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 129 Comments

This week, Famitsu is publishing an interview with some of the developers behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about the game in-depth, among others. Ahead of the magazine’s official release tomorrow, some tidbits from the interview have appeared online.

First, Famitsu asks about how Nintendo settled on Ganon’s role in the game. Zelda was given a fairly deep portrayal, but Ganon only exists as a calamity. Fujibayashi responded by saying that, role-wise, it was unnecessary for him to be personified. If he talks, then his background would need to be shown and that would only be an obstruction in the game. That’s why Ganon is shaped as it is.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 38 Comments

Following tonight’s maintenance, a new section has been added to the Switch eShop. The digital store now has a “Best Sellers” category (“Charts” in Europe) showing the best-selling games. The information is based on software with the most downloads over the past two weeks.

Initial charts are available for North America, Europe, and Japan. We’ve posted all of the information below (in our case we’re specifically posted the UK charts since Europe’s ranking is set per country), and we’ll be adding these charts to our usual lineup just like Wii U and 3DS.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 4 Comments

Back in February, Nintendo revealed the Diadema Amphitheater stage for Splatoon 2. The series’ official Tumblr page updated today with a final English name for the level: Starfish Mainstage.

We have the following overview:

“This is Starfish Mainstage. It’s an outdoor music venue that hosts concerts for all types of music acts. The now legendary ‘Squid Squad’ played here once, and its considered a bit of a holy site for devotees of rock music. It’s a wonder that all the ink spray doesn’t cause the equipment to short circuit, but I guess they’ve got it figured out.”

In case you missed it, below are a few screenshots showing Starfish Mainstage:

Source

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 46 Comments

Fire Emblem Echoes’ Japanese launch is still a few weeks away, but the game has somehow managed to leak. Fans are already pouring through all of its files and contents to see what secrets Nintendo packed in.

One interesting discovery concerns amiibo functionality. As previously mentioned, Fire Emblem figures from the Smash Bros. line can be used to summon an Illusory Hero of that character during battle. The Corrin amiibo is included even though Nintendo has yet to say when it will be in stores.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments

Ken Lobb might not be a name everyone is familiar with, but he had a major impact on Nintendo back in the day. As a former executive at Nintendo of America, he influenced both software and hardware.

The N64 megahit GoldenEye 007 was one game Lobb was involved with. In a lengthy interview with Game Informer this month, Lobb discussed the game in-depth starting with its origins up through release.

GoldenEye 007 started out with “a tiny team at Rare,” Lobb said. Speaking about why this happened, he explained:

“Let’s just say, the ‘bigs,’ or the more experienced Rare developers were busy. They also weren’t super thrilled about making a game with a license. The license had come from Japan, from Mr. [Hiroshi] Yamauchi. He started the negotiations for it. Tim and Chris had agreed to take on the project. But the people making Donkey Kong, Banjo, Killer Instinct – they’re all busy. So, Martin Hollis and a little group of people began working on it.

They worked in barns at the time. Rare was called the Manor Farmhouse. It was this beautiful old farmhouse with a bunch of developers in it, and all these barns that were converted into development spaces. One was for Banjo, one was Killer Instinct, the smallest one had Martin Hollis, David Doak, and the whole team behind GoldenEye. I was visiting Rare a lot, once every 8 to 10 weeks to work on Killer Instinct 2. Actually, the end of Killer Instinct and into Killer Instinct 2, while they were making GoldenEye. I developed a friendship with Martin. That had a couple, shall we say, interesting impacts…”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 20 Comments

HAL Laboratory isn’t traditionally associated with working directly on Nintendo hardware. Fans are likely more aware of the company for having worked on the Kirby and Smash Bros. franchises, among many other titles.

For Switch though, HAL was directly involved with the hardware’s creation. They developed the following parts of the system:

– Web browser component
– Mii library
– Game development environments
– Game development tools

The Web browser components are used for following parts:

– Connect Switch to a Nintendo Account
– eShop
– Posting screenshots to SNS
– And more

Those who are in the photo below are the actual staffers who joined in during development. 32 people in total are pictured.

Source

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