Japan: Super Bomberman R had the series’ best opening week in almost 20 years
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 32 Comments
Super Bomberman R didn’t set the sales charts on fire when it debuted in Japan last week, but it still managed to do fairly well. Even though it only sold around 37,000 copies, it was the best-selling third-party game on Switch.
Looking into Super Bomberman R’s sales further reveals an interesting fact. It actually had the best opening week for the series in nearly twenty years. It’s also one of the best openings for the series as a whole.
Here’s a look at previous first week sales for Bomberman games in Japan:
More: Japan, Konami, sales, Super Bomberman R, top
Zelda: Breath of the Wild art director on how The Wind Waker HD shaped the game’s art style
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 7 Comments
As you can probably tell, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD served as a big inspiration for the art style in Breath of the Wild. This goes all the way back to when Nintendo was working on the Wii U remaster a few years ago. Breath of the Wild art director Satoru Takizawa spoke about how the game’s style was determined during a session at GDC last week.
When looking to see how different Zelda games would look like in HD, Nintendo took models from previous games and placed them into a development environment to try different mockups. Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker were all tested. Wind Waker “stood out” the most “and really captured the imagination of the lead artists on Breath of the Wild”. The team took it from there.
While Wind Waker would end up being used as inspiration, the art style couldn’t be carried over completely. The cartoonish direction couldn’t allow for a certain sense of realism that the team wanted to achieve. Additionally, there was some concern about it being a turnoff for older players.
Breath of the Wild’s final look was ultimately determined based on a slogan Nintendo decided on, which is “refreshing and full-flavored.”
Here’s the full explanation on how the game’s art style came to be from Takizawa:
[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – March 2017
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 19 Comments
We’re a little ways into March, so we want to know what everyone is up to with their gaming sessions as of late. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is no doubt something that many of you are playing, but I’m willing to bet there are at least a few of you out there who are spending your time with something else. Plus, I know some folks enjoy going through more than one game at once.
So what are you playing right now? Is Zelda: Breath of the Wild indeed taking up most of your time? Let us know in the comments below.
Highlights from last week’s topic: Your impressions of Switch and Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Level-5 CEO talks Lady Layton
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 3 Comments
Even though Lady Layton was announced last July, we haven’t heard much about it since then. Famitsu catches up with Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino for an update of sorts this week.
Famitsu starts off by asking what parts are new compared to past entries. Hino points out that the protagonist has changed from Professor Layton to his daughter, Katrielle. Because of that, this game will have a female touch while keeping the series’ atmosphere intact. Hino hope the game will show a brand new side of the franchise.
More: Akihiro Hino, Famitsu, interview, Lady Layton, top
Zelda: Breath of the Wild team on dev approach, difficulty, speedrunners, concept art, Shrines, bugs, and more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 9 Comments
The Verge recently chatted with Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, art director Satoru Takizawa, and technical director Takuhiro Dohta. Tons of topics were discussed in the new interview. Among them include how the team approached development, the game’s difficulty, speedrunning, the crazy concept, designing Shrines, and making the experience as bug free as possible.
We’ve rounded up notable excerpts from the interview below. You can read the full discussion on The Verge here.
First Away: Journey to the Unexpected gameplay
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 1 Comment
Gameplay from Away: Journey to the Unexpected, an upcoming title for Switch, debuted during Twitch’s PAX stream. We have the full recording below.
Switch sold through 95% of its initial shipment in Japan
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 77 Comments
Various information about Switch’s debut sales have been coming this week. In its first three days, the console is estimated to have sold around 330,000 units.
Dengeki now reports that Switch sold through 95 percent of its initial shipment. Given that, as well as how it’s tough to find in stores, the system’s first shipment is almost entirely depleted. That means when next week’s sales are reported, Switch is likely going to have a major drop off – so don’t panic when you see the numbers.
By the way, on another interesting note, Dengeki says that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has an attach rate of 60.8 percent with Switch. That’s higher than the rate for Twilight Princess and Wii at 35.9 percent.
Cosmic Star Heroine looking likely for Switch
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 6 Comments
Although not absolutely confirmed, it appears that Cosmic Star Heroine will be making an appearance on Switch. Robert Boyd from Zeboyd Games put out a message on Twitter that a port will probably be happening later this year.
The tweet is below:
No promises, but it looks like a Cosmic Star Heroine Switch port sometime late this year is probable.
— Robert Boyd (@werezompire) March 8, 2017
Boyd previously mentioned wanting to bring over Cosmic Star Heroine. However, he had major issues with getting a dev kit and reaching Nintendo overall. That just changed this week when Boyd heard from Nintendo of America’s Damon Baker.
More: Cosmic Star Heroine, indie, top, Zeboyd Games
Nintendo: Joy-Con replacement / repair requests “not significant”, consistent with its other hardware launches
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 54 Comments
One of the early problems some users have reported experiencing with Switch concerns the Joy-Con disconnecting during play. We’ve gone over that enough times, so we don’t need to touch on explaining it further. However, Nintendo did provide a new statement to TIME about the situation.
“The number [of Joy-Con replacement or repair requests received] is not significant, and is consistent with what we’ve seen for any new hardware we have launched,” a representative said.
We heard from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime earlier today that the company is looking into potential issues, and wants to hear from consumers via its support line if they experience anything. The same goes for the dock scratching Switch’s screen.
More: top
Art director says Link’s iconic hat is missing in Zelda: Breath of the Wild since it’s tough to make it look cool
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 68 Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild breaks many of the series’ conventions. Among these is the lack of Link’s iconic hat, which has long been a staple of the series.
In an interview with Polygon, Breath of the Wild art director Satoru Takizawa told Polygon that due to the rise of graphic fidelity, it’s tough “to make that hat look cool.”
He said:
“As the graphic fidelity has increased it becomes more difficult to make that hat look cool. As the game becomes more realistic it’s difficult to present it in a way that’s appealing.
If you look at Twilight Princess, I really made the hat long, so it would flap in the wind and move around. But because of that people were like ‘What’s he got? What’s in that hat?’ We’re reaching our limits as to how we can make it look cool.”
Takizawa added that with Skyward Sword, he attempted to make Link’s hat diminutive and giving it much less motion, but “we’re reaching our limits as to how we can make it look cool.”
