Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has told ONM to expect surprises at next year’s E3 as Nintendo prepares to reveal an overhaul of the critically-acclaimed series.
When asked how different the new Zelda title will be when it arrives on Wii next year, Aonuma replied:
“It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto, and he and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise.”
“So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version.”
Aonuma also confirmed that alongside full MotionPlus support, we’ll be able to see more of what his team have been working on at next year’s E3. “I hope that we can show you something at the E3 show next year and it is something we are hopeful will be surprising,” he added.
The full, in-depth interview with Eiji Aonuma will be published in Official Nintendo Magazine issue 51, out December 18th.
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On December 12, Spike TV will host the annual Video Game Awards. Below is the list of categories in which Nintendo games have been nominated. It looks like a good deal of the Nintendo games are multiplatform. Not too many are Nintendo-exclusives. So, who and what do you think will win?
Best Wii Game:
* Madworld
* New Super Mario Bros. Wii
* Punch-Out!!
* Wii Sports Resort
Best Handheld Game:
* Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
* Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
* Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
* Scribblenauts
Best RPG:
* Borderlands
* Demon’s Souls
* Dragon Age: Origins
* Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Best Individual Sports Game:
* Fight Night Round 4
* Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
* UFC 2009 Undisputed
* Wii Sports Resort
Best Team Sports Game:
* FIFA Soccer 10
* Madden NFL 10
* NBA 2K10
* NHL 10
Best Music Game:
* DJ Hero
* Guitar Hero 5
* Lego Rock Band
* The Beatles: Rock Band
Best Soundtrack:
* Brutal Legend
* DJ Hero
* Guitar Hero 5
* The Beatles: Rock Band
Best Game Based on a Movie/TV Show:
* Ghostbusters: The Video Game
* South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
* The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
* X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition
Best Performance by a Human Female:
* Eliza Dushku as Rubi Malone (Wet)
* Kristen Bell as Lucy Stillman (Assassin’s Creed 2)
* Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
* Tricia Helfer as Dare (Halo 3: ODST)
Best Performance by a Human Male:
* Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters: The Video Game)
* Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
* Samuel L. Jackson as Afro Samurai/Ninja Ninja (Afro Samurai)
* Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
* Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick (Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena)
Best Cast:
* Brutal Legend
* Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
* Ghostbusters: The Video Game
* South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
* X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition
For the full list of categories and nominations, click here.
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Famitsu sat down with Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, recently to discuss New Super Mario Bros. Wii. A writer over at 1UP has compiled some key points of that interview detailing the thought process, Super Guide, and difficulty. Check it out below.
Miyamoto on the idea to create a new 2D Mario – “It was a courageous choice for the developers. We went with a very orthodox Mario despite the capabilities of modern game systems. With this game, though, our only really overall goal was multiplayer. I figured that as long as multi-play was fun, then simpler would be better for everything else, both to players and to us creators. To put it bluntly, I would’ve been just fine with basically making a multiplayer Super Mario World. That’s not too terribly interesting, though, so our goal was to create a new and serious 2D Mario, insert multiplayer into that, and make it enjoyable for all walks of gamer.”
Miyamoto on Super Guide implementation – “Originally I wanted it to be viewable after failing at a level three times, but that was too few. You’d wind up summoning the Super Guide block even when you’re playing normally, and the testers and I both thought that was just annoying! So after some trial and error, we settled on eight tries. That’s about the point when people start to think ‘Man, this stage is kind of hard’ and get a little frustrated. If they watch the Super Guide, maybe then they realize it’s easier than they thought. We want people to get though this on their own power first, so that’s how we decided it in the end. In Mario 3 there was an item, the P-Wing, that basically let you skip a single stage at any time. I figured that since that game has 80 levels or so anyway, it’d be nice to let gamers take a pass on at least one or two of them; then, once they beat the game, they could go back to those stages and try them again. In New SMB Wii, we took that to another level.”
Miyamoto on NSMBW difficulty – “I do think the game has a lot more oomph to it than the first New SMB. World 1 and 2 are pretty forgiving, things ramp up starting with World 3, and it gets even harder at World 6. I think by the time you master World 6 you’ll have all the skills you need. You could say this game is a challenge to gamers, to see if they have the perseverence it takes.”
[Full interview, click here.]
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The Japanese version of the Nintendo Channel now has a new download specifically for owners of the Nintendo DS lite/phat. Users can now download a viewer for Flipnote Studio. This does not allow users to create or submit, but they will be able to view Flipnotes on their non-DSi Nintendo handhelds.
[GBAtemp]
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Here is the article scan from Famitsu confirming Pheonix Wright coming to WiiWare.
- released monthly in Japan
PW:AA (Episode 1~4)
Dec. 15
900 Wii Points
PW:AA JFA
2010 Jan. 26
1,200 Wii Points
PW:AA T&T
2010 Feb. 23
1,200 Wii Points
PW:AA (Episode 5)
2010 Mar. 16
300 Wii Points
[Sources: here & here]
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Dunaway on third party sales: I think people are still learning first how to make sure that they really use the capabilities of our platform in innovative ways. And secondly, people are still learning how to market to these new expanded audience consumers. And this industry has been one that’s thrived on kind of “launch and move on.” And we see that many titles for the Wii and DS have extremely long tails, and you need to continue to just create awareness and purchase intent and purchase consideration. And you need to deploy new types of marketing than what the industry has typically been doing.
Dunaway on motion control from the competition: Well, first, we feel flattered that motion control–which some people dismissed when it was first introduced by Wii back in 2003–is now becoming the industry standard. And it’s easy to see why when you see the record-breaking sales that we have enjoyed over the past several years. And what we are most pleased with is that going into this holiday season, our motion control and true one-to-one connection between what people are doing with the remote and what’s happening on the screen isn’t something that people have to wait for or is being just being talked about in a PowerPoint presentation. But it’s something that’s in stores today and that people are already enjoying.
Dunaway on Apple competition: Well, a couple of things. First, if history is any guide, you have seen numerous handheld manufacturers through the years say that they were going to take market share away from Nintendo, and it’s really never played out. And the reason for that is we have a unique combination of great interface and great games.
And it’s not about just the quantity of games; it’s about offering people immersive experiences that you really only get through a New Super Mario Bros. or a Mario Kart on DS, or the new Zelda. No one can match the quality of games and the breath of genres that Nintendo DS can. And I think what’s also important to note is what I mentioned earlier that even in this year when there’s been so much talk about handheld competition, Nintendo DS is selling 16 percent more units than it sold in 2008, which was a record setting year. So we’re on pace to have our best year ever, and I think that speaks to how consumers are continuing to see their needs met by our platform.
Dunaway on the Wii lifecycle, and untapped potential: Well, first Nintendo doesn’t follow traditional lifecycle thinking. We always ask ourselves first is there continued potential for this platform. Are there more consumers who are interested who haven’t yet purchased? And so the answer to that is, absolutely yes. For Wii, even breaking all records in the industry, with life-to-date sales of 22 million, if you compare that to the life-to-date of the PS2, they sold 44 million. So that would suggest that there are many opportunities to continue to sell Wii.
Also, we do research where we track the number of potential gamers who currently aren’t playing any of the consoles. And we see about 50 million potential gamers out there. So again, that continues to represent opportunity. And the other thing that we always look for is can we continue to create new compelling experiences for the Wii? And certainly New Super Mario Bros., which is the first time four people have been able to play a Mario game, represents that. As you heard from Mr. Iwata at E3 last year, the Vitality Sensor, which is something we’ll launch next year, represents that. So as long as there are potential people, as long as there are compelling experiences, we will continue to be selling and marketing the Wii.
Dunaway on graphics: For us, it’s not about the graphics. It’s about the experience of the game play. And even those hard core gamers will tell you that beautiful graphics can’t make up for poor quality game play. And so we focus on the experience. And as a matter of fact, with New Super Mario Bros., we got back to 2D. And as we’re demoing the product and showing it both to loyalists and new fans, they love the 2D graphics on the Super Mario Bros. But more than that, they love the experience of the game play. So that’s where our games will always focus.
Dunaway on Wii HD: I can tell you unequivocably that there will be no HD Wii. It just really isn’t what the Wii experience is about.
Dunaway on Netflix: We don’t have an announcement to make on that. But with 86 percent of Wiis sitting in the living room, and seeing that people are using Wiis outside of games, that continues to be an opportunity for us.
[CNet]
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Speaking about first-party games:
“I’m not satisfied with the volumes that we do on a Fire Emblem, for example, or a Battalion Wars. These are high-quality games that I have challenged the team to think about: How do we up our marketing on these types of titles to do a more effective job? And I think you are going to see that more with a title like [2010 Wii shooter] Sin & Punishment 2, where it is much more targeted to the active gamer. It is a title that I believe we need to do a better job getting out in front of.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
Concerning Red Steel 2:
“Our hope was that Red Steel 2 would have launched in this holiday season. That’s a title that we had always looked at to be a key part of the strategy to drive the installed base of Wii MotionPlus. Having said that, even without the benefit of that launch, we’ve sold over four million at this point in time. That’s a very strong start.” – Reggie Fils-Aime
Answering the question if the Vitality Sensor will be at E3 2010:
“We will show off the Vitality Sensor with software [at the show]… I’m not going to give you any more hints beyond that.” - Reggie Fils-Aime
[Kotaku]
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