We first met Nintendo of America’s VP of Corporate Affairs Denise Kaigler at a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament in Worcester, Massachusetts, shortly after she accepted the job with the company. At the time, she had just left Reebok and was a little defensive (probably because she didn’t really know all the details yet) of her role at the house of Mario. Our initial impression of Kaigler was that she was a little different, there was something we couldn’t quite pin down at the time.
Here we are now, a year later, and she certainly is comfortable in her role. Sitting in a big comfy armchair — barefoot, mind you — in a local hotel during GDC, we spoke with the executive about Nintendo’s relationship with the core audience, its plans with the two DS models and its relationship with third-party publishers. Reading our transcription of this interview, it can be interpreted that there was some hostility in our conversation; however, it’s worth noting, that in context, it was a mixture of sass and smiles. She certainly is a different type of executive than the other public figures we’ve gotten used to in this industry.
So, is the SD storage solution a sign that Nintendo is paying attention to the core gamers. Was that development part of feedback? How did that happen?
Kaigler: We have never stopped listening and caring about the core gamer. Ever. As you know, a year ago when I got to the job and reading your site, reading some of the other sites, and reading most of all the message boards — what folks are saying about it. And they are saying, you know, Nintendo doesn’t care. It’s never been about that, right. So what I think - I am going to answer your question in a second - but how I like to explain it: So, there is the core, who have been so faithful to Nintendo for so many years and we absolutely appreciate it and recognize that. … You guys are still right there dead center, we’ve just brought in more gamers. We’ve shared the fun that you guys (the core) have had to yourselves and enjoyed for so long. We are sharing it with many, many more people. So our focus has never gone off the core, we have expanded our focus to include others. So I want to first say that.
Following Drawn to Life and Lock’s Quest, both ambitious DS games with an emphasis on the player’s ability to create the in-game world, developer 5TH Cell announced its next, even more ambitious — downright crazy, honestly — DS game concept: Scribblenauts. Combining a text adventure and a graphical puzzle game, Scribblenauts allows players to create any object to help them solve environmental puzzles and acquire out-of-reach or hidden “Starite” items — simply by writing the name of the object.
We spoke to 5TH Cell’s Creative Director, Jeremiah Slaczka, about the impossible-sounding game, doing our best not to just list hundreds of objects and ask whether they are all in the game (of course, we did a little of that). In addition to discussion about the game’s structure and narrative (or lack thereof), Slaczka sent us threeexclusivescreens!
Well, I was kinda thinking of what to write today when I suddenly remembered that I was once interviewed by JasonBoom.com and the interview was about blogging and Second Life. If my memory is correct, I received the interview questions last February 12, 2008 and I received it in my Entrecard’s message box. I wasn’t able to respond to it immediately since I don’t always check my message box in Entrecard, well, because most of the time the messages I receive are just spam. When I finally checked it, I saw that he had sent two messages already. (more…)
Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, has made some very interesting statements in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, regarding the future of the Wii and the Nintendo DS.
As far as the Wii is concerned, Iwata dated theWii Virtual Console Gift-Giving Channel, that allows gamers to purchase virtual console games as gifts for another player, and those games will be downloaded directly to that person’s Wii for their playing pleasure. This Wii Channel will be released worldwide this December.
In addition Iwata said they are working on another all-new Wii “Interactive Television Guide” channel for Japan that will is currently set for release in Spring of 2008.
As far as the Nintendo DS is concerned, Nintendo has already attracted scores of non-gamers with the DS Brain and Vision training titles and most of their Touch Generation series, including games like various Soduku titles and Clubhouse Games. And Iwata stated that they will be pushing the DS non-gaming system functions even further in the future. He said the company plans to roll out these “practical” functions that “will be useful in places like train stations, amusement parks or museums. This is the first device that is portable and wireless and anybody can use,” said Iwata of the DS. “With so many devices out there, it would be wasteful to not turn it into a tool.” Iwata did not go into details about what exactly they have in store for the DS.
Examples of non-gaming functions already in use include during baseball games in the US where Nintendo has already used the DS to transmit stats, trivia games, and video replays to fans who have their DS on in the audience (for a fee) at Seattle Mariner gamers (Washington State being where Nintendo HQ is located). And in Japan, museums have allowed visitors to download a virtual tour guide to their DS’. And it’s likely these type of features, such as a GPS system I’d be willing to bet, that Nintendo is talking about.
I for one am all for this. Since the N64 days Nintendo has seemingly been against adding extra functionality to their systems. While other platforms got CD and DVD playback and such, Nintendo users were left without that extra functionality. Which was fine, we were there for the games! But if Nintendo does have the option to include extra functions, then I think they should definitely offer them. It can’t hurt, and anything that can better help the DS in it’s war with the PSP (even though it doesn’t quite need the extra ammo considering the absolute pounding the PSP is getting in sales) is a good thing. And this type of functionality and non-gamer attractiveness is good for the industry, the more people we can pull in with stuff like Wii Fit, the better. — Via GS
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has a release date of November 5th in North America and is the 10th game in the Fire Emblem series (no date for anywhere else yet, cross your fingers). The game is developed by Intelligent Systems, the same developer that made the last game, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for GameCube (they also made Super Paper Mario for Wii and many other Nintendo games throughout the years).
The game is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance and features the same cel-shaded FMV cut-scenes and an upgraded game engine.
Check out this amazing video interview to see the game in action. Looks impressive!
Storyline:
Three years have passed since the Daein-Crimea war, where the mercenary Ike led the Crimean army to defeat Daein’s mad King Ashnard. Both Daein and Crimea are still stabilizing after that war. Daein is ruled by the Begnion occupation forces, after Crimea relinquished rule over their defeated country, and they are oppressed by the imperial soldiers. In the first of the game’s four parts, a group of chivalrous thieves, which includes “the silver-haired maiden,” Micaiah, fight Begnion’s oppression and attempt to liberate Daein and bring back power to the royal family.
The efforts of the Dawn Brigade are the beginning of a much larger conflict. In the next part, Crimea’s Queen Elincia fights against conspiring nobles, who plot to overthrow her. The following part sees the Greil mercenaries assist the united Laguz army as they go to war with the Begnion Empire. The consequences of this war can be seen in the fourth and final part, where the Dawn Brigade and the Greil mercenaries join forces to defeat the Begnion senate and the goddess high above at the Guiding Tower.
You may have heard recently that Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and creator of Pong (a game idea he took from the real founder, Ralph Baer who made the first home video game console in 1968) called modern video games “unadulterated trash” . . . quite a statement from a guy who’s been out of the business for some time.
On that note, Gametap interviewed him and got some more quotes out of the guy.
Nolan explained that his scorn on modern games was reserved for a “narrow segment” of gaming, which includes titles like “Halo 3″ and “Grand Theft Auto” (natch), calling them out for their “deification of antisocial behavior,” even going so far as to say that Halo 3 is nothing more than a “Doom-clone” (remember that term), stating that Halo 3 is “Doom 1 in different clothing. The clothing is nicer, but the game is the same.”
So what games are innovative and not just “Doom-clones” in his eyes? He pointed to stuff like Guitar Hero, DDR (which are actually quite similar given they are both music rhythm games) and of course, Nintendo’s ultra-popular back-it-and-people-will-love-you-more Wii console, saying, “Even though the bowling is the same, doing it on the videogame, using the Wii controller, that’s an innovation.” (lots of commas, I know . . . Oops)
Finally, he goes on to give us this bit of wisdom: “There’s a lot of people who think that bigger, faster, better is an innovation. It’s not. It’s just bigger, faster, better.”
Erm, yeah . . . Do I laugh or cry? *laughs* — Via Joystiq
Spore has been officially confirmed for Wii (We actually reported on Spore Wii a year ago) as stated by Spore and The Sims/SimCity creator Will Wright. He did not elaborate, so we don’t know if the game is coming at the same time as the PC version (in the second quarter of 2008) or sometime afterward.
What’s interesting is the fact that Spore has only been confirmed for Wii, DS and Mobile Phones in addition to PC . . . Xbox 360 and PS3 are not getting Spore yet officially (and forget about PSP).
And to that end, in a very interesting interview Will Wright gushed about how the Wii is, in his mind, the only “true” next-gen console. Here is a taste of what he stated in the interview:
The Guardian (G): What games do you play? And do you play for fun or research?
Will Wright (WW): I try to play innovative games that are coming out – I really love Guitar Hero, I play my Nintendo DS a lot, check out things on the Wii. With the exception of Advance Wars on my DS, there’s no one game that I spend a huge amount of time playing. I love Advance Wars – I used to play all these strategy games as a kid… Panzer Blitz, and all thesold Avalon Hill games.
G: So what set-up do you have at home?
WW: We’ve got an Xbox 360 collecting dust in the background, a Wii hooked up that we use quite a bit. I don’t have a PS3. I still, for the most part, prefer playing games on the computer – to me the mouse is the best input device ever. (more…)
In an interview with Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator of the Gran Turismo series and President of the company, he talked extensively about both Gran Turismo 5: Prologue for PS3 and the future Gran Turismo for PSP. He hopes that the PSP version of the franchise will be out after Gran Turismo 5 on PS3 . . . but who knows how long it will take them to finish that.
But even so, they have several ambitious ideas for when a PSP Gran Turismo is out, particularly in interfacing it with GT5 on the PS3.
For example, he would love to offer the player the ability to save replays from Gran Turismo 5 on PS3 and transfer them to the PSP, where users could view them, take the replays with them wherever they go, and show them off to people or perhaps trade them with other fans. He says, “One example would be for people to utilize replays of their race experience. Take that outside the home, whereas at home you would need the PS3, but they can take that away and share.”
And of course, an obvious use of having a Gran Turismo on both PS3 and PSP would be versus play between the two consoles! “We’re just talking ideals here – but it would be nice if we were able to allow people to compete whether they’re on the road or in their living room on the PS3, compete in the same race. Even though the visual qualities will be different depending on which hardware they’re on it would be nice if we could allow for that. Technically, we think we should be able to.”
And last (but not least), how about managing a car, and letting it race on it’s own, using the PSP? “Basically you’re the race manager. You don’t even need to steer the controller, you just set the car and let it go; you’re managing it. Another example would be the PSP would be your management tool: give it input and give it instructions and the car would continue on with the race.” — Quotes from Joystiq
Console versions of the RTS hit Supreme Commander (from the same guy that brought you Dungeon Siege and the classic PC RTS Total Annihilation) are in the works according to an interview with Chris Taylor (the aforementioned “guy”) from Pro-G.
Chris Taylor heads up Gas Powered Games, the developers of Supreme Commander, and during the interview he stated that the Xbox 360 would be the most likely console destination for the game because “it’s the platform of choice for moving stuff from the PC”.
When talking about how the controls would work for the console ports he said, “I use the football analogy. The first RTS game was the kick and then we had to take the ball a few more yards down the field every iteration. We’re getting closer and closer to that touchdown. We may be a few more iterations of the UI and interface before we get there.”
And finally, when they asked whether Gas Powered Games would indeed be that company to score the touchdown, he went ahead and revealed that a console version of the game is in fact already in development!
His exact words? “I hope so. That’s our goal. Especially not to talk too much here because you’ve almost made me confess that we’re working on it . . . no actually you have. That’s good. I like that. This is a secret I want to share.”
Castlevania Wii? In an interview with Koji Igarashi, the guy who has been at the helm of Castlevania since it’s inception (a franchise that is as strong today as it ever was), he revealed some interesting nuggets of info about the future of the Castlevania series and where he wants to take it on next-gen consoles and on the DS. As a fan of both 2D and 3D games, it’s interesting to read the comments from one of the few remaining masters of the 2D game-style today. He even discusses Castlevania Wii as well as the upcoming DS title in the series which is still unnamed.
The interview:
Destuctoid (D): Symphony of the Night was successful in reinventing the franchise, and helped propel the Castlevania series forward over the last ten years. Now that a decade has passed since the game was released, do you feel any pressure to once again make drastic changes to the series?
Koji Igarashi (KI): Yes, exactly. It’s been ten years since Symphony of the Night, and it did take the franchise to the next level. And I definitely want to do something . . . I’m working on something to take it another step so that we can make it even bigger.
D: Where can we expect Castlevania to head over the coming decade?
KI: Castlevania’s become a very popular type of action game in the 2D genre, and I think the next step is I have to do something in 3D where the fans will say “This is a great action game in the 3D sense, too.” So I feel that I’ve accomplished that in 2D, but I want to accomplish that in 3D also. It doesn’t mean I’m actually doing something about it right now, but it’s something I’m thinking a lot about, and it’s something I really want to plan out and do something great. I want to do something huge, so I’m thinking about that right now.
D: The design of the original Metroid games for the Famicom and Super Famicom was clearly a large influence on the evolution of the Castlevania series. As a game player, how do you personally feel about the direction that Metroid has taken with the Metroid Prime trilogy? Would you have been happier if they stuck to the 2D realm like you’ve mostly done with Castlevania?
KI: I think with Metroid the new direction it has taken is great. I think it’s fabulous. With Castlevania, I want to do something like that. Not exactly what they did, but something that takes it to the next level. So, I haven’t found the right way to do it yet, but it’s something I’m looking for right now.
D: You recently announced that there’s a new Castlevania under way for the DS. Will this game follow the anime style of Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, or will it be removed from that universe?
KI: I can’t really go into it too deeply, but I’m going to get away a little bit from the anime style. We’ll be doing a press release sometime soon with more information. (more…)
GDC09: Joystiq interviews Nintendo’s Denise Kaigler about Nintendo and ‘the core,’ DS coexistence originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, has made some very interesting statements in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, regarding the future of the Wii and the Nintendo DS. 
You may have heard recently that 
*laughs* — Via 
Spore has been officially confirmed for Wii (We actually reported on 
— Via 