Will this be a smart move for the Big N? As of now, they have side-stepped DVDs, but instead offered things like Netflix and [soon] Hulu Plus. With the digital distribution era upon us, is it smart for Nintendo to keep this mindset with their next home console? On top of that, will many GameCube fans be upset? Many years have passed since GameCube, and your Wii does still play those games. Granted, that is unless you have recently purchased your Wii, which now does not support GameCube games/controllers.

Check out the video interview below. 

Source: QJ.NET

“Nintendo of America, the company that has barely supported the Wii all year, has somehow had the temerity to claim that the Wii’s not going anywhere, not even after the Wii U launches. Reggie Fils-Aime says the system is still performing well, and even finding a new audience thanks to its low price.”

“The consumer buying Wii hardware today is going to be a different consumer than the one who will be buying Wii U in the future,” he said. “This is the first holiday that the Wii is available at $149.99 or below, so it’s an expanded demographic we’re reaching. These are consumers who have heard about Wii for the past couple years, but at $199 or $249 it was economically out of their reach. “We haven’t announced pricing for Wii U, but you can definitely expect that pricing is going to be different and that the games are going to be different. We do believe that Wii and Wii U will coexist for some time. As we drive the install base of Wii, we’re really setting people up to take their gaming library and be able to transfer it over to Wii U.

” Nintendo pretty much says this every time a new system is in the works, and while it’s true from a sales standpoint, rarely is it true from a support standpoint. The Wii’s been left to rot for most of the year, only getting a sliver of games right at the end, and I find it hard to believe Nintendo will be putting much else out with the Wii U on the way. Sure, it will continue to sell, but it’s been out of sight and out of mind for a while, and will continue to be once people are done with Skyward Sword.

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Talks Zelda, the Future of Handhelds and Wii’s Big Holiday Push [Time]

via – Destructoid

So, what is Go! Go! Kokopolo all about?

It’s basically a fast-paced, action title, set across 80 stages of pure arcade mayhem! Kokopolo, the hyperactive wildcat, has been rudely woken from his afternoon slumber, by the peaceful forest spirit called Jinbe. It is now up to Kokopolo to deliver a heap of over-the-top revenge on all the peaceful creatures in the forest by luring them into venus fly traps located around the stages.

You lure the creatures, by getting close and scratching at them with your set of sharp claws, shocking the enemies, and turning them angry. They then chase you in a fit of blinding rage until they either catch up with you, or you lure them into a Snap Snap Plant. You can get long chains of enemies if you pay close attention to the level layouts, but you have to look out for hazards along the way, which require quick reflexes to get through unharmed. It sounds quite ridiculous on paper, but it works really well in practice, with a nice balance of slower- and fast-paced gameplay over the same areas for additional depth!

Kokopolo’s character was slightly inspired by a psychotic white cat my parents adopted a few years back after it had strayed into our garden. It would try to scratch you then quickly dash away hoping you’d chase it, and looking back that was probably the initial inspiration for the main gameplay mechanic. I guess you can find inspiration anywhere!

Source: Wiiloveit

In an interview with Forbes, Fils-Aime acknowledged that Nintendo needed to do more to increase its online presence with its new console:

“What we’re doing is creating a much more flexible system that will allow the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear,” he promised.

“So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that. We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers.”

He also said the Wii U would have “an extremely robust online experience,” and that he wanted third party publishers to be the ones talking about it. “We think it’s much more compelling for that information to come from the publishers than to come from us.”

“Even though the Wii software is backward compatible to Wii U, the branding will be a little bit different, the messaging will be a little bit different. I think we’ve had enough experiences separating out consoles in a transitional period to make that happen.”

“This is not the first time that Nintendo and our competitors have had dramatically different views on the future of gaming.”

[GameIndustry.biz]

In the Latest Iwata Asks, we get some red meat thrown to us from Miyamoto:

Princess Zelda ‘pretty good’ in Skyward Sword

After starring as a playable character in Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, could Princess Zelda have another big role in Skyward Sword? Shigeru Miyamoto has teased fans by saying that she will be:

“pretty good.”

I never wanted Link to look cool

Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed his reason behind including young Link in The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. It’s because he didn’t want Link to be just another cool hero.

“Link is a boy. In the first game, The Legend of Zelda, he was about 12 years old. In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, he was about 16, but I never wanted to make him just another cool hero. Until The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link was a playful and childish character. I had worked on all the games since the first one, and I thought that if we made him too cool, he wouldn’t be Link any more.”

“On the other hand, I did want Link to be somewhat cool, so we decided to have both adult and young Link. He doesn’t just grow from the point of view of stats – as in an RPG – but actually grows up in appearance. When we did that, then all sorts of ideas bubbled up.”

“When we decided to handle Link growing up from a 9-year-old child to a more mature 16-year-old, I wanted lots of characters to fulfil various roles. For example, Kaepora Gaebora is a grandfather figure who gives Link all kinds of advice and looks out for him. And since Link is a boy, I wanted girls besides Princess Zelda to show up.”

Zelda stories ‘may not match up’

“The stories in The Legend of Zelda may not match up as the series progresses,” said Miyamoto. “We actually expend a lot of time trying to make them match up, though. It would make things a lot easier if the players said, ‘Oh, that doesn’t really matter.’ (laughs)

“Even though the setting was different each time, the characters you knew and loved would come out and perform. Well, the Mario games are set up like that. It would be much easier if we could use any setting in The Legend of Zelda while preserving the essential relationship between Link, Ganon and Zelda.”

Yet Miyamoto concedes that Nintendo worked hard on the story of Ocarina Of Time and perhaps that’s why it resonates with so many gamers.

“When it comes to a story of the Zelda games, we can’t do anything disappointing, so with the Ocarina of Time, we worked on the story with reference to the past games in the series,” he said.

[Iwata Asks]

Answering your questions will be ONM’s online Editor Tom East and Reviews Editor Chris Scullion.

We know that many of you will want to ask about the next Nintendo console but we can’t really comment on the rumor and speculation surrounding the new machine.

UPDATE: The chat is now over, but you can replay the history. Highlights include expected games for “Project Cafe,” favorite Nintendo games/cover-art, E3 2011 plans, Pokemon, expected 3DS games, and Chris’ thumb.

[ONM]

Similar to titles like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., BurgerTime was based on a one screen grid. The basic idea places you, as Peter Pepper, in a burger factory. You must create burgers while walking over the different parts (buns, meat, lettuce, cheese). All the while, you also must avoid the enemies, which include hot dogs, pickles, and eggs. After you complete a level, you begin again.

MonkeyPaw Games has taken the classic game of BurgerTime and created a modern remix that will soon hit the WiiWare service (along with XBLA and PSN). BurgerTime HD includes new enemies, boss battles, and multiplayer. All of this takes place in a new cylindrical playing field.

We recently had the privilege of interviewing John Greiner, the President of MonkeyPaw Games. He spoke with us about this upcoming title along with his history with BurgerTime, Hudson Games, and future plans for Nintendo systems. Below is a portion of our interview.

NintendoFuse: What made you want to work in the gaming industry instead of just playing them?

John Greiner: I went to school and graduated with a BA in general education. I chose to travel the world, but only made it to Asia. I met the president of HudsonSoft, and he hired me to work on the TurboGrafx. It had already been successfully launched in Japan, but the US side was a completely different cookie. That shoved me right in front of a lot of gaming companies. I just got lucky and ended up in the industry by chance.

NF: What were some of your prior game projects?

JG: Basically, I was touching every single title that was coming out for the TurboGrafx16. The very first day I worked, I remember doing a voice recording for a game called Gundam. One of the next games was Ys Book 1 & 2. Any game that came out of Hudson that was bound for the US or Europe, I basically had somewhat of a hand in. Everything that had to be done on a foreign perspective kind of fell into my lap.

NF: Why did you choose to remake BurgerTime?

JG: BurgerTime, for us, was an obvious choice. It was our number one mobile title at Hudson. I was really shocked. It did better than Bonk and Bomberman by a magnitude. So, one of the first things I did, when we started MonkeyPaw was to go after that license, because I knew the game was pulling in that many users as it was. We already had the relationship, which made it easier to secure the license. The game started development at the beginning of 2010, and we are coming to fruition now.

NF: What types of changes to BurgerTime have you made in the remake?

JG: The game is simple, yet very addictive. The problem is that it is a 30-year old game. We think that keeping a game the way it is and just redoing the graphics is not enough. Users would like to see the old classics and play the hook again, but they do not want to see that in 1980 graphics or presentation. They want to see it in something that is about today’s hardware. The actual playing field of the game had one screen, so we decided to put it on a rotating cylinder in order to create a 3D image for the game. It allows you to see through the cylinder to see what is going on behind the cylinder. In multiplayer, this helps to see what other players are doing. You can also see the baddies coming around the corner. You can kind of get more of a three-dimensional view and also grasp of the game by inserting this new concept. We wanted to leave the mechanic and AI alone; we just expanded the playing field. The best thing that I think we have done is make it multiplayer. That makes it so much more fun to play in a competitive atmosphere.

NF: Could you elaborate on the multiplayer?

JG: We are limited on the Wii side. There is only local multiplayer on the Wii, but the other versions (PSN/XBLA) will have online. That is just the constraint of the hardware.

NF: Are there any other differences between the WiiWare version and the others?

JG: Yeah, less levels, basically. We couldn’t fit as much on. A few less boss characaters, which is a new feature. We tried to keep as much as we could, but everybody knows that is not really possible. You can only put so much. Compared to other examples, I feel like we have a lot on there.

NF: Are there any new features you are particularly excited about?

JG: I think this rotational axis gives this game a new life. It is no longer just a puzzle game. It really has this much bigger platform aspect. We need to satisfy the core, but we have to be aware that there are a number of people who have never even heard of BurgerTime. So, for those users, we want to make the game much more accessible. We included things like a rocket that you need to climb certain levels. We have added more baddies and boss characters too. It is about complexity today; you have to keep the attention span going for a much longer time.

NF: Can you explain the DLC for BurgerTime HD?

JG: The DLC is not huge, because we did not design the game around it, which a lot of guys are doing these days. We are putting out the game, and of course we will have things like extra levels and some different characters, but it is not going to be a driver. It will be supplemental for people who want to delve deeper and play the game longer.

NF: Will DLC be available for all platforms, including WiiWare?

JG: There will be some for every platform, but they will be different. Levels and characters are things we can do accross all platforms.

We would like to thank Mr. Greiner for taking some time to speak with us about BurgerTime, his history in the gaming industry, and the future of MonkeyPaw Games. Be sure to check out the full interview in our downloadable podcast. BurgerTime HD will be released in Summer 2011, so please stay tuned to NintendoFuse for further development about BurgerTime HD.

Ray Almeda, of MonkeyPaw, also stated that “If any BurgerTime fans, MonkeyPaw Games fans, or hardcore gamers out there have suggestions on what retro titles they would like revisited, you can follow MonkeyPaw Games on Twitter (@MonkeyPawGames) or LIKE Facebook.com/monkeypawgames.”

(Below is the BurgerTime HD announcement trailer, with footage from the PSN version of the game.)

You’ve got first party games like Nintendogs and Pilotwings at launch. When can we expect to learn more about big hitters like Zelda, Super Mario and Mario Kart?

It’s great that we’ve been able to announce that all of those titles are in development. I know from personal experience of being on the sampling tours that the game everyone ran to was Zelda, to get their first experience of it in 3D, so we know it’s hotly anticipated, and hopefully we’ll be making an announcement fairly soon, so people will be able to find out when they’ll be able to go and get it.

There was a Nintendo advert running in print back in January that said Mario Kart will be out this year.

I think we’ve always been completely open that things like Zelda and Mario Kart are in production. We do hope obviously that those games come this year. That’s certainly what we’re kind of planning on at the moment, but you know, things can always change, and until we actually make a firm announcement about the release dates, obviously it is good to wait and see what that date might me.

The DS had Brain Training and the Wii had Wii Fit, both of which were new properties that helped the systems achieve mass-market success. Is new IP equally important to 3DS and do you think we’ll see a similar ‘killer app’ for the system emerge from Nintendo?

I actually think, and this is something that I’ve found, that the killer app is the software that is built into the console. With the AR games, the Mii maker, the quests and the ability to swap Miis, those are the killer apps and people should take the time to have a go on those. I’m sure they’ll be surprised at the level of depth and ingenuity that is already there.

Because of the success of Wii and DS, a lot of third parties wanted to develop for those systems, but this resulted in Wii in particular being criticized for playing home to a lot of shovelware. Is there a danger of having too many ports of older games or 3D re-releases on 3DS, and how do you plan to ensure quality is retained across the software library?

It’s obviously up to each individual publisher to decide which games they want to launch and how they do that. We’re not allowed to tell people what and what not to do. We try to encourage that things like StreetPass are added and it’s quite nice to have something that is familiar with a new functionality or twist to it. It’s often those that surprise you about something you really enjoyed in the past and give you a completely new experience.

Nintendo’s previously acknowledged that it has some concerns about third party success on its platforms. Why do you think 3DS, which is a more expensive platform to develop for than DS and increasingly popular platforms like iPhone, is a good fit for third party developers?

I think we just try to make sure we’re as open with everybody as we can be. We help people, we encourage them to develop and explore new ideas and create games themselves. There’s nothing specific that we’ve done, it’s just about having those conversations. I think the developers themselves have seen something unique in it and often when they see something unique that gives them the inspiration to go on and create the games themselves.

[Read Entire Interview at CVG]

Michael French, Angry Birds Developer, had some words about Nintendo:

“It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry,” Vesterbacka mulls. “Of course, if I was trying to sell a $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too. But I think it’s a good sign that people are concerned – because from my point of view we’re doing something right.”

With millions playing the game, you can see his point. Angry Birds puts beaks out of joint because many don’t see a games brand that started as a 59p app a worthy entry into the history books.

Nevertheless, Rovio is pushing onto more established, high-priced platforms, but only to grow the brand.

“Games consoles for us are just like launching on a new smartphone platform,” says Vesterbacka. “We don’t see…” He stops, more weary of writing off consoles than recent headlines would have you think.

“Look, the console market is important, but it’s also… It’s not dying, but not the fastest growing platform out there. So we don’t see it the way others do. A lot of people in the games industry, they think the ‘real’ games are on consoles. You’re only a ‘real’ games company if you do a big budget game. But we don’t have that inferiority complex.”

[MCVUK]

In a recent interview with Joystiq, Reggie Fils-Aime had several things to say about the Nintendo 3DS. He comments on the current status of the 3DS as well as the future of the system.

“At its heart, what Nintendo’s trying to do is to bring more and more consumers into gaming. And to do it in a way that’s fundamentally different than anyone else. With the Nintendo 3DS — yes, it’s a handheld, but 3D in the palm of your hand without glasses. A full range not only of games but of other elements — photography, video. It’s not what people expected. Which is, at its heart, what the Blue Ocean strategy and Innovator’s Dilemma (which was the other book we used to demonstrate our strategy) are all about.”

He goes on to comment on Sony’s “NGP.”

“First off, it’s a product that isn’t out yet. It’s a product that hasn’t had an announced price point, it hasn’t had an announced availability. So, how that product impacts us is to be told in the future. What enables the technology actually isn’t all that important. What is important is 3D without glasses, what is important are the communication features, what is important is the ability to take photos, the ability to play back video — those are the things that are important and what we believe the consumer wants in a new handheld device.”

When asked about competition from the growing iOS and Android games, he had this to say:

“I would argue versus other handheld devices — i.e. smartphones, as an example — what differentiates us first is content. Our stable of first-party franchises that you’ll never see on a smartphone certainly differentiates us. In addition to that, we’ve acknowledged that digital content is an area that we have to do a better job with.”

Reggie also spoke about the 3DS Virtual Console, eShop and digital content in general.

“That will be wide-ranging — everything from our own version of the Virtual Console, with GameBoy and GameBoy Color content, to all of the DSiWare content, to brand new digital content that’ll be in 2D as well as 3D. (We hope to bring in) independent developers who understand this business. We’ve been clear that we want to work with independent developers who understand this business, who have experience in this business. These are people who spent time working with larger publishers and larger developers, but had that idea in the back of their head that they needed to bring to life … and so that’s the type of entity that we want to work with. These are talented developers. That’s different from the person who envisions themselves as a developer, but actually hasn’t necessarily created anything, who doesn’t necessarily understand what it takes in this business to create compelling content. That’s where we draw the line. I’ll tell you, if someone calls us tomorrow who has no experience in the gaming industry, but has a passion and has a great idea, our perspective would be, ‘Great, but get some experience. Understand your craft, and then come back to us.’”

What is Reggie playing right now?

“That’s what I’m playing [now], but believe me, I’ll be playing all of the 18 launch titles. I try to have as much experience with our games and third-party games as possible, but right now, I’m playing Steel Diver.”

[Full interview on Joystiq]

Official Nintendo Magazine readers ask High Voltage’s Eric Nofsinger questions about Conduit 2.

ONM: Will we need to have bought the first one to understand the second game?

Eric Nofsinger: No, I don’t think you need to play the first game at all to enjoy Conduit 2. We very much wanted it to be its own self-contained thing.

There are a lot of nods to the players who may have played The Conduit. More history, more little titbits that people can discover that trail on from The Conduit but it’s not necessary to have played the original.

We really wanted this to be a stand alone thing. If people have not heard of the first game but just wanted a quality shooter for the Wii they can pick this game up and get right in.

ONM: What have you tried to incorporate into the game that we haven’t seen in a Wii first-person shooter so far?

Eric Nofsinger: Well there’s lots that sets us apart from other games.

There are other Wii games that are very exciting that came out in the last year – GoldenEye, Black Ops. They’re really good games but I think we’re doing something different.

We have some really fantastic, over-the-top science fiction weapons. We’ve really embraced the sci-fi aspect of the game.

We have weapons that let you face and shoot through a wall at opponents; We have weapons that allow you to collect your enemy’s projectiles and shoot them back at them; we have weapons that act like an alien hive that you when you shoot it, it will stick to your enemy and then shoot out insects at them – it can also shoot around corners.

So a lot more fantastical things as opposed to bigger and bigger guns all the time. Which is different not just for the Wii but for shooters in general.

The trend tends to be towards realism and bigger weapons. You know, this one has a larger clip and this shotgun is bigger than this shotgun which is kind of boring. So that’s something that we wanted to take a stance on and do something a little bit different.

ONM: Does it also have a better story than your rival games?

Eric Nofsinger: I think GoldenEye did a nice job with the storytelling and getting all the big-name voice actors. I think they did a really nice job of presenting that for fans of of the James Bond series. Fans of the original GoldenEye and fans of the film will really appreciate that. They did a good job.

For fans of sci-fi, for fans of action orientated sci-fi storytelling – we do a really good job. If you prefer that kind of thing, you’re going to prefer Conduit by far.

[ONM]

Reggie Fils-Aime has told press that the sparse first-party release schedule for the Wii this year is largely the result of Nintendo focusing on getting 3DS out to market.

Nintendo’s only currently scheduled big title for Wii is Zelda: Skyward Sword – with Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Mario Sports Mix its only recent releases. However, that will change, said Fils-Aime, claiming the company has not abandoned its console.

“We have had to effectively prepare for the launch of 3DS as well as effectively prepare for the launch of Pokémon Black and White.”

“Candidly, we’ve pushed out some Wii launches so we can focus on our handheld business. We’re already juggling two big balls. To add a third would be a little bit challenging. Or a fourth or a fifth.

“We’re waiting to space things out and let Pokémon Black and White and 3DS live and breathe out there. But there’s content coming and we’ll be sharing more in the weeks ahead. We’ll be bringing some content out before E3 and then certainly at E3 we’ll be sharing some news.”

[GameIndustry.biz]