Not that long ago, we posted about Full Screen Mario, an HTML5 project that breathed new life into Super Mario Bros.. The project even included randomly generated levels on top of the originals. The problem is, the developer doesn't have permission from Nintendo.
"Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and in turn expects others to respect ours as well. Nintendo is seeking the removal of the content, as we vigorously protect against infringement of our intellectual property rights." - Nintendo spokesperson
If you were wondering whether Nintendo new of the project, now you know. Looks like this project won't be around much long.
Don't make the mistake of thinking AiRace Speed can be a solid alternative to F-Zero… because it isn't. This is no competitive multiplayer racing experience, and instead tries to appeal to those that like a trial and error-type challenge that creates its thrills out of boosting and dodging through tunnels that generally all look alike and trying to rank highly online.
Coming from an OPM interview with Lead Game Designer Jean-Sebastien Decant...
Actually, in terms of multiplayer and shared world, they are things we had to deal with, and even cut, on this game. ...The Animus next to yours would have been your friend on PSN. And after that we had to make decisions to show that we could ship the game and make it the best possible and so it was dropped. We also wanted to have Naval battles and we’re still dreaming of that but… yeah. I think Assassin’s Creed is totally relevant for this kind of experience.
A portion of a 4cr interview with Franz Tissera, CEO of Elemental-Labs...
4cr: With so many platforms to work on (and even more if the stretch goals are reached), how many people will be working on the Reborn project to make sure there are no delays?
FT: Since we are using the Unreal Engine 3 for the consoles already released (PS3, PSVita, Wii-U) and Unreal Engine 4 for PC and the consoles that will release soon (PS4, Xbox One), we are given the power to be able to export out to the various platforms without too much difficulty thereby alleviating the need for a great many programmers. That said however, we currently have six dedicated and capable programmers, including myself (if needed) to be able to jump on the porting process. We also have the ability to tap into USC’s School of Viterbi Engineering for additional programming interns should the need arise so that is why we are confident in stating that even though we are a first time studio, we will be able to deliver on our said promise.
If the idea of pop music was a game, it'd be Just Dance 2014. Ubisoft has made sure that the game is bright, shiny, and fun. Shake your way through today's hits and a couple of classics, but the experience will be so much better with friends and family.
That image above sealed the fate of 13-year-old special needs student Rhett Parham. He happens to be a big fan of Bomberman 64, watching videos of the game on YouTube quite often. This inspired him to draw a bomb and bring it into school to show friends. Rhett told his friends he had a bomb and then showed this drawing. That's all it took for the boy to be suspended.
I do understand that school safety has to be taken seriously, but we also need some common sense. This kid is clearly not out to hurt anyone and has no intentions of buying/making a real bomb to bring into school. I can't even imagine a situation like this causing any trouble when I was in school.
This bundle is due to hit Australia on November 23rd for the retail price of $269.95. As already discussed, it includes a download code for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
- pieces you use to build in-game Beyblades are based on those sold in stores
- customization includes speed, strength, and stamina
- use the AR card to create virtual Beyblade arenas
- move the system to aim your launch within the game's virtual arena
- then you have to jerk the 3DS back to actually activate your Beyblade
- button-controlled launches are also available
- StreetPass used for automatic battles
- view the results of the battles, which are based on Beyblades, arenas and strategies you chose
- Wing Pegasus 90WF Beyblade toy included in every Collector's Edition
- this is the first time this particular Beyblade is available in the United States
- there's also the regular "Solus" edition
CVG: What about in terms of deciding an art style for a HD game? Has the extra work required a change in your thinking?
EA: For the Zelda series we need to clearly define this before we proceed. When creating Wind Waker HD, as a remake of an existing title in HD, we needed to talk a lot about the artwork style that we wanted to achieve. But we also talked a lot about artwork when we started the development of Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess, so it's a similar sort of process.
This doesn't mean that the next Zelda will be in a toon shading style, it just means we need to clearly define the art style when we begin a project in HD.
CVG: You were recently quoted as stating that the development of Wind Waker HD took just six months. Were you surprised by how quickly the project came together?
EA: Yes, I mentioned that the development took six months, but the total period was actually a little bit longer. It was six months from when we started to really get into the details of the project, but in actual fact there were a lot of gameplay tests and planning we did before that six-month period. So the total time was actually longer than six months. People at the company were telling me off for saying that! [laughs]
When I first talked about the six-month development period I wanted to explain that our aim was to get this game out to users quite quickly. In order to achieve this short development time we created a lot of systematic processes and things that we can use for reference in the future, and these allowed us to get a quality game out quickly.
When I first asked the staff how long it would take to complete the game and they estimated six months, I was really surprised. Although we actually took a little bit longer than that, as I'd thought we might, we still managed to achieve the estimated release date we had in our heads, so everything was fine in the end.
CVG: In your recent New York Comic Con panel you expressed a desire to strip down the amount of hints and assistance in future Zelda games. Can you explain what's changed in your thinking?
EA: I've been creating games for quite a long time now and each time I make a new game I always think about what the users want and how we can try to create a game that will be appealing to them. Recently it's been made easier by users' comments on the internet and Miiverse.
Previously I thought that users wanted to be led, shown the way forward and not get lost or stuck. I thought that if they got lost of stuck then they wouldn't enjoy the game, but reading feedback on the internet and Miiverse I've realised now that users really enjoy getting stuck sometimes and that they want to have a sense of getting lost and discovering the correct path themselves. This is really what Zelda is about.
So because of this, we decided to add the choice to complete dungeons in any order that you want in A Link Between Worlds.
CVG: The Wii U is the first Nintendo home console to aggressively push online functionality. With the debut online-enabled Mario game releasing this year, is a connected Zelda game something that interests you?
EA: In The Wind Waker HD we have the Tingle Bottle Miiverse feature and what we really wanted to achieve with this was communication between users, but not a constricting communication. We wanted to create a feeling of going out on an adventure with other users, but at the same time be able to have your own adventure.
This was a test at first when we put this online feature into Wind Waker HD, but it worked out really well and we want to also use online features in such a way in our future Zelda titles. We want users to feel like they're experiencing the Zelda world with other users while also adventuring by themselves.
A portion of a Nintendo of Europe interview with SEGA's Global Sonic Brand Director, David Corless...
NoE: You mentioned at the start you help decide what sort of games you want to make – what sort of Sonic games do you want to make?
DC: Well I wouldn’t want to take credit for the games that we create. That’s for the Sonic Team, they’re the creative guys, they come up with all the new ideas, I just help support them within that process, so I’d want them to answer that question!
But there are many new directions we can go with Sonic – and not just in the gaming world. We’re growing and expanding Sonic and we have some brilliant ideas.
But going back to your question, I don’t know what sort of Sonic game I want to make? At the moment it would be Sonic Lost World, just because it’s so brilliant! Before that we also released Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations. Two more great games. So let’s see what direction we go in next…
NoE: What about a first-person shooter?
DC: What, Call of Sonic? The Deadly Edition? (laughs) No, of course there are different directions we can take Sonic. The Sonic Racing series has been a huge success and I think those two titles have really shown what we can do with Sonic outside of platforming. You have to be careful though, you have to make sure you’re complementing the core Sonic experience and you’re staying true to the character. So no Call of Sonic, no…!
In this month's issue of V Jump, Dragon Quest producer Yosuke Saito, Final Fantasy producer Shinji Hashimoto and Tales of series producer Hideo Baba were all discussing their various franchises when the topic of a collaboration came up.
Baba (Tales of): “If you can do it, then by all means!”
Saito (Dragon Quest): “Shall we? We can start right away.”
Baba: “How about [Akira] Toriyama’s first Tales of game?”
Hashimoto: “If Toriyama is okay with it, then we’re okay with it. As long as we stay true to the world view, I think [Yuji] Horii would be okay with it, too.”
Hashimoto (Final Fantasy): “How about Kosuke Fujishima (Tales of character designer) draws for a Final Fantasy, and Tetsuya Nomura do Dragon Quest?”
Most importantly, the game never takes the devotion of these young players for granted, and seeks to reward and challenge them at every turn. "Steady as she goes" may be the ethos behind any second sequel, but Vicarious Visions has provided a confident and reassuring hand on the tiller.
"We believe that management was also concerned about the strong competition for wallet share Watch Dogs faced at the holidays from Grand Theft Auto V, Battlefield 4, and a new Call of Duty, among others. Grand Theft Auto V is only adding to industry uncertainty, as while it is bringing many previously-disconnected gamers back to the market, it also has achieved record-breaking sales that have tapped a certain percentage of gamer holiday spending months ahead of time.
Given next-gen uncertainty and this very strong slate of competitors, we believe the two aforementioned delays were the right decision. By releasing Watch Dogs in Q1:15, Ubisoft has given its developers the opportunity to fully maximize the game's sales potential in FY:15 and build a lasting franchise that the company could use to offset any future weakness for its established key franchises (displayed most recently by the disappointing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist).
We are somewhat concerned about competition in Ubisoft's Q1, however, with games like EA's Titanfall, Activision's Destiny and Microsoft's Halo 5 all targeting the same launch window. We don't think it is important that Watch Dogs (or any of the other three games) launches in Q1, and we expect all of the game publishers to behave rationally when setting release dates to avoid competition wherever possible." - Michael Pachter Link
“Congratulations to the team at Rockstar for their success. We look forward to getting the record back before the next GTA title. We know that our unaided awareness for Ghosts is leading the way against other unreleased triple-A titles. Our digital content has proven extremely popular and Black Ops II has sold more than 3m units in the UK.” - UK senior brand manager Kevin Flynn
Notice how Flynn doesn't say that Ghosts will get the title back. He just says that Activision wants to get the title back before the next GTA. We'll see if they can pull it off!
The following comes from a Reddit AMA with creative director Eric Holmes.
"Arkham Origins has really intense combat action. We're really pushing the edge of T for Teen with what we're doing. I don't think we could have pushed it further than we have without risking a rating bump."
The brutality of Batman's moves may not end with splurts of blood, but they sure do get the point across. I wouldn't want to take a punch from the Bat!
The following comes from an MCV interview with GAME category director Charlotte Knight...
“We take compliance with all industry standards and regulations very seriously. It was extremely disappointing to see a number of competitors break street date over Thursday and Friday on Nintendo products across both online and store environments. We are seeing street date breaches occur on a frequent basis and this undermines the work which goes in to creating exceptional launches. We’ve worked very closely with Nintendo in the run-up to launch in order to make them as successful as possible. We have worked with them on every decision taken.”
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