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Animated 'Super Mario Bros.' movie tentatively planned for 2022
That Super Mario Bros. animated movie in development finally has a release window. In a chat with Variety, Illumination founder Chris Meledandri confirmed that the animated flick was in "priority development" with hopes of putting it in theaters by 2022. And yes, as Nintendo announced in January, Shigeru Miyamoto is involved -- the iconic game designer is "front and center" in the process, Meledandri said. The involvement of the series creator will theoretically add depth to the (frankly rather threadbare) plot without souring the spirit and producing a fiasco like the 1993 live-action flick.
Shigeru Miyamoto will co-produce a 'Mario' animated movie
Nintendo's third big announcement of the evening (after Switch Online and Mario Kart Tour) comes right back to its main star, Mario, and the news that he will star in an animated movie. Confirming earlier rumors, Shigeru Miyamoto is listed as co-producer along with Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Minions, Ice Age) head Chris Meledandri, but the announcement didn't mention other details like a title or release date. The press release notes that Universal Pictures is co-financing the project and will handle worldwide distribution, and it seems ripe for a tie-in with theme park plans both companies are working on. The big question now is if it will live up/down (depending on how you feel about it) to the reputation of 1993's Super Mario Bros. movie.
Nintendo's engineers have embraced Unreal Engine
If there's one thing that Nintendo has struggled with, it's enticing third-party developers to create games for its consoles. But according to VentureBeat, the company is looking to change that with the advent of the new Switch. At an investor Q&A session, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that Nintendo engineers have been learning how to use third-party development tools like the Unreal Engine.
Quirky Wii U game 'Project Giant Robot' has been cancelled
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last Nintendo-made game for the Wii U after all. If you were holding onto hope that the quirky Project Giant Robot would still grace the system, it was in vain. As Polygon reports, the build-your-own battle-bot demo has been scrapped and won't see the light of day. A representative said that the decision was made "after considering our overall product and development strategy."
Nintendo Switch makes its live TV debut on 'The Tonight Show'
After you check out our discussion with Nintendo's president Reggie Fils-Aime, you can get a good look at the new Switch console in operation () on the Tonight Show stage. Reggie and host Jimmy Fallon played the yet-to-be-released console, taking a trip through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild showing off its ability to go portable with the press of a button. Additionally, after previewing a bit of Super Mario Run action, Reggie announced that starting today, you can visit Apple Stores worldwide and try out a demo version before the game launches December 15th. There's not a lot of new information if you've been paying attention, but it does give a good idea of what using a Switch will be like when it ships in March. As an extra bonus, check out the second video to see Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto playing the game's theme song along with The Roots.
Miyamoto came up with 'Donkey Kong' ideas in the bathtub
In an interview posted on Nintendo's Japanese website, Shigeru Miyamoto reminisced about the time he spent developing the classic arcade title Donkey Kong. According to Wired writer Chris Kohler, who translated the whole thing, Miyamoto dropped some previously unknown tidbits about the game in the interview. And yes, that includes the part about conjuring up ideas and getting them in order while in the company-owned housing's communal bath.
Relive Apple's iPhone 7 event right here
If you were busy at work yesterday and couldn't watch Apple's iPhone 7 stream unfold live, you can fix that. As is tradition, the Cupertino company has uploaded the whole shebang to YouTube so you can relive seeing Shigeru Miyamoto introduce Super Mario Run, VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller saying that removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 took "courage" and Sia's end-of-show performance depressing the hell out of (almost) everyone. Don't have two hours? Well, you could always watch our 15 minute version.
Nintendo t-shirt design contest will be judged by Shigeru Miyamoto
In case you didn't own enough gaming tees, Uniqlo has opening its annual tee design competition, this time centered around Nintendo. The UTGP'17 comes with a healthy $10,000 prize pot and the contest is open to global entries. (Yes, even from you.) Notably, the collaboration has ensured Nintendo's legendary Shigeru Miyamoto will be act as a "special judge" for the competition. The winning (and runner-up) designs typically go on to be sold in Uniqlo stores, which adds an incentive worth even more than that prize pot. (Or not. Real talk; it is 10,000 bucks.)
'Star Fox Zero' barrel rolls into next year
Longtime Nintendo fans are used to delays, but that won't make the news of Star Fox Zero not releasing this year any easier to swallow. Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto took to Facebook to announce the delay (embedded below), saying that the Wii U game's technically ready to hit the initially promised November release, but the company is putting it back in the oven to sand off rough edges on level design and to perfect the tone of its cutscenes. Oh, and Nintendo is also putting more time toward working on the "unprecedented discovery" innate to Zero's unique two-screen control scheme. Miyamoto says that the game isn't far off though and that his team is shooting for a release in the first quarter of next year.
'Pikmin 4' is not only real, but nearly finished
You may have had to wait the better part of a decade to get a third Pikmin game, but its follow-up won't take nearly so long. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed to Eurogamer that his company is not only working on Pikmin 4, but that it's "very close to completion." Surprise! Mind you, that's about all that Miyamoto is willing to divulge at this point. He's not talking about release dates, game mechanics (hint: it probably involves marshaling Pikmin) or even the choice of platform. Will this be one of the first games for the upcoming NX system, a swan song for the Wii U, or something else? Whatever the answer, you'll have to sit tight and hope that Nintendo does justice to its cult favorite game franchise. [Image credit: Daniel Boczarski/WireImage]
Nintendo is once again open to movies based on its games
Nintendo has lately been willing to license its characters for movies (see Donkey Kong's appearance in Pixels), but it's been a long time since there was a flick based on its characters -- maybe it's still having traumatic flashbacks to Super Mario Bros. from 1993. Whatever the reasons, it might just have a change of heart. Shigeru Miyamoto tells Fortune that the firm is thinking "more and more" about including movies as part of its strategy. He used to see movies as passive content that was at odds with gaming, but a shift to treating Nintendo as an "entertainment company" has once again raised the prospects of movie adaptations.
This is why 'Mario' levels are brilliant
For the past 30 years, if you wanted a masterclass in video-game level-and-objective design you needn't look any further than a Mario title from Nintendo. That didn't change any with 2013's stellar Super Mario 3D World or last year's spin-off Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, either. As Pocket Gamer's Mark Brown dissects in the video below, the ingenuity lies in how the former communicates wrinkles and tasks to the player -- not with a series of terrible tutorials, but gameplay. This is something the game's director Koichi Hayashida draws from four-panel Japanese manga. The structure's called kishoutenketsu, and it comes directly from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto's time spent drawing comics; it's always been influential in how the company has approached game design.
Nintendo wants a future where consoles and handhelds run the same games
Nintendo's financial struggles are well noted, but a new interview with the gaming giant's Shigeru Miyamoto reveals that its experiencing some creative hardships too. For example, the differences in architecture between the Wii U and the 3DS handheld have made developing games that are playable on both systems (a la what Sony has been doing with certain PlayStation 3/4 and Vita titles for the past few years) a pain for the company, according to Kotaku. Miyamoto says that moving forward, Nintendo is looking at what it can do to bring the two development environments together -- something that could open the door to buying a game once and playing it on either a home console or a handheld. If you have a more unified development environment and you're able to make one game that runs on both systems instead of having to make a game for each system, that's an area of opportunity for us.
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto feels a 'bit of uneasiness' about virtual reality
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto may have been an initial supporter of the Virtual Boy back in the '90s, but modern virtual reality? Not so much. The Mario Bros. creator finally tried an Oculus Rift headset at E3, and he tells Time that the experience gave him a "little bit of uneasiness" as to whether or not VR is the best solution for video gaming. While Nintendo is intrigued by the tech, Miyamoto sees it as the opposite of the social experience at the heart of the Wii U. He doesn't like the idea of a gamer strapping on eyewear and playing "over in a corner" by themselves. VR would be better suited to arcade-like public play, he says.
Nintendo taps Steel Diver franchise for its first free-to-play game
Nintendo was coy when it announced that its first free-to-play game will launch before the end of next March, divulging only that it wouldn't belong to the Mario or Pokemon franchises. However, the firm's Shigeru Miyamoto revealed to IGN that its first gratis title would be a Steel Diver game -- yes, as in the 3DS launch title -- featuring four-person multiplayer. Don't expect a rehash though, as the pricing model will change the game's design. Kyoto's gaming powerhouse hasn't settled on what business model they'll lean on quite yet, but CEO Satoru Iwata mentioned during an E3 analyst Q&A that its unpaid games would be "balanced and reasonable." The Big N noted that "free-to-play games, if unbalanced, could result in some consumers paying extremely large amounts of money, and we can certainly not expect to build a good relationship with our consumers in this fashion." There's still no word regarding which consoles this free installment of Steel Diver will grace, but Miyamoto teases that it's something they're hoping to show "relatively soon."
Legend of Zelda prototype cartridge goes to auction: $150,000 proves your loyalty to Hyrule (video)
And you thought that Nintendo World Championships gold cartridge would make a nice start to the retirement fund. An eBay auction from tjcurtin1 is offering a prototype NES cartridge for the US release of The Legend of Zelda at a Buy It Now price of $150,000, or roughly ten times more than the typical final bid that Price Charting quotes for a typical NWC cart. While it looks like an unassuming yellow chunk of plastic, it's actually a Nintendo of America copy from February 23, 1987 -- half a year before the definitive action adventure reached the US market. The game still plays and can even save its game on the still functional, industry-first battery backup. Just remember that it's not necessarily going to reveal any design secrets from Shigeru Miyamoto or Takashi Tezuka: the seller warns that he can't see any practical differences between the early copy and the (also included) shipping version. Anyone well-heeled enough to buy the prototype is therefore going solely for the collector's value. But for those determined to be the coolest kid on any block about 25 years late, there's only one way to go.
Nintendo's Miyamoto: we're focused on a 3DS sequel, not a refresh
Every gamer knows the Nintendo handheld routine: there's always one major new model followed by endless revisions as the console legend improves whatever was flaky in the original. Right? If so, Mario maker Shigeru Miyamoto may be breaking that streak. He tells IGN that he's "satisfied" with the 3DS' hardware and that current thought at Nintendo is swinging towards a true replacement. That puts at least a momentary damper on Nikkei's claims of an extra-large 3DS coming soon, but it's good news for gamers used to waiting several years between major platform generations. With Nintendo taking a bruising from smartphones and tablets, new hardware likely can't come quickly enough.
Nintendo patent application tech tracks your DS from above, serves as tour guide
Nintendo is already guiding you through the Louvre with a 3DS, but a newly published US patent application takes that kind of tourism to a very literal new level. Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto's concept describes a way to direct lost tourists by beaming position information through an overhead grid of infrared transmitters to a mobile device (portrayed as a DS Lite) held by the confused visitor below. The handheld then talks wirelessly to a server that lights up floor displays with maps and directions, and a helpful app on the device lets visitors pick their route while they read up on sightseeing tips. Like with any patent, there's no certainty that Nintendo will act on the idea and start wiring up museums with IR blasters, but the January 2012 patent may still be fresh in a frequently inventive mind like Miyamoto's.
Nintendo puts 3DS in the Louvre, France remains generally indifferent
Sharing a birthplace with Arséne Wenger, Jean-Paul Satre and Jules Verne, the Louvre is France's most prized national treasure. In partnership with Nintendo, the museum finally replaced those cumbersome handheld guides with 3DS units a fortnight after the anticipated March launch. The consoles will provide a variety of tours, offering detailed lectures around the entire museum, or the Cliff's Notes edition for the lazy connoisseur. Shigeru Miyamoto popped up to demonstrate that you can examine HD snaps and 3D images of the sculptures on show, just in case looking up and seeing it in the flesh stone would be too traumatic.
Shigeru Miyamoto admits he's a fan of Angry Birds, just like the rest of us
Mario and Zelda (amongst others) creator Shigeru Miyamoto was in Paris to promote the launch of the Nintendo 3DS as a guide in the Louvre. While company executives have previously dismissed and decried smartphone gaming, Miyamoto was asked about his favorite non-Nintendo game and for the first time, admitted that Angry Birds is his favorite. He said that he can tell Rovio is "having fun developing the game" and that it has a "very creative side," that was "inspiring us to try even harder, and create even more unexpected new things." Except for those moments when he steps into the hallway for a spot of pig-smashing, as you do.
