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Nintendo's Hideki Konno discusses the 3DS and the element of surprise
As E3 was coming to a close, we sat down with one of the men responsible for Nintendo's 3DS, Hideki Konno. Konno's official title is manager / producer, but because he's involved at such a high level with both software and hardware development on the 3DS, our conversation covered quite the range of topics. When asked about the handheld's performance in the last year, he drew parallels to the success of the DS that preceded it and he hopes that the 3DS will experience a similar growth curve. Due to the mention of the DS, we inquired about the possibility of a larger 3DS. While Mr. Konno wasn't able to confirm plans for a super-sized version of the current-gen handheld, he did express his affinity for the DSi XL's increased real estate -- he finds the larger screen is much easier to gaze upon. You can draw your own conclusions as to exactly what that means. When chatting about mobile gaming, we asked about the impact of smartphones on the outfit's handheld. Konno offered that Nintendo prides itself on surprising gamers with new "compelling experiences" that handsets can't provide. We asked if any of these new experiences would involve the integration of both 3DS and the Wii U, and Konno replied that he's confident about those explorations taking place in future. In fact, a version of the Smash Brothers series is currently being developed for both 3DS and Wii U simultaneously. He indicated that it would be hard to believe that the two versions being developed in parallel wouldn't provide some unique interactions between them and their respective platforms. Additionally, while it sounds like the Miiverse will only be available on Big N's next-gen console at launch, Mr. Konno communicated that -- depending out how well it's received -- we're likely see the social element brought to the mobile gaming arena, too. Michael Gorman contributed to this report.
Transmog Inspirations: WoW meets Nintendo, part 2
I give up. I can't for the life of me create a transmog for Princess Peach. I've tried and I've tried, but there just aren't enough pink clothes in the World of Warcraft to piece together a convincing Peach. I'm sorry, Mario, but you're going to have to settle for some other princess. Princess Poobah? Princess Theradras? Princess ... I can't think of any more. Someone call Anne! Anyway, this week I decided to put together a few more transmogs based on Nintendo characters. A lot of readers were asking for more, so I made one for Princess Zelda, Toad, and Roy (you know, from Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. -- everyone loves Roy!).
The good, the bad, and the OHGODWHEN
There's an interesting feature over at CVG detailing ten games to watch for on the Wii this year (similar to what we did for the DS). Now, as this is a list from the UK, they've included some games with which we American gamers have already been blessed, but the rest of the lineup is interesting indeed. Of course, they highlight Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (we so can't wait for that), but the lion's share of the list goes to the most obvious -- and long in coming -- games for the Wii, like Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy (and the less talked about, but also cool Disaster: Day of Crisis). Of course these are going to be great games, but on what shall we pin all our hopes and dreams between now and the oblivion of year's end? It hurts to see so many great games on this list when we know they have no firm release date. Reggie promised us that there'd be no drought, but things are looking a little dry from the vantage point of this list. Potentially awesome, yes, but a little dry all the same.
Magazine reveals Revolution details: Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Donkey Konga
While it's not exactly the kind of publication we thought would break all sorts of Revolution news, National Geographic Kids Magazine was invited by the Big N to test out the top-secret Revolution controller in Tokyo. They report, "The Revolution will be available later this year. You'll be able to use it with games you already have as well as with new games. Here are some old favorites and a few of the things you'll be able to do with this revolutionary new controller."Wow! Let's break that down a bit: The system will be out this year. You can believe they got this straight from Nintendo and it is consistent with earlier rumors. 2006. Done. Backwards compatibility is of course something we've known about for awhile; however, the "old favorites" mention is so provocatively vague! They list The Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Brothers, and Donkey Konga. Question is, are they listing games or franchises? If they are listing games, does this mean the "old favorite" versions of these games (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Melee) will use the Revolution controller to slash a sword or work as a shield? Nintendo recently said they "made no announcements" regarding such functionality. This of course does not mean there is no such functionality. If they in fact meant "old favorite" franchises, can we infer there are next-generation versions in the works? Did they get hands-on time using the controller? Are all three games in active production, complete enough to be shown to the press? Either possibility is far more than they've shown in earlier press demos, where they used simple gameplay demos with crude graphics to emphasize the interface. There is, of course, the possibility they were shown those same demos, and were told by Nintendo what they could expect, to snazz up the story a bit more... but why invite them out to Tokyo for just that?Fine, we admit: Nintendo has us wrapped around their precious little finger, making us feel like awkward teenagers, gaping at a pinup of the Revolution controller in our proverbial high school locker, swooning over every little nugget of news, knees buckling whenever Shiggy or Reggie open their mouths... how much longer can we stand it?Read on for the rest of the images.[Updated: Nintendo has stated this is "all still speculation." Boo![Big thanks to John for the images!]
