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Miyamoto says players can share levels in Mario Maker
Players of Mario Maker, the upcoming Wii U game that lets players build their own 2D worlds in the style of the Super Mario Bros. series, will be able to share their creations online, according to Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. In a recent interview with YouTube personality iJustine (translated by Nintendo Senior Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen) Miyamoto said, "You'll be able to see what happens when other people play your course or when you play other people's courses. There will be some popularity rankings for the most popular courses and things like that. So there's a lot on the community side." Miyamoto hopes you won't forsake those in your own home though, elaborating that he still pictures couch-based play, with a creator handing off their level to a friend or family member who is in the room. "But of course we will have the internet ability to exchange courses as well." We can't wait to see all the age-appropriate and completely family-friendly designs that the internet will come up with. [Image: Nintendo]
New 3DS Zelda falls after 'A Link to the Past'
Nintendo is still mulling over an official North American title for this holiday's new Legend of Zelda game, announced for the 3DS this morning. It shares a world and narrative continuity with A Link to the Past, the SNES adventure that has steeped in adoration since the early '90s. To simply call it "A Link to the Past 2" might invoke extraordinary scrutiny, just as it might trigger appropriate nostalgia."There is a '2' in the Japanese title," said Bill Trinen, Director of Product Marketing at Nintendo of America, in an interview with Joystiq. "So, yeah, I think as I described today, it's an all-new game, it is an all-new story." In his new outing, Link has the ability to flatten himself and slide across dungeon walls like a piece of living graffiti."From a story perspective there are connections," Trinen said, "so it does fall after A Link to the Past. And it's set in the same world, but introduces that new gameplay mechanic. So, yeah, I guess by that definition ..."Yup, let's go with sequel. Quick, to the timeline!
3DS eShop detailed: Virtual Console, DSiWare, demos, and the absence of 'Points'
Along with a push into the third-dimension, Nintendo appears to be using the 3DS to make a stronger push into the digitally distributed space on its handhelds. The DSi (and its big brother, the DSi XL) both started the company down the path popularized by Apple's hyperkinetic App Store – and emulated by everyone from Sony to Google to Microsoft. The 3DS will support DSiWare (whose name was, perhaps, just a smidge shortsighted) and, while Nintendo of America Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen couldn't provide any details during an interview today with Joystiq, he did confirm that users will be able to transfer any DSiWare games they've already purchased to the 3DS. "There will be a function that will allow you to transfer games from your Nintendo DSi to the 3DS," Trinen said. "As we go into greater detail about the Shop, we'll go into detail about that specific function." But 3DS isn't just supporting what the DSi already supports; Nintendo is taking several cues from its Wii-based Shop Channel and Nintendo Channel playbooks, bringing Virtual Console to the handheld market in the form of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, availability of demos, the ability to rate games, and even check out screenshots and videos for retail games. After losing backwards compatibility with Game Boy games with the DSi, we're especially happy about having that feature back in the 3DS; however, it won't be coming to the DSi. "Those will be on the eShop," Trinen told us, "which is specific to the 3DS." But what about the other carts the DSi design sent to retro heaven? Trinen says Game Boy Advance support isn't part of this announcement. "Basically we're focusing on Game Boy and Game Boy Color. If we decide to introduce [GBA games] at a later date, we'd announce later if we did."
3DS can import your Wii Mii, too 'robust' to export them back
Connectivity used to be a big buzz word for Nintendo during the GBA/DS era. Yet, the 3DS is oddly lacking interoperability with a Nintendo home console. At launch, only one feature will be available that caters to owners of both a Wii and 3DS: transferring your Mii from the console to your handheld. But what if you want to send a Mii back to the Wii? "It's a one way transfer," NOA Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen told Joystiq. "You can send your Miis from your Wii to your 3DS. But, because the Mii Maker on the Nintendo 3DS is a more robust program and has newer features, like hairstyles and eyes and things like that, the Miis you create there can't go back to the Wii." Too bad, because Mii Maker's ability to automatically create new avatars by taking pictures would expedite an otherwise lengthy process. Can we expect any other connectivity between the two Nintendo devices? Perhaps, but Trinen didn't even offer a tease. "Beyond that, that's the only Wii connectivity we've talked about."
Video Interview: Shigeru Miyamoto on 3DS, Retro, Zelda and Pikmin 3
You may have read our interview with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto earlier this week – where we talked about everything from the 3DS to Retro's reboot of Donkey Kong Country to the Wii MotionPlus-enabled Zelda title, Skyward Sword – but why not watch the video also? You can marvel as the voice of Nintendo's Bill Trinen magically appears out of Mr. Miyamoto's mouth thanks to the magic of editing and, as a freebie, you're also hearing the thoughts of one of video gaming's great creators. Find it just after the break.
Video interview: Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen
Last week, we visited Nintendo's impressive display at Times Square. The company gathered a few tons of sand and recreated a tropical getaway in the middle of NYC's busiest intersection. We caught up with Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen to chat about Wii MotionPlus, Wii Sports Resort, Pikmin 3, Wii Speak, and a few other things. Trinen explained Nintendo's future plans for MotionPlus, and explained why Nintendo isn't afraid of Sony and Microsoft's upcoming plans to add motion controls to their systems.Catch the full video interview above.
Nintendo won't make Wii MotionPlus a new standard
Nintendo converted Times Square into a tropical island getaway for a day to celebrate this coming Sunday's launch of Wii Sports Resort, the first sequel to Nintendo's flagship Wii title. We had a chance to chat with Bill Trinen, product marketing manager for Nintendo of America, while overlooking the festivities below. He told us that in spite of the advances made by Wii MotionPlus, he doesn't see Nintendo enforcing it as a new standard. "I don't think that we would or that we would necessarily require other developers to do so either," Trinen said. "Something like Wii MotionPlus and whether or not you want to incorporate that is more of a creative decision that's up to each individual developer.""I think it certainly suits specific types of games, but it may not make sense to include Wii MotionPlus in every game," Trinen continued. "For example, if you look at the motion controls of New Super Mario Bros. for Wii that's coming out this holiday, it's not the kind of control that requires or would really benefit from more precise movements. So it doesn't make sense for a development team to spend time implementing something that's going to enhance the end experience. I do think over time, we're going to see a lot of developers taking a look at it and finding things they can do that they couldn't do with the standard Wii Remote and we're going to see those experiences come to life."When asked if Nintendo had any plans to revise the standard Wii Remote to include Wii MotionPlus tech, Trinen replied, "those are all good ideas. We've thought about all that as well. At this point, we're really just focused on launching Wii Sports Resort and obviously getting Wii MotionPlus off to a good start and getting it to the hands of as many of the Wii consumers as we can. And from there, once it becomes time, we may look at what other options are available."Check back tomorrow for our full video interview with Bill Trinen and VP of corporate communications, Denise Kaiger, as they talk about Sony and Microsoft's motion efforts, the Wii Vitality Sensor and if Pikmin 3 is still happening.%Gallery-68619%
