An inflatable Yoshi and a drill bit - will Galaxy 2 have more puzzle-orientated stages?

Wired.com’s excellent Game | Life blog features a fascinating interview as Chris Kohler talks to Shigeru Miyamoto about Nintendo’s forthcoming software and its rivals’ ventures into motion-control territory.

Apparently, Mario Galaxy 2 came about because the development team had so many unused ideas left over that a straight sequel simply made sense - Miyamoto points to Mario’s new drill item as something which could potentially have a dramatic impact upon gameplay, while it seems Yoshi will also play a major part in differentiating the sequel from its wonderful predecessor.

He also suggests that Galaxy 2 will not feature as significant a story as the original, stating that plot is less important a consideration for a game as action-orientated as Mario games traditionally are, and more key for the Zelda series. Talking of which, he reveals that the Zelda announcement wasn’t made on stage at E3 for two reasons - one, he’s not keen on the industry’s habit of talking about games long before their release; and two, “we thought it was just more valuable to continue have the team focus their energies on creating what will be a very entertaining gameplay system, rather than have them waste their energies creating a trailer to announce a game at E3 very far in advance.”

While elsewhere it has been suggested that Miyamoto was privately impressed with what he saw of Project Natal, he hints to Kohler that he feels the controller-free approach isn’t necessarily the right way forward, talking of how important feedback from the remote - from the speaker and the rumble - is to enhancing immersion. He also talks of the “precision” of Wii MotionPlus - and accuracy is no doubt going to be one of Nintendo’s watchwords as Natal’s release approaches. “Looking at what the other companies have shown here at E3, it feels like they have finally obtained the very basic technology for doing motion control, but perhaps they still have to learn how to use that and take advantage of it in an interactive experience,” Miyamoto adds.

He also discusses New Super Mario Bros. Wii and the troubles facing the Japanese games industry. But I’ve pilfered enough highlights from Kohler’s excellent Q+A for now - to read more (and you really should), click here.

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Despite the non-appearance of the now-finished Resident Evil 5 on Wii, waggle fans needn’t be too downhearted, claims Eurogamer.

A translated interview with Resi 5’s producer, Masachika Kawata, suggests he would like to work on a Resident Evil game for Wii, now he’s done with the new HD offering.

“Personally I would like to create something on Wii in the Resident Evil family. At the moment we don’t know and have just been working on RE5, so watch this space.”

Cause for optimism, certainly. Though let’s hope it’s more like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition rather than Umbrella Chronicles. Decent though the latter is, I’d like a ‘proper’ Resi on Wii - and the console’s already oversubscribed for rail shooters, anyway.

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An interesting piece up on the BBC (courtesy of GoNintendo) wherein various gaming luminaries briefly discuss their thoughts on gaming in 2008.

Peter Molyneux, creator of my personal game of the year - the majestic Fable II - seems impressed with Nintendo’s success: “2008 was the year that the Nintendo Wii got even better, more than anyone really thought possible when it first launched. The 360 did well, although it was put into the shade somewhat by the Wii.” Given that Lionhead is developing for Microsoft that’s perhaps a surprising thing for Molyneux to say, though he’s never been one to shy away from controversy. It hints that he’d be keen on developing for the console, though given the ambitious nature of Molyneux’s projects, it’s hard to imagine Wii being powerful enough to cope. That said, it’s clear from playing Fable II that Molyneux has been inspired by Wii’s accessibility - the game offering plentiful rewards, even to casual and inexperienced players. Those who’ve had their partners snatch the pad from them while exploring Albion will know exactly what I’m talking about, I’m sure. As the man himself says of Rockstar’s GTA IV - “only a few people actually saw all the cut sequences because the game was so tough to play. Are we making games too difficult? That’s a question the industry has been asking itself of late.”

He’s not the only one waxing lyrical about Nintendo’s console, with Spore creator Will Wright  suggesting that “the Wii took everyone by surprise - not for its looks, but its accessibility. Games like Guitar Hero attracted non-gamers and Sony and Microsoft are responding to that with things like the ‘Avatar’ system and Little Big Planet.” While Guitar Hero might not be the best example of an accessible Wii title (though it is selling better on Wii than any other console, which tells its own story) he’s certainly got a point. Of course, it was long rumoured that Wright was keen to bring Spore to Wii, more so than to other consoles. Will that still happen? It’s perhaps more likely that we’ll see a Wii Spore than an Xbox 360/PS3 version, but given that Spore ran on most reasonably capable PCs, it may be that Maxis feel it’s reached its core audience. And Wii’s online userbase is comparatively small, which would theoretically sour one of the key components of Spore.

It’s taken quite a while for Wii to really make waves among developers and publishers, but with such big names talking up the console and the userbase continuing to grow, surely it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing a wave of quality third-party software on Wii. I think late 2009 will see a raft of new titles which make the most of the console, and hopefully then Wii will be keeping core gamers happier than it has done this year.

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Some admirable honesty right there from Mr. Zelda - Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma - in an interview with Nintendo Power, as reported by Nintendo Everything. Discussing one of the most influential and important games of all time, he admits that the fact that it’s spoken of in such hushed tones is indicative that no Zelda since has topped it.

“I’m happy that a title I worked on some time ago remains highly praised to this day, but that also shows how none of the subsequent games in the series have surpassed it,” Aonuma suggests. “As someone who is still working on the series, I have mixed feelings about that. Because I haven’t yet surpassed it, I can’t quit. Surprisingly, that simply motivation may be the reason I continue to work on the Zelda series.”

Interesting stuff. Having played Wind Waker before Ocarina of Time, it’s clear that the GameCube game owed a lot to the N64 classic, which was very much ahead of its time, but I personally preferred Link’s sea-faring adventure. Indeed, some would suggest that, while it could never be as influential as Ocarina, Twilight Princess was such an effective homage to that game that it surpassed its predecessor.

So will Nintendo ever top Link’s 1998 adventure in the eyes of those who played it and loved it at the time? Probably not. Times have changed, and a combination of nostalgia, the feverish excitement built up by such epic games in those heady days where games didn’t have their endings dissected on forums and uploaded to YouTube on release day, and the simple fact that it’s virtually impossible for one single game to define its console quite as effectively as Ocarina did these days means you’ll always have those hardcore fans saying “yeah, but it’s not as good as Ocarina”.

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Interesting interview on MTV Multiplayer with EA’s Peter Moore (formerly, you may recall, of Microsoft) who’s been discussing the problems with selling sports titles on Wii.

“Will we ever see attach rates for…licensed sports games, on the Wii to the same we see on 360 or PS3?” Moore asks, before answering his own question. “Probably not in this cycle.”

He goes on to discuss the reasons why EA’s sports games are selling comparatively much less on Wii than on Xbox 360 and PS3 (with Madden selling around a twentieth of the combined total of the 360, PS3 and PS2 versions).

“The challenge we face is that that consumer gets ‘Wii Sports’ right out of the box and that’s a sports experience that’s good enough for a lot of people. That is a challenge for us at times. Secondly, we’re doing very well with the core consumer, migrating them to the Xbox 360 and PS3 and, quite frankly, if they’re looking for that hardcore experience that’s where they’re buying that”

Moore goes on to suggest that certain families are getting the HD versions and the Wii games - the former for the adults and young males in the family, and sometimes the Wii version for the youngsters or even the females in the household.

“The bottom line is we knew what we weren’t doing right. We’ve corrected that. We’re seeing progress. Is it easy? No. Are we going to see continued growth of both [HD versions and Wii iterations of sports games]? Absolutely.”

Interesting stuff. Go take a look.

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I’m paraphrasing slightly, of course. But that’s about the gist of it, and to be honest, it’s about time someone told the (slightly uncomfortable) truth.

Speaking to Forbes - that bastion of important videogames news - NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime mentioned that Wii would unlikely to be getting a price-cut any time soon. “At some point, it will be time to adjust the [price], but we’re nowhere near that point now.”

Fair enough, I suppose - no point in reducing the price while your console is still selling like hot cakes. But Fils-Aime was clearly unsatisfied when the topic of third-party titles on Wii came up. He suggested that in general games from developers other than Nintendo were failing to connect to Wii’s audience because third-parties just didn’t ‘get it’.

“”I will be able to say our licensees ‘get it’ when their very best content is on our platform,” he says. “And with very few exceptions today, that’s not the case.”

That’s fightin’ talk where I come from. Hopefully Reggie’s bullish stance will encourage developers to bring their very best games to Wii instead of concentrating on the HD consoles. Though Wii needs all the third-party support it can get at the moment, and this comment will undoubtedly rub a few people up the wrong way - particularly companies like EA, who clearly DO ‘get it’, but whose titles aren’t really performing as they deserve to. There’s certainly an issue with the reluctance to market certain titles effectively on Wii, publishers preferring to throw money at their bigger-budget HD productions. But is that all it is? Perhaps Nintendo’s expanded audience really is only interested in first-party offerings and uber-casual titles.

One to ponder, for certain. With more hardcore-friendly titles like Mad World set to hit Wii next year, we’ll soon get a clearer picture on whether less casual titles can truly succeed on Nintendo’s console.

Check out the full Forbes piece here. Worth a read, I reckon.

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Joy of joys. One of the best things Nintendo does these days is the Iwata Asks interviews, where Nintendo president Satoru Iwata interviews the developers of major Nintendo games. It’s always slightly more enjoyable when Miyamoto is involved too (if only for the number of times you see ‘[laughs]‘ transcribed) but the latest one from Animal Crossing is very interesting, particularly as it talks about a couple of features I wasn’t aware of.

For starters, there’s the small matter of ‘animal tracks’, as explained by design director Ryuji Kobayashi:

“Around the town, there is what I suppose you could call undergrowth. There’s green grass, but underneath it, there’s earth. This time, we stuck the grass on so it feels a little like it’s floating on top of the earth. When a player walks on the grass, it wears it away so you can see a little bit of the earth below. As the player walks around, the grass is gradually worn away. We made it so that it starts to grow back after a day has passed. But if, for instance…a player is doing nothing but going fishing, the grass on the path from their house to the seashore or the river will be worn away. And where there’s a bridge which everyone has to walk across, the grass will be completely worn away.”

A nice little touch. What’s perhaps more significant is the use of WiiConnect24. Over to director Hisashi Nogami:

“We used an idea from the Mii Channel, and decided that we would have the data about players’ towns automatically exchanged with their friends. This exchange of information started with the DS version, when you needed to have two separate consoles, each with a Game Card, connected. But this time around, by connecting to WiiConnect24, without one player having to visit the other player, the town data could be exchanged before either player knew it. So then all of a sudden you’d get an animal that’s new in the neighbourhood, who’s just moved from your friend’s town, introducing himself: “Hi! I’ve just moved from so and so town.” And they’ll even tell you gossip about their home town: “This character from so and so town really likes this”, and things like that.”

More to it than meets the eye. But that’s enough from me. Click this here link to read the rest. Fascinating stuff.

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The latest issue of industry bible Edge slapped onto subscriber doormats this morning, and if you’re not a regular reader then consider this a recommendation to pick up a copy when it reaches newsstands next Thursday. As you can probably tell by glancing at the pic above, the key feature is a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in which he talks about Wii Music, the educational nature of software and bridging the gap between casual and hardcore gamers, among other subjects.

Asked what he wants to be remembered for when he retires, Miyamoto offers the following statement:

“I would be happiest if people look back some day and say this is somebody who was continually creating new styles of play and was bringing new ideas to games and was a pioneer up until his dying day.”

Well said, Shigs. The rest of the interview is a fascinating read too - with some interesting observations on the potential future of Wii, and of its controller and how the Wii MotionPlus could change the type of games we see on Wii.  There’s also a single-page critique of Wii Music, which is generally very positive, suggesting it is “crafted beautifully for the masses”. Whether the masses realises this is open to debate, but hopefully it will become the word-of-mouth success it so deserves to be.

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Apparently so, according to Gamecyte, which carries some quotes from Satoru Iwata at Nintendo’s recent earnings presentation.

“No matter what kind of music, if we tried to do this in other countries it would be very difficult,” said Iwata. “Therefore, we are currently researching what would be required and what allowed in each region and individual country. If we find an agreeable answer, we certainly want to develop.”

Sounds promising, though whether those difficulties can be easily overcome is another matter entirely. Iwata suggests that striking a deal with a music label, while restricting content to a certain degree, could potentially be a way forward for an overseas Band Bros.

“If we could somehow put together a good deal with one particular music label, it would somewhat reduce the number of choices available, but I believe we could create a game that still offers a variety of possibilities.”

It seems that Nintendo is taking the current buzz for user-generated content very seriously indeed. While Wii Music offers one way of allowing players to create and share, it seems Daigasso is set to be the first of many Nintendo games which will see gamers getting involved more in the creative process. LittleBIGGalaxy, anyone? Wouldn’t THAT be amazing.

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Shigsy’s gone mad with common sense! In an - excellent, please read it - interview with MTV Multiplayer’s Stephen Totilo, the Shigmeister claims that both Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy could have been more revolutionary, incredibly asserting that the latter was - in places - conservative.

“What I’ve been saying to our development teams recently is that Twilight Princess was not a bad game, by any means,” Miyamoto begins. “But, still, it felt like there was something missing. And while, personally, I feel like Super Mario Galaxy was able to do some things that were very new and were very unique, at the same time, from another perspective, certain elements of it do feel somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design. And so this is something I’ve been talking to both of those teams about.”

“Of course, as is customary with Nintendo, it’s very rare that we are able to announce any games until they’re ready for release,” he continues, “but I can say that these are themes that both of those teams are taking into account and the hope is that for both of those franchises, when we do release the next installments of the Zelda [franchise] or maybe the next Galaxy, hopefully they will feel newer and fresher than their most recent versions.”

The thought of the next Mario game being less conservative, fresher and presumably, thus, more inventive than Mario Galaxy, to use the parlance of one Noel Gallagher, “bends me’ ‘ead”. Another thing to note - Miyamoto says “the next Galaxy” rather than “the next Mario”. Interesting. Could we be seeing a direct sequel? And, if so, does that mean we could be getting it sooner than expected? Gasp.

He also rather likes Portal and apparently Punch-Out!! is going to be great, and will have a more compelling story than the original.  Good news all round, then.

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