The Tendo Project – Daily Nintendo News

Satoru Iwata at last years Pre-E3 conference announced that there was a new Smash Bros. game in development for both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, we now know that at some point in time the game hadnt even been started. Thats not the case now though almost a year later. With Kid Icarus Uprising down, Masahiro Sakurai is now moving onto the popular fighting game by looking over over the Smash Bros. Dojo.

By looking into the Dojo, he is going back to investigate how they made Brawl and go back and improve it presumably. However, upon studying the site hes found that making the game was perhaps harder then he remembers, he recently tweeted "However, whats the word... its tremendous. How did we make this?".

The Dojo was a first for Nintendo and a great source of entertainment for almost a year. The site, run by Sakurai had daily reveals and progress reports on Super Smash Bros. Brawl as it was being developed. Some days, little minute details were released about the game like the menu design and options page; other days, new characters were details as well as levels.

Dont expect to see much from Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS anytime soon, especially if Sakurai is still at pre-planning stages of the game. Then again, E3 is four months away!

Source: Andriasang

Pikmin 3 has been teased for a while now, but it’s good to see an update on the title, especially from Shigeru Miyamoto himself. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Mr. Miyamoto has told of how the game was originally meant to be for the Wii. However, when the Wii U came along with its exciting new features, it meant the game was destined for the new system.

‟…Because the Wii U is capable of HD quality pictures, and will be accompanied by the subscreen on your hand. I thought that I would be able to make a Pikmin that was closer to my ideal. I am now actually enjoying myself, working on the game.”

Expect to see more of Pikmin 3 alongside all of the Wii U blowout at E3 2012 this June.

Source: ONM UK

Toki Toris first release harkens back to the brighter days of WiiWare, a fairly young company taking a gamble on an unknown service. Little were they to know that while Toki Tori would go onto be a cult hit, WiiWare wouldnt do much but hold them back. Fast forward three years and Two Tribes have finally felt it worthwhile to return to Nintendos downloadable platformers, announcing that Toki Tori 2 development plans are now under way for the Wii U in addition to its previously announced Steam release.

What changed their minds was recent information Nintendo have put out about their online strategies going forward, as well as the strength of the 3DS eShop. In their development blog for the game, Two Tribes said that "The 3DS eShop has been a big step in the right direction compared to the Wii and DSi online shops, and it would be strange if they did not at least match it’s (sic) functionality on Wii U."

The post also spoke to how Toki Tori 2 might make use of the Wii Us unique feature set. First off, its minimal UI leads it to be an ideal candidate for playing just on the Wii Us controller, rather than needing a full TV to display the game at all times. Additionally, the games existing PC control schemes translate over well to the Wii Us well equiped controller, but the game wont be making use of its many motion control functions as the game "wasnt designed with them in mind". Lastly Two Tribes said that they were looking into fan suggestions the tablet controller would be ideal for creating custom levels, although theyd need to be sure of Nintendos level sharing systems before they went too far down that road.

While the post is more a statement of intentions than anything concrete, it is good to see developer enthusiasm for the Wii U returning to the heady days of the Wii.

Source: Nintendolife, Two Tribes Blog

Toki Toris first release harkens back to the brighter days of WiiWare, a fairly young company taking a gamble on an unknown service. Little were they to know that while Toki Tori would go onto be a cult hit, WiiWare wouldnt do much but hold them back. Fast forward three years and Two Tribes have finally felt it worthwhile to return to Nintendos downloadable platformers, announcing that Toki Tori 2 development plans are now under way for the Wii U in addition to its previously announced Steam release.

What changed their minds was recent information Nintendo have put out about their online strategies going forward, as well as the strength of the 3DS eShop. In their development blog for the game, Two Tribes said that "The 3DS eShop has been a big step in the right direction compared to the Wii and DSi online shops, and it would be strange if they did not at least match it’s (sic) functionality on Wii U."

The post also spoke to how Toki Tori 2 might make use of the Wii Us unique feature set. First off, its minimal UI leads it to be an ideal candidate for playing just on the Wii Us controller, rather than needing a full TV to display the game at all times. Additionally, the games existing PC control schemes translate over well to the Wii Us well equiped controller, but the game wont be making use of its many motion control functions as the game "wasnt designed with them in mind". Lastly Two Tribes said that they were looking into fan suggestions the tablet controller would be ideal for creating custom levels, although theyd need to be sure of Nintendos level sharing systems before they went too far down that road.

While the post is more a statement of intentions than anything concrete, it is good to see developer enthusiasm for the Wii U returning to the heady days of the Wii.

Source: Nintendolife, Two Tribes Blog

It wasnt a shock to see a new Skylanders game announced on Tuesday and the game will be coming to the Wii later this year. But what about the Wii U and its fancy NFC technology built into the console? Speaking to Joystiq, the CEO of the series developer Toys for Bob Paul Reiche III has said that "In terms of the Wii U, were looking at it, All of the details about the NFC technology havent been released to the public yet, and its really interesting,"

The technology in Skylander toys isnt NFC but in fact RFID. The two technologies are very similar and it could open up some possibilities with the new system. So what could they be? Reiche unfortunately cant go into any detail at all, keeping coy on the subject with a "I cant talk about that, Im afraid.".

Well at least thats not a denial.

Source: Joystiq

Nintendo’s new focus on actually making anything online and digital on the Wii U actually good also could lead to bad things. With DLC to be available on Nintendo’s next console that also means things like preorder bonuses, retailer exclusive codes and horse armour could invade our fair ecosystem.

Not that Nintendo would ever do it themselves, but third parties might do something silly. However, have no fear as Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has plans to make sure third parties are kept on a short leash.

"...We have a belief that our games should be a trusted brand for a very wide variety of consumers, including children and casual users who are not so familiar with the trends of video games," Iwata told investors last week. "Therefore, we would like to have regulations with a certain degree of strictness so that consumers will get a sense of reassurance from our games."

We’re glad this is one of those thing where Nintendo decides to do their own thing with regards to something online. While they might not get everything right they have for this one.

The Wii didn’t sell as well as it usually does this December and Nintendo thinks it’s time for some new blood on the home console scene. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said today at an investors meeting that "the market is now waiting for a new proposal for home consoles". Not only has the Wii been down this year but also the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Iwata did admit that the Xbox 360 maintained "large momentum" over the whole year but December as a whole was down.

"Usually, the Wii enjoys high sales in December, but last year, even though ’The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’ was highly acclaimed, we were not able to expand it sufficiently to our target audience, and although the Wii was the platform which sold the most software in December, we were not able to propose new Nintendo titles to our broad audience," Iwata told the meeting.

"Therefore, except for Ubisoft’s Just Dance 3 there were no Wii titles with huge sales in the year-end sales season. Along with effects from our trade marketing activities in December which mainly focused on the Nintendo 3DS, we were not able to sell the Wii as well as we usually do.

"However, not just the Wii, but the overall performance of home consoles in December was lower than the previous year, and I think that the market is now waiting for a new proposal for home consoles."

The Wii U is set to hit the market before next Xbox and Playstation with a launch of the system planned worldwide before the end of 2012. Microsoft is expected to announce its plans for the ’next generation’ at E3 2012 but when they would actually release their next console remains to be seen. The Playstation 3 will be around for a while says Sony.

So are you ready for a new console?

Source: Eurogamer

The rise of purely digital online game sales has changed the industry in a number of ways, but the most important change might be the introduction of games as impulse buys. Anyone with a credit card tied to their Steam account knows how scarily easy it is to, with just a few clicks, dump more money than you intended on a whole passel of games that seem vaguely intriguing. You might not have read any reviews, or even heard anything about the game outside of the Steam description, but when it's so cheap and the purchase process is so seamless, your consumptive id can often act before your conscious brain even has a chance to question whether you really want the game you're buying.

Digital stores on platforms from Sony, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have similar setups to encourage this kind of impulse purchase—enter your credit card once, then buy with a few clicks forevermore. Nintendo is the lone holdout, as it often is with online features, refusing to store credit card information for users with a Wii or 3DS. But that might change in the next console generation, with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announcing today that the Wii U will use near-field communication technology "as a means of making micropayments."

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Nintendo is currently holding an Investor Meeting in Japan and out of it has come some new and interesting details about Wii U. Weve already learned that Nintendo plans to have individual accounts for the system, but also that Wii U will have NFC (Near Field Communication). You may have already used the technology with PayPass on your credit card, although the technology has not caught on as much here, as in Japan. The Japanese use NFC in their phones to pay for things out of vending machines, train tickets and more.

Nintendo plan to use NFC in the Wii U for micropayments; simply hold your phone up to the console and it will take the money off your account. They also say they will use the technology for figurine connections. The same technology that you see in the Skylander figurines. Pokemon NFC figurines anyone?

Source: Nintendo

Nintendo has announced at a earnings conference in Japan today that the Wii U will ship worldwide before the end of the year. Australia was specifically mentioned alongside Japan, America and Europe. Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata announced the more specific date as well the promise of more heavy hitting titles on the Nintendo 3DS for the year ahead.

Iwata also said to investors that he hopes that Nintendo will return to profitability as soon as possible. Nintendo has dropped its forecast for earnings and sales as well as shipment targets for the Wii and 3DS.

Nintendo has hinted it will show more about the Wii U before E3 but wed still expect the lions share of information to come from that event this June.

Source: Reuters