Tag Archives: Nintendo

Court Of Appeals Upholds Nintendo Win In Patent Lawsuit

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld Nintendo’s victory in a patent-infringement case brought against Nintendo by IA Labs CA, LLC. The Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that Nintendo did not infringe IA Labs’ patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,121,982), and it upheld the lower court’s ruling that IA Labs must pay Nintendo more than $236,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“We are very pleased with the court’s decision. Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. We also vigorously defend patent lawsuits, like the IA Labs lawsuit, when we firmly believe that we have not infringed another party’s patent.”

- Richard Medway, Nintendo of America’s deputy general counsel.

Nintendo Adamant They Are Not “Playing It Safe” With Sequels

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pikmin_3_undergrowthAfter Nintendo’s exclusive reveals from E3, some were left feeling a little deflated that the company had chosen not to reveal a new IP and instead expanded their list of sequels for their power-house franchises. Nintendo came under criticism when the, somewhat controversial, publication Kotaku previously said they felt Nintendo’s games were “fun but felt safe” this year, so to set the record straight legendary games designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime sat down with Kotaku to talk about whether they really were “playing it safe”.

When speaking to Kotaku, Miyamoto stressed the differences between a brand new IP and a new game, as well as explaining that creating a new character does not necessarily mean the game will be fun to play for the user. However, he recognised why some wished they had brought newer ideas to E3:

“So I don’t look at this as us playing it safe, because, whenever we make a game, we’re striving to create new experiences for people. Certainly from outside the company and even internally we have a lot of staff members who are talking about, we should create new [intellectual property, as in characters or series]. To me the question really comes down to: What is new IP and, by definition, what is a new game? And I think there’s a lack of understanding about the difference between the two.

“And so, from my perspective, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you should make new characters and those would be fun games,’ but creating a new character doesn’t necessarily mean the game is going to be fun. You really need to be focusing on creating a new gameplay experience that’s fun and unique.

“I guess I understand there are some who wish we brought something new or some different ideas to E3, but at the same time, I also feel that people don’t tend to recognize what we have done that is new. Because even something like Nintendo Land that I thought was very fresh and offered unique ways to play games, people don’t recognize as being a new IP or taking a risk simply, because we didn’t build a new story around it or introduce a new character around it. Whereas if we had taken that gameplay and had done it that way, people would have recognized it as a new IP. So I guess to a certain degree that is a little bit of the frustration.”

Reggie also brought his thoughts to the table when it comes down to Nintendo “playing it safe”, and firmly disagreed by saying it was a “superficial analysis”. He explains the level of detail that goes into making a new game, even if it is a sequel, is still viable and is also incredibly rich when the user begins to play the game. Reggie also points out Nintendo has  new franchises ready to launch, and completes his interview by saying The Wonderful 101 is “magic in a bottle”:

“I think that’s actually a superficial analysis. And here’s why I say that. When you look at the depth that’s in Super Mario 3D World, the use of the different characters, the fact that different characters have different capabilities, the fact that it’s a multiplayer game in a 3D space that EAD Tokyo does so well… that experience is a phenomenal experience. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, I think it’s superficial to look at that game and say, well, it’s just Donkey Kong Country. No it’s not. New levels, new enemies, new ways to player underwater, I mean there’s a lot more richness in that game. I could literally go through point by point.

“All I can tell you is that, first, we’ve got some new franchises that we’re about to launch. The Wonderful 101, I think, can be magic in a bottle, and we’re continuing to work on other new franchises.”

Human Rights Organisation Launches Campaign Against Nintendo

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Walk Free, a human rights organisation, wants to make sure that Nintendo doesn’t use slave-mined minerals when creating its products. These specific minerals arrive on the market from troubled regions such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Walk Free has created the above video and also a flash-based game to draw attention to this issue.

“While this parody allows gamers to demand that Nintendo articulate credible steps to ensure slavery is not in its supply chain, slavery is not a game.”

“We’re not mocking the problem, we’re poking fun at the absurdity of Nintendo’s lack of response. Nintendo – as the world’s largest maker of video game machines – should be leading other consumer electronics companies in showing the public that they are working to have a supply chain free of slavery. Instead, they are lagging behind.”

-  Walk Free’s movement director Debra Rosen.

Molyneux Says Nintendo Would Fare Better Out Of The Hardware Business

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Outspoken game developer Peter Molyneux agrees that Nintendo would fare a lot better if they left the hardware business and just relied purely on quality software. Molyneux doesn’t agree with Shigeru Miyamoto’s opinion that Nintendo must create hardware to cater to the needs of its own development talent. Here’s what Mr Molyneux had to say.

“What Miyamoto says defines things in this industry. What I say just upsets people,” he cautioned, before continuing. “When Nintendo is making truly world-changing hardware, I totally see his point. But I do wonder about the Wii U – it seemed to be a kind of reaction to SmartGlass. And it’s very chunky, doesn’t really feel like it’s cutting edge. That’s when we start saying, ‘Why not spend some of your unbelievable talent on these devices?’ Because there’s a billion people out there,” Molyneux said, pointing to his iPad.

“You know what Nintendo did – this is a fascinating thing – Nintendo created gamers by the software they made. They created millions of gamers with Donkey Kong and Mario – they were the birth of gamers. That exact same thing is happening on this platform today. Millions of new gamers are being created almost every month, and they’re being created with titles not from Nintendo, not from Microsoft, not from Sony, not even necessarily from Activision or EA. They’re being created by companies like Supercell and Rovio. They’re the ones that are bringing and creating new gamers. And now there are millions of people interacting with franchises, which Nintendo won’t even touch, which seems a shame to me because Nintendo are brilliant about bringing people into the industry, and I think their hardware is starting to get in the way of that,” he said. “But I caveat all of this by saying that they are a factor more intelligent than I am, and they’ve probably got a plan, and you should never underestimate Nintendo. We’ll probably be sitting here in a couple years saying, ‘Oh that’s what they were doing’.”

Nintendo Joke That They Want To Bring Tingle To Wii U

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tingle_zelda

Kensuke Tanabe, the producer on the upcoming Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, spoke about a character that he would love to bring to Wii U. That specific character would be Tingle, from The Legend of Zelda games. Tanabe joked that he finds the idea of a new, standalone Tingle game extremely compelling. Here’s what he had to say about Tingle .

“There’s no definitive plan or anything,” he warned me at first. “It’s just me off the top of my head.” But as Tanabe spoke in Japanese, the room suddenly exploded into laughter. It took a second for the translator to calm down and tell me what he said.

“I know how hated the character of Tingle is in the U.S,” Tanabe started. “I know that people cannot stand Tingle. But to me that challenge is: Could I take this character that is so reviled in the West and just [do] a complete turnaround and make him a beloved, fun character? The idea of that really just gets me going. I know we have made a Tingle game in the past, but maybe at some point down the road. …”

My reaction gradually changed from horror, to bewilderment — is he serious!? — and finally to curiosity as Tanabe explained himself.

“It’s like love,” Tanabe said. “It’s like romance: You meet someone and you’re like, ‘Oh god, I can’t stand that person.’ And then three weeks later, you’re madly in love — it’s that turn, that quick whip, that motivates [me] a little bit.”

“If we we ever get a really successful Tingle game, maybe we will have like a big Tingle statue out there [points to Nintendo's E3 booth outside the room's walls],” said Tabata.

“Retro does Tingle!” Kelbaugh added, playing along with the joke. Another round of laughter swept through our little room.

Nintendo And Retro Studios Discuss Metroid Wii U Ideas

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metroid_prime_samus

Retro president Michael Kelbaugh along with Nintendo’s Kensuke Tanabe and Risa Tabata have discussed how they think the Metroid series would work on the Wii U. Kelbaugh and Tabata both thought of ingenious ways to utilise the Wii U GamePad to display information to the user. Tabata thought using the suit’s HUD elements would work very well on the GamePad’s touchscreen, as well as using the GamePad for minigames, such as turning Samus’s ball-morphing ability into a pinball-like game.

“Samus obviously has a lot of features [in her space suit],” said Tabata. “There’s a lot you can do with that thing — once she pulls her arm up and pulls out that [metal flap] and does some of this stuff [Tabata pretends to punch buttons on her forearm]. I can see mapping some of that to the GamePad. I think that would be really cool.”

Tanabe, meanwhile, focused on what the shooting gameplay might feel like. At first, the translator had trouble figuring out what Tanabe meant, going back and forth to confirm what he heard. Here’s what he had to say.

“I [told Tanabe], ‘What, you want to hook a GamePad on a Zapper [gun peripheral]?’” recounted the translator. “He said: ‘No, that’d be too heavy. Maybe something more streamlined. But like a Zapper-style thing with a GamePad feature on it or some device like that. I’d love to do some shooting stuff with something like that! Maybe some day.’

Miyamoto Says He Feels He Once Made A Bad Game

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Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, who’s known for creating iconic video game franchises like Donkey Kong, Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, has revealed that he feels he once made a bad game. In an interview with Kotaku, the video game designer was asked, “Do you feel like you’ve ever made a bad game?,” to which the he replied, “Yeah.” Tomorrow, June 18th, Kotaku will divulge Miyamoto’s answer. Until then, which game do you think Miyamoto isn’t proud of?

Producer Of Super Mario 3D Land May Be Announcing A New Game Soon

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Koichi Hayashida and Yoshiaki Koizumi have told Spanish publication El Pais that they can’t disclose their next project, but they should make an announcement soon. Koichi Hayashida said that the team is currently wrapped up in Super Mario 3D World and was asked whether or not they were planning to release downloadable content for the forthcoming Wii U game. Hayashida said quite clearly that it’s not something they are looking to do at the moment. Here’s what they both had to say.

Q. Some believe that the downloadable content is back to pay for something, is this title, as the current Wii U, will have this option?

KH. For now we have no plans in that direction.

Q. What is your next job?

KH: At the moment, Super Mario 3D World, 100%.

YK: I can not disclose now, but soon we will make an announcement.

Thanks, Glem3

The Only Way To Bring EA Back To Wii U Is “Sell More Boxes”

Wii U,

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Despite Carlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s head of corporate communications, saying that EA and Nintendo have a good relationship, Electronic Arts Labels President Frank Gibeau has said that the company needs to sell more consoles in order for EA to bring its games to Wii U. Gibeau said the company goes where the gamers are, and at the moment they aren’t purchasing Wii U.

“Look, the only thing they can do to fix it is to sell more boxes. We’re a rational company, we go where the audience is. We publish games where we think we can make a great game and hit a big audience, and make money. That’s why we’re here, that’s why we have an industry.”

“The Wii U, we shipped four games. We shipped Madden, FIFA, Need for Speed and Mass Effect. In fact, the last Need for Speed shipped 60 days ago had a pretty good Metacritic. It was a good game. It wasn’t a schlocky port, we actually put extra effort into getting everything to work. And it’s just not selling because there’s no boxes.”

Thanks, Kjebb

Nintendo: While Microsoft And Sony May Compete To Attract Core Gamers, We Appeal To Everyone

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Nintendo has, once again, stated that consumers can only experience its franchises on its systems. In an interview with GamesBeat, Scott Moffitt, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America, said, “‘Content is king’ has never been more true. The only way to experience our franchises is going to be on the Wii U.”

Moffitt also said that while Sony and Microsoft may compete to attract core gamers toward their platforms, Nintendo aims to grab everyone’s attention, including avid gamers, children, adults and families. “While Microsoft and Sony may compete for the hearts and minds of core gamers, our fans will appreciate the breadth of content that we’ve got, which has universal appeal,” explained Moffitt.

“Innovation is what Nintendo stands for,” added Moffit. “We’re proving that with a fresh new, re-imagined array of games we’re bringing to market this year.”