Iwata Asks News, Iwata Asks Features - Page 3 of 4

Console started life three years ago

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, and head of the Entertainment Analysis and Development Shigeru Miyamoto sat down for a wide-ranging interview about Wii U, revealing the machine first reared its head in Nintendo meetings back in 2008. The seven-page chat also addresses the perception that Nintendo's addition of a touch screen controller is an admission of the..

Jumped to retail to increase depth

Recent 3DS release Steel Diver has had a long, long road to release: starting out as a DS demo back in 2004, the title eventually wound up on 3DS, but it could have been released much earlier if its original course had been followed. A recent Iwata Asks article focuses on the 3DS sub title, with producer Tadashi Sugiyama revealing the original intention to release..

Nothing to do with ordering extra cheese

How many rotund heroes can you think of? Okay, it doesn't actually matter how many you can think of, the only chubby hero that matters for the sake of this article is the one and only Mario, and Shigeru Miyamoto explains why the plumber looked the way he did when he first appeared on our screens. During the Steel Diver edition of Iwata Asks, Miyamoto spoke..

Scoring an epic

Nintendo is localising Xenoblade Chronicles for Europe at least, and players anticipating the game's score might want to read the latest Iwata Asks about the game. Producer Tetsuya Takahashi reveals the reasons behind asking renowned composer Yasunori Mitsuda to write the final track, but it's veteran game musician Yoko Shimomura who...

Ono, it's true

Capcom brawler Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is one of the stand-out titles in the list of 3DS launch games, so much so that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata sat down with Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono to discuss the title's origins and how it takes advantage of the 3DS's features. Considering the machine's power and 3D screen have attracted most attention in the press, it may..

Plenty of ghosts, locations, and music

In the latest volume of Iwata Asks that focuses on third-party developers, Satoru Iwata talks with Yozo Sakagami, producer of Ridge Racer 3D, and explore the ideas behind racing games and in particular, the upcoming 3DS instalment in the Ridge Racer series. After an introduction into Sakagami's background in the video games industry, the topic moves onto the..

But went outside instead

DS mega-hit Nintendogs has sold millions of copies worldwide, shifting more DS units than you can shake a stick at, so the revelation that series creator Shigeru Miyamoto considered bringing the series to Wii shouldn't really be a surprise. The latest Iwata Asks finds Miyamoto and colleague Hideki Konno discussing the abandoned attempt to transport the cute creatures over..

Iwata talks, size matters

Ever since before the 3DS was officially unveiled, gamers claimed they would wait until the so-called "inevitable" revision that has accompanied all Nintendo's portable hardware over the years: you need only look at the number of iterations of the original GameBoy, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS consoles to realise the 3DS won't always look as we know it now..

Too bright by half

There's no dressing it up: the 3DS's battery life of 3 - 5 hours is disappointing. Ryuji Umezu, the system designer, talked to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata about the many features that sap away the machine's battery life, with the main culprit, as you would expect, the 3D top screen. Explaining that the most energy-hungry aspect of most portable consoles is the backlit screen,..

Better than the real thing?

Nintendo consoles go through countless prototypes before the final version hits the shop shelves, so it's no surprise that the 3DS didn't always look the same way it does now. The newest instalment of Iwata Asks, in which Nintendo President Satoru Iwata chews the fat with his colleagues, reveals a few interesting...

Will Last Story lead the way by example?

There have been many Japanese games that never made it out of their own country but far from publishers being lazy or concerned that localisations won't be profitable enough for the hassle, perhaps the reason genres like Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) sometimes struggle to find success in the Western...

Crazy comments from top dog

We could have had 3D gaming years ago, had Nintendo's experiments with the Virtual Boy, Famicom Disk System, GameCube and GameBoy Advance gone better. Does this frustrate President Satoru Iwata? Of course, but it also seemingly makes him hungry, if his comments in the latest Iwata Asks are anything to go by: I don’t know if this

Another string to the 3DS's bow

Along with the games that are in production for the upcoming 3DS, it seems Nintendo has allowed itself enough room to experiment with other uses and applications for the device. In a 3DS edition of Iwata Asks, the President of Nintendo Japan Satoru Iwata talks about the popularity of 3D cameras and hints at the...

Early 3D experiments under the microscope

Nintendo's history with 3D goes back years before the 3DS was ever announced: the GameCube was 3D-compatible with an LCD accessory, Satoru Iwata still has a 3D GameBoy Advance in his sock drawer and of course there was the much-maligned Virtual Boy. But the love affair goes back still further, as discussed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Mr Iwata in the latest..

Retro Studios in the hot seat

Donkey Kong Country Returns developer Retro Studios recently sat down with Nintendo top man Satoru Iwata to discuss the game's development and the difficulties of long-distance relationships. The Texas-based studio spoke of the inherent troubles of 5am teleconferences with Japanese producer Risa Tabata, who often would be bright and energetic much to the team's..

Making sure the game remains exciting

Following the revelation that Mistwalker's latest game – Last Story for the Wii – will be hitting Japanese shops in January 2011, the second half of the Iwata Asks column dedicated to the RPG has now been published on Nintendo's Japanese site. The game's director and Misterwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi, and the concept artist and character designer Kimihiko..

Go right back to the start

Nintendo's Famicom is a piece of gaming history. The company's first cartridge-based gaming system, it set the revitalised the industry and set the standard for what was to follow. Satoru Iwata sat down with two of Nintendo's behind-the-scenes heroes for his latest "Iwata Asks" feature: R&D advisor Masayuki Uemura and former manager of the Corporate..

Top Nintendo designers shoot the breeze

Nintendo's Iwata Asks series has provided us with plenty of fascinating insights into the creation of the company's games, the minds of its creators and the creative spirit that defines its output. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo legends Shigesato Itoi (creator of the EarthBound games) and Shigeru Miyamoto sat down to speak..

Iwata Asks about the game setting and Pokémon design

With Pokémon Black & White's upcoming Japanese release of September 18th fast approaching, the Nintendo president has taken part in another Iwata Asks with Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO at The Pokémon Company, as well as Pokémon Black & White director Junichi Masuda and 2D art director Ken...