Nintendo Game Seminar

Last year we reported on the Nintendo Game Seminar event in Japan - open to University Students in the Tokyo metropolitan or Kansai region, those lucky enough to be included received support and advice from Nintendo in creating simple gaming experiences. The challenge, from August 2014 to March 2015, was to produce games in the Unity engine that also utilised the Wii U GamePad; the final results will likely, as was the case last year, be released for free on the eShop in Japan.

Nintendo has now released introduction videos for the four games that came out of the event. The official website also has details - which Google can translate roughly - and we have four relatively straightforward concepts, all trying to use various aspects on the Wii U's controller. Gameplay varies from controlling a never-ending fall, to passing letters stealthily in a classroom or solving puzzles.

As we said last year, a more global event - likely online based - to encourage young programmers would certainly be welcome. With two years of the Nintendo Game Seminar now complete in Japan, perhaps broader plans will emerge in the future.

In the meantime, check out the four projects to come out of the latest programme below.