33bits

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe es el 1er juego de Nintendo que llega al número 1 de ventas en UK desde 2011

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is off to a fantastic start in the UK. With the latest UK charts beginning to surface, this marks the first time that a Nintendo boxed game has reached the top spot since 2011. Pokemon White on DS was the last title to accoplish the feat. Additionally, it’s the first Mario game at the top spot since Mario Kart Wii.

GamesIndustry also reports that “Nintendo used the launch of its racer to ship more Switch stock to retailers, which has seen The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild return to the Top Five (at No.5) with a 68% increase in sales week-on-week.” Puyo Puyo Tetris debuted at the 18th spot, “with the majority of sales coming on Nintendo Switch.”

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Nintendo utilizó el transporte aéreo para satisfacer rápidamente la demanda de Switch

Al igual que el resto de fabricantes de hardware normalmente Nintendo utiliza el transporte marítimo para distribuir por todo el mundo sus consolas, es un medio lento pero seguro y económico. Sin embargo, si quieres complacer rápidamente la alta demanda de tus clientes debes recurrir al transporte aéreo, tal y como hizo la compañía nipona con Switch.

Un representante de Nintendo ha confirmado al Wall Street Journal que durante el mes de marzo la empresa fletó aviones para distribuir su nueva consola. Nintendo se vio obligada a tomar esta decisión después de que su previsión inicial de distribuir 2 millones de Switch quedara desfasada ante la realidad de haber repartido 2,74 millones de consolas.

No ha trascendido hacia dónde se enviaron las consolas, pero los analistas creen que fueron vuelos desde China hasta Europa y Estados Unidos. Nintendo obtiene un beneficio por cada Switch vendida pero seguramente ganó menos dinero por las unidades que llegaron volando, pues se estima que la compañía pagó unos 40 euros por unidad embarcada.

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[Rumor] Nuevo Nintendo Direct la próxima semana

Nothing escapes the ever-watchful eye of internet sleuths. Today we have some interesting info from the NeoGAF gang that could very well point to a Nintendo Direct as early as next week


- on the Japanese Nintendo Direct page, a slot opened up about a week before the last direct aired
- apparently this is part of a pattern, and has been happening with other Directs
- today, another slot opened up in the same manner on the Nintendo Direct page

Like the info says, this is a pattern that seems to have been pretty much proven at this point. When a slot opens up, a Direct is soon to follow. Let's see if the sleuths have made an accurate prediction!

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¿Otro direct tan cerca del E3? Me escama.

Nintendo registró la marca "Koopa" el 17 de Febrero

Nintendo Co., Ltd. have applied for a Koopa (クッパ) trademark for a number of uses including ‘Program for home video game console etc’ and for 'Clothing etc’. The trademark application was made on 24 February 2017. It’s unconfirmed whether this will result in an actual Bowser videogame but hey, E3 next month!


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Menuda paja mental por registrar un nombre.

(02-05-2017 14:43)Janito [ -> ]¿Otro direct tan cerca del E3? Me escama.

Parece que es un direct muy centrado en Splatoon 2 y posiblemente Arms

Comparativa de la pantalla de Switch con la de la New 3DS XL 

Gameplay de NBA Playgrounds en Switch. Entrevista a Saber



To begin, can you share a brief overview of NBA Playgrounds?
NBA Playgrounds is an old-school arcade experience. It features current NBA players and many great legends of the past. It is definitely in the vein of NBA Jam/NBA Street but with a vibe all its own. You can play 2-player offline coop, 2-player online competitive, 4-player offline team matches or even solo. The game has real depth but it is super easy to pick up.

NBA Playgrounds marks the first time you’re experimenting with the sports genre. What made the team interested in giving it a shot and creating a new type of NBA game?
This is an interesting question that has come up before. For Saber’s studio in St. Petersburg it is definitely a new genre. But our team in Spain has worked on many sports titles in the past, from Rafael Nadal Tennis to the Wii Exclusive Hoop World. The decision to go for the NBA game was actually all mine. I have always loved basketball and had season tickets as a kid to the Miami Heat when they were just starting out. I was addicted to NBA Jam and NBA Street and was dismayed when the publisher decided not to pursue those franchises any longer. I saw an opportunity and I took it.

How has the process been in terms of working with the NBA in securing official licensing?
Very smooth. The NBA is great to work with. Their people are super smart and understanding and extremely responsive with regards to feedback and requests. It helps that I live in the NYC area as I can go in to see them at any time.

NBA Playgrounds has been drawing some comparisons to classic games such as NBA Street and NBA Jam. Are there any particular ways in which the team is taking inspiration from those titles? In what ways does NBA Playgrounds stand out?
Yes, in many ways. Those games were both major sources of inspiration for our title. Like I mentioned, they aren’t being made anymore and we wanted that style of game to continue to exist for those of us that love arcade basketball and for generations like that of my son who have never been able to experience it. Our game is over-the top like Jam, but with more of a “Street” vibe. We have added our own twists with power-ups, collectible cards, tons of new moves, a great soundtrack and obviously with all the current players including LeBron, Curry, Westbrook and ultimately pretty much every current star. Our online component is also more robust and we are going to be supporting the game with regular content updates to keep the community engaged as much as possible.

Rather than going with an ultra-realistic look, NBA Playgrounds seems to be employing an almost cartoony presentation. How did you settle on the final art style?
If you want ultra-realistic, 2K does a fantastic job and that makes perfect sense for a sim, for a game that is as over-the-top as Playgrounds, we felt a more “fanciful” style made sense. The art approach really stemmed from the game type. When I was a kid I had my caricature drawn in NYC by an artist near Central Park I was excited to see how the artist pictured me. I get the same excitement every time I see how we render a character. It is cool, fun and a bit out-of-the ordinary.

How big will the roster be between current and retired players?
Ultimately our goal is to support every player currently in the league and almost all of the retired players. The roster will be well over 500 players within 8-10 months and will keep growing from there.

Can you outline the different modes included in the game?
The game features Exhibition Mode, Local Multiplayer Tournament Mode and Online matches. We are finishing up touches on 1v1, the slam dunk competition and 3-point competition which will drop as free updates soon after launch.

We’ve heard that players can be leveled up in NBA Playgrounds. Can you touch on how that mechanic works in the game?
When you get a player and use him in matches, he gains XP. After acquiring a certain amount of XP his level gets raised from bronze to silver to gold etc. With each new level, that player acquires more moves (crossovers, dunks, passes) that can be used in the game.

Will you be supporting the game with future updates (be it general improvements, content patches, or any sort of roster updates)?
Absolutely. We view this game as an ongoing experience that will grow with the community. It will have roster updates reflecting trades and free agency, new players, new playgrounds and new modes with regular updates.

Will the Switch version contain all features and content present in the other versions?
In short, yes. But I think it’s worth noting that we didn’t just port to Switch, we spent a lot of time making sure it felt perfect on the platform. We started development on this game far before we had details on the Switch, but as we got familiar with the system we fell in love with it. NBA Playgrounds is the ideal game for it.

Are there any plans to use Switch’s unique features such as HD Rumble or having split Joy-Con for local multiplayer?
Absolutely! We’re leveraging every unique feature of the Switch as best we can. Using the Joy-Con for local multiplayer is where NBA Playgrounds truly shines, in my opinion. If memory serves, in Nintendo’s first ad for the Switch it shows some kids playing basketball, then they take a break for some local multiplayer gaming. I can see this happening in real life with our game!

Prior to this project, Saber Interactive hadn’t made a game for a Nintendo platform. What’s the experience been like in terms of working with Nintendo and receiving access to Switch development hardware? Did you reach out to Nintendo or was it the other way around?
We have been talking to Nintendo for years. In fact there was great interest in our game TimeShift back in 2007 and we were close to a deal on that. Many of our team members in Spain have worked on Nintendo platforms before and so there was definitely familiarity. Nintendo loves this game, so we were able to get dev kits quickly and have taken full advantage of that,

How has it been developing NBA Playgrounds on Switch in comparison to the other versions?
It has been surprisingly easy and smooth. My guys were thrilled with how quickly we had it up and running. We spent a lot of time on refinements, but in general the Switch is quite developer-friendly.

Is Saber Interactive working on any future projects targeted for Switch? If not, do you hope to work with the platform again in the future?
Yes, we are going to be putting Shaq Fu on the Switch as well as a new motocross title. We are also have a shooter coming out -not Quake! -that is a candidate for the Switch as well as it is 4-person coop and perfect for the platform. More on that soon!

Any final thoughts you’d like to share about NBA Playgrounds or Saber Interactive in general?
I am more excited about NBA Playgrounds than any of Saber’s past titles. Saber has over 400 talented people on our team – and yet remains widely unknown – but I think that will change as we push into new territory. We’re proud to be independent yet able to secure a license as powerful as the NBA We have worked on games such as Halo, the new Quake, TimeShift, and a host of other titles. NBA Playgrounds is our first game conceived, funded and developed in-house without any third-party. We are publishing in partnership with a new publisher – Mad Dog – but everything else has been entirely us. The game is super fun and I think it will build a great following.

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Epic Games desvela cómo empezaron a trabajar con Nintendo

Como os contamos el mes pasado, hay una veintena de juegos para Nintendo Switch que están siendo creados con el Unreal Engine 4. Ahora se ha desvelado que Nintendo facilitó a Epic Games el acceso a la consola desde que era un prototipo y que Epic Games llevaba tiempo buscando ofrecer soporte para la marca japonesa.

A partir de la conferencia "Switch & Unreal: Making Game Development More Unreal" que han leído Takayakuki Kawasaki y Noriaki Shinoyama en el Unreal Fest West '17 han trascendido nuevos detalles sobre la relación entre Epic Games y Nintendo.

En la conferencia han desvelado que Epic Games llevaba tiempo queriendo dar apoyo tecnológico a Nintendo, pero no habían podido sincronizarse bien en los últimos años. Según ha explicado Kawasaki, Epic no podía negociar con Nintendo hasta que no tuvo sede propia en Japón con Epic Games Japan, lo que sucedió en 2009. Sin embargo, cuando se lanzó Wii U la compañía ya había puesto fecha final al soporte a su motor Unreal Engine 3.

Con Nintendo Switch el proceso ha sido diferente a como había sido hasta ahora en la relación pasada entre ambas compañías y se ha desvelado que Nintendo facilitó los materiales de desarrollo a Epic Games cuando la consola estaba todavía en fase de prototipo.

Nintendo podría haber reconocido la importancia de contar con el apoyo tecnológico de Epic Games porque durante los años de Wii U recibieron multitud de solicitudes de información sobre Unreal Engine 3 y Wii U. En esa época, Nintendo empezó a tener contacto directo con Kawasaki.

Cuando la consola entonces conocida solo como NX, Nintendo vio que los desarrolladores estaban interesados en poder usar el Unreal Engine 4 para crear juegos para la que iba a ser su próxima consola. La comunicación entre Nintendo y Epic Games empezó, por tanto, muy pronto en lo relativo a los planes para Nintendo Switch.

Los beneficios de la arquitectura de Switch

Mitsuyoshi destacó que, a diferencia de las anteriores consolas de Nintendo, Switch cuenta con una arquitectura basada en el PC, lo que es útil para motores de creación de juego y herramientas middleware, por lo que consideran que Switch es una consola mucho más abierta para la creación de herramientas que los anteriores sistemas de la compañía.

Además, Nintendo Switch está ya en la rama principal de programación del Unreal Engine 4, es decir, la empleada para PC, Xbox One y PS4, lo que se alcanzó en la versión 4.15 de este motor.

Esto atañe a la versión comercial del motor, pero el Unreal Engine 4 también puede usarse en una vertiente gratuita. En este caso, Switch estará plenamente integrada a partir de la versión 4.16, que llegará a mediados de este mes de mayo. El soporte para Switch en esta versión estará disponible solo para los desarrolladores registrados oficialmente en el programa de creación de videojuegos de Nintendo.

La facilidad de tener versiones para Switch

Según mostraron a través de una demo centrada en un vehículo, los desarrolladores tan solo tienen que crear sus contenidos y exportar la versión para Switch con tan solo pulsar en una opción. A partir de ahí, los desarrolladores tienen que realizar ajustes para optimizar el rendimiento, pero conseguir la primera versión no supone ningún esfuerzo adicional para los equipos de desarrollo.

Lo mismo sucede con las opciones de multijugador local, una opción que se activa en Switch en tan solo unos minutos tras definir los parámetros específicos de la consola (si los Joy-Con se sostienen en horizontal o en vertical, por ejemplo).

El motor también ajustar el rendimiento tanto en el uso de Switch como portátil como en su modo de consola conectada a la televisión, permitiendo activar y ajustar los modos de renderizado de imagen para conseguir el renderizado adecuado en cada modo.



La demostración terminó llevando el juego amateur Casa Barragan a Switch. Este título, creado por el desarrollador japonés Makaya Kenichi funcionó simplemente ajustando la resolución a 720p desde el original de PC y explicaron que si se hacían los ajustes de optimización en los modelados de algunos objetos funcionaría a 1080p.

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