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Rumors had been circling for a while that Yuji Naka, famed head of Sega’s internal development studio Sonic Team, was going to be leaving Sega. Finally, on May 8th, the rumors were confirmed that as of June 1, 2006, Naka would be leaving Sega and forming his own development studio, Prope. The Prope website leaves this little explanation for the name:
“PROPE” (pronounced “pro-pe”) is a Latin word which means “beside” and “near” future.
We named our company PROPE in the hopes of bringing game entertainment much closer to users, establishing closer ties between users and us, and creating near future entertainment.
Naka isn’t cutting off all ties with Sega; Sega will be investing 10% of the $90,000 startup cost for the studio, and the US and European branches of Sega have already committed to publishing games from the new development house. The reasoning behind the split is less clear, and Business Week has a few ideas on why this might have happened.
One issue is Sega’s current lack of A-list titles on the market; since the Dreamcast failed, Sega’s game quality has been by and large sliding. Certain properties, like Virtua Fighter and Super Monkey Ball have been hits in the past, but they really haven’t been the mega-hits like Sonic was when it first hit the States. Sega might have felt that shaking up more of its development studios would help get some creativity and originality back. Certainly, this happened when Sega originally divided the various AM teams into more segmented studios, but in time, most of the developers either left Sega or were folded back into the corporation.
It is also possible that the slide of recent Sonic games into kind of a B-list property may have forced Sega’s hand in pushing Naka away. Certainly there is precedent for this; Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Gameboy, would be one such story. Despite the huge success of the Gameboy, the failure of the Virtual Boy would lead to his ouster. This could be a strong possibility for letting Naka go, while still keeping some ties in case he can “recapture the magic” in the eyes of Sega corporate. Or, this could be just a case where Naka felt like his options were constrained working in the Sega environment. This seems a little less likely, since Sega has allowed Naka a great deal of leeway in the past to pursue other projects.
Ultimately, while Sega is keeping some measure of connection to Yuji Naka, having the creator of one of the most important franchises in Sega history is a huge moment, and hopefully, Naka can unleash more creativity in the future to bring great gaming to the public.
Read More 
| Businessweek.com
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Live From E3: Fun Wii Facts Confirmed
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: E3, Fighting, Nintendo, Wii,
We’re well aware things have been a bit sparse over here, but we have tons of video we’re working on editing, encoding and sending upwards on a ridiculously finicky internet connection. Sit tight, because some of the things we have in store are pretty damn cool.
ANYway, we got into the invite-only portion of the Wii demos and I was able to speak to a few Nintendo employees for their take on the name, questions about the Wiimote and anything else that crossed my mind.
Here are some of the facts we were able to confirm:
- At Launch:
The Wii will ship the same way most every Nintendo console system has: Wii Remote (Wiimote, get it?), Nunchuk and console, with no games. The classic controller will not be included. - Accessorizing:
The default purchase package for additional controllers will all include the Nunchuk as well. You won’t have to purchase it separately, though they weren’t able to comment on price.
Find out more about the Wii Remote’s battery situation, licensing old titles, what they thought of the name and more, after the jump.
Click to continue reading Live From E3: Fun Wii Facts Confirmed
Live From E3: Lemmings For PSP
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: E3, PSP, Release Dates, Reviews, Screenshots,
I’ve played Lemmings since it was a DOS game on a single 1.44 MB floppy and absolutely loved its crazy, maniacally difficult levels, with classic MIDI music in the background and only one goal: Get the green-haired somethings out alive. I played it on the SNES and then Lemmings Revolution which attempted to be in 3D. All good times. So without fail, I sat down and played my way (successfully) through a level of Lemmings for the PSP. It’s nice to see such a fun franchise hasn’t died.
The graphics for Lemmings were what you’d expect. They’ve gone back to the 2D platform concept, but the textures and artwork were especially nice. The controls were a bit weird at first, but I figured them out soon enough, and was especially thankful for the fast-forward button—a true innovation that’s been a long time coming for Lemmings. It’ll be available May 23rd, 2006 and includs over 150 levels. They also include a level editor that I didn’t get a chance to play with, but really have no idea how easy it might be to use on the PSP. You can even upload and download new levels and share them with all your Lemmings-loving friends. That’s right. All of them.
Smash Bros. Dojo Opens
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Corporate News, E3, Trailers, Wii,
Since Nintendo’s surprise announcement of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Smash Bros. Dojo has opened. The Dojo currently features excerpts from Weekly Famitsu, where the creator of the game, Masahiro Sakurai, on how the Wii version of the game came to be. There is also a music section, featuring a track from the soundtrack created by famed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. Finally, the sneak trailer shown at E3 is also online, and it is here that viewers can see the upgraded character models and environments, plus a peek at some of the new characters in the game, including MetaKnight from the Kirby series, Wario, Zero Suit Samus, Pit from Kid Icarus, and possibly the most unexpected character, Snake, from the Metal Gear Series. The site promises more information in the future, including more in depth character information.
Read More | Smash Bros. Dojo.
Heavenly Sword, Genji 2, Resistance Sites Launched
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, PlayStation 3, Screenshots, Trailers,
The official game sites for Heavenly Sword, Genji 2, and Resistance: The Fall of Man have been launched on Playstation.com, in conjunction with their related announcements at E3. The sites feature screenshots and wallpapers, and in the case of Resistance, a preview trailer.
Heavenly Sword will feature motion capture from Andy Serkis, of Lord of the Rings fame, and the screenshots certainly capture a very lush environment. The character models, and storyline recall a certain similarity to the recent Prince of Persia games.
Genji 2 appears to offer more detail, in both surroundings and character models, and seems to bring more enemies onscreen than its Playstation 2 parent.
The best of the three, perhaps, is the site for Resistance: The Fall of Man. Insomniac, probably best known for both the Spyro and Ratchet and Clank games, returns to its roots, somewhat, with the development of a first-person shooter. The last game seen from Insomniac in this vein would have been Disruptor on the Playstation. The official site offers a trailer in both 720P and 480P formats; the trailer shows action that appears to be similar to Half Life, with alien weirdness mixed with military style action.
Read More | Heavenly Sword @ Playstation.com
Read More | Genji 2 @ Playstation.com
Read More | Resistance: Fall of Man @ Playstation.com
Chris Bateman at the Only A Game weblog has parsed through a first pass at the results from their recent DGD survey. The survey sought to isolate game play styles from gamers that identify themselves as either hardcore, casual or unknown. From there a series of questions was asked to attempt to determine if there were fundamental differences between how gamers that identify themselves as hardcore play games and those consider themselves more of a casual gamer. The survey tracked 319 respondents, not a particularly huge sample size, and the survey sample may not have been a really varied cross-section of the gaming public, but the results are interesting nonetheless. The largest finding so far is that “hardcore” gamers did not play games in a significantly different way than the average respondent. However, there were differences in some survey questions that did have a statistically significant variance between “casual” and “hardcore” gamers: essentially, the hardcore gamer will values mastery of a game and completion more than a casual gamer, and will generally be more concerned about a game’s difficulty level.
Read More | Only A Game
Read More | DGD1 Survey
Official Wii Site Updated
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Screenshots, Trailers, Wii,
Post E3 Nintendo Press Conference, the Nintendo Wii website has been updated with new content. Gamers can find gameplay trailers, demonstrating how the controller will interact with the various announced games, including Zelda: Twilight Princess,Super Mario Galaxy,Metroid Prime 3. In addition, some gameplay clips are shown from a variety of other games, including:
- Dragon Quest Swords
- Fire Emblem
- Tony Hawk Downhill
- Sengoku Action
- Excite Truck
- Red Steel
- Rayman 4
- Sonic Wild Fire
- Final Fantasy Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
- Madden
- Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
...and many others. Some of the controller actions in the new Wario Ware game look totally insane, and it will be interesting to see how much 3rd party acceptance the new controller gets. At the very least, however, it looks like gamers can expect some excellent first party titles from Nintendo. There are hardware details as well, including information on wireless networking, and support for old Gamecube controllers. And at least so far, there aren’t two SKUs for the Wii, meaning that no one will have to choose between a core and extended Wii configuration.
Read More | Wii.Nintendo.com
Wii Hardware Pics, Empty Shells And More
Posted by John Goulden Categories: E3, Hardware, Nintendo, Wii,
Sure, you’ve seen shots of the Nintendo Wii before, but here are some fresh from E3. Note the sensor bar for the Wii Controller, and the Zapper concept which takes a standard controller and gives it an easier to use form-factor for shooting games. Also of note is the Classic style which will come in handy for Virtual Console games. If you’re not familiar with Virtual Console, think of it as all of your old Nintendo favorites reincarnated for the Wii and available for download.
The unofficial word in the Nintendo booth is that most, if not all, of the Wii units available for play are merely mock-ups. A Nintendo representative did tell us that there were “a few working Wii systems”, but declined to mention if any of them were present at the E3 booth.
Click to continue reading Wii Hardware Pics, Empty Shells And More
Nintendo of Japan Shows Classic Controller
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Hardware, Wii,
One of the forum members on Maxconsole.net found some images of the Wii controller and the actions it supports, as well as the new Wii Classic Controller.
The site shows some of the Wii controller stuff that is already known, including the pointer, shake, rumble, and sound functions, but also shows off the Classic Controller.
The new Classic Controller has a d-pad, and two analog sticks, but the arrangement of the buttons is more like a PS2 controller, while the shape is the ovoid shape of the classic Super Nintendo joypad. The controller has a wire, unfortunately, but there are enough buttons to handle standard NES, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64 games. The button layout may be a little weird for Gamecube games, but standard Gamecube controllers can be connected to the Wii, so this shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
[The Classic controller actually plugs into the nunchuk port on the Wii’s standard controller. And the second analog stick acts as the C-button control set for N64 games. We had a chance to play with it, and it actually works stunningly well.—Chris Cardinal]
Read More | Nintendo.co.jp via Maxconsole.net
Live From E3: Wii Kicks Ass, Takes Names, Hella Fun
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: E3, Nintendo, Wii,
We got our hands on Wii and it’s absolutely amazing. The controller is comfortable and intuitive and moves as you’d expect. The force feedback is meaningful and not just superfluous, indicating gently that you’ve hit the tennis ball or fired your gun. I had a chance to play Wii Sports: Tennis and Wii Sports: Baseball. Baseball was a bit of a challenge, because I actually had to hold the controller like a bat.
The Nintendo booth guy kept reminding me to keep my back elbow straight (advice I hadn’t heard for years) and to not forget about the follow through. I was absolutely amazed by how fluid the bat moved in response to my actual motions. Move the bat around in a circle on your shoulder and the bat rotates on your character’s shoulder in time. Take a swing, and the trajectory is mapped to the game for either a successful home run or one of many foul tips.
Tennis was a lot of fun, and I found it surprising at first that both games relied very little on the controller’s buttons. We have a lot of video coming up of Wii, since Nintendo’s massive-yet-still-crammed booth is where we spent the first four hours of today, but I wanted to get this preliminary post out to let you all know we’re working on covering everything we can. Wii seems to be the most popular attraction so far, but that’s just at a cursory glance, and apparently there are at least a few people trying to get into the PS3 demo.
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