Nintendophiles 04.09.09: Silent Hill, Star Fox, Fatal Frame IV

Posted by Theo Fraser on 04.09.2009

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is detailed in this week’s Nintendophiles, along with Miyamoto’s future projects, the status of Fatal Frame IV in the US, MotionPlus issues, and future plans for the Star Fox franchise. Come on inside for all the latest Nintendo news!





Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Nintendophiles! Here at 411mania we're all in recovery mode after Wrestlemania this weekend, and the fallout from the biggest wrestling show of the year always means it's a crazy busy time here at the site. So be sure to bookmark us or set us as your homepage so you don't miss out on a single story. Alternatively, check out our new Twitter pages and feel free to ‘follow' us. Twitter.com/411mania is the place to head, or if you'd like to follow the Games channel specifically, go to Twitter.com/411games. Enjoy!

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Silent Hill: Shattered Memories heads to the Wii
Credit: Nintendo Power, IGN

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that reports had surfaced surrounding the notion of Silent Hill making its way to the Wii. This past week, Konami have made it official as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was officially unveiled; a ‘re-imagining' of the original Silent Hill game, if you will. Konami have stressed that it is not a remake or a port; the basic plotline is the same (following Harry Mason's search for his lost daughter), but the order of events has been messed up, NPCs will be found in different locations, and new routes will be available to you. This will be an entirely new experience for you, even if you know the original inside-out.





Appearing on PS2 and PSP as well, the Wii version of course stands to benefit from motion control. The Wii remote becomes Mason's torch as well as his mobile phone, the latter allowing you to take photos and act as a GPS. We can also expect puzzles to require direct interaction, probably involving a twisty-turny-shaky mechanic that is standard fare for this type of thing.

What does sound pretty exciting is the concept of ‘Psyche Profiling'. Exact specifics of how this will work are a little sketchy at present, but the game will apparently monitor your actions, such as which areas you tend to explore first, the type of items you examine, and your reactions to other characters (inferring the inclusion of a BioWare-esque dialog tree for every conversation). The game will begin to take this on board and your ensuing experience will dynamically change ever so slightly. I really hope Konami properly detail this feature very soon; it potentially sounds pretty advanced, and I'd like to know if it's something I should be getting amped about. Konami are evidently looking to provide a rich atmosphere, with subtle visual adjustments taking place as you play through the game. A cynic might just read this as ‘a weather cycle' but at this stage I'm reserving judgement to see if they have something a bit more complex planned.

A promising start, for sure. As with most game announcements around this sort of time, we can probably expect to see a playable version demoed at this year's E3 event.

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Miyamoto speaks on future projects
Credit: 1UP

Shigeru Miyamoto, you sexy, sexy man. I'd hazard a guess that every Nintendo fan is at least a little bit in love with Miyamoto-san for bringing us so much joy throughout our gaming life. And as such, it's always a big occasion when he starts talking about his latest gaming projects. Talking with 1UP, Miyamoto mentioned the need to mess around with unique, fresh concepts, whilst also delivering the old school Marios and Zeldas that the hardcore fans crave.





Miyamoto: [My future direction] is not anything I can really put into words. I'm not wholly satisfied with how things are today, but I think at the very least we've established a playing field where people are willing to accept it when you try something new. So I think I'd like to try making something more unique.

Also, myself and my staff are best at making action games, so I'd like to find a way to communicate the fun of games past to a wider range of people. Those are the two sides to Nintendo's business. Nobody knows how the next generation is going to turn out, but it's easy to think of the customer as the main axle. I don't directly ask our customers, but I do think about what they'd want from my perspective as a regular person, and my work stems from there.

That's what I'm focused on; what I can create to make that happen. I think we'll be able to make a variety of announcements this year. I think it's really interesting, devoting energy to figuring out what we can provide for our customers.

I want to make games that are intuitively fun and haven't been done before; games that make you enjoy owning a DS and glad there's a Wii in your home. From that perspective, I think we need more 'clutch' games like that. We're making Mario and Zelda too, of course, so don't worry.


Phew, that's OK then! It sounds as if Miyamoto wants to produce these ‘clutch' games alongside the new Mario/Zelda outings, as opposed to dumbing down Nintendo's key franchises to fit in with the casual market, as had been feared for some time. I found that to be a particularly fascinating little interview; from Miyamoto's words, it strikes me that we could be entering a new ‘phase' of Wii titles from Nintendo. Now that the casual market has been established, it almost seems as if Miyamoto now wants to bridge the gap between the two audiences (core and casual), hence his comments regarding action games, and how to make them attractive to a wider range of audiences.

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'No Star Fox for the foreseeable future' - Cuthbert
Credit: G4

Fox McCloud fans will want to pay attention to this one. In a recent interview with G4, Dylan Cuthbert, founder of Q-Games and someone who played a large role in the creation of the original Star Fox, spoke out about the possibility of working on the franchise again (having also been involved in Star Fox 64 and the recent Star Fox Command on the DS). Judging by his comments, I wouldn't hold out hope for a Cuthbert-aided Star Fox any time soon.


G4: Would you like to do another Star Fox game?

Dylan Cuthbert: (Laughter) After Command? Uhh, not yet. Maybe in another 10 years. I've made three.

G4: Well there hasn't been one for the Wii yet...

Cuthbert: The problem with that is that it'd be a big project, like 100 people on the staff. It's just not something we really want to do. I'm sure someone will make it. Maybe they'll go back to Namco.

G4: I hope not, personally. (laughs) I'd rather you did it.

Cuthbert: Well, maybe in the future, you never know. Star Fox is an interesting brand. It has a very hardcore audience. People like those furries a little too much. (laughs)

G4: Oh! People are going to love that quote. (laughs) I have to ask you, why do you think it was always difficult for developers when Fox got out of the Arwing. Fox is a pilot, but they'd always get him out of…like the tank, the tank was cool, but it still felt like an Arwing - Why do you think people wanted to take him out of being a pilot and have him run around on foot?

Cuthbert: I think that's all Miyamoto. Whenever I speak to Miyamoto about Star Fox, he says it's not meant to be just a flying, sci-fi shooting game. It's meant to be anything we want to think up. But the core fans don't want that, but Miyamoto doesn't really care about that. He wants to make what he wants to make, so he just goes ahead and gets it done.






So yes, we could still be seeing a Star Fox title on the Wii sometime soon, but it likely won't be the kind we're used to. Cuthbert clearly isn't passionate about the Wii, and you really need to be passionate about the console you're developing for, so it's no real surprise he's yet to work on it. It's interesting to note that Miyamoto is the one who says Star Fox shouldn't just be about the flying; with that in mind, I really doubt we'll ever get a ‘proper' Arwing-based Starfox game again. Due to the influence of Super Smash Bros., Fox McCloud has become somewhat of a Nintendo personality, and Nintendo likely don't want to lose that by restricting him to the pilot's seat.

On a slight side note, it'll be interesting to see if Nintendo do have any imminent plans for the Star Fox franchise. A Star Fox Wii title has been rumoured for well over a year, but then again, so has Pilot Wings and F-Zero, and neither of those have materialised just yet. All eyes will be focused on Nintendo's E3 conference, that's for sure.

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MotionPlus: Too sensitive?
Credit: Tech Radar

An interesting little tidbit concerning the MotionPlus accessory came about this week in an interview with Thomas Singleton, Producer for EA's Grand Slam Tennis. The interview hyped the development process of Grand Slam Tennis, and talk soon moved to the technology behind MotionPlus. According to Singleton, Nintendo may have made the device a little too sensitive.


Singleton: It truly is giving you that one-to-one control movement of your arm motion and then mapping it directly to that one-to-one movement of your character on screen. At times it's overly responsive. It had so much fidelity that at times we have limited that fidelity to make it a compelling experience and giving you full total control.


For a start, it's great to get some unbiased views on the gadget, explaining that the concept of offering one-to-one control does actually work. As far as it being ‘overly responsive', I wouldn't be too worried about this. As Singleton states, a developer can limit the fidelity to a level they feel comfortable with. I could see this potentially being abused (i.e. lazy developers promoting MotionPlus inclusion but then only partially implementing it to save any hassle), but it means a developer should never be overwhelmed by what the device can offer. If a developer has the time and/or resources to dedicate to mapping a fully one-to-one control system, so be it. One would hope Nintendo are one such developer!

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Fatal Frame IV denied US release
Credit: IGN



Well this has ‘epic fail' written all over it. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was released in Japan last July to much critical acclaim, and fans eagerly awaited its arrival on US shores. The title was published by Nintendo itself in Japan, which pretty much guaranteed a worldwide release. At least, you would have thought so. But having confirmed that Nintendo wouldn't be involved in the title's publication in the US this time last year, it has only now been revealed that the game won't be coming to the US period. A spokesperson from Tecmo gave us an official explanation:


Nintendo holds the publishing rights to 'Fatal Frame Wii,' which was developed by Tecmo LTD. and Grasshopper Manufacture and released in Japan on July 31, 2008. Nintendo of America has since then decided not to publish the title in North America – consequently, the title will not be released in this territory. As the owner of the IP, Tecmo feels very unfortunate that the fans of the series in North America will not have a chance to play the game, but respects the final decision made by Nintendo of America.


This comes just a few days after the title was announced as heading to Europe within the next two months. Yep, makes no sense to me either. The Fatal Frame franchise has a rich history to draw on, so it was hardly denied a release for fear of poor sales. There are also other far more adult titles currently on sale, so it can't be to do with censorship either. I guess Nintendo must have a valid reason, but as far as I'm concerned it's a poor move on their part.

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The 411 Games Crew

Mark Salmela returns to captain the ship known as B3yond the Report.

Joe Roche checks in with The Full Circle: 360 News Report.

What If? features Greg Bruno, Armando Rodriguez and Todd Vote discussing the idea of Friends being turned into a shooter!

Mark Salmela also has another edition of Games Only a Mother Could Love, looking at Supreme Warrior.

Trace Aber presents Living LIVE.

Discussions on what titles deserve to get the HD remix treatment is the order of the day in this week's 411 Games Top 5.

Reality Check is a brand new column by 411 Games newbie Alexandra Pusateri. Give her a warm welcome and check out the debut edition!

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