Author: Trafficblast

Nintendo is making an animated Mario movie with Minions and Despicable Me company Illumination Entertainment. This was finally confirmed in January. Now, Nintendo has shared some further details about the much-anticipated movie, including the fact that Nintendo is not afraid to back away from the project if the idea is not compelling enough.

In the English translation of a recent investor Q&A, Shigeru Miyamoto, who is producing the film, started off by saying he has been thinking about an animated movie for “many years now.” He said some wondered why Nintendo didn’t do this faster, as some believe “making a game is like making a movie.” But that’s not necessarily the case.

“Interactive experiences are completely different from non-interactive media, and to make a movie I want a film expert to do the work,” Miyamoto said about Illumination.

Miyamoto went on to say that he began discussions with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri (who picked up an Oscar nomination for Despicable Me 2) more than two years ago. “Chris is extremely cost-conscious and time-conscious in his quest to make successful movies,” Miyamoto said. Meledandri is also producing the untitled Mario movie.

Perhaps more notably, Miyamoto added that Nintendo and Illumination might decide to back away from making a Mario movie if the script doesn’t live up to their standards. Right now, the screenplay is “progressing,” Miyamoto said, though it remains to be seen who the writers are. In Hollywood, just because a movie has been announced, doesn’t mean it will ever happen.

“We’ve talked together and share the feeling that if we can’t make something interesting we’ll just call it quits,” Miyamoto said. “But we’ve already met a number of times to hash out the screenplay, our talks together are progressing, and I hope to make an announcement once we’ve ironed out some things like the schedule.”

As previously reported, the plan is for the movie to be in theatres before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020; that’s also when Nintendo hopes to have the Super Nintendo Land theme park open at Universal in Japan.

Miyamoto has previously experimented with film, even releasing a series of Pikmin shorts. Last year, Nintendo made it clear it was interested in expanding to films but that it would like to do “more than just license something.”

1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was a critical and commercial failure, with star Bob Hoskins–who played Mario–said it was the worst movie he’s ever been a part of.

Over the years, Nintendo has been very hesitant to bring its franchises–which with Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and others are among the biggest names in all of entertainment–to movies and TV. Given their prominence in the entertainment world, Hollywood has surely come knocking for adapatations, and now it appears Nintendo is finally moving ahead. Netflix was reportedly interested in making a Zelda TV show, though this never happened.

As for why Nintendo is looking at more licensing deals, Kimishima said in 2016 that fewer and fewer young people are finding out about Nintendo games through…games.Instead, they’re discovering Nintendo and its characters through things like officially licensed Mario toothbrushes. So you can expect these kinds of licensing deals to continue and possibly increase, Kimishima said at the time.

For more on Nintendo’s latest investor Q&A, check out the stories linked below.

Typically, console generations run for around 5-6 years. With some amount of deviation, this has generally been true for consoles from the big three: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

But Nintendo believes its new system, the Switch, could potentially run for a longer period of time. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto said during a recent investor Q&A that he believes the Switch stands to be successful for a long time to come due to its unique hybrid nature and Nintendo’s efforts to create compelling content that leverages the system’s unique attributes.

“When you think about what can be done with the Nintendo Switch as a device that can be taken on the go and that every person has in their hands to play, you realise it has many features not available on any other hardware to date,” Miyamoto said. “Nintendo also has a system in place whereby the software developers focus on these hardware features in their development efforts for the continuation of the Nintendo Switch business.”

He added: “Up until now, the hardware lifecycle has trended at around five or six years, but it would be very interesting if we could prolong that life cycle, and I think you should be looking forward to that.”

Nintendo director Shinya Takahashi went on to say that the company is working with “junior” developers inside the company to continue to “create interesting products” that are both fun to play and reach a wide audience.

“Behind the unceasing stream of Nintendo Switch software releases to date is an approach to development that concentrates on development, itself the fruit of efforts several years ago to integrate the software development teams, which has made it easier to organise teams.”

By comparison, the Wii U was released in 2012, with production ending globally in January 2017. The Switch launched in March 2017, going on surpass the lifetime sales of the Wii U after just 10 months. If Nintendo’s prediction comes true and the Switch has a lifecycle longer than 5-6 years, we could see it still in the market into 2023 and potentially beyond depending on how things go.

Some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises have already been released on the Switch (Super Mario, Mario Kart, and Zelda are among them) but fans are still waiting for a Super Smash Bros. game. Given that it is one of Nintendo’s biggest and best-known franchises, we can expect it to eventually come to Switch, though it remains to be seen when that may happen.

For more on Nintendo’s latest investor Q&A, check out the stories linked below.

Attack on Titan fans, hold onto your omni-gear. Season one, part one of the anime is available digitally from the Microsoft Store right now for the low, low price of free.

The first 13 episodes of the story following orphaned children turned soldiers Eren, Armin, and Mikasa will be free of will be free of charge until February 14. It’s the perfect chance to pick up a digital version of the series to binge with your sweetheart this Valentines Day, or watch on your own because anime deserves your undivided love and attention.. We don’t recommend this one with dinner, however. Download it from the Microsoft Store here.

Attack on Titan is far from the only anime with its prices slashed on the Microsoft store. There are plenty of other fan favorites, such as Fairy Tail, Eureka Seven, Dragon Ball Z, A Certain Magical Index, and more currently on sale here.

In other Attack on Titan news, Attack on Titan 2, the video game, will launch on March 20. We’ve already gotten good look at the forthcoming game’s multiplayer and battle systems, as well how it preforms on Switch.

For anime fans, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2018. The year started out strong with Dragon Ball FighterZ, which is full of references to classic moments from Dragon Ball Z and a new story for fans to enjoy. But it’s not the only anime game coming out this year; Sword Art Online, One Piece, Naruto, and more are all getting new titles.

In the video above, you can check out all the big anime games confirmed for 2018 so far. It includes only games based on existing anime getting Western releases. Be sure to check out our anime games in 2018 gallery for more details about each game.

If you’re curious about 2018 in general, you can check out our features on Switch exclusives, PS4 exclusives, Xbox One exclusives, and PC exclusives. There’s also a wealth of exciting games coming out in 2018 that aren’t necessarily exclusive to one platform or another, so be sure to check out our individual features highlighting the most anticipated PS4 games, Xbox One games, PC games, and Switch games for a broader look at the year ahead.

For more on anime, be sure to check out our gallery of the biggest anime to watch in 2018. If you’re looking for recommendations of shows to watch, see the best anime available on Netflix and our top 10 anime of 2017.