Ah the trusty Wii. Originally a game-changer (literally) and enjoyed by millions as a console to help them get into shape, did it really get the use it deserved? How many people dug deep into the range of Wii games on offer, and how many even knew they could download games for the console?

Now inhabiting dusty cupboards and basements, cast aside by those looking for new experiences and excited for the arrival of the Wii U, let’s not forget this great Nintendo invention. It led the way at its launch and its unique interactivity inspired Nintendo’s competition to raise the bar for their own consoles. Plenty of loving care and attention went into making Wii games from Nintendo and third party developers alike, including us indie devs. It’s only fair then that we should salute this great console and the games which made it so much fun to play.

Games Beat asked some key industry figures, including our own Nic Watt, which Wii experiences they think deserved a wider audience. Take a look at this great feature and see how many of these games you’ve played yourself. Who knows, it might be worth dusting down your Wii and firing it up again for some great new experiences. Remember, it’s not gone yet!

We’ve always thought Mark Serrels from Kotaku Australia was an entertaining journalist so when he won Best Games Journalist at this year’s Australia/New Zealand IT Journalism Awards, we weren’t really surprised. We’ve been trying to get Mark round to our office for a while now but his busy schedule has made it difficult. However, he managed to find some time to visit a few weeks ago and this entertaining and informative article is the result. We really like it!

An Audience With Nnooo: EscapeVektor, Spirit Hunters And Designing Games With Post-It Notes

Australian-based developer Nnooo recently invited us to visit its studio, based in Pyrmont, Sydney, to talk game development, taking risks, and how to design a video game using Post-It notes.

Post-It notes. Everywhere you look. Impossible to escape. Covered in silhouettes, random designs, mazes, outlines. Organised in shapes. Meta Post-It notes – not just for scribbles, but for the framework of things. Master plans doused in yellow. A yellow-print.

I’ve just entered Nnooo headquarters. A handshake from Creative Director Nic Watt later and I’m drawn to the main wall of the office. I walk past in a hypnotic daze, almost cutting Nic off mid-sentence – “why are all these Post-It notes on the wall,” I mutter absently, to no-one in particular. “What do they mean…”

My eyes begin scouring, entranced in this sea of yellow and biro.

Click here for the rest of Mark’s article

One of the great things about being in the US for E3 was that we were able to get our hands on June’s edition of Nintendo Power magazine. We love Nintendo Power but we love June’s edition even more than usual. “Why is this?” you may ask. Well, because it features 2 articles on our upcoming games, that’s why!

Have a look at the Spirit Hunters Inc and the escapeVektor: Chapter 1 articles below. Just click on each image to make it bigger.

Another one of our GDC interviews has recently appeared online. This one is a podcast interview with the Experimental Game Dev Podcast Show (see our GDC Diary, Part 2). In it, Nic & Bruce talk about why we developed the myLifeCollected range for DSiWare and how these apps influenced the making of Spirit Hunters Inc. We also talk about Pop/Pop Plus: Solo and escapeVektor, and why we make games for consoles rather than mobile phones or PCs.

Click here to be taken to the podcast

We were recently contacted by the Indie Games Channel for a written interview. As well as asking Nic about the background to escapeVektor and Spirit Hunters Inc, they were keen to learn more about the game development process and the challenges of making games for different platforms. Finally, Nic has some advice for new development studios. (more…)

As promised, we’re putting up all of the published interviews with Nic at GDC this year. First up is his interview with News 10 on Australia’s lack of an R18+ rating for video games, featured in part 3 of our GDC Diary. (more…)

Wednesday March 2nd – Frankenstein Creations and Positive Vibes

Our first full day at GDC started with Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata’s keynote conference speech. His theme was “Video Games turn 25” and it was fascinating to hear him talk about his experience of working with Shigeru Miyamoto, how the industry has developed over the last 25 years, where he thinks it will go from here, and of course that well documented dig at mobile games! It was a nicely balanced talk, about the good and the bad of the video games industry, made all the more impressive by the fact that English isn’t his mother tongue. You can see the whole talk here. (more…)

It has been a long time coming but at last the New South Wales government has produced an initiative which will help the state’s independent games community. This might go some way towards closing the gap which currently exists between the industry-supportive Queensland & Victorian governments and New South Wales. The initiative takes the form of a $1.5m fund per annum for the next 3 years, available to eligible businesses immediately. Eligible businesses include games studios and mobile or online content developers with funding categories ranging from early stage development through to established businesses looking to accelerate their growth to the next stage of development. Support is also available to attend international markets and trade fairs such as GDC in San Francisco. For more information click here.

Want some cool free stuff for the holiday season? Then look no further. A free game, some free wallpaper and avatars for Spirit Hunters Inc and other cool indie games, and a free online advent calendar to count down the days to Christmas! Just click on the image below to take you to your mission!

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Matt Sainsbury from website gamesandbiz recently paid us a visit, chatted to Nic about Nnooo (present and future), the 3DS and other palatforms, then took a few pics.  See below for the full interview or click here for a link to the gamesandbiz site for the interview and pics.

Q & A Interview with Nnooo creative director, Nic Watt

UK-born, Nic Watt’s pet project, Nnooo, has found remarkable success from a digital download platform that many dismiss – thanks in large part to Nintendo’s DSiWare platform, Watt has expanded his small team to four, and is now on the hunt for a senior programmer to expand further.

He sat down with us to have a chat around being a start up, the challenges of developing on other platforms (Nnooo also has WiiWare and iPhone games available, and is looking at the PlayStation Network), and makes some predictions for the future. (more…)