Posts Tagged ‘wiiware’

PRESS RELEASE: escapeVektor release dates and prices announced

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Sydney, December 12 2012

PRESS RELEASE: escapeVektor release dates and prices announced

Nnooo is pleased to announce that escapeVektor™ will be released on the Nintendo 3DS™ and PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) on the following dates in December:

December 19 – PS Vita release in Europe and Australia/New Zealand for €9.99/AUD$15.95/NZD$18.90. This will be available on the PlayStation®Store.
December 20 – Nintendo 3DS release via the Nintendo eShop in US, Europe and Australia/New Zealand for US$9.99/€9.99/AUD$13/NZD$17. (more…)

Indie Bits features

Monday, May 21st, 2012

We were recently featured twice on local indie support site Indie Bits. The aim of the site is “to help people go indie in the games industry and make a living doing what they love”. It’s a great site full of case studies, guides, workshops, book and tool resources and even a few rants. All designed to help the indie community in their quest to make games for a living.

This site is useful whether you’re thinking about starting up a games company, have just done so or even if you’ve been going for a few years. Take a while to explore the site and see how much it has to offer. Follow its creator, Epona Schweer, for a constant source of useful information on going indie.

In the first Nnooo feature, Epona interviewed Nic for a startup case study. She wanted to know about Pop on WiiWare, the first game we released. She also wanted to know why Nic went indie and what lessons we learned from making Pop. There are some useful insights here for aspiring developers.

The second feature is a video interview with Nic at a local IGDA Sydney playtesting event. There’s also a Developer Data Box, which details some useful information on the company, including how much it cost us to make Pop and how much revenue it generated in the first year.

Nintendo Nation interviews Nic

Monday, March 5th, 2012

It’s almost time for us to fly out to San Francisco for this year’s Game Developers Conference. We’ve got an early build of escapeVektor on the 3DS to show press and the latest version of Spirit Hunters Inc. We’ve been flat out over the last few weeks making sure everything is prepared.

However, we’re never too busy for an interview. So when The Strikester from Nintendo Nation asked Nic to answer a few questions, he was right on it.

INTERVIEW: NNOOO

The Strikester

What happens when you make a successful WiiWare game? The Strikester talks to Nic Watt, the head of the team behind the hit game escapeVEKTOR.

NN: Congratulations on the success of escapeVEKTOR: Chapter 1 on WiiWare. What was the idea behind it?

NW: The idea came from several places. Firstly we wanted to make a new WiiWare game and thought that doing something fun and stylish with depth would appeal to the Nintendo market. Secondly we wanted to make something we could ensure would give the best game-play and graphics we could achieve with not only our resources but also within the confines of the WiiWare service.

I really like the idea of having a person trapped inside the player’s Wii and having to go through games to get out. This sparked the idea of a series of games telling the tales of Vektor, how he became trapped in your Wii and his subsequent escape. escapeVektor is only one part of that story.

Click here for the rest of the interview

GDC 2012 – Nnooo announces escapeVektor for new platforms

Friday, February 24th, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: GDC announcement – Nnooo announces PlayStation®Vita and Nintendo 3DS™ versions of escapeVektor™

Australian based games developer Nnooo has revealed their award-winning game escapeVektor will be coming to both the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. escapeVektor is a retro styled arcade game in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the console’s CPU.

The player has to help Vektor escape the CPU which has been holding him captive. In making his escape, Vektor must get through obstacles and avoid enemies, each with different hunting patterns and intelligence. As the player completes the various levels in the game, escape becomes more difficult. New abilities unlock to help the player outwit and destroy the CPU’s army. As the player continues through the game, old code and memories are unlocked which reveal more about Vektor’s past.

“We were delighted by the reception the WiiWare™ version of the game received,” said Nic Watt, Creative Director at Nnooo. “We originally planned to have four Chapters but have now decided to roll them all into one game and bring it out on these new consoles to reach a wider audience.”

The new version of the game will have new enemies and obstacles, plenty of extra levels and online leaderboards. Each console’s unique features will also be highlighted.

“Playing the game in 3D on the Nintendo 3DS is really cool,” said Watt. “With the background to each level pulsing in time to the cool chip-tune soundtrack you really get drawn into game’s environment. For PlayStation Vita players we hope to make use of near™ and location based leaderboards. We’ll also be experimenting with the front and rear touchscreen controls.”

An early build of the Nintendo 3DS version of the game will be showcased at GDC.

escapeVektor for PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS is scheduled for release in late 2012.

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If you would like to meet us at GDC for an interview and/or to play our latest build of escapeVektor on the Nintendo 3DS, please contact us at press@nnooo.com.

More information about Nnooo is available at www.nnooo.com while escapeVektor information can be found at www.escapeVektor.com.

escapeVektor screenshots are available here and here.

Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nnooo or Twitter at www.twitter.com/_Nnooo.

These projects are being developed with the assistance of NSW Trade and Investment.

Interview with Gizmodo Australia

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Gizmodo Australia run a regular feature called Developer Cubed in which they focus on Australia’s up and coming dev scene. They grabbed Nic for a quick interview recently.

Nic & Bruce - the owners of Nnooo

Developers Cubed: Nnooo

by Alex Kidman

Gizmodo’s Developers Cubed series offers a behind the scenes look into Australia’s up and coming dev scene. This week: We chat with Nic from Sydney-based games developer Nnooo about why all development isn’t just iOS development and why it’s important to carve your own niche.

Developers! Developers! Developers!
It’s not just Steve Ballmer’s favourite sweat-laden catchcry! If you’d like to be featured in Developers Cubed, shoot a note to alex.kidman at alluremedia.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Who are you and where do you work?
My name is Nic Watt and I’m the Creative Director (and technically CEO) of Nnooo an indie games company based in Sydney, Australia

Why do we know you? What have you created?
We have created several successful franchises for WiiWare and DSiWare and are now turning our hand to the next generation of consoles with games for Nintendo 3DS and other unannounced consoles. Our most successful projects have been Pop, a launch title for the WiiWare service; Pop + Solo a sequel to Pop for DSiWare and our myLifeCollected series of applications for DSiWare which includes myNotebook, myPostcards and myDiary; finally escapeVektor our latest game was released to critical acclaim at the end of last year on WiiWare.

Our current projects include escapeVektor for Nintendo 3DS (and other platforms – to be announced) and Spirit Hunters Inc an augmented reality RPG for DSiWare and Nintendo 3DS.

Click here to read the rest of this feature

Mario Kart 7 Community

Friday, January 20th, 2012

It’s been quite a while since our last post, but that’s because we’ve been super-busy (and also on holiday for a couple of weeks)! But we’re back and hopefully we’ll have plenty of exciting news for you soon. But before that, there’s this – our new Mario Kart 7 Community!

Yes, we’ve been playing the awesome Mario Kart 7 on our Nintendo 3DSs and we want to race you! We’ll be racing every weekday from 1pm-2pm (Sydney time). Just check the countdown clock on our community page to find out when the next race is. The running totals of the top 10 cup winners will be recorded on our leaderboard for everyone to look at in wonderment and awe.

But that’s not all! If your name is at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the first week, we’ll gift you a copy of escapeVektor: Chapter 1 for WiiWare. If you already own a copy or don’t own a Wii, you can choose someone else for us to gift the game to.

Have you got what it takes to get to the top of our leaderboard? Have you? You really think so? Well, bring it on!

We’ll keep the racing going until…..well, until we get bored of it. See you in the race suckers!

Nic talks to games site Cane and Rinse

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Nic was recently interviewed by UK games site Cane and Rinse. They wanted to chat about how a Scotsman ended up starting a video games business in Sydney and what WiiWare development is like. They also wanted to know about the design and music of escapeVektor: Chapter 1 and of course Spirit Hunters Inc. Have a listen to this illuminating chat.

Click here to be taken to the podcast

escapeVektor: Chapter 1 scores 5/5 from MMGN!

Monday, October 24th, 2011

The latest games website to review escapeVektor: Chapter 1 is MMGN.

Did they like it? Well, let’s see. They scored the game 5 stars out of 5 and wrote “Very rarely do we see a game come through with such perfect design and gameplay, but escapeVektor: Chapter 1 nails it on debut.” So yes, we think they liked it. Have a look at the review below.

escapeVektor: Chapter 1 Review

by Stephen Heller

Some of the best games of all time are the simple, yet challenging ones.  Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Tetris all have simple concepts, yet immense difficulty that challenges the player and keeps them coming back for more. While the puzzle meets retro arcade gaming sector has seen a number of successes in recent years, Nnooo’s escapeVektor: Chapter 1 goes above and beyond all expectations, as it offers an inviting and unforgettable experience.

Click here to read the rest of this review

7 Key Principles of Game Development (part 2)

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Wow, it’s been a little busy at Nnooo HQ in the last couple of weeks, what with the release of escapeVektor: Chapter 1. Because we’ve been keen to share the initial reviews of the game with you, we haven’t had time to show you the second part of this MMGN article. Until now that is! If you haven’t read Part 1, you should take a look at that first though.

Making escapeVektor Chapter 1: 7 Key Principles of Game Development

We recently completed our second WiiWare™ title, escapeVektor™: Chapter 1 which is released in Australia, NZ, The Americas and Europe on September 29th for 500 Nintendo Points.

If you’ve read our 3 features on escapeVektor: Chapter 1 over the last few weeks, you’ll hopefully know all about the game by now. We thought we would finish off by sharing what we believe are some key principles of game development, and show where we applied them to escapeVektor: Chapter 1.

This is part two of this article, if you missed it you can view part one by clicking here.

Click here to see the rest of this article

escapeVektor soundtrack now available for download

Friday, October 7th, 2011

We’re delighted escapeVektor: Chapter 1 is receiving such a positive response from fans and reviewers alike. We love it when a plan comes together! We have also received many positive comments about the game’s music, even from Nintendo! So many in fact that we thought we should make the music available for download.

You can visit our Facebook music store, CD BabyAmazon or iTunes and download the escapeVektor soundtrack now. Over the course of the coming weeks the soundtrack will also be available for download across a number of other outlets. Have a look below at what the reviewers are saying:

“The music is, without qualification, some of the best on WiiWare period. escapeVektor: Chapter 1 easily joins the ranks of World of Goo and the BIT.TRIP series in this regard; the gripping, evolving tunes keep you engaged and focused, and they’ll call out to you long after you turn off the game for the night.”  Nintendo Life review

“It’s the soundtrack that really grabs you at first, as the chiptune beats fueling the audio side of the equation immediately mesmerize your mind – fans of the Bit.Trip series would be wise to take notice right away.”  IGN review