Shigeru speaks
Watch Miyamoto like a hawk- he loves dropping hints. During a Wind Waker interview, he went off on this tangent: “You may not believe it but I have relationships with dog trainers and I have serious conversations about what ‘dog’ means!” Two years later Nintendogs is a ‘surprise’ release. Recently he’s been nattering about puppets. ‘Marionette’ here we come…
Early ratings
Along with trademarks, Nintendo need games passed by classification boards- ESRB in the US and PEGI in Europe. By the time games are classified they’re close to release, so you’ll probably already know about them; but a few interesting snippets arise. Such as Dr. Mario rated for VC, but later retracted for a WiiWare release.
Big-mouthed actors
Not literally big-mouthed (we doubt Julia Roberts has any Nintendobeans to spill), but rather voice-over artists who can’t resist talking about recent projects. Many will post upcoming work on imdb- Alesia Glidewell’s Smash Bros. Krystal appearance is there- so look up the US voices behind your favourite characters for future hints. Take, for example, some of the Metal Gear cast confirmed for Smash Bros...
Conference call
Want to see Nintendo slip up? They’re most likely to during large press conferences- all those interviews take their toll on the tight-lipped ones, especially where the main players aren’t involved. Reggie can keep lip-zipped like a pro, but EAD man Katsuya Eguchi was heard mentioning online Animal Crossing Wii at E3 2006. Whoops.
