I was wondering, does this site have any contacts at Nintendo? It would be a valuable asset to have a go-to person at Nintendo that could help us out with stuff. Yeah it sounds silly but hey, can't hurt to ask, right?
A former classmate of my wife now works at Nintendo, but she doesn't even know him very well, so unfortunately that won't become a contact.
Even if you had a contact, those guys have to sign contracts and were probably been sworn to secrecy.
What we could try is getting in contact with their PR department or so.
True, PR might be willing to help. But of course, we'd be asking questions about Famicom, not the latest Nintendo products, Wii, etc. They might not be too willing to dig into files and warehouses to tell us what they've got. It'd be cool to find a contact, though.
I've always wanted to try to track down the dude who was billed as Nintendo's advisor for The Wizard. It's in the credits, but I always forget to write the name down.
Quote from: JC on December 16, 2008, 10:43:12 pm
I've always wanted to try to track down the dude who was billed as Nintendo's advisor for The Wizard. It's in the credits, but I always forget to write the name down.
Its Davy Brooks who was Technical Advisor for Nintendo.
Unfortunately, it's not easy. It would be wonderfully beneficial, but not at all easy. NES websites from years ago had major major trouble finding anyone, even the famous ones like NES World and The Warpzone. Usually they could get contacts from companies that made games for Nintendo, but not Nintendo themselves.
My sister-in-law used to work for Turbine (Asheron's Call, LotR Online). She's not in the game industry anymore, though.
Quote from: Jedi QuestMaster on December 17, 2008, 09:57:20 pm
Because it sucks? That'd be my guess. Do you know exactly what she did?
She did quality assurance stuff and some IT work. I'm not entirely sure. Last Christmas, as we were all sitting down for dinner, she got paged. One of the games they were working on (LotR Online, I think) was going through a stress test (because everyone was on vacation and just wanted to play MMOs, I guess) and a bunch of the servers went down. She had to spend the next hour or two on her laptop trying to fix stuff.
I'm not sure if she was laid off or if she had to get a new job when she and my brother moved.
It's really hard to find anyone who had info from the past eras. Memories are tricky things and not many people are there for that long of a time. Then also, the things you remember the most are the things that were most important to you. That often isn't the information we want.. Not only that, but the contacts I have are contacts I buy from so I don't really want to spread them around... :)
Has anyone tried calling up Nintendo's HQ for info? I mean, I know it's public info so there's probably a ton of people who've tried it but it can't hurt. When I asked Nintendo themselves they sent me here (http://www.nintendo.com/corp/distributors_international.jsp#ncl). May not be much, but it's a start.
*shrug*
I guess it depends how serious you are about it. Someone there knows the answers to some of the questions that people like us can't answer.
What exactly would you ask a person if it was your contact at Nintendo?
Throw in some questions as examples.
Well what initially got me going on this thing was the discussion about the disk writers. It seemed like there was a glaring gap in the knowledge people had about it. My questions would probably be fairly basic about how the device operated and what was inside as well as the ultimate fate of them any possible lines on acquiring one.
But I mean a contact isn't just a one-time thing. Having a contact would be great because we can go back to them.
We could ask them if they'll be uploading any FC-only games to the VC... like that Splatterhouse game I like.
Quote from: Juggalo/Hulkamaniac on December 20, 2008, 07:12:05 pm
We could ask them if they'll be uploading any FC-only games to the VC... like that Splatterhouse game I like.
They already have at least one Splatterhouse game on the Virtuole
To find a contact who will help you with those types of things is to find a contact who really is already into those types of things. Good luck...
Well said.
People who were in charge at that time are now probably in higher ranks or already quit their jobs.
And the new guys probably don't know that much about older stuff.
Fair enough. I'm gonna poke around a little little.
Well we could get a petition to Nintendo asking them to bring back support for the Famicom and Disk system In Japan.
Heh...like that NES petition. :P
I work in the games industry at a publisher, but I'd rather not say where.
What I'm saying is, I can answer SOME questions regarding current gen hardware etc. I have contacts at Capcom, Konami, Namco Bandai in fact most of the publishers that have offices outside Japan but secrets are secrets and people's jobs and livelihood depend on them.
I got a lucky break but if there's easy questions I can answer I can help with some honest answers?
I know someone that works on Nintendo. I can't tell you much about it but I get to find out stuff that's coming before it's announced to the public.
If he tells you early, then that person is breaching his contract, right? Usually they have to sign NDAs.
Not as long as no one else knows about it ;)
I think Manuel is correct; regardless, it's unethical behavior. If I were his supervisor, I'd terminate him. Nintendo is a publicly traded company. Disclosing information before it is released to the public violates SEC regulations.
Quote from: nintendodork on February 11, 2009, 05:20:06 pm
Not as long as no one else knows about it ;)
Even when nobody knows it's breach of contract and not a smart thing to do.
True. Can you believe I learned the opposite of that sentence from my science teacher? :D
Teachers aren't always correct. The best thing you can learn to do is to think, question, research, and analyze for yourself. ;)
I have learned that over the years. We have some pretty ignorant teachers in our district...
My brother's teacher started picking his nose, my brother look over while the teacher was looking at the *ahem* item that was on his hand...the teacher saw him, and then put his other hand up to try and make it look like he was doing something else I guess :D
So do you think this contact can do anything to help Famicom World out?
I guess not.
Quote from: PatMan33 on February 11, 2009, 10:24:29 pm
So do you think this contact can do anything to help Famicom World out?
Unless he worked for Nintendo in the 80's, definitely not.
OOh, I DO know someone that worked on Famicom and SMS games - I'll see just how much and what I can find out.
I was talking to him earlier and he mentioned! Used to work for Capcom too way back when.
That would be nice.
Quote from: Doc on February 12, 2009, 03:27:25 pm
Unless he worked for Nintendo in the 80's, definitely not.
That would be nice but is not a requirement.
Anyone who could get Famicom World in the door would be of value.
I just want to remind everyone that may get excited over L___E___T announcing he may have a contact that he may be able to use, don't 100% fully get your hopes up. As I'm sure L___E___T knows, there are times when a contact has to fully back out, in fear of leaking confidential information. That is pretty much why the older NES sites were only ever able to get interviews from companies that had folded (Color Dreams, for example,) because it's very hard to get other contacts! Either way, we thank you, L___E___T, and your contact, for any information you may be able to bring to us.
Thanks for pointing that out, it should be cool though. He still works in the industry but is motly freelance and does writing for Famitsu etc.
There's a good chance I could always get an anonymous (or pretend identity of sorts) interview / Q+A for famicom stuff. As it is now well over 20 years old I get the impression that it's not closely guarded secrets but more of a revered heritage.
Well see, he's very busy lately as we all are!
oh, oh ask them about any upcoming f-zero games plz
I don't know what I can find out but that certainly isn't something I can find out.
If there was a new F zero game it will be announced, that kind of information is closely guarded I'm afraid.
I'm surprised there's not been an F Zero on DS by now though.
I'd like to know how they put games on the Virtual Console.
I mean, do they rip them from the cartridge or do they have the code still in digital form on some storage media?
I know a bit about that actually because we did all the C64 ones. They're basically emulation in Wii code, it's just a downloadable port.
Having said that they are more accurate than most emulation because less has to be figured out, it's like translating source code I think.
That's why the codes on zelda and kid icarus don't work I guess. I may not be spot on about that but that's as far as I know true, at least for the C64 games like boulderdash and R type.
I think all the code is in digiatl form to some degree, I expect much like a ROM dump, but I think there'sa little more to it.
I haven't really answered your question, I'll try and find out more if I can, no gurantees though of course.