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Nintendo Japan reveals "Indie World", a new online video presentation format for indie games

Atheerios

Atheerios

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Oct 27, 2017
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Just like the Switch Nindies Showcase for the americas, Nintendo Japan has revealed a new online video presentation format dedicated to Switch indies, it's called "Indie World" and you can check out the first episode of it above.

There's also a cool new page on Nintendo JP website dedicated to Indie World: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/software/feature/indieworld/index.html

What do you think? I really liked the style and hopefully someday can be unified across al regions like Nintendo Directs.
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

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Oct 27, 2017
26,336
That's awesome... Indie games, especially in Japan, need to be pushed as much as possible.
 

ITSMILNER

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Oct 27, 2017
490
Not able to watch at the moment but does this reveal any new games or is it all stuff we know about?
 
Thores

Thores

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Oct 25, 2017
502
Did the Undertale section imply new content? There were a couple scenes I've never seen before.
 
Rychu

Rychu

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Oct 25, 2017
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Utah, USA
I can't decide if I like Nindie Showcase or Indie World better.

On one hand, I like Nindie Showcase's length of 10-15 minutes and it's well paced. I think Indie World runs on a bit too long.

On the other, I love the way the games are presented in Indie World and the art style looks like a indie game, the hosts look like retro video game characters, it's a really cool format.
 
jariw

jariw

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Oct 27, 2017
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Enton said:
They have said in the past the Japanese audience needs more introduction to the whole indie games thing.
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Yep:
Titles from indie developers have a particular presence in the North American and European markets. Compared to
other parts of the world, there is still work to be done in Japan to expand awareness of titles from indie
developers.
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https://nintendoeverything.com/kimi...valley-near-1-million-overcooked-over-500000/
 
hibikase

hibikase

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Hopefully those continued efforts by Nintendo to showcase Western indie games in Japan will finally encourage the Japanese indie scene to start opening itself more to a global audience. Japan actually has a pretty big indie scene but they remain largely unknown in the West due to keeping to themselves by only selling their games on physical media at doujin events.
 
jariw

jariw

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Oct 27, 2017
4,283
ITSMILNER said:
Not able to watch at the moment but does this reveal any new games or is it all stuff we know about?
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Mineko's Night Market (Stardew Valley/nimal Crossing-type game with cats) was just officially announced, so I think it got it's Switch debut here.

EDIT: Minit was also a debut announcement regarding Switch.
 
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pswii60

pswii60

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Oct 27, 2017
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The Milky Way
jariw said:
IIRC, it was the use of "Nindie".
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No, I've found it:

So you're saying that the label of 'indie game' could actually work against something?

"Park: While it would be nice if the label of 'indie game' always added some kind of value to a product, there is always the possibility that branding something in this way could cause others to ignore it. That's something we must avoid at all costs, I think."
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https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...m-the-same-as-aaa-wants-both-on-switch.24343/

Much more in that thread.
 
eseqko

eseqko

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Oct 27, 2017
1,390
Nippon Marathon looks like indie stuff I want from coming from Japan. As someone who would would obsessively watch MXC back in the day, I've always wanted a video game version of that type of madness.
 
Rychu

Rychu

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Oct 25, 2017
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pswii60 said:
No, I've found it:


https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...m-the-same-as-aaa-wants-both-on-switch.24343/

Much more in that thread.
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Nindie Showcase is popular and indies are being nominated for Game of the Year nowadays, I definitely don't think the word "indie" is as negative as it once was and I think they realized that.

EDIT: Here's a quote from the President.
Titles from indie developers have a particular presence in the North American and European markets. Compared to
other parts of the world, there is still work to be done in Japan to expand awareness of titles from indie developers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Nitpicker_Red

Nitpicker_Red

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Nov 3, 2017
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pswii60 said:
I thought Nintendo Japan didn't like the use of the word 'indie'? I swear there was a thread on that a few months back.
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I think this is part of an effort to change that.
At the beginning of the video, they define Indie games as
"game made by teams of very few people",
and add that "sometimes one single person does everything from programming the BGM".
LewieP said:
Microsoft is my favourite indie developer.
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When they show a still of Minecraft, they mention that "it started as an Indie game".
They go on to add that one of appealing points of Indie games is that some are very personnal where the developer's intentions are directly translated.
 
Crayolan

Crayolan

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Oct 25, 2017
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Some new Undertale thing at the end of the video?

Rough translation if anyone cares:
"A dubious figure. Try speaking to it?"
(Selects No)
"You decided to try checking other games being introduced at Indie World."

Not sure if this is supposed to just be a joke or actually hinting at some new content.
 
Joyful

Joyful

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
503
Crayolan said:
Some new Undertale thing at the end of the video?

Rough translation if anyone cares:
"A dubious figure. Try speaking to it?"
(Selects No)
"You decided to try checking other games being introduced at Indie World."

Not sure if this is supposed to just be a joke or actually hinting at some new content.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

sounds too meta to not be trolling
 
Mars People

Mars People

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Oct 25, 2017
18,178
This is really cool.

More awareness of indie games in Japan is a must.
I hope this inspires more Japanese indie developers as well.
I don't think there are many Japanese indie games on the Switch. I might be wrong.
 

rawhide

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Oct 28, 2017
3,003
eseqko said:
Nippon Marathon looks like indie stuff I want from coming from Japan. As someone who would would obsessively watch MXC back in the day, I've always wanted a video game version of that type of madness.
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That game's actually being made by a UK studio called Onion Soup Interactive, I'm pretty sure it's on Steam Early Access right now.
 
Krypt

Krypt

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Nov 10, 2017
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Center of the World
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ggx2ac

ggx2ac

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You might recognise the hosts Soejima and Boku of Nintendo Indie World from this thread: https://www.resetera.com/posts/7830760/

The OP in that thread helps to give backstory on NCL's initiative to get Japanese consumers to become aware of and like indie games so they can become popular.

pswii60 said:
I thought Nintendo Japan didn't like the use of the word 'indie'? I swear there was a thread on that a few months back.
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They wanted to avoid devaluing it. If they can get indie to be a valued brand in Japan like it is overseas then they will use it. It's stated in the interview.
 
pswii60

pswii60

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ggx2ac said:
They wanted to avoid devaluing it. If they can get indie to be a valued brand in Japan like it is overseas then they will use it. It's stated in the interview.
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That makes sense. To be honest I've always been frustrated that the indie scene in Japan hasn't really flourished like it has in the West.

When XBLA first became a thing, I got so excited about the prospect of Japanese independent developers making smaller and experiential games, but it never really happened in a big way. I thought Omega Five might have started a trend , but it didn't :(
 

Deleted member 29354

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Cool little showcase! This bodes well for several reason I think:
1. Nintendo will have a dedicated video for all the larger titles (as well as smaller ones, apparently) that will take up less time in Nintendo Directs for NA
2. Since it's online, perhaps they can show more mature-themed games that won't suffer from PG editing for larger, family-friendly audieces

Are these assumptions correct?
 
jariw

jariw

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Oct 27, 2017
4,283
BIGMEANCHIEF said:
Cool little showcase! This bodes well for several reason I think:
1. Nintendo will have a dedicated video for all the larger titles (as well as smaller ones, apparently) that will take up less time in Nintendo Directs for NA
2. Since it's online, perhaps they can show more mature-themed games that won't suffer from PG editing for larger, family-friendly audieces

Are these assumptions correct?
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FWIW, the "new" thing here is that Nintendo Japan now focuses on indies as well. America and Europe already got their Nindie Showcases. The latest Nintendo Directs have focused very little on indie titles.
 
SiG

SiG

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Oct 25, 2017
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Apparently YMCK (Japanese 8-bit band) was involved with the background music of the presentation!



I didn't catch this until I saw Midori (one of the band members)' twitter account mention it.

Anyways, didn't mean to necro, but it's such a neat fun fact.
 
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