Nintendo edge closer to mobile gaming
Following last week’s dire profit warning for Nintendo following weak sales of the WiiU, the first details about the company’s support for mobile platforms like iOS and Android have emerged, thanks to what we’re told is a usually reliable Japanese newspaper.
Whilst none of this is confirmed, according to Engadget, the Nikkei newspaper has a good record on Nintendo gossip – so is worth taking seriously.
Apparently Nintendo will announce “progressive” smartphone content – so rather than full games like you might see on the 3DS, expect more limited experiences designed to hook the user into deciding to shell out on the full handheld console.
The somewhat mangled Google translation of the Japanese story suggests that Nintendo apps could do the following: “In addition to providing information on new games for the smartphone, providing a mini-games and free video introduced the world of games, digging new customers.”
Mini-games make some sort of sense for platforms in which the casual gamers rule. Though mobile games are increasingly sophisticated, it is still rare to see a title as in-depth as say, the Legend of Zelda – you’re more likely to get a lighter experience like Angry Birds or Candy Crush, packed full of micro-payments.
The further suggestion of including things like video content to showcase their games seems like a bit of a non-starter to us… but this is Nintendo so who knows what they will do?
Still – it’s an interesting move and if true could see the first Nintendo titles on a platform that isn’t of their own making for the first time since the disastrous Phillips CDI in the mid-90s. There’s a reason you’ve never heard of that console. Here it is:
