Tag: Smartphones - Page 6
Big changes happening at Nintendo's US-based studio
Nintendo Software Technology - as we've reported in the past - has endured a troubled history of late. The studio responsible for Wave Race: Blue Storm and Mario vs. Donkey Kong was once a major player in Nintendo's network of internal studios, but the costly disaster that was Proje
News DeNA Cuts Staff At Singapore Studio Ahead Of Pivotal 2016
Restructuring ahead of its Nintendo adventure?
Nintendo's smartphone gaming partner DeNA appears to be restructuring its Singapore office ahead of what could be the biggest year in its history. DeNA is working with Nintendo on a host of smartphone games which it hopes will rake in $25 million a month in revenue. The first games will be released in...
News Capcom "Will Consider The Possibility" Of Supporting Nintendo NX
That's awfully nice of them
Capcom's support of the Wii U has been lackluster at best, with the publisher stepping away from the machine after releasing just a handful of titles, such as Monster Hunter 3 and Resident Evil Revelations. However, the firm still enjoys a productive relationship with Nintendo, and its popular Monster Hunter series is...
News Nintendo Expecting Mobile Business To Eclipse Wii And DS Era Profits In Three Years
Available in 8 languages, over 100 countries
Nintendo's smartphone plans became a little more real this week with the announcement of the company's first smartphone title, Miitomo. The news was tempered slightly by the revelation that the game - if one can call it that - will be delayed until March next year so that Nintendo has time to properly...
News Michael Pachter Thinks Miitomo Will Have Trouble Tempting People Away From Facebook
"This is not a game. It’s a social network concept"
Nintendo has revealed its first smartphone offering, and it's fair to say that it wasn't quite what people were expecting. Miitomo is arguably more of a social experience than a game you play, and that hasn't been lost on our old friend Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at...
News Miitomo, Nintendo's First Smartphone Game, Is Delayed Until March 2016
Free to play with IAP for special items and add-ons
During a special strategy briefing for investors in Tokyo, Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima has revealed that the first of its smartphone titles has been delayed. Miitomo will be a free to play title, with IAP for add-ons. Exact gameplay details are sketchy, but it sounds like an augmented version...
Talking Point Sweeping Internal Changes Show That Nintendo Is Ready To Tackle New Challenges
Structural shifts and fresh promotions are just part of a wider plan
Yoshiaki Koizumi is one of the key beneficiaries of the merger of EAD and SPD While this week's big news is certainly the appointment of Tatsumi Kimishima as Nintendo's new president, it was the changes taking place behind the scenes which will have piqued the interest of seasoned...
Weirdness Japanese Company Wants To Bring NES Games To Smartphones Via A Tiny Cartridge
Small device plugs into into your headphone socket
Modern gaming is becoming increasingly focused on digital distribution, with publishers making use of online stores such as the Wii U and 3DS eShops to deliver games directly to consumers without having to produce physical media. With rumours that Nintendo's next console could abandon physical...
"It was important for us to recommit"
When Nintendo shocked the gaming world by stating that it was dipping a toe into the smartphone gaming market it also chose to reveal it was working on its next gaming platform, dubbed Nintendo NX. Aside from that conformation there's been little official news regarding the system, leading many to question...
News If Nintendo Did Decide To Make A Smartphone, We'd Want It To Look Like This
Mixing the old and the new
Nintendo's alliance with DeNA means that the company is moving into the realm of smartphones, something that was almost inconceivable just a short while ago. Making software for phones is a long way away from producing mobile hardware itself, but that hasn't stopped concept artist Pierre Cerveau from cooking up this...
News The SmartBoy Is Real, Will Let You Play Original Game Boy Carts On Your Smartphone
Hyperkin's April Fool's joke turns out to be true
Back in April, hardware maker Hyperkin posted what many people thought was an elaborate April Fool's joke. The "SmartBoy" was pitched as a bolt-on controller which allowed you to play your original Game Boy carts on your smartphone. A fantastic idea, but surely too bonkers to actually be true, right?...
News Nintendo Didn't Mention Mobile At E3 2015 Because It Was The Wrong Crowd
"You can hear the groan when a particular company talks about mobile"
Nintendo's entry into the mobile phone gaming arena was pretty huge news, and some fans suspected that the company would show off something at E3 2015 related to it. However, that didn't come to pass - and Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has been explaining to
News Mario Parody Kill The Plumber Rejected From iOS App Store On Grounds Of Copyright
Despite the fact that it showcases entirely new content
Smartphone clones of popular games are a real problem for developers, with shady individuals gleefully copying any successful venture in the hope that they can earn a few shillings from unsuspecting punters. These irksome chaps certainly need dealing with, but sometimes the approach of the...
News Nintendo Committed To Making Smart Device Gaming One Of Its Key "Revenue Pillars"
But company still feels dedicated consoles are its future
Nintendo's alliance with DeNA has arguably been one of the biggest gaming announcements of 2015 so far, and marks a brave new era for the Japanese veteran following countless denials that it would ever move into the smart device arena. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has now revealed that...
News iOS Title Catch The Rabbit Sure Does Remind Us Of Something
Dang Nabbit
Another week, another smartphone title that shamelessly pillages from Nintendo's back catalogue. This time, it's an iOS release by the name of Catch the Rabbit, which showcases "a mischievous rabbit" who has "stolen all the golden fruits." The aim is to catch the rabbit by "jumping from platform to platform without falling". Take a look...
News Akihiro Hino on Why Fantasy Life 2 is Not Coming to the 3DS
Excuses, excuses...
A few days ago, Level-5 announced they had made the decision to publish Fantasy Life 2 on smartphones, bypassing the 3DS (and all dedicated gaming consoles, for that matter) entirely. It seemed a strange choice given that its prequel was not a smartphone game, though an argument could be made that the smartphone market offers a...
News Fantasy Life 2 Is Skipping 3DS In Favour Of Smartphones
Phone home
Level-5 has just revealed that the sequel to the 3DS title Fantasy Life is coming to smartphones, ignoring Nintendo's handheld entirely. Fantasy Life 2: Two Moons And The Village of God will contain all the usual character-building RPG goodness - with a focus on exploring different "lives" or jobs - but the catch this time around is that...
News Sega's Digital Restructure Means 300 Staff Will Be Offered Voluntary Retirement
Aiming to "improve the business efficiency of the Group"
Sega will offer 300 of its global staff voluntary retirement in an effort to drive profits and restructure the company around smartphone and online PC games. Although Sega of America's release schedule will be unaffected, it will lose around 120 staff between 9th February and the end of...
News Fake Commercial for 'The Nintendo App' Stirs Debate
Nintendo's smartphone projects are still pending
2015 will be the year, unless Nintendo delays beyond reason, when we see some notable movement in smartphone usage from the company. During 2014 Satoru Iwata announced that a dedicated team was working on projects for smartphone devices, though an expected arrival last year of the earliest outcomes...
News EA Explains Why It's Abandoning Dedicated Handhelds For Smartphones And Tablets
"You have to make some hard calls when you've got only so many people"
EA's support for Nintendo platforms is pretty lacking in general right now, but the 3DS and Wii U aren't the only systems the publisher is turning its back on — it has all but retreated from the dedicated portable console market, instead choosing to put its efforts into the...
News Report Suggests That June Could Be Crucial For Iwata's Future At The Head Of Nintendo
CEO's internal approval rating has dropped to 77.26 percent
A report by Japanese business publication Nikkei suggests that Satoru Iwata is facing his sternest test yet as Nintendo CEO. It has been revealed that Iwata's internal approval rating has dropped from from 92.89 percent in 2011 to 77.26 percent in 2013. This has led to speculation that he...
News Smartphone Game Market Shows Impressive Growth in Japan
Nintendo is no doubt watching
We've written on a number of occasions, including on its third anniversary, that the 3DS represents a triumph against shifting trends for Nintendo. Traditionally dominant in the portable gaming space, Nintendo's faced arguably its toughest generation to date with the rise of smart device gaming, itself perhaps stripping...
Weirdness These iPhone Mock-Ups Suggest That Mario On Mobile Might Be A Bad Idea
Place your tongue firmly in your cheek before reading
Industry experts and jumpy investors are screaming at Nintendo to make games for smartphones right now, but company president Satoru Iwata is adamant that the future of the firm lies in dedicated gaming hardware, rather than diluted, cash-grab experiences on the likes of iOS and Android.
News Investor Wants Nintendo To Create Mobile Titles With Game-Altering In-App Purchases
"Just think of paying 99 cents just to get Mario to jump a little higher"
Please understand, Nintendo isn't keen on bringing its library of games to mobile right now — company president Satoru Iwata has been pretty firm on that point. However, Nintendo is an organisation which has shareholders, and that means it constantly faces pressure from...
News Mobile Pokémon Clone Eco Spirits Hatches A Kickstarter Campaign
No stretch goals set for an “Eco Spirits Rap”, though
Nintendo stated earlier this week that it currently had no plans to make or release any games — be they full size or mini — on mobile devices. This may have pleased some fans of the company, but it may also have disappointed others. If you fit in to the latter category, fear not — just...
News The Nintendo Phone Almost Happened A Decade Ago
Ex-Danger employee reveals how Game Boy games nearly came to mobile
Everyone seems to be telling Nintendo to get its games on mobile phones these days, and yesterday's news that the company would be announcing some kind of smartphone strategy seems to suggest that it is listening to such advice. However, a former employee at Danger Research — the...
Nintendo could make "billions" with its "treasure trove" of characters
Last week's dismal news regarding Nintendo's financials has triggered a wave of comment and debate, with many industry experts earning their keep by offering several different scenarios for getting the Japanese giant out of the hole it currently finds itself in. However, the...
News Clash Of Clans Creator Supercell Doesn't Want To Compete With Nintendo
Smartphone studio has been branded "The Finnish Nintendo"
Supercell's Clash of Clans and Hay Day are two of the most popular and profitable games on the iTunes App Store, but the company behind them is relatively new — Supercell was only founded in 2010. However, the studio's incredible success — which was emphatically underlined by the recent...
News Nintendo Looking Into "Little Experiences" on Smartphones and Tablets
"It’s largely going to be much more marketing activity-oriented"
When it comes to smartphone and tablet content Nintendo has been painstakingly clear on two points in recent times — it has no plans to release its full games on the platforms, but is looking at ways to utilise the enormous number of smart devices to promote its hardware and games...
Talking Point Moving To Smartphones Is Not The Answer For Nintendo
The numbers don't add up
It seems that a month can't pass by — in the past couple of years — when investment analysts, games industry figures and Nintendo's own investors aren't saying that Nintendo needs to expand and release games on alternative platforms. It's creeping into discourse around the Wii U due to the hardware's struggles to date,...
Rumour Nintendo Helping Developers to Convert Smartphone Games to Wii U
A smart idea, or a bit phoned in?
As a new financial year picks up steam, and with Nintendo no doubt co-ordinating efforts ahead of a major Wii U marketing push in the coming months, we're likely to see a variety of initiatives to assist the home console. One that's being reported by the media in Japan is that Nintendo's providing developers with...