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 didn't happen; Nintendo allowed itself more time.
Much talk is of a Mii-based application, while the big N has been clear that it's working on ways to engage smartphone users and - ultimately - direct them to Nintendo hardware. There may be some game-like interactions, perhaps, and we're certainly hopeful that there'll be functionality utilising Nintendo Network IDs - for current Ninty gamers - that allow eShop purchases and similar ideas.
What the eventual app(s) certainly won't do, in all realistic likelihood, is include playable Virtual Console games as per the video below, produced for fun by YouTuber MarioLinkSamus. Despite being a relatively harmless hypothetical look at a potential 'Nintendo App', it can certainly stir debate.
Beyond the games being shown to run on the phone - as mentioned above, that's fanciful - the concept of blending Miiverse and eShop purchases into an app are certainly not the worst ideas; after all, in each case it drives consumers back to Nintendo hardware and matches up to modern expectations of online stores. Miiverse is already available in a decent browser version usable on phones, of course, and Nintendo of America has implemented functionality to buy eShop games on a website and have them download automatically onto a linked Wii U; moving these ideas into a smartphone app isn't beyond the realms of realism.
Whatever Nintendo produces, likely driven by the Mii concept, it'll be interesting to assess its eventual approach. All noises have been about promoting Nintendo experiences and its hardware; how that'll be done is yet to be seen.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 55
Meh
Trash.
This is stupid, really. I honestly don't see how this would stir a debate, much less trick someone into falling for it.
Also, I hate Matthew McConaughey and I could instantly recognize what ads this was copied from.
It'd work. I'd get it. But the key for Nintendo to make millions is by releasing just VC games, standalone, onto smartphones. If you coupled them with the Mario Movie (rumoured), you'd be onto a goldmine.
People who are sitting with their thumbs up their butt waiting for this fantasy-- need to let it go.
Aint gonna happen kiddos.
And how exactly such an app would be something useful to me, a customer? If I want to buy something off Steam, I log onto Steam from my PC and make the purchase. After all, I have no use for the purchased software anywhere else. Likewise, if I need something off the eShop, I use my 3DS or Wii U, respectively, because without the access to those how am I even going to use the purchased content? I really fail to see any point in that.
Same goes for Miiverse really - it's really only working in conjucntion with any of abovementioned console platforms and games on them. Without that there are tons of better social services, well established already, with Miiverse having virtually no chance of ever really getting into their territory. So again - what an app would give me that a quick glance via my phone's or tablet's browser cannot?
Finally - I have long held an opinion, and so far there was nothing that could change it, that effective gaming on touchscreen-only device is impossible. Turn-based games can work, card games (like Hearthstone for example) and stuff like Cut The Rope likewise, but any game requiring quick and precise inputs from the player, as most of those retro games do, is simply unplayable in that environment. So why would anyone sane want a VC titles on their mobile if they couldn't be effectively played? Again, no clue.
All in all - this smartphone/Nintendo thing is starting to get annoying, and it would be good for everyone's mental health if articles such as this were culled or stopped appearing entirely. Because that is certainly not something that can "stir debate". There is nothing to "debate" about...
The Matthew McConaughey ad series this voice over was ripped from is nonsensical and one of my personal worst ad campaigns of 2014.
That said, if this had been a real commercial for the actual eShop and Nintendo hadn't actually let the Virtual Console die, it would have been GREAT.
If Nintendo even had the Wii's Virtual Console up on Wii U, they could honestly build a VERY effective commercial or two by simply tugging on the nostalgia strings of long-lost gamers and saying that all the classics they remember are just a click away one one device in their living room. sigh ... What a waste.
If Nintendo had the entire Wii VC on Wii U, then so many would complain about there being no new additions.
@bro2dragons All I thought of was the Jim Carrey parody of that ad campaign. Liiiiiiincollllllllln.
@WaLzgi : Maybe... but they'd have a whole lot more to play!
If apple was to pay Nintendo, and SONY a billion gazillion trillion doctor evil dollars only then.
It is going to happen. You know why? Because of Facebook, places like IRC and Newsgroups are down. Crappy youtube virtually dominated P2P sharing which turn those into barren wastelands. Myspace made geocities and angel-fire shutdown.
Pretty much turned the internet into it's 1960's preview state. Everything on the internet cost money now. Because nobody is solving the problem and think internet money could buy an real-estate for life. The internet is dead and has been that way since 2008.
Slowly they are raising the fences and nobody is not doing anything about these things. It is going to happen. Your going to pay for an cable subscription and not own anything you purchase at all. Why? Because everybody is too cheap and they upload their purchase.
"...eShop purchases into an app are certainly not the worst ideas; after all, in each case it drives consumers back to Nintendo hardware..."
Actually that would be the worst idea from a hardware perspective because, if Nintendo were to make 3DS games available on smartphones, people's mentality would be: "why do I have to buy a $200 piece of hardware (3DS) to play Mario and Zelda if I can play them on my smartphone?"
Emulating full 3DS games into smartphones would hurt the 3DS market of portable gaming. Nintendo's struggles are in the home console market, not the portable market.
Why don't i ever hear folks begging to play ps3 games on a smartphone? or halo (not the windows phone game that came out)? Yet Nintendo is "supposed" to do it? I'm so confused. Although I would love an app that would let me make eshop purchases on my phone and they start downloading to my systems.
Stupid commercial. Although separate Miiverse and Club Nintendo would be great.
First of all, I don't understand how having any playable Nintendo games or demos on a touchscreen device would work (it clearly won't happen, like you said, but still...), and I don't see why people would want it.
Second, I've barely any idea what the guy in that advert was actually saying! He was just mumbling the entire thing!
ok ok, so if we would have a nintendo app, it would be cool and all, but playing virtual console on a mobile is so uncomfortable, and really really weird, also its a really small screen, except for ipads, also nintendo club isnt in sweden, so idc for that :/
VC games(let alone 3D ones) aren't going to play at all well on a mobile phone touch screen. With videos like this It seems at this point people just want Nintendo games on mobile for the sake of having them with no regards to quality.
These games belong on a Nintendo handheld or home console, not a touch screen or jury rigged controller+mobile screen set up.
I doubt an official Nintendo app would be that great anyways, I already have an unofficial one that does the stuff that I'd want to do on the phone like Miiverse. But even then, I'd rather go on Miiverse from my phone's internet browser than having an app do it for me.
Virtual console games would not play at all well on the ipad, it just doesn't belong on it.
The audio in that video is utterly boring.
Also can anyone else imagine what it'd be like to play Ocarina of Time solely on a touchscreen?
AllI want is more Wii U games.
@Ryu_Niiyama - "Why don't i ever hear folks begging to play ps3 games on a smartphone?"
Sony already has iOS games out based on several of it's franchises - Bentley's Hackpack, a collection of minigames from Sly Cooper, Knack Quest a match 3 game, and Run Sackboy Run and R&C:BTN both endless runners:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bentleys-hackpack/id596596644?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/knacks-quest/id727485111?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/run-sackboy!-run!/id914865605?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ratchet-clank-btn/id779657007?mt=8
They aren't the full games, but they are out on iOS. I think the argument is more that Nitneod should put SOMETHING out on iOS to gather attention for Wii U and 3DS, not a full SMB game. Maybe some of those minigames from Nitnedo Land. Several of those were nothing more than app like games anyway.
@TreesenHauser - I was so distracted waiting for him to say "go back, like doing a tv commercial after you've won an Academy Award" that I missed the entire point of the video itself.
@rjejr Haha right?!
Right now I think Nitnodo should actually be focusing more on the Wii U app list than getting something out on Android or iOS. While the smartphone and tablet market is much too large to ignore - and Nitneod already does a good enough job ignoring the tv viewing market they can't afford to keep ignoring smart devices as well - the Wii U just seems too limited. 3DS has themes but we get a big hug blank white tv screen? The Wii U has a tablet, why not use it. Where's Crackle or HBOgo or Ted? The possibilities may not be endless, but they've barley scratched the service of their own device.
@DiscoGentleman - In case you somehow missed the joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3eN9u5N2Q4
"Stirs debate"? The only thing debatable about this is why anyone would fall for that fraud.
Bleh
@Dark-Link73 people say that but dont want to listen, they want to force nintendo to put their games on smartphones thinking people will buy a 3ds game for the 3ds if its available on a smartphone or tablet, they assume we dont think. so why buy mario kart 7 on a 3ds when its on a smartphone (of course it will never happen)? also investors think adding nintendo games to rival consoles or competitors will make people buy nintendo products but greed has blinded them and dont see that it wont get people to buy nintendo consoles if its available on other devices. you, i and other will keep saying this but people wont listen, aside from the fact we are navi's, they dont want to hear the truth.
@rjejr i think nintendo plans on doing something like that, it will upset the ios/android fanbase cuz they are not full games but it will get people to say, "i should buy a wii u or a 3ds a-la business cat reading the newspaper".
@RegalSin Your comment makes no sense.
@Dark-Link73 While your comment is true, the bit that you quoted from the article was referring to the idea of making the eShop purchases on your phone and for it to start downloading on the 3DS or Wii U. Being able to purchase games on the eShop from your phone is a good idea.
When will nintendo wake up and develop the nintendo smartphone???? They are only 5 years behind the curve. Wake up Nintendo management team and CEO!
@THR - Probably when Amazon is able to sell theirs for a penny, which they can't. As you say, 5 years behind the curve, which is probably 5 years too late.
@AugustusOxy The only way I see a Nintendo based app is an Official Miiverse app...
@rjejr if Nintendo made a quality smartphone gaming device they would have blockbuster sales.
ONE OF THE SCREENSHOTS IS FRON SMASH BROS WII U!!!! How are people taking this seriously?
@Dark-Link73 You misunderstood. He meant it as in, purchasing from the application's eShop part into the 3DS or Wii U. For example, an awesome games comes out while you're at work and it needs time to download and you want it ready by the time you come back, so you open the eShop from the app, purchase the game and let the Wii U download it in Sleep Mode while you're away from it. But not downloading the game directly to your phone. It acts just like a remote controller.
People can't actually think this video looks appealing...right?
I could totally see Nintendo releasing a bunch of the best NES, SNES, N64, and GBA games on a single touchscreen device before ever making it to the 3DS.
@LUIGITORNADO It's just fun, the nonsensical quote, inspiring music and random shots of retro games gets all the old Ninty fans weeping :'}
Re-uploaded with a much better thumbnail IMO. Credit is given of course!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTnC6vXGnnY&list=UUnhsc1g7p5LLqe7bX19gSVQ
Kind of sounds like an Apple commercial lol
@Kifa
Never wanted to buy a game in your lunch break, let your Wii U download it and install it and get your game ready to play when you come home?
If that ain't rad then you can get off my face.
Jesus Christ I take one look at the comments and its' already everyone acting really toxic towards this idea that really isn't all that bad. These people came here in the "must defend Nintendo" mode fro an idea that is actually pretty good. It isn't Nintendo migrating to mobile, it's them using the mobile market to help the Wii U and 3DS, aka adapting aka doing what is necessary to stay relevant.
given that smartphones and tablets have a touchscreen like the wiiU the logical thing to do as I see it would be to have an app that lets people play demos of games that use the touchscreen interface in clever ways. If the app is free then people would be free to mess around with these demos and if they get hooked on the experience and crave more there can be a redirect that informs the user that "hey the full game is available on wiiU or 3DS" that might be the best way to tap into the massive smart devices market.
Also to everyone who said that playing precise games like mario bros and megaman on a touchscreen is daft, I concur 100%. The only way to play those games on a smart device without feeling cheated is to pair a bluetooth controller to it and use that.
Nintendo Life used toxic on @jedisquidward
It is super effective
@THR - "if Nintendo made a quality smartphone gaming device they would have blockbuster sales."
I still don't know. They made a $249 3DS that hardly sold at all until they dropped the price to $169. They sell a Wii U at a much lower price than their direct competitors PS4 and X1 yet still can't sell that system. "a quality smartphone gaming device" sounds like something that would be really expensive. Sony sells the PS Vita and it's much better hardware than the 3DS yet it sells even much worse than Wii U. I'm just not sure who the market is for a really expensive phone that plays Nitneod games. I know some people on here would buy them, but I'm not sure "some of the people on here" is nearly enjoy to justify entering the market. Apple sells 10 million iPhones in just 3 days.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/09/22First-Weekend-iPhone-Sales-Top-10-Million-Set-New-Record.html
I just can't envision any scenario where Ntineod can make it work in the overly crowded cell phone market on a large enough scale.
Plus, Nintendo doesn't do anything w/ a contract, nothing like Xbox Live or PS+, what makes you think they would want to start locking people into cell phones contracts? Without a contract the cost for such a device would just be to prohibitive.
@AJ_Lethal First of all, can you explain to me what "rad" means? Because that term is entirely alien to me. Secondly - I have had such option for my Steam, Origin and even Xbox 360 for a very, very long time now, and I'm pretty sure I've used it ONCE (on the Microsoft console to be precise), out of curiosity. I simply don't find it appealing in any way.
Also I won't get out of your face, because I'm entitled to my own opinion just as you are to yours. Cheers! :]
@jedisquidward If I can speak for myself (because honestly I can't speak for anyone else) - I am not trying to "defend" anyone from anything. I'm just failing to see how releasing such an app would make Nintendo more relevant than it is now. But then again I never really understood the "app boom" that is happening all around us, so maybe this whole discussion is not for me to participate in.
This probably looks great on paper but right off the bat it's obvious that most of the games shown in this video would play like total sh*t on a touchscreen device like a smartphone or tablet.
There's certain Nintendo games that would actually be perfectly suited to these kinds of touchscreen devices and those are the primarily touchscreen-centric games from the DS, such as Nintendogs, Brain Training, Phantom Hourglass, Rhythm Heaven, Canvas Curse, Electroplankton, Professor Layton, Wario Ware: Touched, Animal Crossing, etc, but you can't just shove anything on there simply for the sake of having Nintendo properties on smartphones and tablets...
If this were to be done it would have to be done right or else it shouldn't be done at all imo.
Shouldn't they be working on actually advertising the Wii U system and its games. I still have yet to see any commercial. Instead of wasting team members on making ideas for smartphones, why are they not using those members to bring more games to the Wii U or 3DS systems...especially since games are lacking on the Wii U?
I think Nintendo would disagree on the longterm viability of mixing eShop and Miiverse.
They're kept strictly apart as to allow the latter to be a safe place for people of all ages to discuss the games they already own. Blending in advertisement and money spending could very well be too obnoxious an experience, and parents might not want their children exposed to the place at all.
Conversely, eShop can focus on being a dazzling place of commerce, with colorful billboards, special offers, and even freshly composed musical pieces every half year to get you in a consumer mood.
The one thing I -would- like to see cross over is the rating/review system. It would be great for that to be at least accessible from a game's Miiverse forum. Far too few people find their way onto the userpage on the eShop, and think to tap the little icons for their games. This means many indie games with vibrant communities still only have just one or a few registered reviews on the eShop.
I understand again why they wouldn't do this though, as Miiverse isn't the place to discuss the quality of one game compared to another. Its chief concern is helping people have as much fun as possible with their purchase.
A lot of people's comments are based on the assumption that the video is promoting Nintendo to sell their games on mobile. To these people: read the description of MarioLinkSamus' video:
"This pretend app is never selling any games to be played on the smart device. This free app contains free demos (like the Masterpieces in Smash Bros. - did you notice the countdown timer in the upper-right?).
Please respect Nintendo’s decision not to make its games playable on any devices other than their own and I personally don’t expect nor necessarily want them to change that stance. I have a love for Nintendo and wanted to have fun while improving software/editing skills."
Wait, so just because some guy did a commercial where he put footage from old Nintendo games on smart phone, it counts as a concept? Nothing about this even tries to solve the problem with that, and that's input. In fact, they forgot to put any sort of controls on the screen at all.
What benefit does this video even have on selling people on this "concept"?
"MarioLinkSamus" says it all
I think it is a brilliant idea, for Nintendo to release a tablet/smartphone app for emulation of their retro games. I don't buy a Wii U or 3DS to play NES games, I buy them for the new stuff.
Nintendo could offer NES, SNES, and Gameboy games for $0.99 each (current prices are far too expensive for old games) or a subscription for, say, $5 a month with access to all Nintendo-published games for their old systems.
It would do really well. People love old Nintendo games. Thy shouldn't be so stingy with their retro titles! Heck, people emulate them anyway.
Tap here to load 55 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...