Tag Archives: Nintendo NX

Nintendo looks to the future with more apps, a new console & Zelda

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The Wii U, Nintendo’s followup to its revolutionary motion-sensing video game console, the Wii, never quite lived up to its potential. The giant, lackluster GamePad and the system’s inferior specs ultimately drove third-party developers away and the Wii U never gained steam in the console wars against powerhouses Xbox and PlayStation. Ninty is gearing up to turn a new leaf, announcing a broader push into mobile and even a launch window for its next home console.

Last March, Nintendo partnered with Tokyo-based developer DeNA to develop games for smartphones and its first foray became a smash-hit practically overnight. A couple months ago, Nintendo dropped Miitomo into the App Store and today the company’s celebrating over 10 million users. The “social experience” app invites users to create a Mii (or on-screen avatar) and interact with other Miis over the Internet by taking photos and hanging out. This fall, Ninty’s increasing its app count by two with fresh games based on the popular Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing franchises. According to Nintendo, “compared to Miitomo, [these apps] have more prominent game elements, and the game content will tie closely into Nintendo’s dedicated games business.”

Wii U’s successor, codenamed NX, now has an official launch window: March 2017. It will be unveiled sometime later this year, Mario’s maker promises.

Lastly, Nintendo opened up about its plans for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). This June, the NX will not make an appearance at the annual convention, but the next-gen Legend of Zelda will. In fact, Zelda will be the only playable game at Nintendo’s booth this year. It’s a strange move since Nintendo is typically known to have many of its beloved franchises on-site to demo at the show. The new Zelda is currently in development and will be released simultaneously on the Wii U and NX consoles in 2017.

See you at E3!

[Via Nintendo]

Nintendo wants to be on smart devices, still committed to home-brewed hardware

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It won’t be long before you can find Mario on your smartphone. After years of denying the importance of the smart device app space (read: games for phones, tablets, laptop PCs), Nintendo is changing its stance by debuting a new partnership and initiative to bring new games to consumers based on Nintendo intellectual property. Ninty has partnered with Tokyo-based developer DeNA (pronounced “D-N-A”) to make apps. “The alliance is intended to complement Nintendo’s dedicated video game systems business and extend Nintendo’s reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide,” reads a press release. The PR also notes that “only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created;” what this means is that you should not expect ports of classic Nintendo titles such as Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong Country to land on your iPhone. In addition, the video game companies are collaborating on an online membership service that will tie together consumers playing these new apps across devices including the Wii U home console and the 3DS handheld.

With Nintendo entering the highly lucrative app arena, does this mark the beginning of the end for Nintendo-made home consoles? Shortly after announcing its initiative with DeNA–on the same day, even–the house that build Mario made it abundantly clear that it is not ditching its core consumer base. In fact, they went on to confirm a followup to the Wii U and it’s codenamed “NX.” Here’s all the company revealed about it during a press conference: “Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated games platform with a brand new concept under the development codename NX.” Nintendo fanboys and fangirls, you can breathe a little bit easier now! Still, I’m certainly excited to see how Nintendo will go about making its mark in the crowded mobile app space.