SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Nintendo to apparently go into smartphone market...

Posted: Mar 17 2015 04:15 pm

My Nintendo News wrote:

Nintendo and DeNA today entered into a business and capital alliance to develop and operate new game apps for smart devices and build a new multi-device membership service for consumers worldwide.

Leveraging the strength of Nintendo’s intellectual property (IP) and game development skills in combination with DeNA’s world-class expertise in mobile games, both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices. 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. Under the alliance, DeNA will also be able to strengthen its gaming business at a global scale by leveraging Nintendo’s IP. To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimised for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system.

In order to create completely new game experiences for smart devices, all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by the alliance. As these consumers enjoy the unique kind of gameplay found only with Nintendo, they will have the opportunity to explore even more premium experiences on Nintendo’s dedicated video game platforms. Information on upcoming games and availability will be forthcoming.

Nintendo and DeNA also plan to develop an online membership service that is accessible from smart devices, PC and Nintendo systems, such as the Nintendo 3DS portable system and the Wii U home console. The membership service, which is targeted to launch in the fall of 2015, will be built on DeNA’s extensive experience and capabilities in online membership services.

As part of the long-term relationship and commitment by each company, Nintendo and DeNA have also agreed to form a capital alliance. Under the capital alliance, Nintendo will acquire 15,081,000 of DeNA’s treasury shares, which corresponds to 10.00 percent of its total outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen. DeNA will simultaneously acquire 1,759,400 of Nintendo’s treasury shares, which corresponds to 1.24 percent of its outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen. The payment is due April 2, 2015.

Source: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/17/nintendo-and-dena-form-business-and-capital-alliance-to-develop-game-apps-featuring-nintendo-ip-for-smart-devices/

I don't know how to feel about this. I feel like they are going to cannibalize their own market with this deal.

Title: Miss Madness 99 Joined: Sep 09 2012 Posts: 222

I honestly don't really care what Nintendo does anymore. They were an awesome company in the 80's and 90's but they aren't the special company like they once were. I guess being an adult I see them for what they really are; a greedy Japanese company that sparks nostalgia every few years and makes you pay a premium price for it.

I know fanboys will continue to obsess about Smash Brothers and Zelda remakes as long as their is a market for those games so Nintendo will continue to make money notwithstanding.

Posted: Mar 17 2015 07:29 pm

It's interesting, because we actually just dropped for a Wii U a few weeks ago and have been really enjoying that. That said, I'm not the market demographic for mobile or handheld gaming, so I guess they're not too concerned about my dollar anyhow. I just like playing Mario and Kirby games.

Posted: Mar 17 2015 09:35 pm

GeorgeTaylor wrote:

I honestly don't really care what Nintendo does anymore. They were an awesome company in the 80's and 90's but they aren't the special company like they once were. .

On the contrary, I think they're the most interesting video game company to follow, if only because of stuff like this being big news. I can't think of a more polarizing company that is both loved and hated for its multi-faceted stance on being traditional.

Joined: Aug 05 2008 Location: CA Posts: 867

Nintendo being responsible for at least their last 3-4 platforms not failing miserably by releasing high quality first party titles is pretty much unarguable in my opinion. However, they have a pretty bad track record working with or comprising with third party developers; I know this from first hand experience.

However I think they are starting to get tired of being an island in this industry and news like this shows that. Two years ago they completely discounted the value of mobile gaming, it is more than ironic that they are moving in this direction.

Posted: Mar 17 2015 10:41 pm

After reading the few posts here so far, I'm going to do something I should've done in the initial post and throw in my two cents on this whole matter.

My biggest concern with all of this is that Nintendo is going to cannibalize its own already-established handheld gaming market. After over two decades of sticking to Nintendo handhelds (with the exception of the Sega Game Gear), I really don't know of Nintendo's handheld gaming future with the announcement. It just seems illogical in my opinion to go into the smartphone game market when it already has something competing against it.

Joined: Aug 05 2008 Location: CA Posts: 867

Ky-Guy wrote:

After reading the few posts here so far, I'm going to do something I should've done in the initial post and throw in my two cents on this whole matter.

My biggest concern with all of this is that Nintendo is going to cannibalize its own already-established handheld gaming market. After over two decades of sticking to Nintendo handhelds (with the exception of the Sega Game Gear), I really don't know of Nintendo's handheld gaming future with the announcement. It just seems illogical in my opinion to go into the smartphone game market when it already has something competing against it.

Competition with yourself is better than competing with others. They have to make a move at this point no matter how desperate it may appear.

Posted: Mar 17 2015 11:43 pm

You know what, I found a voice of reason. Thank God for ReviewTechUSA:

Joined: Aug 05 2008 Location: CA Posts: 867

Ky-Guy wrote:

You know what, I found a voice of reason. Thank God for ReviewTechUSA:

Is this not exactly what I just said?

"Calm your tits", this is not the end of Nintendo or their portable platforms it is a positive expansion of their business model. Still a contradiction of their previous stance on mobile gaming...

This industry moves faster than the speed of light. You evolve or you die. This is just a small move on Nintendo's part in the right direction. If they are not careful they might end up like Sega but I would argue that this will not happen.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

I just wish they were converting old 8 and 16 bit games to be played on smartphones instead of just making new titles. I would love to play some classic SMB on my phone on my daily commute on the train.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I can't imagine being excited about playing a platformer on a phone. I've had emulators on mine and everything is practically unplayable due to shitty touch controls. Pretty much only good for turn based RPG's where reaction time doesn't matter. Unless Nintendo makes an actual weird NES controller hybrid that you connect to your phone, I'm not interested.

tl;dr : anyone who's played an emulator on a phone cannot be excited about practically any Nintendo game on a phone.

Posted: Mar 18 2015 01:02 pm

Cattivo wrote:

I just wish they were converting old 8 and 16 bit games to be played on smartphones instead of just making new titles. I would love to play some classic SMB on my phone on my daily commute on the train.

JoshWoodzy wrote:

I can't imagine being excited about playing a platformer on a phone. I've had emulators on mine and everything is practically unplayable due to shitty touch controls. Pretty much only good for turn based RPG's where reaction time doesn't matter. Unless Nintendo makes an actual weird NES controller hybrid that you connect to your phone, I'm not interested.

Agree with Josh 100% on this. Have you played any of Sega or Capcom's mobile ports? They're dreadful. Square's aren't much better. Even Theatrhythm is pretty subpar on iOS. Capcom has done a lot to denigrate Mega Man the last fews years, but those iOS ports are among the most egregious of their crimes. I don't want to see Mario or Zelda devalued by similar slipshod work.

Making new games specifically for mobile is *mostly* a great idea. The recently released 3DS freemium game Pokemon Shuffle is just begging for a mobile port. And maybe Kirby's Tilt N' Tumble from the old Game Boy.

Of course, there's nothing to stop Nintendo from doing Zelda Shuffle or Samus Tilt N' Tumble, I suppose.

But on the whole, creating new games specifically for mobile is smart. If Nintendo pulls this off, it extends their brand and market visibility without impeding their core business. I have high hopes that Nintendo can indeed pull this off. They have been researching this foray for years, so I am fairly confident they can pull it off correctly. But I guess we'll see. Good luck, Nintendo.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Yeah, that's definitely a hurdle to climb. I remember playing the new RBI baseball on a phone, and using the touch screen felt so damn awkward. If there were actual buttons, it would at least make it easier.

I remember playing tetris on older phones with buttons wasn't too bad. Ever since I started using smartphones, I really don't play the game anymore. It just feels so weird turning and advancing the pieces by touching the screen.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

There's also a flipside, in that even the shittiest android phones have better touch screens than any 3DS iteration, so they will be able to incorporate some really cool touch games that they've never been able to implement on their own handhelds.

Posted: Mar 18 2015 03:56 pm

It would be interesting to see Nintendo's take on things like Doodle Jump and Temple Run. I would be all over that.

Posted: Mar 18 2015 04:02 pm

Nintendo is dead to me. Unless they suddenly flip a common sense switch over at HQ, I wish them nothing but swift and devastating failure in every endeavor.

Off topic: Ky-Guy, send me your Paypal info so I can pay you for the deathpool already.

Posted: Mar 18 2015 04:41 pm

GeorgeTaylor wrote:

I guess being an adult I see them for what they really are; a greedy company that sparks nostalgia every few years and makes you pay a premium price for it.

This, pretty much. On the whole I've become pretty disillusioned with Nintendo as a whole (especially with the recent addition of the New 3DS), so I honestly can't muster up any interest in whether they live or die. I will say, though, that I would buy the crap out of an Android port of Kirby's Tilt & Tumble.

Posted: Mar 18 2015 11:13 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

It would be interesting to see Nintendo's take on things like Doodle Jump and Temple Run. I would be all over that.

I unrealistically hope one of their first games for mobile is a Splatoon-themed tower defense game.

Posted: Apr 05 2015 10:54 am

I've said this before, but I'd love to see Nintendo ditch the gimmicks and come out with a standard system that can compete head to head against Sony and Microsoft. I still think that at the end of the day, when Nintendo is on their game, they're better at this game than anyone. I'd love to be playing Elder Scrolls or Grand Theft Auto on a Nintendo system.

I know it's unlikely to ever happen at this point. I just haven't been interested in anything Nintendo has done since the N64 (I didn't actually own that system, either). Mobile gaming has never appealed to me on any level, so Nintendo has been nothing more than a long-lost friend to me for 20+ years. I'd love to see them return with what made them great in the SNES days.

Title: Miss Madness 99 Joined: Sep 09 2012 Posts: 222

Konami recently has headed the same way as Nintendo focusing in the future on the mobile games platform.

I get where they are coming from, a mobile phone is powerful enough these days to make some quality games and its more likely to be by your side more than a system that just plays games only.

What some people fail to realize is that the PowerVR GPU in alot of phones these days is basically a low power version of what they used in the Sega Dreamcast so we should get some dang good 2D remakes of Nintendo classics.

Posted: May 29 2015 09:56 am

I hope either Nintendo or Konami can invent a whole new subgenre of mobile game in that case since they're so committed to it.

Title: Miss Madness 99 Joined: Sep 09 2012 Posts: 222

My guess is that we will eventually be able to beam our games to a tv similar to a chromcast with a Nintendo hdmi dongle and a bluetooth controller.

Posted: Jun 01 2015 05:04 pm

So, Nintendo released Puzzles And Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition for 3DS lately, and I am not impressed. $30 dollars for a FREE mobile game that's been available since 2012, all for a new Mario skin? No thanks. If this is what entails Nintendo's mobile strategy, then I am not on board. Hopefully they can do better than this.

Posted: Jun 01 2015 09:06 pm

I got a 3DS last year, and other than being able to play the new Smash with friends, I kind of regret it.

Posted: Jun 02 2015 01:45 am

No news yet on a US release, but Japan is getting a 3DS port of Dragon Quest VIII in August. Though I'm still waiting around for VII (from the PS-X) to get its butt ported over here.