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Nintendo Finally Working On Games for Smartphones

Posted by Soulskill on from the seeing-which-way-the-wind-blows dept.

Several readers sent word that Nintendo is finally bringing its games to mobile devices. It's partnering with Japanese game publisher DeNA to develop games for phones and tablets based on Nintendo's popular game IPs. (Existing games will not get mobile ports, however.) DeNA first approached Nintendo about using the company's characters in mobile games back in 2010, Iwata said, and has been passionately pursuing talks on the alliance ever since. Iwata acknowledged that the transition from the Wii and DS lines to the Wii U and 3DS lines has not gone "as smoothly as we had expected," but he maintained that industry watchers predicting the death of dedicated video game consoles are being too pessimistic. Iwata tied the move to smartphones to Nintendo's historical embrace of TV gaming after decades as a physical toy and card game company during a time when TVs didn't exist. "Now that smart devices have grown to become the window for so many people to personally connect with society, it would be a waste not to use these devices."

6 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. I still don't know why ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... they don't just partner with Apple and bring out a console. And yes, it should be called the iConsole.

    1. Re:I still don't know why ... by aaron4801 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's worse than that. It was $599 in 1995, which would be over $925 today.

  2. Oh crap... by LordNightwalker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This can be seen as Nintendo just expanding into the casual market, but I remember what happened to Sega...

    --
    Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
    1. Re:Oh crap... by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      AppleTV will eventually become an iOS console. Get used to it, but custom gaming consoles may become a thing of the past once the hardware has become commoditized. You can only push 2D/3D graphics so far on a TV before hands are thrown up and "fuck it, good enough". In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns less into a Microsoft vs Sony as it would be Microsoft vs Apple, vs Steam in the battle for platforms and not hardware specs.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  3. Goodbye, Nintendo. by uCallHimDrJ0NES · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's been over for a while now. The first Wii was promising, but I don't think they've had an idea since then. Their decisions have seemed poor and unfriendly for years. Their user agreement is one of the worst I've seen, and possibly even illegal given the child's role in interacting with it. Seems like it's time to make money by cannibalizing the brand. People comparing this to what happened to Sega are right on. If you think Sega is still intact, please try getting some Chaos Emeralds on Sonic 2 on your Android, and tell us how the support story goes when it crashes.

    --
    Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
  4. The Old Apple by v(*_*)vvvv · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Then Nintendo had a lot in common with Now Apple. Games were simple enough that indie developers could make hit titles that Nintendo would then publish and distribute as cartridges, which is basically what the App eco system is, minus the hardware. But Nintendo was Apple, not an App developer... and to stoop to that level is seppuku harakiri suicide.

    What if Nintendo made an official NES emulator app and publish every NES game ever made... add a gamepad accessory built to legacy standards, and the NES graveyard just became a NES-fan's utopia. Do this for the SNES, Gameboy, N64... whatever an iPhone can handle. Keywords: Every game ever, identical, fingertips. This wouldn't be just another App or just another game. It would be Nintendo via my phone! Can't wait!