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The Tech Problems Inside Nintendo's Amiibo Toys

Posted by timothy on from the keep-them-in-the-package dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Nintendo's line of amiibo figurines are coveted by fans and collectors, even scalpers and robbers, with some harder to come by models fetching high sums on auction sites. But as a new article points out, every model suffers from similar technical drawbacks when it comes to interacting with the Japanese games giant's Wii U and 3DS consoles: there is currently only one game for instance that uses the write function of each figure's NFC chip, rather than simply reading it. But if there were more, Nintendo would be faced with another problem: where to store the data for each, since amiibo can currently only store one title's data at a time. The company may be looking to solve some of these issues with its upcoming NX system, but will it be too little too late?

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. One game, one save by Calydor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So let me get this straight.

    Only one game currently uses the write function. The chip can only HOLD data for one game. And the whole problem boils down to, "But what if someone in some indeterminate future decides to use the write function as well?"

    While yes, they should have thought of that during development, this currently seems kind of like a non-issue. And wouldn't the simplest solution be using the normal save space on the Wii U (I assume it has that, right?) requiring something similar to an encryption key or password from the given doll to use the data that applies to it?

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    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    1. Re:One game, one save by diamondmagic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This isn't always available or desirable.

      For instance in Smash Bros., you can fight against your amiibo to give it experience and it'll pick up on your play style. This data is saved back to the NFID chip and can be brought to amiibo tournaments to see whose is the best, which play styles tend to defeat which play styles, etc.

      It is quite interesting to see it all in action.

      (And good grief, you wouldn't call your D&D minis "dolls" would you? Same thing.)

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      Wonder what the public key field is for?
  2. Re:Somewhere PT Barnum is smiling by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Found this http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/...