Slashdot Mirror
The Tech Problems Inside Nintendo's Amiibo Toys
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?
So you're storing your data in a doll, and you have to buy a doll for each game you play? And people are still willing to pay above retail for these dolls? Sounds like Nintendo's happy with the current model to me, and somewhere PT Barnum is smiling.
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?
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
> there is currently only one game for instance that uses the write function of each figure's NFC chip, rather than simply reading it.
I guess it means:
There's only one game that stores data in the doll, the rest just read from it.
You get special attributes, but it seems that with games like Mario Party or Smash Bros you can save those upgrades to your character and take it on the road to a friends. But for most games they only use the read feature to give a slight boost to your character or unlock a level, etc.
If you're just now coming to realize the incredible inconvenience to consumers that planned obsolescence affords, and its only recently become a concern when contextualized in the form of a plastic trinket, then things are only going to get worse when you hear about how the rest of the modern consumer electronics market works.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The hardware in the Amiibo have 4 kB of writeable space, which is almost inconceivably tiny nowadays. You could fit enough data in there for a couple of games if you're using minimal, tightly-packed C structures, but nobody does that any more when every game console has enough space that you can use dozens or even hundred of kB for storing saved games.
To be fair, I really don't know why they couldn't have just put a whole MB of storage space on the chip and then allocated something like 4 kB per game. Sometimes Nintendo makes baffling hardware decisions.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
The rest you can store in the cloud
Which only works if you're on a system that has reliable internet access and your user is capable of setting up some sort of account credentials and is willing to go through that process any time they're playing a game on a different system. Remember who the target audience is here (young chlidren).
It's plenty of space, roomy in fact, for quite a lot of useful data structures.
For an embedded programmer, sure. Most of the people making console games nowadays have no experience programming for a system that doesn't effectively have as much storage space as they could want. Out in the non-embedded world, I've got preference files for text editors that are larger than 4k. I've seen save game files that are dozens of megabytes.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
List of things Nintendo has accomplished:
- Reviving consumer faith and interest in home game consoles post-Atari Shock
- Providing definitive games for genres that are now "commonplace" and "relatively set in stone" - Platformers (Mario), Metroid half of Metroidvania, etc
- Always adding experimental features that often become de-facto standards: XABY controls, multi-screen interactions, casually approachable motion controls
- Daring to experiment with gaming hardware in an effort to move things forwards (goes with the previous.) A control stick in the middle of a controller? Okay, whatever. A pair of screens on a portable where one is a touch screen? Hey, if you say so. A game console that lets you waggle the controller with a point and click interface as easy as using a TV remote? Mmmkay. A game console with 3D graphics - the interfering "paralax" 3DS and the Virtualboy both here? Gimmicky, but a experimental move nonetheless. A game console that ships with a tablet as more-or-less part of the console, allowing you to treat the TV as "less relevant"? Brilliant, if a bit poorly executed. [...] While some of these are astounding failures and some are astounding successes to the point that it blindsided the industry, the bigger point is that Nintendo's experimentation serves as a source of disruption and innovation in the industry which is otherwise saturated with a LOT of the same stuff and little willingness to experiment with the medium itself. otherwise. (Remember that this point is about hardware, not software; indie studios are doing a lot to help disrupt things again on the software front. See also: "AAA Rut")
- Becoming an emblem not of "outstanding" or "hardcore" quality but of *consistent* quality. This is very important; I would rather have a game studio be consistent than release 5 lemons and one great game. (I'm looking at yooooou, Yuji Naka and Sonic Team, as well as whoever decided that the end of Halo 4 should be a poorly coded Starfox-esque flight sim.)
- Lest we forget, it was Nintendo's fault that Sony become a serious game hardware company. The PS2, if memory serves, has the highest number of games made for it and is quite possibly the most successful game platform to date (barring general home computers, of course). Yes, a lot of those games are weird or suck, but most people think of RPGs and a handful of unique shooters when they think PS2 anyway.
Seems like a pen and paper roleplaying game has the answer. the data could be a universal set of characters attributes and that progress could be translated in-game in various ways. if you level yourself on one game you might actually get some level of progress on another game. I'm a bit disappointed that this isn't how it works.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire