Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

Earlier this week, Nintendo held its latest financial results briefing. The event consisted of both a presentation and a Q&A. The latter part has now been published online as a transcript, though only in Japanese at the moment.

Twitter user Cheesemeister has come up with a few translations of notable topics. These include more on Nintendo and mobile, the company’s usage of IPs and new IPs, and use of Facebook and Twitter. You can read on below for the full translations.

The smartphone app market seems to be out of new ideas and growing boring, do you intend to dramatically change gameplay with your games? The app you just introduced (Miitomo) may just be 1 app, but isn’t heavily emphasizing communication a bit off from Nintendo’s strengths?

Kimishima: Miitomo is a unique app and can be enjoyed by communicating using Miis, even by those not normally in constant communication. Miitomo is closely integrated with My Nintendo and Nintendo Account. We’ve already demonstrated the joy of discovering things about people you thought you knew well in internal tests during development. With the likable Mii IP, smart device users will enjoy it. Other than Miitomo, we’re thinking of apps that integrate w/ consoles, as well as things just for mobile and users who don’t normally play.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 31 Comments

VIZ Media has high hopes for Yo-kai Watch. Waell Oueslati, EMEA associate brand manager at Viz Media, recently told MCV that he believes the franchise could be the next Pokemon.

Oueslati said:

“This will be the next big boys’ brand, essentially the next Pokémon. We have very high expectations for the market and for the UK. We are certainly bigger than Pokémon in Japan; we currently have 95 per cent market share in that region.”

In case you’re curious, VIZ Media is in charge of Yo-kai Watch’s comics and TV show in both North America and Europe.

Source

More: interview, Level-5, Viz Media, Waell Oueslati, Yo-kai Watch

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

The Pokemon partnership with McDonald’s doesn’t just extend to the Hoopa distribution for the 3DS games. We’ve now also received the announcement of the Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Happy Meal, which will be available at locations in the United States and Canada between November 27 and December 23.

These Happy Meals will include one of eight collectible Pokemon figures from Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire as well as one of twelve Pokemon TCG cards. The figures include Pikachu, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Lugia, Rayquaza, Mega Latios, Wobbuffet, and Hoopa.

Source: Pokemon PR

More: McDonalds, Pokemon

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News, Switch | 32 Comments

More tidbits have been translated from Nikkei’s interview with Nintendo president and CEO Tatsumi Kimishima.

We already heard Kimishima’s mention that Nintendo has interest in bringing its mobile apps to over 100 countries (with eight supported languages). We also heard him mention that he believes Nintendo could exceed profits from the Wii and DS days.

In terms of what’s new, here’s what Kimishima said when asked when the localization of Nintendo’s mobile apps will take place:

“I want to do it as soon as possible. This is because our goal is to increase the number of My Nintendo members. It would be good if we reached one hundred or two hundred million members.”

Kimishima was also asked if Nintendo will lose money on Miitomo. He replied with the following:

“If you want to dress your Mii in certain outfits, it’ll be so that you can select and purchase them. Also, it will have game elements.”

Finally, Kimishima did briefly touch on NX. Of course, Nintendo won’t be talking about it until next year, but it “offers a totally new experience.” He also wants it to be adopted quicker than the 3DS and the Wii U.

Source

More: interview, Tatsumi Kimishima, top

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Pre-orders have now gone up on the Nintendo UK store. To get yours in, head on over to this page. The figure is due out on November 20 for £10.99.

More: Amiibo, pre-order, UK

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Today, Capcom issued its financial report for the sixth month period between April and September. While the company did experience an increase in sales, it saw a decrease in income.

Capcom reported a total of $262 million in net sales, up 22 percent over the same six month period in 2014. However, net income decreased from $25 million last year to $16 million. Digital sales of games such as Monster Hunter 4 were said to be “firm, particularly in overseas markets”.

Source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 24 Comments

Nintendo commented on how it intends to maximize the value of its IP during its latest financial results briefing. Here’s what was shared by CEO Tatsumi Kimishima:

“As you know, Nintendo’s basic strategy has consistently been “expansion of the gaming population.” A variety of popular characters, including Mario and Link, appear in Nintendo’s video games and these characters are the source of Nintendo’s IP value. By increasing the number of people who have access to this Nintendo IP or video game characters, music and world view, and by increasing the value of Nintendo IP, we aim to further expand the gaming population.

More specifically, we will provide people with new applications on their smart devices by utilizing our Nintendo IP. We are also planning to offer new attractions at theme parks by using Nintendo IP. Further, by using Nintendo IP in a variety of other ways, such as licensing and commercializing this IP for visual content and merchandizing products, we are planning to maximize the value of Nintendo IP, which has traditionally been used mainly for our dedicated video game systems. Needless to say, there is no change to the fact that dedicated game systems remain at the core of Nintendo experiences.”

Source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

As part of its latest financial results briefing materials, Nintendo posted a slide showing the cumulative sales rankings of amiibo. We’re able to see what’s popular in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Check out the full rankings above.

Nintendo also revealed that most shipments came from the Americas:

This is a graph that shows the latest ratio of shipments by region for figure-type amiibo. The blue colored area represents the Americas. In the US, the so-called “Toys to Life” category, in which games work together with figures, are well recognized and people are familiar with this way of having fun. This is why during the previous fiscal year the percentage of shipments for the Americas was 66 percent, which represented a significant portion of total amiibo shipments. The Americas market still holds more than half of the total sales but you can tell from the graph that regions other than the US, where “Toys to Life” products had a late release, are gradually expanding. For your information, the majority of sales for “Other Regions” are from Australia. In addition to Australia, we started to ship to Asia from this financial period.

Source

More: Amiibo

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments

Update: Okay. I lied. Couldn’t resist posting the amiibo sales rankings, excerpt about 3DS localizations, and IP plans.!

Nintendo has now shared a full English transcript of its latest financial results briefing. Access it here. I won’t be posting any additional snippets since we’ve pretty much covered everything major in various posts over the past couple of hours. However, you can read up on a little bit of additional information concerning Wii U and 3DS sales at the link.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 66 Comments

Nintendo shared first details about Nintendo Account (its new term for accounts) and My Nintendo (new membership service) during its financial results briefing today. Here’s a breakdown of everything we know:

– Ease of creation/use of Nintendo Accounts being emphasized
– Register with NNID, Facebook, Twitter, Google, e-mail
– Purchase software downloads on the site, see purchases, play info, and game-related messages
– Nintendo will send notices and gifts
– Ex: Animal Crossing character called Isabel may send some information or a present to those who are playing with that game, Mario Kart players may receive a notice about add-on content and we may also send a message that enables the recipient to purchase some software at an attractive price point on his or her birthday
– Games purchased can be automatically downloaded to your system
– Receive points by using and playing games or purchasing them
– This applies to both console and mobile
– Use points on digital goods (maybe DLC), original goods, and coupons
– Use your account in conjunction with the theme park, as well as theaters and stores
– Make friends with those who enjoy playing games together by establishing “Friend” relationships
– Friend relationship can be established only between two people who know each other and have consented to the relationship
– This Friend relationship can be used for software for dedicated game systems and smart device applications
– Nintendo Accounts will provide cloud storage of character and save data
– Will provide membership service benefits in other real-life facilities such as theme parks, movie theaters and retail outlets
– My Nintendo will work as a bridge between dedicated game systems and smart devices
– My Nintendo out in March

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