DeNA held its Q2 financial results briefing today. With its close partnership with Nintendo, a number of tidbits were shared about mobile plans, and the company clarified its approach to Switch.

First, in general terms, DeNA is reallocating resources to the Nintendo partnership. That would suggest the two sides will continue working together beyond 2017. Additionally, DeNA views the joint development of Nintendo apps as its “highest priority”. The company would like to become profitable outside Japan as well.

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Miitomo – returning Miitomo Drop stage and new items (11/3/16)

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

Miitomo has been updated with more content. Users will find a returning stage, along with some brand new items.

“Go for a hat trick! Soccer Style #1” is the stage in question. It includes the following:

– Soccer jersey (team A)
– Soccer jersey (team B)
– Soccer uniform shorts
– Stylish soccer cleats

And as far as the new items go, you can nab the following:

– Down vest + wool flannel shirt
– Browline glasses
– Turkey hood
– Turkey suit
– Hoodie + plaid shirt
– Patchwork denim jeans
– High-top b-ball shoes
– Cashmere scarf

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Miitopia commercial

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, Videos | 0 comments

The first commercial for Miitopia is now live on Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube page. We’ve gone ahead and posted it below.

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Eevee now hatches out of a five-kilometer egg in Pokemon GO, no Rattata/Pidgey in eggs

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 7 Comments

Update: Niantic has further clarified the situation with a tweet, stating that in addition to Eevee being limited to five-kilometer eggs, players will no longer recieve Rattata or Pidgey from their hatched eggs. Furthermore, players will find different Pokemon where Zubat, Rattata and Pidgey were commonly found prior to this update.

Professor Willow has discovered that Pidgey & Rattata no longer hatch from Eggs. He also found that Eevee now hatches from 5 km Eggs only.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) November 3, 2016

Professor Willow has discovered that you may encounter other Pokémon where Pidgey, Rattata, and Zubat were previously more commonly found.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) November 3, 2016

Original: Niantic recently made a change to Pokemon GO which is going over very well within the community. In the past, Eevee was a part of the random rotation of Pokemon that could be inside the 10-kilometer egg. Now, however, the Pokemon hatches out of a five-kilometer egg.

It takes quite a bit of work to earn a 10-kilometer egg. After hatching it and learning that Eevee was inside, some players ended up being disappointed as it’s a fairly common creature. With the update, it takes half as many steps to possibly hatch an Eevee or another less rare Pokemon on the same egg tier.

Source, Via

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Niantic would like the game to be a social network, looking to include “more heads-up play”

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

The Verge recently spoke with Niantic’s Dennis Hwang, who was previously in charge of designing Google Doodles. Much of the conversation revolved around Pokemon GO.

At one point, Hwang was asked if he considers the game to be a social network. His response was as follows:

“I think we would like for it to be. That’s kind of part of the way we envision our platform, is really bringing people together. It’s not really about the specific game title or mobile phone app, it’s how do you create a shared experience that brings people together. So for Ingress, when we did start seeing boyfriend / girlfriend, husband / wife, people who are having kids after meeting each other playing our game, it was super satisfying and we were overjoyed to see that actually happening.
We’re sort of trying to paint an optimistic future, where technology is really bringing people together, not like you’re strapping a screen in a dark place to your face, where every interaction becomes through a camera, through a computer, through a network — that seems a little too dystopian to us. So we’re trying to see if there’s a better way to do things.”

Hwang later took on a question about Pokemon GO’s design and whether he’d change anything. This prompted him to speak about wanting to incorporate “more heads-up play.” Niantic wants players looking less at their phones rather than more.

Hwang said:

“Oh, there’s a lot that isn’t perfect. We had a pretty tight timeline to build this. I think just generally speaking the biggest element we’re looking to improve is allowing more heads-up play. It saddens me a little bit when I see a lot of hunched over people outside. They’re having fun, they’re outside in a great public park, but we’re always wanting a little more direct engagement with our immediate surroundings. So those are design choices we’re looking at carefully to keep improving it.
Like let’s say in the current interface, some of the information about a pokémon that spawned is in fine detail and the icon is really small. It’s going to make you go closer to the screen. We may just iterate on the design until you feel like the information is being presented to you in a way where you’re not having to stick your nose on the screen. It could be a simple size change, or the way the notification is animated, or it could be auditory cues instead of visual cues. There are a lot of options we’re going to explore.”

Source

More: Dennis Hwang, interview, Niantic, Pokemon GO

Niantic confirms daily bonuses for Pokemon GO, shares first details

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

Pokemon GO fans recently found evidence of a new planned feature via data mining: daily bonuses. Today, Niantic confirmed that the functionality is on the way, and also shared first details.

Players who catch Pokemon every day will receive a pair of bonuses. Additionally, you’ll get a larger bonus for catching Pokemon seven days in a row. Bonuses are also planned for those who visit a PokeStop and spin the Photo Disc every day as well as for a seven day streak.

By catching a Pokemon at any time on Tuesday local time, you’ll be eligible for the next daily bonus on Wednesday at 12 AM local time.

Full details about the different bonuses can be found after the break.

More: Niantic, Pokemon GO, top

Miitomo – “Cat Style” Miitomo Drop returns

Posted on 8 years ago by Jake in Mobile | 0 comments

Miitomo’s latest update brings back another set of Miitomo Drop items, “Dress to impurress! Cat Style”. By using coins or game tickets, players can get their paws on the following items:

– Tiny kitty cap
– Cat-ear headband
– Striped kitty muffler
– Cat-faced stockings
– Cat hood w/ muffler
– Cat-paw dress shirt
– Hoodie w/ wraparound kitty
– Shorts w/ calico-cat print
– Cat companion
– Silly-kitty sweater
– Kitty miniskirt
– Cat-faced pumps

The stages will be available until 10 AM EST on November 3.

More: DeNA, Miitomo

Super Mario Run is being made with Unity

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 26 Comments

Nintendo isn’t using any random or in-house engine for the creation of Super Mario Run. Instead, the company went with a well-known tool. As it turns out, Super Mario Run is being made with Unity.

The engine’s official Twitter account shared the news:

We are thrilled that the legendary creators @NintendoAmerica are bringing Mario to mobile for the first time, and it's #madewithunity pic.twitter.com/iN7a2Ptee5
— Unity (@unity3d) November 1, 2016

Super Mario Run debuts on iOS next month. Nintendo intends to bring it to Android devices at a later date as well.

Thanks to TDude73 for the tip.

Source

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Pokemon GO revenue on the decline, will likely continue to decline “to some degree”

Posted on 8 years ago by Zack in Mobile, News | 21 Comments

Pokemon GO has been a runaway success for Niantic and the Pokemon Company, but it seems its wild popularity is dwindling – at least compared to other mobile game titans.

A collection of data regarding Pokemon GO and its overall decline in revenue has been posted on the Survey Monkey Intelligence blog, detailing how steep the decline in revenue is. During it’s peak month of July and some time afterwards, Pokemon GO was the most profitable mobile game by a very wide margin. However, its revenue generation has shrunk to levels that are more comparable to other mobile games, such as Mobile Strike, Game of War and Clash Royale. In the blog post, its mentioned that the revenue generation of Pokemon GO has fallen to a level that puts it on par with Candy Crush Saga. Furthermore, the author believes that this downward trend will continue to a certain degree:

October saw Pokémon GO’s daily revenues fall below those of Game of War, Mobile Strike, and Clash Royale, who are now vying for the top grossing game spot.
Pokémon GO’s revenue stats on U.S. smartphones have put it essentially on par with Candy Crush Saga… for the moment. (We expect Pokémon GO revenues will keep falling to some degree.)

More: Niantic, Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO is number one again on iPhone’s top-grossing chart thanks to Halloween event

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 5 Comments

Data collected by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates that Pokemon GO has returned to the top of the charts. Thanks to the mobile game’s Halloween event, it’s now number one again as the iPhone’s highest-grossing title in the United States. Last week, it had fallen as low as number ten.

Source