DeNA’s initial mobile projects with Nintendo are all free-to-play
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 7 Comments
Miitomo, DeNA’s first mobile project being developed in conjunction with Nintendo, is due out in March of next year. That’s a free-to-play game. Likewise, all of the titles the company is currently developing will be based on a similar model.
“Games currently in the pipeline are all free to play,” DeNA chief executive Isao Moriyasu mentioned at an earnings briefing earlier today.
Moriyasu wouldn’t really call “Miitomo” a game during the financial meeting. However, he reiterated that its rich entertainment features make it more than just a chat or communication tool. The app will also be updated continuously.
Another important note: it appears that DeNA is focusing its efforts on co-developing Nintendo’s free-to-play apps while the Big N handles the paid ones.
Weekly Pokemon Shuffle update
Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in 3DS eShop, Mobile, News | 1 Comment
Pokemon Shuffle has seen a fairly small update today compared to previous Mondays, but there’s still some new stuff worth checking out.
First of all, the Mega Gardevoir competition ended last night. You can claim your prizes now by checking in.
The Pokemon Safari stages featuring Electrike, Manectric, Stantler, Darumakka and Darmanitan are making a return to the 3DS version and are appearing for the first time on the mobile version. These stages will be available till November 24th.
Finally, Tornadus makes its Pokemon Shuffle debut. You can only play this stage once per day, so make it count! It will be available until November 16th.
More: Pokemon Shuffle
Pokemon Shuffle updates (11/4/15) – Durant stage, Shuckle stage for mobile
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Mobile, News | 0 comments
Two more updates are now live in Pokemon Shuffle. For the 3DS version, players can take on a stage involving Durant. There’s also a stage in Pokemon Shuffle Mobile for Shuckle.
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Pokemon Shuffle updates (11/3/15) – Qwilfish stage, Kecleon stage for mobile
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Mobile, News | 0 comments
A couple more updates are now live in Pokemon Shuffle. For the 3DS version, the Qwilfish stage has begun. And on Pokemon Shuffle Mobile, players can partake in the Kecleon stage.
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Kimishima – wants 100-200 million My Nintendo members, Miitomo talk, NX offers new experience
Posted on 9 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.
More: interview, Tatsumi Kimishima, top
Nintendo – mobile apps will be in over 100 countries, 8 languages; profits could top Wii/DS era in 3 years
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 15 Comments
Tatsumi Kimishima recently spoke with Japanese outlet Nikkei. According to the new Nintendo CEO, the company’s mobile applications will be localized into 8 languages, and will be available in over 100 countries. He also mentioned that Nintendo’s profits will have the potential to exceed the Wii/DS era in three years time.
More: top
Official overview of Miitomo from Nintendo
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 12 Comments
Nintendo introduced its first mobile app, Miitomo, during a financial results briefing earlier today. For the full overview from today’s presentation, read on below.
The main character of Miitomo is you. First, you create your own Mii.
The Mii asks you a variety of questions and communicates your answers with your Friends’ Mii.
The people you will be able to communicate with are limited to your friends whom you have registered as Friends. We are designing this communication application to enable Friends to share information comfortably and securely.
In this way, instead of the users proactively sending their own messages, Miitomo has a unique characteristic that can be called “friendly communication starters” as your Mii will automatically dispatch the answers you gave to certain questions to your friends.
These “friendly communication starters” have an advantage that even the people who are less willing to send messages can easily participate. Another unique characteristic of Miitomo is that you may be able to find out unknown aspects about your friends or unexpected commonalities you share with your friend because Miitomo may pick up the topics that you usually do not discuss but would be willing to answer if asked.
What we would like to realize is, through such communication, you will be able to deepen friendly relationships and have more people with whom you can play games.
Both My Nintendo and Miitomo will be available in March 2016.
For reference, more than 200 million Mii characters have been created on our platforms, which means that many people around the world understand the appeal of Mii.
Nintendo’s first mobile game is “Miitomo”
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 78 Comments
It didn’t seem like we’d be hearing about Nintendo’s first mobile game after news dropped that it had been delayed to March 2016, but information was revealed after all. Here’s what we know thus far about “Miitomo” courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:
The new smartphone game will be “Miitomo”. It will be free to play, with attractive add-ons that people can pay for, Mr. Kimishima says. Others will be pay-to-download, he says.
Looks like Miis go ahead and communicate with other Miis without your knowledge. This will help people who are hesitant to talk about themselves to communicate with others, and reveal a side of your friends you never knew, Mr. Kimishima says.
In the new Miitomo game, users will design their own avatars, or “Miis,” to communicate with other users. Executive Shinya Takahashi says that Nintendo will find ways to encourage people who are hesitant to talk to share things about themselves.
Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto says DeNA will help operate the smartphone games, while Nintendo will focus on ways to guide users to its hardware.
The five smartphone apps won’t soon comprise half of sales, Mr. Kimishima says. Nintendo’s goal is to use smart devices to increase the value of its IP, which will help sales of both software and hardware, he says.
On the reason for the delay of the smartphone app, Mr. Kimishima says, is the need for more lead time to fully promote and explain Miitomo. The company is busy promoting other titles in the pipeline right now, he says. It will start promoting Miitomo after the year-end holiday season. Says this will have little impact on earnings.
Curious about how the DeNA and Nintendo partnership is going. Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto says DeNA will focus on operation of the games. Which suggests game design is all Nintendo.
On second thought, not clear whether Miitomo should be called a game. It looks more like a communications app with Mii avatars that can be ported to games on Nintendo hardware.
Nintendo delaying the launch of mobile games to March 2016
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 8 Comments
Update: We ended up receiving first details about Miitomo shortly after this post. Information here.
Nintendo and DeNA first announced plans to collaborate on mobile titles in March. We were expecting to hear about their debut title today, but that unfortunately did not materialize.
Nintendo did touch on its mobile plans during its financial results briefing today. However, president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed that the launch of these games has been delayed to March 2016 as opposed to the end of this year. The Wall Street Journal reports that “Nintendo eyes global launch, depending on the game.”
More: top
Nintendo second quarter financial results briefing live blog
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News | 110 Comments
Nintendo is just about to kick off its Second Quarter Financial Results Briefing (and Corporate Management Policy Briefing). The event should begin at roughly 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT – 30 minutes from now.
We’ll be relaying information collected by the Wall Street Journal as well as any other sources that pop up. You can keep track of the updates below.
Live blog
– Beginning now (9:04 PM ET)
– Kimishima, Miyamoto, and more are there
– Kimishima beginning his presentation
Nintendo CEO Kimishima begins his presentation. pic.twitter.com/pRNjXSgm4K
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 29, 2015
– CEO Tatsumi Kimishima says there are more titles–unannounced–coming this year to promote both Wii U and 3DS during the year-end holiday season
Splatoon us A great game. Know many people who bought Wii U to play the game. pic.twitter.com/lUXkOMfFPY
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 29, 2015
– 70% of “Animal Crossing” fans in Japan are women
– Nintendo will be pushing more games to win more women users this Christmas
– “Super Mario Maker” hit 1 million sales in just three weeks
– Mr. Kimishima notes that like “Splatoon”, a single hit game can change the course of hardware sales
Amiibo then… pic.twitter.com/9Yaz6oYpDp
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 29, 2015
– 400,000 Yarn Yoshi amiibo sold
– amiibo shipments worldwide hit 21.1 million at end-September
– This is up from 14.7 million at end-June
Amiibo sales regional breakdown. Blue is north america. Red Japan. Green Europe. Zelda most popular in US, Europe. pic.twitter.com/Om09or5nqK
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 29, 2015
– Nintendo can’t keep up with demand for “Animal Crossing” amiibo cards
– Kimishima apologizes, says will start sales of a new round of shipments today
– 8.6 million amiibo cards sold
Download purchase growing. pic.twitter.com/3vM30uZlom
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 29, 2015
– Nintendo’s new membership service will be called “Nintendo Account”
– This will connect hardware users, as well as PC and smart device users
– Nintendo to use a cloud-based data service to transfer game data between mobile games and console games
– Launch date of Nintendo’s smartphone games has been delayed
– Launch will be March 2016, not year-end
– Nintendo eyes global launch, depending on the game
– The new smartphone game will be “Miitomo”
– Free-to-play
– Attractive add-ons that people can pay for
– Other games will be pay-to-download
– Miitomo is the first of five smartphone apps that Nintendo plans to release by March 2017
– In the new Miitomo game, users will design their own avatars, or “Miis,” to communicate with other users
– Executive Shinya Takahashi says that Nintendo will find ways to encourage people who are hesitant to talk to share things about themselves
– Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto says DeNA will help operate the smartphone games, while Nintendo will focus on ways to guide users to its hardware
– The five smartphone apps won’t soon comprise half of sales
– Nintendo’s goal is to use smart devices to increase the value of its IP, which will help sales of both software and hardware
– On the reason for the delay of the smartphone app, Mr. Kimishima says, is the need for more lead time to fully promote and explain Miitomo
– The company is busy promoting other titles in the pipeline right now,
– It will start promoting Miitomo after the year-end holiday season
– Says this will have little impact on earnings
– Curious about how the DeNA and Nintendo partnership is going. Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto says DeNA will focus on operation of the games
– Which suggests game design is all Nintendo
– Mr. Miyamoto chimes in on NX
– “We are going to be far more aggressive in using our IP, and not just stop with licensing, as in the past. The first example is Amiibo. We want our IP to better reach more children, and smart devices is just one vehicle.”
– Coy on NX
– Mr. Kimishima: How can we make a completely different kind of game that nobody has ever thought of? It’s the same issue we have always faced.
END