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.”

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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 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.

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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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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 102 Comments

Nintendo will be “far more aggressive” with its various IPs, according to legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto shared those words during the company’s financial results briefing today. Seemingly in response to the topic of NX – Nintendo’s next system – Miyamoto said:

“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.”

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Posted on 8 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.

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Posted on 8 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.”

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

Update: Clarification time! “Nintendo Account” is the new name for accounts. “My Nintendo” is the membership service.

During its financial results briefing, Nintendo touched on its new membership service being created by DeNA. Today, Tatsumi Kimishima revealed the name as “Nintendo Account”.

This information comes from the Wall Street Journal:

Nintendo’s new membership service will be called “Nintendo Account” — it will connect hardware users, as well as PC and smart device users, Mr. Kimishima says.

Kimishima also revealed that the company has plans to use a cloud-based data service to transfer game data between mobile games and console titles.

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Posted on 8 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

– 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

– 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

– 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

– 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

– 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

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Rumors | 28 Comments

Retro Studios has worked on three Metroid games and two Donkey Kong Country titles. Could their next project be something entirely original? That’s what the latest speculation is pointing to.

Liam Robertson, who is known for digging up information about cancelled games as well as ones still in production, recently appeared on Gamnesia’s Nintendo podcast with some insight. According to him, Retro Studios tends to have three chances to pitch a project to Nintendo. If the concept isn’t greenlit after this, they’ll be assigned a project that NCL deems more likely to sell well.

Robertson went on to state in the podcast that Retro’s new game is something that they did indeed pitch. Pitches were submitted to Nintendo throughout 2014, one of which was eventually accepted by Nintendo.

Robertson ended with the following about Retro possibly working on an original IP:

“… And you were saying, ‘could it be an original property?’ I think, actually, the time is now for Retro to do an original property. They’ve done two established Nintendo franchises, they’ve done Metroid and Donkey Kong, and I think now is the time to let them take hold of the reins a bit more for themselves and do that. And I think if it is something that they pitched themselves, then that does make it more likely that they pitched something original.”

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