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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.

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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.”

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Posted on 9 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 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

– 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 9 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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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

Nintendo is just a few hours away from its latest investor briefing. If you’ve been on the site before, you should probably know what to expect.

Over the past couple of years, these meetings haven’t really been the place for major game announcements. However, we’ll be seeing (or at least hearing about) Nintendo’s mobile title for the first time. The new membership service is also something that could be touched upon. And could we finally hear about Quality of Life again?

In any case, we’ll be covering the event as it happens later today. It should be held at roughly 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT, with the event lasting 90 minutes. I may create a live blog depending on how much coverage it’s getting from those who are attending, but we’ll definitely post any important news regardless.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments

Nintendo has sold 21 million amiibo worldwide, according to president and CEO Tatsumi Kimishima. This number indicates that around 10.6 million units were sold since March.

We also have some data specific to France. Journalist Chloé Woitier reports that over 800,000 amiibo have been sold in the territory thus far, including 70,000 cards.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 28 Comments

Earlier today, we heard from Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima that at least one new Nintendo Direct will air before the end of this year. Another tidbit about the company’s plans for the presentations has since been made known.

During Nintendo’s financial results briefing, Kimishima mentioned that Nintendo Direct is currently being remodeled. In 2016, we’ll be seeing the new format. Specific details about what’s in store for Nintendo Direct in the future were not made announced.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 30 Comments

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:

PS4 – 22,801
New 3DS LL – 16,144
Vita – 12,981
Wii U – 9,961
New 3DS – 3,530
PS3 – 1,909
3DS – 1,277
Xbox One – 1,009
Vita TV – 782
3DS LL – 478

For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:

PS4 – 25,699
New 3DS LL – 17,881
Vita – 14,546
Wii U – 11,658
New 3DS – 4,514
PS3 – 2,105
3DS – 1,232
Vita TV – 696
3DS LL – 625
Xbox One – 438

And here are the software charts:

1. [3DS] Zelda: Tri Force Heroes – 54,394 / NEW
2. [3DS] PriPara Mezase! Idol * Grand Prix No.1! – 34,035 / NEW
3. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters – 20,824 / 1,674,995
4. [WIU] Super Mario Maker – 15,817 / 337,039
5. [3DS] 7th Dragon III – 13,299 / 85,776
6. [WIU] Splatoon – 13,159 / 737,478
7. [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer – 8,625 / 1,098,904
8. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition – 7,547 / 375,264
9. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2016 – 6,442 / 82,413
10. [3DS] Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon – 6,402 / 243,494
11. [3DS] Picross 3D – 5,905 / 58,147
12. [3DS] Pro Yakyuu Famista Returns – 5,894 / 38,421
13. [PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – 4,944 / 411,720
14. [PSV] Tokyo Xanadu – 4,793 / 116,835
15. [PS4] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2016 – 4,528 / 63,769
16. [PS4] Uncharted Collection – 4,439 / 37,049
17. [3DS] Dragon Quest VIII – 4,208 / 801,043
18. [PS4] GTA V (4,990 yen Edition) – 3,673 / 10,875
19. [3DS] Chibi-Robo!: Zip-Lahs – 3,647 / 25,083
20. [PS3] Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – 3,614 / 190,093

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 17 Comments

It’s been several months since the last, true Nintendo Direct. But even though there hasn’t been a new presentation in quite some time, we did recently hear that the broadcasts will continue – despite the passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Nintendo’s Tatsumi Kimishima also provided a brief update about the future of Nintendo Directs during a financial results briefing earlier today. According to the new company president, at least one presentation will be coming this year. That means we should be seeing something within the next couple of months.

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