Nintendo Confirms Second Mobile Game Will Be Focused on a 'Familiar' Character

[Bubba Satori]

I wish Apple would buy Nintendo.
An Apple/Nintendo partnership would be a formidable force.

Two toy companies working together makes a lot of sense.

 

[0098386]

I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan, have always enjoyed their consoles and first party titles. But I find the hardware, UI and app distribution quite poor. Maybe it's from being spoiled by high quality hardware from apple, but the low resolution resistive touch screens on my 3DS and Wii U Gamepad feel terrible to use.

Because it's a touchscreen designed for a different purpose. All Nintendo touchscreen devices ship with a stylus because, low and behold, most of gaming involves precise inputs.

Low resolution= longer battery life, cheaper production costs, cheaper dev costs.. since higher resolutions mean higher res assets, smaller file sizes. Have you used a Vita before? It's heavy and the battery life is dire. And importantly it failed compared to the 3DS. (unfortunately, I love my Vita!)

The UI seems so messy on the consoles. Honestly I'd love to see a very simple and clean looking thing like the Apple TV, with having a list of games and just choosing something to play.

If an interface is more important to you than games, buy the device with a nicer interface? The Wii U's interface is functional, and like I said before it's clear who Apple took lots of inspiration from when making their mobile interface.

Software/distribution: Purchasing apps digitally (games really) is an absolutely terrible experience. I've had some I purchased online and had to redeem on the console. I can't believe what kind of process it is, entering IDs, passwords, unique codes from the purchase, etc. All of it for the purchase to be then tied/connected to the single piece of hardware and not my Nintendo ID. We have a Wii and a Wii U in the house. have you ever seen the process to transfer digital games from one console to the other? I can't imagine what it would be like if the Wii stopped working and I had no way to get games off. This is where it feels Apple really excels - purchase a piece of media, app, game, whatever, it's then tied to your account and you can access it anywhere.

You either buy games from a site, you get a code and redeem it on the shop menu (same as iOS), you don't even need to enter your password if you redeem a code.
or
You buy the game from the eShop (appstore), you enter your password (like on the appstore) and it asks if you want download it now or whilst the console is sleeping. All your previously purchased items are listed on the eShop app too (like on the appstore).

What's different about it?

No, games are now tied to your Nintendo ID. They have been for a couple of years, previously they were hardware-tied but you could get them back by contacting Nintendo.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo, I just feel like Apple could excel at building the ecosystem and platform, and let Nintendo do what it does best, first party titles (and some excellent bluetooth game controllers).

So let me ask you for maybe the 3rd time now.
Nintendo sold 26m copies of a full priced game, on a platform that they also make a profit on per sale. Given this, why would they "merge" with Apple?

 

[profets]

Because it's a touchscreen designed for a different purpose. All Nintendo touchscreen devices ship with a stylus because, low and behold, most of gaming involves precise inputs.

Low resolution= longer battery life, cheaper production costs, cheaper dev costs.. since higher resolutions mean higher res assets, smaller file sizes. Have you used a Vita before? It's heavy and the battery life is dire. And importantly it failed compared to the 3DS. (unfortunately, I love my Vita!)



If an interface is more important to you than games, buy the device with a nicer interface? The Wii U's interface is functional, and like I said before it's clear who Apple took lots of inspiration from when making their mobile interface.


You either buy games from a site, you get a code and redeem it on the shop menu (same as iOS), you don't even need to enter your password if you redeem a code.
or
You buy the game from the eShop (appstore), you enter your password (like on the appstore) and it asks if you want download it now or whilst the console is sleeping. All your previously purchased items are listed on the eShop app too (like on the appstore).

What's different about it?

No, games are now tied to your Nintendo ID. They have been for a couple of years, previously they were hardware-tied but you could get them back by contacting Nintendo.


So let me ask you for maybe the 3rd time now.
Nintendo sold 26m copies of a full priced game, on a platform that they also make a profit on per sale. Given this, why would they "merge" with Apple?

That's interesting to hear about the Vita. Haven't looked into it too much, but my son was recently asking about it.

You can explain all you want about the Wii U interface and the reasons about how it works. Still, it feels terrible interface-wise.

I'm not saying they should merge with Apple. But a tight partnership could be quite interesting. Allow them to focus on what they do good at - first party titles. I mean, is there any other reason we purchase Nintendo consoles? Let Apple handle the hardware and app ecosystem, which they excel at.

That same full priced game could hit an even wider audience I would think. Customers would be able to get access to these games on a $150 device instead of a $300 device no?

 

[0098386]

That same full priced game could hit an even wider audience I would think. Customers would be able to get access to these games on a $150 device instead of a $300 device no?

Full price games don't sell well on mobile platforms. Developers are very aggressive with pricing, whereas Nintendo rarely do sales and yet they still sell. The kind of games that sell in those numbers are cheap, disposable games like Angry Birds, because that's the perceived value of mobile gaming currently.

I'm much happier, as a game player, with Nintendo selling their own software and hardware. With each one of those tailored to match the other. Can you imagine the argument flipped around? "iPhones don't sell well in Asia, so they should stop selling them and just put iOS on a popular, rebranded Samsung phone"

 

[profets]

I don't disagree - especially about mobile and iOS. I'm thinking much more toward Apple TV, something always online and always connected to a TV.

Anyway, let's hope we see something interesting with Nintendo NX, if anything actually comes of it. In the meantime, I'll be looking forward to StarFox Zero come April