Tag: nintendo mobile games

Mobile game controller could be future Nintendo project

The video game giant may soon make controllers for smartphone and tablet games.

Nintendo hinted that a mobile game controller could be in the works in the future. The company revealed at its recent 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders that it may be considering designing its own smart device controller. The Japanese multinational consumer electronics and software company is no stranger to developing physical game controllers. There is huge potential that the company could benefit from designing and selling these controllers. They are likely to appeal to both Nintendo fans and older gamers who’ve grown up interacting with video games via button-pushing.

Nintendo also hinted at placing its focus on developing games engineered around touch screen controls.

During the Q&A at the general meeting, Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development, told shareholders, “I believe Nintendo’s way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game.”

Mobile Game Controller - Image of SNES ControllerTakahashi explained that Nintendo will focus on making the best “Nintendo-like” applications, including those that are for everyone from children to seniors. In other words, the company does not intend to pour all of its energy only into action games.

In regard to the hint about developing a mobile game controller for smart device applications, Takashi said that “it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves.”

Mobile game controller hints aside, Nintendo also appears to be seeking programmers for smartphone games.

Nintendo has reportedly listed job openings for programmers interested in working on the development of its mobile games. The fact that the company is seeking to hire programmers specifically for its mobile gaming endeavors reveals that it is clearly dedicated to improving its position in the mobile games market.

Nintendo’s first game for smartphones and tablets, called Miitomo, has received mixed reception. It was a huge success when it was first released but has since dramatically declined in popularity, losing many of its users. It will be interesting to see if the company has better success with its Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem titles that are due out for mobile platforms this fall.

Although a mobile game controller for Nintendo games remains only a discussion at this point, such a device could help boost the company’s success in the industry.

First mobile game from Nintendo draws 1 million users in first 3 days

This came as good news for the Japanese tech giant that had been holding onto its policy for only console games.

Nintendo recently announced that the first mobile game it ever launched managed to draw over one million users within the span of three days that followed its initial release.

The first mobile gaming experience offered by Nintendo was in the form of its “Miitomo” app.

The Miitomo mobile game is an interactive experience that makes it possible for users to be able to design their own Mii avatars. It released this app in order to be able to position itself to better compete with its rivals. Through the use of this mobile app, smartphone users are able to change the outfit worn by their avatar through in-app purchases. They can also use their avatars to interact with those that have been created by friends or other mobile application users.

Within the mobile game, the avatars also interact with the user him/herself and share the answer with friends.

Nintendo - Mobile GameFor example, the avatar may ask one of the players of the mobile games what they did over the weekend or “What is your favorite food?” When the player answers, it is shared with the other characters selected by that player.

The game app was originally launched in Japan on a Thursday and by the following Saturday it had already broken the one million user mark, according to a company spokesperson. At the time of the writing of this article, she had also said that there weren’t any updated figures to release. That said, following a national holiday on the weekend of the achievement of the first million users, the stock markets opened on the Tuesday to send Nintendo’s shares upward by a striking 8.18 percent.

The official Twitter account for the mobile game stated that Nintendo had been quite surprised with the number of players who were instantly attracted to the app. As Sony and Microsoft continued to outpace Nintendo’s sales in terms of consoles and related games, the three giants have now moved into the app sphere for mobile devices where they are competing with thousands of other developers with cheap and even entirely free games.