Topic: Nintendo and mobile gaming...

[tendoboy1984]

I've been thinking about Nintendo's inevitable move to mobile gaming, and it would work out well for them. They could just make a minigame collection. Kirby games are full of minigames that would translate well to mobile devices, especially the Scope Shot and Dojo games from Kirby Returns to Dreamland and the Mega Punch minigame from Kirby Superstar. Super Mario 64 DS also has tons of minigames that could be ported to mobile devices, because they all relied on the touchscreen.

Nintendo could sell their minigame collections in packs of 10 games each, costing no more than $5. They could even port the Game & Watch games to mobile devices, giving players enhanced and classic (original) versions of those games.

My plan is perfect. How could Nintendo lose?

[Stratos]

Because they make more off of their hardware than they do off of software. Losing the income of their hardware would be devastating to their bottom line. Check the sales thread for some more in depth details on those numbers.

[Adrock]

[nickmitch]

Almost nobody is paying $5 for smartphone games.

[tendoboy1984]

Since when was $5 expensive for a game? I just bought 3 Wii U games that cost $30-50 each. $5 is nothing in comparison.

And music albums cost more than $5, plenty of people buy those.

[Oblivion]

Since when was $5 expensive for a game? I just bought 3 Wii U games that cost $30-50 each. $5 is nothing in comparison.

And music albums cost more than $5, plenty of people buy those.

You are just pissing me off today.

Almost nobody is paying $5 for smartphone games.

Yes, Tendoboy, nobody in their right mind pays $5 for a SMARTPHONE game these days. When the average smartphone game is 99 cents with a lack of depth, making people pay $5 for Nintendo mini-games at the same lack of depth is just ripping off your consumer. Knowing Nintendo, they'd charge that price for being a "premium" developer, similar to how Square-Enix prices their smartphone games.


I don't know what the hell music has to do with this, either.

[tendoboy1984]

Well in Square Enix's case, Final Fantasy offers a lot more depth than a simple casual minigame.

And I brought up music because full albums cost a lot more than a mobile game, yet they only give you an hours worth of content. So music costs more but offers you less.

This is why mobile games are ruining the value proposition of gaming as a whole. Pretty soon people will expect books and movies to be that cheap, when economically it just isn't feasible. A $5 game isn't bad at all considering digital books and movies cost more.

[BranDonk Kong]

tendoboy has been trolling us since he got here. He's either one of ty's dupes or he's some other social experiment from some company somewhere.

[Kytim89]

And you people think that I am a bad forum poster? Of course games that offer more depth are going to cost more than a single dollar because games that cost a dollar on smart phones are so easy that a monkey could play them. As for Nintendo entering the smart phone business, they are too financially autonomous to do that. They will continue in the handheld space forever as long as their future handhelds sell as good as the DS and 3DS.

[Adrock]

And you people think that I am a bad forum poster?

Someone else being terrible doesn't mean you can't also be terrible. Not necessarily saying you're terrible, just pointing out the faultiness of your logic.

[Spak-Spang]

If Nintendo got into the mobile business I would want them to make a Nintendo phone.  Seriously, make an Android phone with Nintendo style buttons.  I am thinking this should only be used for Virtual Console like games….and not be a replacement for a fully devoted handheld.

If you could make a device to play a small phone, play NES, SNES, GBA, and new retro games with great buttons and D-Pad it would be a pretty awesome device.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Think Galaxy Note 4 in screen size with a slide out keyboard controller.
2 right side buttons that double as L & R when controller is slid out.
1 top button that does power. 1 left side button that does volume & an SDmicro slot.

Slide it controller had a d-pad & thumb slider on left; 4 face buttons & thumb slider on right; start, select & home in the middle.

$249 w/ 2yr contact.
eShop carries full VC catalog from GB & NES to VB, GBA & GC and all the systems with their complete catalog as well.
Twitter and Facebook are fully integrated into Miiverse.
OS is based off of Android and most popular and useful apps have been converted over.


There, now that that bit of fantasy has been taken care of, can we get back reality?
Nintendo ain't going mobile and they ain't making no phone.

[ThePerm]

Gameboy Phone

[ejamer]

Talk of Nintendo-made phones miss the point (massive install base ready to buy your software) of going mobile.


I understand the arguments for not going mobile. I agree with most of them.  But you have to admit that if Nintendo set up one semi-independent studio to test mobile releases, there could be a lot of potential money on the table.


The trick would be figuring out how to use mobile games to give people a taste of Nintendo gaming without devaluing or giving away the key franchises that are used to propel Nintendo hardware sales.

[Adrock]

The only way developing for other mobile platforms even kind of, sort of works for Nintendo is if they don't use their established franchises because they don't want people thinking Mario and Zelda can be had on anything except Nintendo hardware. That's still silly because using their brands is the easiest way to sell those games.

Perhaps there could be some interaction between your phone and 3DS like Streetpaases picked up via the upcoming Miiverse app then transferring them to 3DS at home. I carry around my 3DS specifically for Streetpasses so maybe Nintendo shouldn't do anything to discourage that.

Gameboy Phone

Close enough?

[tendoboy1984]

I have plenty of ideas.

- Mario auto-runner where the objective is to collect the most coins before you reach the goal.

- Kirby game where the objective is to inhale as many enemies as possible within the time limit, with each enemy wave getting more difficult to swallow (bombs get in the way).

- Zelda game where the objective is to defeat enemies in a manner similar to Infinity Blade (attack, dodge, attack).

Or Nintendo could simply port a bunch of minigames to mobile devices. Super Mario 64 DS had plenty of them, as do many Kirby games.

[NWR_insanolord]

EXCLUSIVE FIRST IMAGE OF NINTENDO PHONE!!!!!!

[Eiksirf]

Nintendo could shovel cheap mini games onto phones all day. The risk they run is that it'd cause their 3DS to lose value to potential consumers. "Why should I buy that for $250, I have Donkey Kong for 99 cents already (and I can browse Facebook with my index finger)!" Seriously.

If Nintendo wanted to really tackle mobile as a way to shore up the business they're losing on consoles, I imagine they'd have to pony up big and compete against Apple and others with their own, fully-functioning smart phone. It can't be cute, it'd have be a competitive, sleek alternative in a market that is DOMINATED by its current leaders.

Given the state of their online expertise, I doubt they take that risk, and I doubt they should.

I think the middle ground is to release some cheap phone apps and games and load them with links and ads for the real products they're trying to sell. Why not download a free Pokemon screensaver thing for your phone and have it promote Pokemon X and Y at the same time, right?

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo can barely surf the web so how the hell would they pull off a decent phone?  They probably use rotary dials in the NCL office.

All this mobile talk is odd because Nintendo's console is flopping while their handheld is not.  So they're going to kill off their handheld market share to make shitty phone games?  It makes no sense.  Before the 3DS launched there was concern that the phone games were going to kill the handheld market.  Why would Nintendo try to accelerate that?

[BlackNMild2k1]

IF, and this is a BIG "IF", Nintendo decided to develop things for mobile phone, it wouldn't go much further than a Miiverse & eShop app and a mobile Pokedex. Maybe a street pass app like was suggested earlier. Those would actually be smart idea's that Nintendo should have already done.

IF, and this is an even bigger "IF", Nintendo were to put actual games on mobile phones, it wouldn't be anything more than a VC app for games from GB/NES TO GBA/SNES, and even then they would still be waaaaaaaaaaay overpriced compared to most software and games found on phones today. But if it joined your unified account and let you play the same games at home and on your handheld too, then maybe the price of admission won't be so bad.

1st scenario may happen, but the second one is only a little more likely than Nintendo developing their own subsidized smart phone, which isn't gonna happen.

[Adrock]

Nintendo already announced a Miiverse app for smartphones. It's not "if" but "when." Like most things regarding Wii U, Nintendo has been dragging their feet. That shiz should have been out by now.

[BlackNMild2k1]

They also announced eShop on the internet, but these are things that should have existed at launch or shortly there after.

[Eiksirf]

All this mobile talk is odd because Nintendo's console is flopping while their handheld is not.  So they're going to kill off their handheld market share to make shitty phone games?  It makes no sense.

You're right. I think Nintendo has a home console marketing and image problem, but Iwata is the one who mentioned mobile, so if they're thinking cell phones, what do they do? Mini games/apps that include advertising of their other products to me is the only realistic option that could help with their real problem - marketing and image.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Iwata never mentioned anything about going mobile, but he did mention studying "Smart Devices" and then cited that "it wasn't as easy as putting Mario on a smartphone" as sort of a response to investors wanting Nintendo to go mobile.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-01-17-nintendo-evaluating-new-business-studying-smart-devices

"Smart Devices" include lots of things, from phones, to tablets, to Roku-like devices and then the TV's themselves. and it's funny he brought that up because that was one of the motivating factors behind the idea of "the Hybrid" that we have discussed on in the Console area.

[nickmitch]

Someone already said something to this effect but: who would buy Nintendo consoles if they could play Nintendo games on other platforms?  The second Nintendo starts publishing games on non-Nintendo hardware, people will immediately assume they're going 3rd party.  It would basically be shooting themselves in the foot.  Bad sales already give them an image problem; making such a radical change in strategy would make it worse.