Report: Nintendo to Bring Demos of Its Console Games to Smartphones

[Steven Bogos]

Report: Nintendo to Bring Demos of Its Console Games to Smartphones

Japanese newspaper The Nikkei reports that Nintendo will allow smartphone users to download and play Wii U demos on their phones.

Earlier this month, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said the company was considering expanding into the smartphone sector. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131421-Updated-Nintendo-Considering-Smartphone-Games-Restructuring] According to a report from The Nikkei, one of the largest newspapers in Japan, Nintendo will be doing this by using smartphone apps to market its console games, and will go so far as to provide downloadable "mini-game" demos of Wii U titles that users can play on their Android and/or iOS devices.

The reasoning behind the move is reportedly to give smartphone-only players a taste of the experience without making the actual game available on non-Nintendo devices, hopefully converting these users into Nintendo customers.

The Nikkei also writes that Nintendo will use smartphones to expand its potential user base by spreading information (such as videos, screenshots, and the aforementioned demos) about new game releases via some kind of official smartphone app.

The report adds that all Nintendo smartphone content will be completely free, and that the company currently has no plans to bring paid or "freemium" games to mobile devices.

The Nikkei is a fairly reputable newspaper, but just in case you're doubting it, it claims that Nintendo will officially release all of this information on Thursday, so we won't have to wait too long to see how accurate the report is.

I'd like to add that the report seems even more credible when you consider that Nintendo was offering "professional-use smartphone-to-Wii U conversion software" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123785-Nintendo-Reportedly-Porting-Mobile-Games-to-Wii-U] to app developers last year. It was a puzzling move at the time, but when you consider how such software could be used to bring Wii U demos to smartphones, it makes sense.

Source: The Nikkei (Japanese) via Dr. Serkan Toto [http://www.serkantoto.com/2014/01/28/nintendo-smartphones/]

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[teebeeohh]

So nintendo wants to spread information in the form of videos around the internet. If only there was a platform where people do that on their own.

 

[Olas]

This is probably a good idea, I still don't think Nintendo should make or even port full games to other platforms but this way they can increase awareness about games without abandoning their own hardware.

I have to question though, could a WiiU game even run on a typical smartphone without drastic downgrading? I know it's a weak console but that still seems like a tall order for a phone. Besides, phones don't have buttons or joysticks.

 

[Strazdas]

here's a demo on our game. you can play it on the phone. liked it? too bad, you'll have to buy our craphole to play the full version.

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's quite a clever halfway point.

They're letting everyone with a smartphone try out their games, wetting their appetites, and they're marketing the Wii-U at the same time.

Unless these demos turn out to be shoddy transistions, I can see this turning out very positive for the Wii-U.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

inb4 everyone starts asking "I have the demo right here on my phone, why can't I play the full version on it as well?"

This is technically a good idea, but we'll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have to question though, could a WiiU game even run on a typical smartphone without drastic downgrading? I know it's a weak console but that still seems like a tall order for a phone. Besides, phones don't have buttons or joysticks.

Sony is more or less going to do the same with Playstation Now, right? If they can get entire PS3 games to run on tablets and such, I'm sure Nintendo can get a few demos to run on smartphones. The only question is, are they going to do this themselves or hand it over to a company that has experience with smartphones?

 

[Evil Smurf]

This is good, although I go have a 3dsXL so I don't know if I'd use this service.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

This is good, although I go have a 3dsXL so I don't know if I'd use this service.

well, I think it's more aimed at those who haven't bought a Nintendo recently

 

[xPixelatedx]

This article implies that Nintendo games (full of genuine platformers and other such twitch-reflex things), can be played with silly swipes.

Right... also, I'm a hyper-evolved chicken genetically engineered to use keyboards.

 

[Alfredo Jones]

I doubt the demos will be exact ports of console games. The article itself says they will be "mini-game demos" which will probably mean they will be simple little arcade games with a Nintendo skin and a message saying "You like this? Go buy a Wii U and play the real game!". Anyone expecting to play Super Mario 3D World on their iPad should lower their expectations.

 

[teebeeohh]

So nintendo wants to spread information in the form of videos around the internet. If only there was a platform where people do that on their own.

Nintendo's actually got a very large and active collection of Youtube channels. The NSMBU Channel is well worth watching on its own, just for all the ridiculous Super Plays they have of their testers doing ridiculous speedruns.

Nintendo also fucked over people who really liked their games and some of whom were depending on the income from that. so fuck Nintendo.

 

[zalithar]

I can't see this going as we'll as they hope it will. That is justly opinion, but there are several immediate problems. As others have already stated, the lack of inputs normally found on a Wii-U game pad will make it difficult to demonstrate the game accurately. There is also likely to be down graded visuals for a similar reason; but this will be less pronaunced because of the screen size they have to work with on a smartphone.

Though what I see to be far more damning of this venture is that it could create an audience for their games in a different market that they do not intend to enter. Suddenly the analysts saying Nintendo should drop there own platform may have many more voices on their side.

We should also note the fact that this is all speculation based on the assumption that there are people out there that want this. Nintendo fans already have a Wii-U. People holding out for better exclusives will get one when the exclusives come. Many gamers just are not interested in the console and want to stick with what they have (I am not one of them). Though the largest group is people who just wouldn't know. How many people outside of the gaming community will even know about this app? It's an official Nintendo app, this isn't something that everyone just gets. People have to seak it out.

I guess Nintendo just has hope that people will be interested, and that it will get people interested in Wii-U. Nice to see that some people are still willing to take a risk on the hope that it will work out (and not by attempting to make an always-on console).

EDIT: well, since they won't be doing this I guess I got my hopes up that we might see the reach Nintendo had in the world of smart phones. Oh well. I'll just go back to waiting to see their plans.

 

[teebeeohh]

Nintendo also fucked over people who really liked their games and some of whom were depending on the income from that. so fuck Nintendo.

Nintendo did what every other mainstream publisher has already done at some point or other. When Halo 4 came out, Microsoft didn't just de-moetize Lets Plays, they had videos taken down. As did Sega with Shining Force videos. I watched one video where an LPer said because he didn't ask Sony permission to use footage from one of their games, they took his video down.

Nintendo never did anything to stop people posting videos of their games, they just made sure they couldn't profit from it. Which is fair enough, given the debate that is currently going on regarding games having their entire content spoiled on Youtube right now.

because first party Nintendo titles are low on gameplay and high on story and thus the danger from LPs is super, unlike let's say telltale, who allow people to monetize footage of their games. oh wait.
How exactly does taking the money from a LPer stop the content being spoiled? people can still watch the thing and if you are afraid of that maybe you really should take the videos down, if telltale or irrational does something like this in the first weeks after release i would get that but Nintendo taking the money and leaving the videos up is just terrible.
Nintendo also claimed videos that contain gameplay footage as part of a review or best of list. dick move. they even claimed trailer footage, double dick move.

and "other people are even worse" was is not an argument that hold any water.