“Nintendo’s first smartphone app — Miitomo — launched Thursday in Japan, and will soon debut in other markets,” Ravi Hiranand reports for CNNMoney. “It’s distinctly social, and at first glance, may seem like a bizarre turn for a company known for games.”
“The app asks questions of users, such as their favorite TV show, or what they hope to be doing in 10 years,” Hiranand reports. “They’re the sort of general queries that Nintendo says rarely come up in normal conversation. The answers are then shared with friends in messages delivered by Miis — the cartoonish avatars featured in Wii Sports, one of Nintendo’s biggest hits of the last decade.”
Hiranand reports, “Miitomo is the first of five apps Nintendo plans to release on smartphones and tablets over the next year, as it tries to diversify and rely less on dedicated game consoles.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Finally, Nintendo arrives on iOS!
Long live Nintendo.
We want your games, Nintendo, not our lives shared with “friends” which could, in this day, be people we rarely know lol. get a clue, Nintendo.
Sent from my iPhone
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Always been a fan of Nintendo.
Unique company with strong talent.
The social aspects of their products don’t seem to have as big a following in the States as Japan.
I’ll still heck it out. Always worth seeing what they have come up with.
Then it was a smart move to release it in Japan first.
I have to admit, I was one of those who laughed at Nintendo when they announced that they were coming out with “another” game console. Today, our family has a Wii.
Please just bring Mario Kart to iOS!
Where is my Donkey Kong already???
If they release Mario Kart on iOS my social life will officially be over.
I can see a Bluetooth Nintendo controller in the works…
Which isn’t saying much! LOL
Don’t worry. They never will.
Yes I mean who the hell chats to their friends about what their favourite TV programmes are, or films or songs too for that matter.
And its not like any teen or 20 something would ever discuss with friends what they hope to be doing in ten years time. Hell I had a friend who never did anything else even if little of it has ever come to fruition but guess what even in his 50s he is still at it except its more like 5 years now and the high powered sports cars and yachts a little less prevalent.
Does make you wonder what the Japanese do discuss socially mind.
Ahh the good old days playing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark with friends. What happened Nintendo?
Umm I guess what happened is you stopped buying Nintendo hardware??
Nintendo continues to make the best, most balanced video game content on the market. But in a somewhat similar to Apple fashion, Nintendo rarely shares that IP with other platform makers.
Incredible games like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Pokemon, Zelda, and Pikmin still exist (just check out Splatoon) but they only exist on silly Nintendo hardware which is as irrelevant now as it could be.
The only way you’ll ever be playing ANY Nintendo franchises on your phone is if Apple buys them already. Hurry up Apple! It will seal your victory!!
Yeah, once I saw the Wii wasn’t going to compete with Sony and Microsoft on cutting-edge hardware I stopped. I bought an Xbox 360 later, but that was my last video game hardware purchase. I also just grew out of video games, I was more interested in women 🙂
To be honest I was never a huge fan of the games you listed (though I appreciate their artistry and quality) besides Pikmin and others like Soul Calibur, Star Fox, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and the aforementioned Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.
Like with comic books, video games coincided with a period in my life that I recall fondly, the highlight being a Nintendo console for Christmas (1989 I think) best gift EVER.
@MDN: Ditto!