Nintendo is making smartphone games with Japanese mobile giant DeNA

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Nintendo is making smartphone games with Japanese mobile giant DeNA

Nintendo has long resisted the call of mobile gaming, but today it entered the space in a big way. The company has announced that it will team up with DeNA, a major Japanese mobile gaming company, to make smartphone games featuring Nintendo characters. The two companies "intend to jointly operate new gaming applications featuring Nintendo IP, which they will develop specifically for smart devices," according to a Nintendo statement.

Although the games will leverage Nintendo properties, they won't be straight ports. "To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system," says DeNA in a statement.

Nintendo and DeNA will also develop a cross-platform service that runs across smartphones, tablets, PCs, and Nintendo's own devices; this is set to launch in fall of this year. Nintendo is taking a 10 percent stake in DeNA, while DeNA is buying 1.24 percent of Nintendo.

Nintendo has flirted with mobile gaming before. In a tie-up with GungHo, the company will release a Mario-themed version of Japanese mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons for 3DS next month, and recent experiments like Pok

[FloatingFatMan]

Also in the news today, Satan went to work on ice skates...

[compl3x]

During its press conference with DeNA this morning to announce a strategic alliance, another major bit of news was revealed. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that a new hardware platform is in development.

 

Nintendo is currently working on the system under the code name "NX." The company isn't yet ready to reveal additional details, other than the DeNA-developed membership service (confirmed to replace Club Nintendo later this year) will be integrated.

 

More details about the console (and whether it is a living room device or handheld video game hardware) will be coming in 2016.

 

 

Our Take
Between the announcement of Nintendo's alliance with DeNA to create a new membership service and the announcement of NX, it seems the Wii U's life span isn't going to be as long as some fans hoped. How Nintendo proceeds from here on out is extremely important. Whether NX will replace Wii U or the New 3DS, fans are invested and expect a bit of longevity from their systems. An early move to new hardware will need to be handled delicately. 

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/03/17/nintendo-announces-new-hardware-in-development-codenamed-nx.aspx

[compl3x]

I hope we don't get a whole bunch of IAP for Nintendo 1st party titles.

[neufuse Veteran]

I hope we don't get a whole bunch of IAP for Nintendo 1st party titles.

Oh you mean like, play as luigi, but add Mario for $1.99!

[compl3x]

Oh you mean like, play as luigi, but add Mario for $1.99!

 

Buy a 8-pack of super mushrooms .99c!

[neufuse Veteran]

Buy a 8-pack of super mushrooms .99c!

Add warp zone ability to any Mario game for only $4.99!

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Topics merged

[remixedcat]

yey more consoles /s

[astropheed Veteran]

I truly hope it's just a basic system with no weird gimmicks. I just want a gamecube with internet, bluetooth controllers and bluray discs. Respectable competing hardware. That's all. Simple.

 

Don't do backwards compatibility because it will just make everything complicated. No internet subscriptions. No social media. No twitch.

 

I Just want put in a game, turn it on, and play a damn game. The more Consoles try to be a PC the more I realise I could just use my PC.

[Xilo]

I truly hope it's just a basic system with no weird gimmicks. I just want a gamecube with internet, bluetooth controllers and bluray discs. Respectable competing hardware. That's all. Simple.

 

Don't do backwards compatibility because it will just make everything complicated. No internet subscriptions. No social media. No twitch.

 

I Just want put in a game, turn it on, and play a damn game. The more Consoles try to be a PC the more I realise I could just use my PC.

Also, get rid of region protection. No one else forces it and Nintendo used to be great about it.

[gameboy1977]

that is cool! I just got new Wii U a few weeks ago. I enjoyed with Hyrule Warriors, and it was so fun game!

[WinMacLin Guy]

Looking forward to seeing what it is. I have really enjoyed the 3DS and had great moments with Wii U so I cannot wait to see what is next. Though, we really do not know what it will be (portable? console? a combination of both? some other form factor?), but I think people should temper their expectations. Nintendo will most likely not want to repeat the three years of losses they had this gen due to selling Wii U and 3DS at a loss, so I predict they will launch something that is much cheaper to produce and sell than Wii U (if it is indeed a home console) or the same price as New 3DS XL (if it is a portable or maybe even a home console). This does however mean that they will most likely have to sacrifice on specs; so I would not expect something that is as powerful as a PS4 or potentially even an Xbox One, but it will most likely be cheaper than both and potentially even bundled with some games (this is going by Nintendo's precedent, not including the Wii U and Virtual Boy).

[Torolol]

i just hope Nintendo 1st party games aren't mutated in to microtransactions ones.

[FloatingFatMan]

Topics merged

 

Why? One thread was about them making mobile games, the other was about the new hardware announcement. Two completely different topics!

[compl3x]

Why? One thread was about them making mobile games, the other was about the new hardware announcement. Two completely different topics!

 

I think they were announced at the same time. I'm not sure, but if that is the case it seems reasonable to merge them *shrugs*

[+Asmodai MVC]

What I'd like the NX to be:

 

CPU:

If IBM will design it a 64bit PowerPC based 8 core CPU (backwards compatible with the Wii/Wii U) (for reference the Wii U is 3 cores on a 45nm process)

If IBM won't do that then embrace mobile and go with an 8 core 64bit ARMv8 CPU.

Either way have it fabbed on TSMC's 16nm FinFET+ or Samsung's 14nm FinFET process.

DO NOT GO x86, Nintendo needs to differentiate themselves

 

GPU:

AMD Fiji (or nVidia Pascal) derived GPU, again fabbed on the same process as the CPU.

Include full hardware encode/decode of HEVC for 4k streaming and blu-ray

 

Memory:

8 GB of HBM unified memory (as used by Fiji and Pascal above)

 

Optical:

Blue-Ray (Wii/Wii U compatible)

 

Hard Drive:

2TB (should be cheap by 2016)

 

new Bluetooth 4.2 controllers (backwards compatible with Wii Remote Plus/Wii U Pro controllers)

Wifi a/b/g/n/ac dual band

 

Release Date:  Christmas 2016 (these spec's won't be that high by then and that gives Wii U a bit longer life yet is still way too early for MS or Sony to launch successor consoles to compete)

 

Ideally this would be backward compatible with the Wii/Wii U either through hardware or emulation.

 

The GPU can be low-end for the Fiji/Pascal lines to keeps costs down with the goal just to beat the PS4 and XB1 and allow the NX to play multi-platform ports of Xbox One and PS4 games at 1080p@60fps with 4k support primarily just for movies (streaming, Blu-Ray, or even pre-rendered cut scenes in games)

[FloatingFatMan]

^ Don't you think a 2GB hard drive might be a bit too small?

[+Asmodai MVC]

^ Don't you think a 2GB hard drive might be a bit too small?

Rofl, good catch! (honestly I'm surprised anyone read that far)

Fixed.

[HawkMan]

They're not even going to talk about it until E3 or so next year. so you're looking at holiday 2017 s the closest launch window. 

[Lamp0]

Has Nintendo actually said that it is a new home console? If not, isn't more likely this is a handheld device?

 

I don't quite see why Nintendo would jump in with a top spec console to beat out PS4/XBO.

[FloatingFatMan]

They're not even going to talk about it until E3 or so next year. so you're looking at holiday 2017 s the closest launch window. 

 

Here's hoping the launch goes a Wii bit better than the WiiU's did!

[astropheed Veteran]

. . .

 

I highly disagree with maintaining backwards compatibility. They need to distance themselves from motion controls, touch controls, and all their other weird in-betweens. They need one single controller that doesn't have anything weird on it. I dislike backwards compatibility as a whole anyways, and I always have. It's always a compromise. They need to build their system/controller. If old games happen to work on it then they can rehash it; that's the Nintendo way.

 

I also don't agree with PowerPC or Arm, they don't need to distance themselves even further from 3rd parties. They should go x86. They can be Nintendo-ee in other areas. They should also not use a 2TB Harddrive, it's not necessary at all. Any built in storage should be SSD and it should be 64GB. These 4GB game installs are absurd and completely unnecessary.

 

I also don't think they need to concern themselves with 4K, at all. They might as well pretend it doesn't exist. Placing any expectations of 4K and then not following through or utilising it would be a foot in the grave. 

 

 

I do agree with Memory size, Bluray, WiFi and just beating the PS4/Xbox.

[+Asmodai MVC]

I highly disagree with maintaining backwards compatibility.

It's a very Nintendo thing. Heck the Wii is basically just the Gamecube processor with a few mods and the new motion control system. Xbox One and PS4 ditched backwards compatibility so it would make Nintendo stand out if they didn't. Also the Wii was HUGELY successful and you want to get those Wii users to the new console. Wii U is just along for the ride because it's Wii compatible as well.

They need to distance themselves from motion controls, touch controls, and all their other weird in-betweens. They need one single controller that doesn't have anything weird on it.

Let me clarify what I was saying. I agree it needs a new normal controller. That's why I said "new Bluetooth 4.2 controllers". All NX games would use that normal controller. The backwards compatibility with the controllers is just for the old software. You can't play your Wii motion games on the new controller. So when you're playing a Wii or Wii U game you can use the Wii or Wii U controllers (which are also Bluetooth) but when you play the NX game you'll have the new NX controller.

I also don't agree with PowerPC or Arm, they don't need to distance themselves even further from 3rd parties.

Not from third parties. From MS and Sony.

They should go x86.

x86 is a horribly inefficient CPU design. ARM is superior in efficiency. Even intel tried to get rid of x86 in the move to 64-bit but AMD beat them due to backwards compatibility which you claim to hate. The main reason x86 CPUs outperform ARM is because they either use a ton more power or they're fabbed on a more sophisticated process. An Intel 14nm FinFET CPU is going to beat a 20nm ARM CPU on effeiciency not because of x86 design but because Intel's 14nm FinFET process is superior to even Samsungs 14nm FinFET process. The thing is Intel isn't going to make Nintendo's chips and you DO want a low power CPU so ARM does make sense. PowerPC was just for easy backwards compatibility. Also if you have to switch away from PowerPC if you go ARM then you can port old Nintendo games and such to ARM and have them work on most phones, tablets, and the NX as they're all ARM.

They should also not use a 2TB Harddrive, it's not necessary at all. Any built in storage should be SSD and it should be 64GB. These 4GB game installs are absurd and completely unnecessary.

4GB game installs? Many Xbox One and PS4 games are 30+ GB and that's only likely to get larger. 64GB of storage isn't going to begin to cover it. Especially if you want to get 3rd parties to port their Multiplatform games to your system. If you have Blu-Ray media they hold 50GB so you should be prepared for game installs to be in the 25-50GB range for AAA titles. The 512GB HDDs in the PS4 and XB1 are filling up fast as it is. In 2016+ that's going to be a joke. You can get 2TB HDDs for a reasonable price now and by 2016 they'll probably be pretty cheap. Put SSD in a console and you're either going to have too small a space to be useful or you're going to make it outrageously expensive.

I also don't think they need to concern themselves with 4K, at all. They might as well pretend it doesn't exist. Placing any expectations of 4K and then not following through or utilising it would be a foot in the grave.

4k is for movies. HEVC that enables it is already in the upcoming video cards that this console idea would use so it's basically free. It's also something that 4k Netflix and 4k Blu-ray need that the Xbox One and PS4 don't have now and Netflix and others are complaining about. It's so serious Netflix is claiming Sony is going to revise the hardware to add it. 4k gaming isn't coming cheaply to a console in the next couple of years but that doesn't mean streaming of movies can't. It doesn't add much to the console to support 4k movies if you're already using those GPUs.

[astropheed Veteran]

It's a very Nintendo thing. Heck the Wii is basically just the Gamecube processor with a few mods and the new motion control system. Xbox One and PS4 ditched backwards compatibility so it would make Nintendo stand out if they didn't. Also the Wii was HUGELY successful and you want to get those Wii users to the new console. Wii U is just along for the ride because it's Wii compatible as well.

 

Let me clarify what I was saying. I agree it needs a new normal controller. That's why I said "new Bluetooth 4.2 controllers". All NX games would use that normal controller. The backwards compatibility with the controllers is just for the old software. You can't play your Wii motion games on the new controller. So when you're playing a Wii or Wii U game you can use the Wii or Wii U controllers (which are also Bluetooth) but when you play the NX game you'll have the new NX controller.

 

As long as the controller is normal and they don't have 2+ controller types, then fine.

 

A wiimote, a Tablet controller and a classic controller is a joke. It's confusing. And it's a terrible idea.

 

 

Not from third parties. From MS and Sony.

 

They either remove themselves from all 3 or none.

 

x86 is a horribly inefficient CPU design. 

 

I agree. There are many terrible and inefficient things in the world that are massively popular and almost essential. But it's not about that.

 

4GB game installs? Many Xbox One and PS4 games are 30+ GB and that's only likely to get larger. 64GB of storage isn't going to begin to cover it. Especially if you want to get 3rd parties to port their Multiplatform games to your system. If you have Blu-Ray media they hold 50GB so you should be prepared for game installs to be in the 25-50GB range for AAA titles. The 512GB HDDs in the PS4 and XB1 are filling up fast as it is. In 2016+ that's going to be a joke. You can get 2TB HDDs for a reasonable price now and by 2016 they'll probably be pretty cheap. Put SSD in a console and you're either going to have too small a space to be useful or you're going to make it outrageously expensive.

 

True, I did forget about my own point of support third parties. Alright you've convinced me to throw at least 1TB in. I don't like it though lol.

 

4k is for movies. HEVC that enables it is already in the upcoming video cards that this console idea would use so it's basically free. It's also something that 4k Netflix and 4k Blu-ray need that the Xbox One and PS4 don't have now and Netflix and others are complaining about. It's so serious Netflix is claiming Sony is going to revise the hardware to add it. 4k gaming isn't coming cheaply to a console in the next couple of years but that doesn't mean streaming of movies can't. It doesn't add much to the console to support 4k movies if you're already using those GPUs.

 

 

It's totally fine to support 4K movies, but it gets the idea in stupid peoples minds to blurt, "<NX> supports 4K gaming!!" which is bad marketing. Even if Nintendo never stated it would. I suppose if handled carefully and properly than it would be ok, but I'd personally just stay away from it for a while longer. Of course if they're shooting for a 2017 launch it may be well supported and maintainable by then.