Nintendo has announced two important projects in its lineup last week. One is its partnership with DeNA, a mobile video game company, to create Nintendo video games for smartphones. The second one is a teaser for its upcoming video console, the NX.
By moving to a new platform, Nintendo hopes to attract new audiences but this shouldn't mislead people from believing that the company's beloved games like Mario will also be seen on smartphone devices. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that it will not "port existing titles to mobile" for it intends to create completely new games, together with its newest alliance, that are meant for smartphone devices. DeNA likewise emphasizes the importance of creating new games tailored for smartphone devices in providing quality user experience.
What kind of games then can we expect from this partnership? If Iwata's remark on smartphone games is any indication, it could be assumed that the company will join the bandwagon by providing games that are very accessible, or those that "users that can easily start and easily finish." Iwata admits that these are very different qualities "that people demand from games for dedicated video game systems." As such, Nintendo cannot help but express that it is a challenging move not only for the company but for the entire gaming industry.
Market Analyst at Gartner, Tuong Huy Nguyen, offers insights by saying that the support of developers is crucial for efforts by Nintendo and other companies gearing for future entertainment devices. He said that a gaming console, no matter how great, can be futile to the eyes of gamers if it "they don't have great games to play on it." Apparently, Nintendo is already aware of it as it has DeNA on board.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo NX is virtually non-existent at the present and all we know now is that it will not be just a hardware boost but something that promises a surprising change in gaming. The last time Nintendo did that was when it released the Wii.
Would it be at least third-party user friendly? After all, it's not the hardware that's Nintendo's been struggling with recently.
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