This one is quite interesting. Rather than developing a new model of the Wii U for emerging markets such as China, Nintendo are creating new machines to suit these economies. There’s no word on which games these will play, though it seems that those too will be new ventures.
China recently lifted a ban on selling video game consoles, so this seems like a great opportunity, providing Nintendo can get in there quick enough. I’d imagine these would be smartphone-esque devices, but home consoles may be applicable too, and it could tie in with Nintendo’s other plans.
Those plans include to tackle the NFC figure craze even more than before – they’ve previously released Pokémon Rumble U which used figurines and the Wii U GamePad’s built-in functionality to put creatures in the game.
They’ll be revealing exactly what this entails at E3 next month, but it seems as though figures will work across multiple games, and with Nintendo’s heavy focus on Mario characters across a number of games, this really makes sense for the company to do.
Furthermore, they’re going to be introducing smartphone apps for the likes of Mario Kart 8 and beyond, where players can view Mario Kart TV videos and track their friends’ progress.
These all seem like steps in the right direction for the company – Disney Infinity and Skylanders have proven that the NFC figure market is a huge one, and with Mario on their side, who’s arguably a very marketable character alongside his friends, this could bring Nintendo back into the game, so to speak.
Source: Bloomberg
hazelam
so, Pokemon machines then? ^_^