Itching to see "Nintendo" named as a developer with software in the app store of your preferred platform? That could be a reality in the near future, according to a new report from Japanese publication The Nikkei.
The newspaper claims that Nintendo will announce later this week that it's planning to release smartphone software sometime this year. Rather than make its next major Mario or Zelda release available on Android and iOS, though, it's suggested that the game maker will actually push out product news and "free mini games" for mobile phones.
Nintendo's goal with these rumored smartphone plans would likely be to give smartphone gamers a trial of what they could experience on Nintendo hardware. The hope for Nintendo is that this would be enough to convince users to buy dedicated gaming hardware in order to get the full game that they got a taste of on their smartphone. It's not clear exactly which platforms Nintendo is planning to develop for, but it's expected that the software released by the company releases would be free of charge.
Product news and game demos likely aren't what most gamers had in mind when they wished that Nintendo would make the leap to mobile. And while we'll have to wait to see what kinds of smartphone apps Nintendo actually ends up releasing, if it releases any at all, I'm not totally sure that the software described in today's report will convince as many smartphone owners to buy dedicated gaming hardware as Nintendo would like. With the size of marketplaces like the App Store and Google Play Store, as well as the low cost of most apps compared to games on the 3DS, I've got a feeling that many folks would likely end up continuing to rely on their smartphones as their all-in-one entertainment device.
What do you think of this new rumor? Do you think that demos and videos of new Nintendo games would convince you to buy the company's full-on hardware and software?
Via ParisLemon, Serkan Toto, The Nikkei
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