Games By Matthew Humphries Nov. 20, 2013 7:27 am
Although the Wii U may not be doing very well at the moment, Nintendo continues to make its money from a combination of hardware sales and a rich library of gaming IP released exclusively for that hardware. But that doesn’t mean the Japanese company can’t experiment on other platforms.
Nintendo of America software engineer Nando Monterazo sent out a number of tweets a couple of days ago suggesting Nintendo is experimenting with a tablet running Android. But before you get too excited or concerned, the tablet is thought to be focused exclusively on educational games meant for schools.
There’s no suggestion that Nintendo would ever release any of its core games for use on an Android tablet. Instead, this sounds like Nintendo is considering using its most well-known and loved gaming characters in a new range of educational titles. Those titles may even be linked to a single, Nintendo-branded tablet that’s not offered to consumers, just schools. Monterazo also said Android is being used just for the experiment and if a final tablet were manufactured it could run a “Unix environment.”
While Nintendo could release a fairly limited tablet device, or even just educational Android apps, it would surely be viewed as a test. If Nintendo ended up selling millions of apps that way, the company executives and shareholders wouldn’t fail to notice the extra profit such an experiment generates, and will likely push for it to be repeated and continued alongside its core gaming business.
Nintendo releasing a Mario or Zelda game on another platform would be a huge risk, though, and in my opinion a mistake. The strong link between gaming IP and gaming hardware is what makes Nintendo such a profitable company. If gamers aren’t compelled to buy Nintendo hardware to play their games, that only hurts the company in the long term. A range of educational apps for young children, though? That could work.
One thing that’s certain is Nintendo won’t be happy with one of their software engineers talking about such experiments publicly. In fact, checking Monterazo’s Twitter feed the offending tweets seem to have been removed, and you can bet someone high up at Nintendo has had a chat with him about sharing information.
Now read: Eye-tracking Mario demo offers glimpse at the next generation of Google Glass
More...
Nintendo of America software engineer Nando Monterazo sent out a number of tweets a couple of days ago suggesting Nintendo is experimenting with a tablet running Android. But before you get too excited or concerned, the tablet is thought to be focused exclusively on educational games meant for schools.
There’s no suggestion that Nintendo would ever release any of its core games for use on an Android tablet. Instead, this sounds like Nintendo is considering using its most well-known and loved gaming characters in a new range of educational titles. Those titles may even be linked to a single, Nintendo-branded tablet that’s not offered to consumers, just schools. Monterazo also said Android is being used just for the experiment and if a final tablet were manufactured it could run a “Unix environment.”
While Nintendo could release a fairly limited tablet device, or even just educational Android apps, it would surely be viewed as a test. If Nintendo ended up selling millions of apps that way, the company executives and shareholders wouldn’t fail to notice the extra profit such an experiment generates, and will likely push for it to be repeated and continued alongside its core gaming business.
Nintendo releasing a Mario or Zelda game on another platform would be a huge risk, though, and in my opinion a mistake. The strong link between gaming IP and gaming hardware is what makes Nintendo such a profitable company. If gamers aren’t compelled to buy Nintendo hardware to play their games, that only hurts the company in the long term. A range of educational apps for young children, though? That could work.
One thing that’s certain is Nintendo won’t be happy with one of their software engineers talking about such experiments publicly. In fact, checking Monterazo’s Twitter feed the offending tweets seem to have been removed, and you can bet someone high up at Nintendo has had a chat with him about sharing information.
Now read: Eye-tracking Mario demo offers glimpse at the next generation of Google Glass
More...
