I shouted back (at my computer screen) "You can't play a proper flipping Mario game on a fudging tiny touch screen phone thingy! Nintendo will never, ever make mobile games! You numpties"
Nintendo then made a mobile game...
If I was to describe Miitomo to you then you'd call me a crazy man or a man-child. It's an app in which you make or import your Mii character (those versions of yourself you spent two hours making while your friends waited patiently to play Wii Sports) and then.. Well, you answer questions about stuff. And you can stick your Mii in pics you've taken. Yes it sounds rubbish even to me as I write this, but look! Picture evidence of time well spent...
Now try and remember when you first described Twitter or Snapchat to someone who hadn't used it before. They also sounded pretty boring and a complete time waster. This is a simple, near idiotic app of time wasting nothingness. And I am addicted. Just go and try it out for yourself, it’s on good app stores everywhere. Probably.
Addiction is not the main inspiration for this blog however. The background
to this app and what it means are really huge talking points. For me anyway,
and I’m bored of talking to myself so this blog will do.. This is the
first foray by Nintendo into mobile phone gaming. I was against them entering
this market, as were most people who prefer a traditional controller to the
world of tapping screens that Candy Crush and Angry Bird lovers are accustomed
too. A fully fledged Mario or Zelda game on my phone is not something I want to
see but as my intro mentioned there's been business analysts talking for ages
about how Nintendo need to embrace such a huge market. Even when they finally
made the announcement that mobile games were coming no one would have guessed
Miitomo would be the result.Miitomo is not something I want to play on my Wii U or any way replaces the type of games they make for consoles. It is very much an app, perfectly suited for checking on a whim throughout the day. It’s a social network that relies on the use of others and will continue to grow and evolve. Then there’s the presentation which is pure Nintendo and layered with a charm that’s exclusive to them. They’ve actually gone and aced their entry to phones. What a bunch of lovable geniuses.
Nintendo have always innovated in gaming but one area they've lagged behind in
is the online side of things. Along with the launch of this snappy and
surprisingly modern app, they also launched MyNintendo. It’s a new account that
links you're Miitomo nonsense to your console use and comes with a bunch of
rewards for just generally using their products. Which I was going to do anyway,
being the crazy fanboy I am. Nintendo had to play catch up at some point but
with this site they haven’t just mimicked the competition but instead implemented
a host of features in their own magic way.The Wii U has been a commercial failure for Nintendo, and their worst selling home console bar maybe the Virtual Boy (what’s a Virtual Boy you ask? Exactly) Company president Satoru Iwata passed away last year and left a company in transition. They’ve always avoided direct competition with the likes of PlayStation, believing instead they had the kids and family markets tied up. Then came mobile gaming and Minecraft and things went downhill pretty quickly.
Miitomo is the first step in bringing Nintendo back to relevancy. There's more on the way, with theme park attractions confirmed, movies and TV heavily rumoured and of course earlier in the year we had the monumental step that was Mario toys in Happy Meals.
Next up is the NX. We don't know what it is yet, but we know it’s coming. The next device is on the way and I’ll probably burst with excitement when it’s finally unveiled. I’m going to buy it anyway but it’s not me they need to convince, it’s probably you and the 90 million who had a Wii but didn’t upgrade to the successor.
Until then I’ll keep adding my Mii to random pics and berating everyone till they're my Miitomo friend. Add me!!
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