Nintendo wants to expand into health, learning, and other quality of life products

Glass Rebel said:
I remember people saying the same thing about the Wii U.
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And I'll say the same thing I said about the Wii U: We don't know shit about anything yet. We don't know what direction this potential platform will take. We don't know what this new platform will be about. We don't know what ideas we have in mind. All we know is that it's not going to be video games as we've known them.

Casting judgement and deeming it a failure or a success is doing it on faith, trust, and pixie dust.
 
orioto said:
At that point, they can as well go back to brothels..
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At least that would be fun for somebody. Christ, this is the last fucking thing I want out of Nintendo. Besides, amongst the general population, who's going to trust the people with the overweight cartoon shroom fiend as their mascot for things healthy living-related? Then again, I guess Wii Fit already happened.
 
Kimawolf said:
Yes im thinking they develop a entire eco system that you sign into. Its virtual and will monitor your cellphone, gaming devices, have some kind of augmented reality going on as well. So the platform is one base device that you can access through anything and can contact you.

Part Dennou coil part big brother.
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Dennou Coil you say? The future is finally here!
 
8:40 pm
by Kana Inagaki
Nintendo may not be releasing its popular franchise on other platforms, but Mr. Iwata says the company will license Nintendo game character rights to new partners.
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Does that mean Sony can license Mario and co for the next "All Stars" game??(Hypothetically speaking of course.)

Or does it come with conditions like they can be only used on Nintendo hardware and such?
 
Ahasverus said:
I heard they have some gyms too
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Yeah, and?

Gyms is a tradtional, grounded in reality actual market. Don't know what have to do with a bunch of words that actually means nothing.

Konami succes comes from a diversified portfolio of activities, hardly anything to do with throwing shit and expecting it actually sticks.
 
I'm expecting to laugh really hard when whatever this is comes to life.

And after the PSN/Live quote, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever they have in mind is already out in the public
 
Wow, they're really truly desperate to catch that "blue ocean" audience again.

It might work, as Nintendo's always a "wild card", but I just don't see this taking off at all. They'd be competing with hundreds of "fitness" and "lifestyle" apps that are already on smartphones. Nintendo doesn't have enough clout in that field for people to turn their heads at that. Even combining this with a fancy balance board, I think the appeal will be niche. Could be wrong, though.
 
Relaxed Muscle said:
Diversified business like Casinos and Pachinko? Something Nintendo certainly dosn't have...
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The fear, at least for me, is that if they find this new side business to be more lucrative that they will eventually abandon nearly four decades of history as a legitimate game maker like Konami mostly has.
 
This is their new headquarters. Ladies and Gentleman may I present to you Nintendo General Hospital:

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Non wearable?
Health and fitness QOL?

Soooooo, something like Kinect and the Xbone fitness programs?

And Nintendo's very own Wonderbooks, Leapfrog like devices, and Speak&Spells for education?
 
I had a feeling most gamers would react negatively. But I personally think Nintendo can try whatever they want, as long as it helps them remain a profitable company and provide fun games to play.

If there's anything Nintendo is known for, it is quality products. They have always been that way, barring a few mistakes here and there. I think, if they put in that mentality into other products it would work.

I'm just thinking outside of my limited gamer mindset. It might seem strange but if they find profitability I think that's great.
 
From the gist I get from the slides, this sounds like it might perhaps be a website. It's account based. It's not physical hardware. It could be used with any device. They could use Web Framework to make games that interface with your activity somehow like a lumosity or other fitness website...but with Nintendo games.
 
lenovox1 said:
And I'll say the same thing I said about the Wii U: We don't know shit about anything yet. We don't know what direction this potential platform will take. We don't know what this new platform will be about. We don't know what ideas we have in mind. All we know is that it's not going to be video games as we've known them.

Casting judgement and deeming it a failure or a success is doing it on faith, trust, and pixie dust.
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Oh please, look at their recent attempts to capure a meaningful portion of the expanded audience. They have no idea what they are doing with any of their hardware. Spinning all the health and life rehashes to a separate platform isn't going to solve this problem. It's much more likely that they will fuck it up again rather than somehow magically find success. The only dust here is up Iwata's nose and it's not from pixies.
 
jhmtehgamr20xx said:
Actually it's rather smart of Nintendo, I think. The gaming market is moving in a direction that's making them more and more an anomaly. People (particularly women) love, LOVE health products, diets and stuff like that, and there's a very real obesity problem, particularly in the U.S where I live. Nintendo already has the "family-friendly" image, it doesn't take that much to go for a "female chic" image from there. And girls love Mario....they know they do.

It's the rapid timing for this that I'm more shocked by; they must be knee-deep in it by now to aim for about this time next year. To my understanding there hasn't really been a relatively affordable consumer-level health and fitness hardware product that also combines the entertainment factor of gaming (especially Nintendo games) done before, focused solely on health and fitness. If they market it right it could be an even bigger success than the Wii.

I'm not exaggerating there.
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Yeah I mean, if Nintendo plays their card right they might be on to something. Trying to tap into that Wii fit potential on another level.
 
MS is all about TV and Sports.
Nintendo is about Quality of Life.
I wonder what Sony will do now to make it so that nobody focuses on games.
 
Glass Rebel said:
Oh please, look at their recent attempts to capure a meaningful portion of the expanded audience. They have no idea what they are doing with any of their hardware. Spinning all the health and life rehashes to a separate platform isn't going to solve this problem. It's much more likely that they will fuck it up again rather than somehow magically find success. The only dust here is up Iwata's nose and it's not from pixies.
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If the new platform is literally going to be a Wii Fit box, then you're right.

But we have nothing to go on. We don't even know if there's even going to be a box or hardware (other than their existing hardware) associated with this thing.
 
Log4Girlz said:
Are consoles considered non-wearables? Maybe he's implying a new console.
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If I had to guess, the "nonwearable" will be a small tablet-like tracking and software device and/or a software platform that logs things and is connected to or part of your NNID.

...Which would just be mobile, but the term "nonwearable" is destroying my brain.
 
Sounds good to me. Think of all the great DS games we never would have gotten if Nintendogs and Brain Age hadn't come to console's rescue early on.
 
So how exactly do we use this stuff if it's non-wearable? Are we supposed to eat it? Insert in anally? Does Nintendo even know?
 
I'll be straight up, I'm a big fan of fitness apps. I currently use or have used Myfitnesspal, a USDA nutrition database app, Runtastic, and Zombies, RUN!, in addition to Wii Fit U. By far Wii Fit U is the most least enjoyable in my opinion.


I know some people have had great success and I'm glad it's worked for them. Anything that gets people moving and eating mindfully is a great thing. For me, the worst part of Wii Fit U is the part that involves the actual Wii U. Exercising in front of a TV is just boring as hell to me. I'd much rather go for a jog or do some cycling or even just go for a walk. This is where the Fit Meter comes in though. If they could kick that thing in the ass and make it a proper activity meter in it's next generation so that it gives me proper credit for cycling I'd be super excited. Make it more in-line with what I imagine something like a modern fitbit might be (I haven't actually used one but I hear it marks all "High intensity" activity, if that's true).

Just make the Fit Meter collect all kinds of data and statistics. Make a full on suite of fitness apps that connect with a Fit Meter 2, which would ideally have a good-sized full color touch screen. Make a Myfitnesspal-type app, make the Fit Meter 2 measure all kinds of crazy fitness shit, make it simple and attractive and I think this could be a thing.

The problem is that if there's one thing Nintendo sucks at is making a user-friendly UI in my opinion. I mean no disrespect, I like the idea of Ninty heading in this direction and think it's pretty smart but they need to step their shit up if they don't want to biff this. It seems like Nintendo is in love with making single-tap experiences into quadruple-tap experiences. No, I can't offer any proof other than I find Nintendo devices, as much as I love them, to be a chore to navigate. This is all my personal opinion.

As I said, though, if they can get some fresh perspective in there and make a health platform that is decidedly "Nintendo" while not being so damned "Nintendo" all the time, this could be a big deal.


What I don't fucking get is them going on about "non-wearable". The future of this shit is IN wearable tech. Why do they always have to enact brilliant ideas in the stupidest possible way?
 
Guevara said:
37l.jpg


The only relevant Google results for "Non-wearables" are news articles covering this very conference
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Whatever the case, when he does unveil this, it's either going to be the most hilarious thing in years or mindblowing. Because the only guesses I have for what "non-wearable" would be are things I already know about that have been on the market for years
 
Jomjom said:
MS is all about TV and Sports.
Nintendo is about Quality of Life.
I wonder what Sony will do now to make it so that nobody focuses on games.
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Sony is already in the QOL and TV and camera business. They stood up at CES and gave a big demonstration about a new wearable platform (Core).
 
Bleh. So now instead of users complaining about arbitrary subjective bullshit Nintendo is opening itself up to the realm of the objective? Brain Age was a big scam. I hope if they are serious about this they will back it up with real science.
 
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