Nintendo Releases First Smartphone Game

Nintendo's Miitomo App Has a $78 Microtransaction

Surprisingly or not, the maker of Mario is now asking fans to go into a new direction: a surreal social network.

The release of the smartphone game "is another step forward" for Nintendo to increase the number of people who play games, a spokesperson said.

The Miitomo launch trailer has given us a chance to see what Nintendo's first smartphone app can do.

We'll have more Miitomo coverage on the site later today, but check out the screens for now.

Players can export their existing avatars from Tomodachi Life, a similar social game for the Nintendo 3DS, and it's also possible to link an existing Nintendo account to the game and use it to gain points, which can then be spent on content for other platforms.

I haven't played with the app myself yet, but I'm still tempted to agree with this assessment.

Tying them together is a new rewards program, My Nintendo, that will span Nintendo's smartphone apps and dedicated console games.

Miitomo is focused on communication between friends.

Miitomo is the first product of Nintendo and DeNA's high profile partnership, and will be followed by four other games before the end of 2017.

That last part is what really stood out to me. The game is primarily a social app where users can create Miis to interact with others.

What can we expect from Nintendo? "Once you have a few friends on your list there is a seemingly never ending barrage of amusing factoids to read, comment on and prompts to share more about yourself".

According to Rob Fahey, games industry analyst, "Nintendo came into this business as a toy company", and the fact that they started making video games was because video games were the best toys they could think of.

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 7.0 or later, Miitomo is available on the App Store as a free download with in-app purchases for Miitomo coins, which can be used for unlocking clothing items and playing Miitomo Drop. Little is known about Nintendo's next console, code-named "NX".

Source: Nintendo Releases First Smartphone Game