During Nintendo’s fiscal year briefing, after announcing four straight quarters of losses and acknowledging the luke warm reception the Wii U has received, Nintendo released info they hoped would generate some excitement within their fan base.
First we got confirmation on Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart 8, and it was announced that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire from the Gameboy Advance will be getting remakes.
What was also announced was a new gaming platform built to leverage Nintendo’s insanely popular characters, using figurines with NFC chips built into them. Following the success of Activision’s Skylanders franchise, and Disney’s attempt at cracking that market, Nintendo has to know they’re sitting on a potential gold mine with the first party IP they own.
Dubbed “NFP”, for “Nintendo Figurine Program”, players will be able to collect figurines which are then scanned by the Wii U controller, and will be compatible with various software title. Small pieces of information can be stored on the action figures, so while the exact plans haven’t been announced for future games, it’s not difficult to image each figure retaining leveling stats like Skylanders toys can.
It’s another platform for parents to invest in, but with franchises like Super Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Metroid, and Pokemon available, this could be a smart tactic for Nintendo to explore. We’ll have more info on NFP during E3 this year in June!
Under the banner of “Simple is the New Smart”, LG teased the Android community today with some footage of the next G flagship.
