Nintendo unveils ‘chipped’ toy line
Amiibo characters’ virtual histories will be stored on the figures and work in tandem with video games
Nintendo is taking a cue from and The Japanese gaming giant unveiled a toy figure line called amiibo that will work in tandem with its video games like the toys-meet-games franchises from Activision Blizzard and Walt Disney.
The announcement was made in an online video released yesterday during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the industry’s annual trade show.
“We see amiibo as a brand-new platform for us,” said Reggie FilsAime, president of Nintendo of America.
“We use the term platform specifically. Today, it’s figures. In the future, it could be other things that tie into the near-field communication technology built right into the GamePad.”
Similar to Activision’s and the characters’ virtual histories will be stored on the plastic figures and transmitted through the Wii U GamePad, the controller for its slow-selling Wii U console that features a touchscreen and NFC capabilities.
“There’s a special chip that’s embedded in every figure,” said Fils-Aime. “Any Wii U system will recognise the figure by touching them on the Wii U GamePad, and when that happens, they spring to life in compatible games in cool new ways.”
The first lineup of amiibo figures, due out this year, features 10 characters from well-known Nintendo franchises: the Villager from
the trainer; swordwielding Link from
intergalactic soldier Samus Aran from Pikachu from
iconic gorilla Donkey Kong; pink shape-shifter Kirby; and Mario, Princess Peach and Yoshi from For more technology
news go to nzherald.co.nz/
technology
The company said the figures would be compatible with the upcoming Wii U fighting game and would eventually work with other games, including the recently released racing title and the forthcoming platformers
and
Bill Trinen, senior product marketing manager of Nintendo of America, said the company was working on a peripheral reader scheduled for release next year that would connect the figures to its hand-held Nintendo 3DS system.
He said other amiibo figures and games are “in the works”. The price of the figures wasn’t announced.
“Combining amiibo with our games opens up a whole range of potential new gameplay experiences,” Trinen said.
For the second year in a row, Nintendo opted against hosting a flashy E3 presentation in Los Angeles and instead streamed videos showcasing the amiibo figures and other upcoming games.
“For us, what we want to do is find great ways to tell our stories,” said Fils- Aime. “So much of our content is created by our Japanese developers. We wanted to make sure we could provide consumers a full backstory. A digital event is much more effective than trying to do it in a live press conference.”
Nintendo hyped several upcoming games due out this year for the Wii U and 3DS, including
battle game hack-and-slash sequel and the and
instalments of the series.
Other games teased for release in 2015 included the Super Mario level designing game paint shoot-em-up role-playing game cutesy platformer
and a game for the Wii U set in an open world.
Sales of Nintendo’s Wii U console have lagged behind the newer PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems released by Sony and Microsoft, respectively, last November. Nintendo has sold 6 million consoles since the Wii U was released in 2012, while Microsoft has sold 5 million and Sony has sold 7 million units in the past six months. online
sci-fi