Hints on a push for social gaming and/or use of Nintendo franchises by external studios ?
I was contacted by another source that the ones i'm usually referring to in my posts, with intriguing informations, i'll summarize it in a succinct list:
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Nintendo sent recently characters descriptions of their intellectual proprieties. Instructions on how to employ them.
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Many figures of Nintendo are involved, i was only able to read some from the Mario universe.
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It's very detailed, it not only concerns the image of those fictional folks, but also their attitude, their behavior, how they speak (like Peach, as a princess, must use less contractions and slang than Mario and Luigi), and things to avoid about them (like depicting Mario too much as a plumber, etc.)
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Those texts are in english, but refers to NCL. It could be instructions coming from Nintendo Japan then translated and supplied to western studios by Nintendo of America, or it could directly originates from NOA writers staff.
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The receivers are from gaming websites, social medias, applications makers, etc. The content is intended to dedicated writers of those companies, to shape how they'll use those characters, make them act, talk.
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Now, some assumptions, speculations, attempts to cover every scenarios possible from these news, mixed with infos & additions to the main points wrote above:
- It's far from being the first time Nintendo send such texts to studios, to control their image, their intellectual proprieties (for merchandising things for example), tell to other companies how to use their characters in licensed projects, etc.
--> Therefore, it could just be that again, some by-products being planned and that requires instructions for the contracted companies to employ Big N figures properly.
--> Considering the receivers, Nintendo may tell to writers, journalists, of gaming websites, how to talk about their characters, like using their more known names/western ones rather than older/japanese ones (koopa<>bowser, peach<>toadstool, etc.)
Important point:
- However, the depth, the thorough nature of those instructions, including their manners, how they communicate, clearly implies a more extensive, intricate utilization of these characters than the previous scenarios. What's in play isn't only methods to write about them, but even from their prospective.
--> Such elaborate use, cross-read with the last line of the facts list ("social", medias background of the recipients) could indicates more ambitions or even a strong push from Nintendo toward social aspects, like applications for Wii U, websites (social networks, communities, sharing platforms, etc.) accessible on the system and taking advantage of Nintendo characters (a lot of possible usages could be involved here, like Mario greeting and helping you in a website, Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants mini-game akin to social gaming on Facebook, etc.).
- The receivers seems to be
external studios.
--> Nintendo employees were often behind these tasks before (promoting and using their characters on medias).
It could then point to more contracting of "third-parties", writers from the outside, instructed on how using their figures in social networks, platforms, for a bigger promotional/marketing effort, make their brand recognition from the public further widespread, and mobilizing their intellectual proprieties for that goal.
Big grain of salt & all, as it's not from my usual sources, but it seems believable as we know from interviews Big N intents to do more social content, and we've heard some news of companies working with them since one year. Read all this with caution and keep your expectations in check before dreaming of deal-breaker social game/applications from Nintendo.
Nonetheless, the depth of those instructions, the jobs of the receivers, and all the other elements, are intriguing, and tends to rule out the event of just a classic merchandising thing.
Don't forget to check the yesterday's tidbit about the history of DRC support on dev kits, and possible signs of the existence of Wii U classic controllers.
