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What if Nintendo's next handheld had smartphone capabilities?

  • Thread starter Thread starter thepotatoman
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The Grim Heaper said:
Knowing how Nintendo is with technology, it'd be a pretty shitty smartphone.
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Yep. Although, you would have a cool animation of Pikmin putting together an envelope and sending it on a flying pigeon every time you text a message.
 
thepotatoman said:
It also helps that Android and iOS have seem to hit an innovation wall anyway with the last year or two bringing mostly boring and useless changes. So it's not like Android and iOS are going to be impossible to catch up to over time. In fact now is the perfect time for Nintendo's creativity with stuff like streetpass to spark excitement at a pretty dull time.
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They both spent half a decade building software to a point where it has a stable and robust featureset as well as a healthy backlog of 3rd party support and 1000's of API's. Nintendo doesn't play well with others and they have no experience building proper operating systems. Unless this was some dual-boot android handset like the xperia thing it would be DOA.
 
Tuck said:
It will bomb.They might try it anyways.

It will bomb because Nintendo sucks at OS deveopment.They would be able to use Android

It will bomb because its not an iPhone.There is probably a market for a Nintendo Phone

It will bomb because its not a Galaxy S phone.They could team up with Samsung to make this phone

It will bomb because it does not use a mainstream OS (iOS or Android)I'd expect it to actually use Android and play games through a sandbox(unique hardware) app

It will bomb because Sony tried something very similar with the PSP and it did not work.Nintendo games for this market is probably more desirable than Sony's, especially given gung ho's huge success.
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Remember phones sell far faster than handhelds, 30+ million 3DS in 2 years is a success, but a phone can sell that in a month, so Nintendo could gain a huge new market that even puts DS to shame with even a faction of galaxy's sales.
 
Man, who cares. It's too late for that. Nintendo will never, ever reach feature parity with Android & iOS.

And in any case, look on Nintendo's "grasp" of online using the Wii U & 3DS as examples...No thanks.
 
kerotan_eater said:
I don't think Nintendo will even think of the idea, let alone do it, but that issue can be solved by releasing a new phone every year with better tech
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It actually wouldn't need new tech, they would just release new models every year, which is something they are somewhat use to doing anyways with DS, DSlite, DSi, DSiXL.
 
EuropeOG said:
You don't need to blow your mind, you just need to think rationally.

And we're talking about them having a handheld console with smartphone capabilities. In essence it would still be a handheld console, but if it could also be a smartphone then it's win/win as far as I'm concerned.

It's the next logical step.
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Why?

Just, why? Do you think 3DS would sell better with phone capabilities? Honestly not even back in 2011.
 
z0m3le said:
It actually wouldn't need new tech, they would just release new models every year, which is something they are somewhat use to doing anyways with DS, DSlite, DSi, DSiXL.
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Very good point. It's not so much tech that makes people upgrade every 2 years as it is that the carriers give major discounts on phones in order to get you to sign 2 year contracts. DS Lite style upgrades would be enough for that.
 
It wouldn't take much to give it phone-like features.

Use VoIP for voice chat, the existing apps for text and pictures (upgraded obviously). You can use the cameras with VoIP for video chat and if they get their up and coming web dev kit into portable form and open up the eShop some more and you have your app store.

The only issue is using these features on the move and not relying on a wi-fi connection. Would they cave and pay a massive 3/4G license? Provide it themselves? Make it an optional extra and let pick your own provider? Or, you know, not do it and dodge more licenses in time-honoured Nintendo fashion?

Oh and marketing, they'd need marketing to the phone crowd to make it worth it and good luck with that.
 
I would not trust Nintendo to make a good phone. Plus its ecosystem would be completely empty and would likely use a new OS but if it uses android then why not just buy an android phone?
 
Tuck said:
It will bomb.

It will bomb because Nintendo sucks at OS deveopment.

It will bomb because its not an iPhone.

It will bomb because its not a Galaxy S phone.

It will bomb because it does not use a mainstream OS (iOS or Android)

It will bomb because Sony tried something very similar with the PSP and it did not work.
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Yup.
 
I think it's pretty clear that people who suggest this aren't paying much attention to the smartphone market. Nintendo, as an organization, is entirely unprepared for such a project and the marketplace has matured enough that new entries are almost certain to fail without massive resources and bulletproof selling-points -- neither of which Nintendo can bring to bear here.
 
Nintendo doesn't have the ability to build a smartphone/handheld hybrid that anyone would actually be willing to purchase, software or hardware. It also doesn't have the resources to acquire the ability or the means to compete in the marketplace.
 
It would have to be in partnership with a real smartphone company like google or samsung. Nintendo sucks at multimedia capabilities.
 
watershed said:
It would have to be in partnership with a real smartphone company like google or samsung. Nintendo sucks at multimedia capabilities.
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Yeah that's the only way I could see that working, if Nintendo collaborated with a hardware "partner" to develop this gaming smartphone. Bring the best of Nintendo gaming and the best of Android smartphone together into a collaborative device.
 
watershed said:
It would have to be in partnership with a real smartphone company like google or samsung. Nintendo sucks at multimedia capabilities.
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Yep, 100% agree. Android could use a phone with a Nintendo sandbox (specialized hardware) APP and games like Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, prove that compelling gameplay of a more classic style can be achieved with shoulder buttons and a stylus. With a D-pad Homebutton, you have the perfect gaming phone IMO.

Nintendo creating something like that on their own, with their own OS while possible would be completely niche, but something made by Samsung with Nintendo branding and gaming focus could do extremely well compared to other gaming devices (though I wouldn't expect it to sell as well as any other galaxy phone, just a fraction of that market could dwarf DS sales)
 
A handheld has a much longer expected lifestyle than a modern smart phone and quite simply, most people don't keep the same phone for six or so years.

I won't say it isn't possible, it could have some form of 3G or whatever, but it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment for Nintendo to actually produce it as a phone.
 
Nintendo would be terrified to base their OS on Android since it'd get cracked in like two days, lol. This thing is just not happening.
 
No one would give a shit, Nintendo have proven they are almost completely technically adept. The slow performance of the Wii U OS, the utterly mind bogglingly stupid decisions regarding online services on all their platforms, friend codes, difficulty in doing stuff. (I've listened to the bombcast recently about poor Brad's trouble with wanting to get a new 3DS due to his G/F and all the issues he's going to have trying to get his data.)


Nintendo make games, they are clueless with systems and hardware, they continue to be clueless at this. A phone from them would be an utter disaster. It's never going to happen and is probably pointless worrying about speculating about it.
 
I could see a partnership with Panasonic ala the Q working in this case. No mass market release, but would cater to a very specific crowd.
 
charlequin said:
I think it's pretty clear that people who suggest this aren't paying much attention to the smartphone market. Nintendo, as an organization, is entirely unprepared for such a project and the marketplace has matured enough that new entries are almost certain to fail without massive resources and bulletproof selling-points -- neither of which Nintendo can bring to bear here.
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True, but I'd buy a Nintendo Galaxy if it had good ergonomics.
 
It would not be a phone I would want to own, it would be a roided up GCN chipset somehow... It would get a lot of analysts to shut up, but it doesn't fit into nintendo's playbook which has seemed to do okay for them the last 20 years.
 
I'm sorry but this is a terrible idea. Nintendo isn't competent enough to do something like this and even if they were it wouldn't sell.
 
I just don't see it happening. Nintendo is fundamentally different from almost every other hardware company out there for one reason: they only give a shit about video games.

The whole point of this argument is the idea of Nintendo producing a multi-purpose machine that the mass market would want to buy, and then play games on it. Sony and Microsoft can do that because they have experience in other businesses. Nintendo doesn't even give a shit about making their console able to play DVDs. They'll allow some media streaming apps on there, but that's it.

I could maybe, maybe, MAYBE see Nintendo one day trying out some kind of small tablet (standalone) with a lot of non-game software support. Functionally though it would be the same as the 3DS or any other Nintendo handheld, and those things are first and foremost designed to play Nintendo's games. The company wouldn't be willing to make a device with a lot of consideration for non-gaming use.

Ans on the hybrid argument, the most I'd see Nintendo doing is one day releasing a console and handheld that run the exact same OS and software, making every single game cross-buy. Their handheld and console games are getting more similar, but Nintendo still wants that dual revenue stream. Their console business would have to evaporate 100 percent before they gave up on that model.
 
It would be a terrible smart phone and no one would care.


Horrible idea.



I'll stick to my 3DS thanks.
 
You'd call someone and then Nintendo would check your call for 30 minutes if it's suited for children before forwarding it to the other person.
 
Yeah, make your product even more similar to the devices that are kicking its ass in the market. (I don't think it's a bad idea, but Ninty is heavily outmatched)

Now if they partnered with Google...
 
I can see this happening. I've been kind of saying it for quite awhile.

But I always get filled with doubt whenever someone mentions backwards compatibility, which is big for Nintendo handheld games. Someone mentioned that you can flip the tablet vertically to simulate dual screens and have virtual buttons. It may work but than the 3D will have to go.

I always felt that the Wii U tablet was kind of like an experiment for this. If the Wii U continues to fail hard, perhaps a Nintendo tablet that's power is similar to the Wii U can redeem the Wii U's failings by giving its games a second chance, kind of like how the DS redeemed the N64's failure.

Nintendo always seems to have a cycle with their consoles, but with handhelds, they're always rock solid. I have full confidence they'll stay strong all because of their handhelds.
 
It wouldn't sell (any better).

Two questions:

1. How many people would rather have a handheld with smartphone capabilities than a smartphone with gaming capabilities?
2. How many people (even among the current handheld gaming market) would want to walk around talking to their Gameboy=

Two issues:

1. Smartphone lifecycles are SHORT
2. Smartphones rely on strong online support and Nintendo is stuck in 1999.
 
Oni Link 666 said:
I don't see what Nintendo has to gain from telephony. Why do you have to be able to call other people on the device to do these things?
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Telephony is more than just voice-calling people nowadays. I would enjoy a permanent data connection for multiplayer without having to find an Wifi access point. And videocall which the 3DS should already be doing over Wifi (like the WiiU. Maybe it will come with miiverse?)
 
Honestly, adding telephony features to a handheld seemingly has no benefits with the added annoyance of being disturbed by a million application/message notifications and voice calls during gaming.

If you want continuous internet for your gaming device set your smartphone up as a mobile AP and connect to that.
 
They'd better start hiring a shitload of people now because I can't imagine they'd have the army of OS people needed to compete in this field, not to mention all the specific hardware engineering (radio specifically).

Even then, they'd have to invest a shitload in marketing to make a dent in that market.
 
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