In a time where Nintendo’s street credibility seems to be at an all-time low, news is surfacing of both Nintendo and Microsoft looking to expanding their beliefs of entertainment.
Nintendo’s CEO and President Satoru Iwata has made it very widely known in a new philosophy called “quality of life,” which is why you see Nintendo pushing for so many more health incentives with their games. We at The Hidden Triforce touched up on this a few months ago with our review of A Link Between Worlds and how the game utilized the medallion points used for using your 3DS/2DS as a pedometer.
“At the start of this year, I finally figured that the concept of ‘improving people’s quality of life with fun,’ with emphasis on the ‘fun’, would be perfect for Nintendo. And that’s why I decided to focus on this during the financial results meeting in January. I felt the need to take that occasion to state that Nintendo is a company that can do whatever it wants,” says Iwata.
With this thought in mind, a majority of Nintendo fan boys (and girls) have always longed to see more from their games – as in to say more stories with their favorite characters. Sure, seeing Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, and Star Fox show up to battle Link, Mario and Samus in the Super Smash Bros. series is a great way to add on to our love of these characters, but this vague message from Nintendo’s current President could suggest something a lot of fans have been hoping for – Nintendo Original Programming.
This is not the first time Nintendo has entered the realm of cinematic entertainment. Years back (1986 to be exact), a Japanese anime film Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! was released. Though more loosely based on the principal story of a plumber getting lost in his family game machine, the movie influenced a lot of elements to the future of the video game series.
Moving on to 1989, Nintendo licensed three direct-to-video original video animations of Super Mario Bros., as well as a hit TV show that featured live action and animation – and every Friday would air a cartoon based on The Legend of Zelda. The last of this animation era from Nintendo would end with the original series Captain N: The Game Master and a new Mario cartoon based off of Super Mario World. The show shared the same name.
There was a feature film of Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario & Luigi and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa. It’s best to not speak of this and pretend that it never happened.
Fast forward to 1997 and Nintendo would return to the television arena with Pokémon, as well as feature films based on the animated series. Let’s also not rule out the manga that Nintendo has licensed as well.
This is not a ploy for a company that’s financially sound to make more money, it’s just a way to make current gamers happy and to expand the imagination of the casual gamer. Imagine Nintendo providing a new original animated series available for download on your home system or your portable device. Been longing for a new Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda cartoon series? This is now a hopeful possibility. Just make Link have less corny catch phrases.
Now – why am I jumping to the conclusion that Nintendo would make original programming? Because Microsoft is not only considering this avenue, they are pursuing it.
Microsoft announced recently that a new division has been started for exclusive Xbox on demand animation based on existing franchises such as Halo, as well as welcoming a few new additions.
This concept doesn’t just limit to the video game related titles with Microsoft. As a modern society living in the information age, we are entering a new world of entertainment. The digital age has provided opportunities for cancelled shows to return (such as Family Guy, Futurama, but sadly not Firefly).With innovations like Kickstarter, shows like Veronica Mars can bring closure to their fans with a feature film. The idea is that the modern television is no longer just connected to a cable box. Innovators like Nintendo with the Wii U have paved the way for Sony and Microsoft to jump on board and give gamers the full home experience – movies on demand, switch back to your cable TV stations, and then back to your game. It’s a wonderful experience that the majority of the gaming community could see coming.
If you’re not convinced of how this is really happening, take a look at the fact that companies like Amazon and Netflix are now providing critically acclaimed shows, such as House of Cards.
What I’m getting at is Nintendo, Sony, and even Microsoft, are big enough companies that have had their fingers in entertainment pie for a long time, and not just solely as video game entertainers. I’m going to pick on Sony for a moment as they currently hold the rights to pretty much everything pertaining to the Spider-Man franchise – Sony could absolutely make exclusive content for a new Spidey game solely for PlayStation owners. Sure, Marvel will step in and say that the game will be released on all platforms, but Sony can say – but only PlayStation players can access Black Suit Spider-Man. Does that take away from the game playing experience if I’m playing the game on the Wii U or the Xbox One? My guess is that’s where the diehard Spider-Man fans have to make the choice.
Where the waters get murky is when, if you’re not able to own all three, you could miss out on some exclusive content, causing a concern for piracy, and forcing the casual gamer to once again make a choice about what brand they support.
Considering you can download most new releases right to your hard drive, this only further pushes the idea of digital transferring of media. This is the wave of the future and companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony will want to jump on board.
With Nintendo having characters most have grown up with, it only makes sense for them to set sails to follow Microsoft on creating new original content to appease their loyal fan base.
What are your thoughts, Hidden Triforce fans? Would you be willing to pay to stream a new Nintendo entertainment?
