Nintendo content licensed for mobile phones in Japan
Console giant dips its toe into the mobile market with subscription offering
Japanese videogame publishing giant Nintendo has announced details of an initiative to use some of its world-famous brands in the mobile space, with a new service called Nintendo Mobile set to launch in the Far East later this year.
The company has licensed its various properties for use for mobile phone content, starting with the Super Mario series - sound and graphics from which will be made available wirelessly along with promotional information about new Nintendo games.
So far, plans for the offering merely extend to animated images and ringtones, which can be accessed on Nintendo Mobile for a 210 Yen monthly subscription (just over GBP 1.00), with no direct mention of plans for interactive content.
However, it wouldn't be surprising if Nintendo was to roll out some of its titles on wireless services in future, especially given the company's noted inclination to plunder its aging back catalogue on a regular basis.
Several other Japanese videogame companies are already very active in the mobile space, most notably Square Enix, which considers mobile gaming to be a major growth sector for its business and is responsible for one of the most innovative and high tech mobile titles in the market, Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis.
The Nintendo Mobile service will roll out first on NTT DoCoMo on October 17th, followed by a launch on KDDI three days later and finally a roll-out on the Vodafone service on November 1st.