Burger King Game Boy toy turned into real retro handheld
At the turn of the Millennium, Burger King handed out adorable tiny Game Boy Colors with fake Pokémon cartridges. Sixteen years later and a modder, armed with a Raspberry Pi Zero, has turned one of the dummy units into a working console. Paired with a two-inch display from Adafruit and Retropie’s software emulator, the title will play Game Boy Color and Advance titles with its now working buttons. Although, of course, since there’s only A&B, you might struggle with titles that need the shoulder bumpers too. It’s not the first time that we’ve seen Raspberry Pi’s tiny board being used in this way, with a full-size Game Boy being turned into an emulator earlier this year. Given how many broken handhelds are available on eBay, we imagine everyone’s going to devote a weekend to building their own.
Via: Kotaku, Engadget Spanish
Source: Reddit, Imgur
Nintendo tour lets you try 3DS games this summer
If you or your kids are jonesing for something to do this summer but would rather play Super Mario Bros. than go on vacation, Nintendo has your back. It’s launching a free Play Nintendo Tour that, as the name implies, gives you a chance to play a range of 3DS games in a kid-friendly environment. On top of getting to try some of Nintendo’s better-known titles (ranging from the shiny new Kirby: Planet Robobot to an older title like Mario Kart 7), the 12-stop US tour has contests, photo ops and prizes.
Each stop lasts for just a few days. Things kick off in earnest between June 17th and 19th, when the tour begins in Los Angeles, and wind down just before school (September 2nd through 5th) in Alpharetta, Georgia. You’ll have to be in the right place at the right time, then, but it could be worth the trip if you’re raising a family of gamers.
Source: Nintendo, BusinessWire
Ben Heck’s NES Power Glove teardown
Ben and Karen revisit retro gaming tech with one of the first wearable controllers, Mattel’s Nintendo Power Glove. This repetitive-strain inducing NES gamepad needs to be updated — time to hack the op amps and custom micro-controller with an oscilloscope to find out how it works! Also in this episode, Felix works on remote-controlling robots. Lastly, the team needs your help for the Hackmanji board game. Share your ideas and questions on the element14 Community page.
Special edition Nintendo Vans prove your inner nerd never died
Vans loves working with iconic pop culture entities. To date, the company has released shoe and apparel collections inspired by Star Wars, The Beatles and, most recently, Disney. Now, as rumored, Vans has teamed up with Nintendo on a line of retro gaming sneakers and accessories for men, women and kids. There are 13 different footwear styles, each featuring prints that pay tribute to Nintendo’s first flagship console, the NES, as well as 8-bit graphics and characters from the Super Mario Bros. franchise.
We checked out three pairs ahead of their June 3rd release and they look pretty fantastic on feet. More specifically, Vans provided us samples of the Controller Sk8-Hi (pictured in the lede image above), the Tie Dye Authentic and the 8-bit Old Skool. With some models being low-top and others high-top (not to mention colorful or minimalist), the collection offers something for everyone — especially since most will be available in unisex sizes.
There are also Donkey Kong and Zelda designs, if that’s more up your alley. The sneakers even come in stylish boxes to match, including one that mirrors the looks of the NES game console. (I don’t know about you, but I want that box as a collector’s item.)
A Vans spokesperson told Engadget that the Nintendo line will only be on sale for a short period of time. Prices are expected to range between $37 and $70 for the shoes, depending on whether you get an adult or kids pair. They’ll hit Vans’ online store this Friday, along with select retail locations around the world.
Hong Kong Pokémon fans protest over Pikachu translation
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have caused a minor international kerfuffle after deciding to reduce the number of languages it translates Pokémon games into. Back in February, the pair revealed that Pokémon Sun and Moon would be released in traditional and simplified Chinese — the former for Hong Kong plus Taiwan, and the latter for Mainland China. But rather than keeping the three original sets of localized character names for these markets, the companies dropped Cantonese — the main dialect of Hong Kong and many overseas Chinese folks — in favor of the more common Mandarin Chinese used by the two other larger markets. The news didn’t go down well with Pokemon fans in Hong Kong, and yesterday, around 20 locals staged a protest outside the Japanese consulate, backed by anti-communist political party Civic Passion. They came armed with banners demanding that Pei-kaa-jau (Mandarin for Pikachu) should be restored to Bei-kaa-chyu (Cantonese Pikachu) for their local market.
It may seem like a trivial thing to protest, but there’s more to the story than simply a new game for the Nintendo DS. Hong Kong has, historically, been a distinct social and political entity with clear separation from China, which guaranteed to preserve the city’s status as an autonomous region for 50 years. But locals are increasingly antsy that their culture and independence are quietly being erased, both with interference from the mainland and carelessness by companies outside. After all, not producing a Cantonese version of Pokémon effectively lumps all Chinese people into one culture.
Source: HK01, Quartz, Next Media
New Data Suggests ‘Users Didn’t Really Get Miitomo,’ Leading to its Decline
After a few weeks of news surrounding Nintendo’s continued push into smartphone gaming, the company’s first app — Miitomo — slowly started to disappear from the conversation as users began to abandon the app. Nintendo celebrated an impressive 10 million user downloads a few weeks after Miitomo’s release, but since then little news or talk has been circling from Nintendo itself or the game’s original downloaders.
A new report by SurveyMonkey attempts to drill down to the reasoning behind Miitomo’s rise and fall, which occurred all in the span of about two months. To do so, the site compared Miitomo to King’s Candy Crush Saga and Supercell’s Clash of Clans, two games which not only debuted big, but kept players engaged frequently on a week-by-week basis. All three games had a similar huge download spike at launch, with Candy Crush Saga topping the charts, followed by a downturn in downloads in the subsequent weeks.
The difference between the games is that those belonging to King and Supercell saw continued user engagement by the gamers who originally downloaded them. According to SurveyMonkey’s numbers, Clash Royale is played on average 4.2 days per week by its users, while Candy Crush Saga is played 3.3 days each week. Miitomo, on the other hand, sees users returning just 2.3 days per week. The site’s leading theory on this low return rate statistic is a fanbase that “didn’t really get Miitomo.”
In Miitomo’s case, this lower-than-peers engagement translates into higher churn. The game’s weekly churn more than 50% means that over half of the users of Miitomo on a given week won’t come back and play it again the following week. For some apps that don’t need frequent use this isnt a problem, but for games like Miitomo that are designed for frequent use, churn at this level foreshadows a quick decline.
As others have described it, SurveyMonkey calls Miitomo a social game, whose main value lies in the interaction and presence of friends who can witness the customization of your Mii and the answers you give to the app’s questions. Since the only reason for return is content updates centered around avatar clothes and new “Miitomo Drop” levels, the game’s feedback loop dissatisfies gamers whose only reason for weekly revisiting is to dress up their Mii to be seen by seen by no one in particular, since they “end up living in a ghost town.”
After initial heavy interest in the app, most likely due to its status as Nintendo’s first original smartphone game, it appears that most users have decided to simply wait for the company’s promise of “pure game applications.” What that will take the form of isn’t exactly clear yet, but we do know it’ll be centered around the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises to start.
Tags: Nintendo, Miitomo
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‘Miitomo’ players are apparently abandoning Nintendo’s app
Nintendo’s first big foray into mobile gaming, Miitomo, boasts 10 million downloads, but it’s more than a game — it’s a quasi social network that’s apparently turning into a ghost town. It’s generally understood that games see a big bump in players at the outset and gradually that number declines over time. For social networks, where the typical “gameplay,” so to speak, is interacting with others, once the user-base declines, there isn’t much else you can do. Just ask whoever is still on Ello. The folks at the SurveyMonkey Intelligence blog have been keeping an eye on Miitomo and have made some sobering observations on how Nintendo’s smartphone app has performed since launch.
Compared to mobile heavyweights Candy Crush and Clash Royale, Miitomo, on average, is only played half as much per week — something that could be a bad sign for its longevity. The amount average weekly users? By SurveyMonkey’s count, it’s just over 2.5 million. Meaning, only a quarter of the people who’ve downloaded it so far regularly open the app.
How Nintendo handles this and augments Miitomo with reasons for users to keep coming back is going to be interesting to watch. The firm already promised to bring Splatoon-inspired items into the fold, and while that’s a good step, it’s a bit on the minor side. Granted, Nintendo is still pretty new at mobile gaming and these could be seen as rookie mistakes. If it wants to keep people coming back to its apps (and there are a number en route this year), the company needs to start thinking about the long-term picture instead of simply relying on the Nintendo name alone to garner sustainable good will.
Source: SurveyMonkey
Hello Kitty is the latest addition to ‘Super Mario Maker’
Nintendo has added new characters to its Super Mario Maker before, but this week the title gains another fan favorite. Starting tomorrow evening (May 26th), there will be a new Event Course for players in North America to complete, and doing so will unlock both Hello Kitty and My Melody has playable characters. If you live in Europe or Japan, the two new options will be available the morning of Friday, May 27th.
Hello Kitty’s debut in the game follows the additions of Japanese band Babymetal last month. Earlier in May, Popo and Nana from the classic NES title Ice Climber made their way to the game as well. With the releases coming in such rapid succession, don’t be surprised if we see more new additions in the weeks to come. For now, take a look at Hello Kitty in action in the video that follows.
Via: IGN
Source: Nintendo News
You can play the new ‘Legend of Zelda’ early in New York City
You won’t be left out of the E3 festivities just because you can’t make it to Los Angeles for E3 Live. Nintendo is giving gamers in New York City an opportunity to play The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U between June 14th and June 19th if they’re willing to jump through a few hoops. To start, you’ll have to show up for a “Super-Fan Signup Day” at Nintendo’s New York store on the morning of June 11th to have a chance of playing. If you’re one of the 500 people to make the cut, you’ll have to line up at the store on June 14th to get a wristband and make an appointment for some hands-on time.
Don’t despair if you aren’t part of the privileged few. There will be guided Zelda demos for everyone between June 15th and June 19th, and there are hints that “several fans” may get to participate. You’ll very likely get to see the game first-hand — it’s just a question of whether or not you get your mitts on a controller.
Source: Nintendo (BusinessWire)
‘Pokemon Go’ beta arrives on mobile devices
Pokemon Go, the real-world equivalent to kicking off your own journey to becoming a Pokemon master, is finally available for beta testers in the US as of today.
After opening signups to users earlier this month, beta testers will be chosen and allowed into the program today to begin roaming the world capturing Pokemon, battling other trainers, and making those who weren’t chosen for the field test feel bad.
Along with revealing the field test is commencing today, The Pokemon Company and Niantic have also revealed several new tidbits about Pokemon Go as a whole. There will be more than a hundred different Pokemon to capture out in the wild. When one is near a player out in the wild, there’ll be a notification sent via phone to use the device’s touch screen to throw a Poke Ball, which may be purchased at PokeStops, or real-world monuments, historical locales, or public art installations.
Battling is an important and obvious centerpiece to the game as well, and players can use their captured monsters to assume control of Gyms out in the world. Attacking the Pokemon defending particular Gyms will reduce its Prestige level, and when it’s been taken out completely the player will take control of a Gym. The higher the Gym’s level, the more Pokemon that can be left to defend it. leading to several real-world turf battles that could grow to pretty impressive proportions.
If you signed up to participate in the field test, you should be receiving a notification that you were chosen for the beta. The signup page is still live, however, so if you missed out on doing so before you may want to hurry over and give it a try. You could be strutting around outside the office today catching your very own Pokemon.
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