One of the more unique elements of Nintendo’s E3 digital event was their introduction of the long rumoured and occasionally shown toy project which has now been officially titled as ‘Amiibo’. Nintendo of America president Regie Fils-Aime briefly gave viewers a look at the ideas behind ‘Amiibo’ and how these will directly influence the games you’ll be playing.
In the presentation Fils-Aime showed a unique Mario action figure that can be brought into the games you’re playing by placing them on the Wii U Gamepad. Each figure contains a unique microchip that when registered by the Gamepad allows the character to be downloaded into the current game. More interestingly however is that the chip works both ways allowing data to be uploaded and stored on the figure so that it can be taken elsewhere. Check out the video below for a more in depth look at ‘Amiibo’ from Nintendo of America’s Bill Trinen.
As pointed out by Fils-Aime in the E3 presentation this opens players up to a wealth of new experiences by allowing you to develop your own character in a game and maintain those stats to take with you captured on your figure to take to friends. Several examples of the figures in use was shown, including a brief gameplay demo of Super Smash Bros with a Mario character being scanned into the game to provide the player with some additional support. Currently Nintendo have revealed that the ‘Amiibo’ figures will work with Super Smash Bros on Wii U and the recently released Mario Kart 8 with many more games coming soon expected to incorporate the technology.
What do you think of Nintendo’s ‘Amiibo’ toy project, is it an exciting new way of innovating with the Gamepad or is Nintendo simply seeing the success of titles such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity and feeling that it wants a piece? Granted though in comparison to these obvious influences, Nintendo’s commitment to apply the concept across multiple games whilst retaining your own characters development could prove to be a winning combination for innovation.
