Happy Sunday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Game Grind, the place on the internet where anything even slightly video game related can be examined, critiqued, and/or praised. I know this segment usually comes out on Saturday, but I was preoccupied with moving back to campus and this article deserves the appropriate amount of time and effort. Today’s post is going to be dedicated to analyzing the recent claims by Nintendo’s new President, Tatsumi Kimishima,in regards to Nintendo’s plans for 2016 and their desire to increase their returns in the next few years. Today I’m going to be looking at the likelihood of Nintendo achieving some of the promises made by it’s president, and how currently existing information compares to and affects the recent press release. Here we go!

The first big piece of information presented in this press conference, which can be partially read in it’s translated format over at IGN, is in regards to the upcoming Nintendo NX (tentative title). It was revealed that the NX is going to be focusing on “entirely new [ideas]” and that further details on the NX will arrive later this year. At this point, the public still has a very limited idea of what the NX is and what it will be capable of. Many are speculating that it will be an entirely new console that will replace the lackluster Wii U and that it will bring back cartridge gaming as computer chips are now able to hold more data than Blu-Ray disks. The timing of when this information is released is going to be very interesting, as I suspect that Nintendo would ideally like the NX to be released during the 2016 season. Only time will tell what exactly the NX is going to bring to the gaming industry and if it will be the bounce back Nintendo is desperately looking for.

Another interesting piece of information that was released is that Nintendo is looking to have their world famous characters branch out of video games and into other mediums such as mobile games and TV anime. Nintendo characters in mobile games is not the newest of information, it has been known for some time that Nintendo’s future business plans are going to focus more on the mobile market, but the unavailing of Nintendo characters receiving an anime is entirely new and has some massive implications. Nintendo has not had much to do with either movies or television, with the long running Pokemon anime series being the only notable exception, since 1990 when numerous poorly received television shows and one notorious movie, The Super Mario Bros., ultimately hurt Nintendo’s brand. If these new animated series are created with even a shred of care and hold true to both the game’s and Nintendo’s core values and philosophies, they very easily could be widely successful.

The last, and intentionally most interesting, piece of information expressed in the press release is that Nintendo is aiming to raise its profits by about $855 million dollars in the next few years. This would be roughly four times the amount that Nintendo made in its previous business year, which was already impressive as in the years prior to last Nintendo had actually been loosing money. When I first read this goal, I was extremely skeptical. However, as I have been mulling it over in my head for the past day or so, it does seem like Nintendo plans to bring it hard for the foreseeable future. I realize now that the bulk of the games I had written about in my Game Grind: 2016 To Do post were going to be released on Nintendo systems. I have also realized that Nintendo has a lot of big events on it’s horizon.

As this year is Pokemon’s twentieth anniversary, numerous events have been planned for that Nintendo property. The card series is being revamped, old games are being released on new the 3DS system, and a limited edition Pokemon New Nintendo 3Ds is going to be released sometime this year. What is probably going to be the biggest cash cow for Nintendo, however, is the Pokemon GO mobile app, which I woefully forgot to mention on my 2016 to do list (please forgive me, lord Arceus!).This mobile Pokemon game will allow people to catch Pokemon in the real world as they go about their daily lives and has been almost exclusively marketed to people my age rather than children. I can only imagine that the announced Pokemon Super Bowl L (yes, L, not 50) commercial is only going to further promote this mobile game in an attempt to rekindle older individuals love of the series and give Nintendo an opportunity to essentially print money.

Nintendo’s NX will also likely help turn things around for the company. Nintendo has a history of innovative consoles backfiring on them. The better forgotten Virtual Boy being a prime example of this. However, their subsequent console release has always made up for their previous losses. The Nintendo 64 followed the Virtual Boy and sold extremely well in addition to revolutionizing the video game industry with the introduction of analog controls. Nintendo definitely seems to be gearing up for some kind of game changer like that again, and I personally hope that the NX does live up to the speculation and hype surrounding it. Nintendo is arguably responsible for video games growing as they are currently and it would be disheartening to see the company that created generations of gamers fall into obscurity.

That just about wraps up the latest information regarding the House of N. If you enjoyed this post or have any questions regarding it, feel free to leave a like or a comment respectively down below. If you would like to stay up to date with this blog you can do so by subscribing in the upper right tab with your email. Alternatively, you can stay informed by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have a great Sunday and be sure to stop back here tomorrow for the next installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday.

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