Imagine walking into a classroom, an art museum, or a mall and switching on your gaming console to take a test, learn more about a Picasso painting, or find a shop that sells sneakers. It's not such a far-fetched idea. Nintendo's (7974.T) top video game creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, is now exploring ways of turning the company's hit portable DS gaming console into a gizmo that can act as a guide, map, reference book, and coupon dispenser. "We're putting as much energy into building such a system as we would for any game," Miyamoto told reporters in Tokyo on Apr. 9. "We have received a lot of requests."
This week, Nintendo began selling an updated version of its best-selling portable DS in North America and Europe. The new DSi, which went on sale in Japan last November, features the same two-screen layout as earlier versions but the machine is thinner and comes with a built-in camera and music player. The idea of remaking the DS into an all-purpose gizmo is enticing: It could help Nintendo add to the nearly 100 million DS units sold globally since the machine's first version launched in 2004. And Nintendo's target audience of casual gamers, who don't typically spend a lot on new games, would have more reason to carry around their DS.
Nintendo isn't the first gaming company to try location-specific services. Sony (SNE) has used its PlayStation Portable in Japan to hold contests at museums, offer maps at festivals, and even double as patient charts at hospitals. But those have mainly been short-lived marketing campaigns. Nintendo's DSi lets users access an online store to download games and other items onto a removable memory card—similar to the way Apple's (APPL) App Store offers free and low-cost games and other software—so it's not a big technological leap.
No Monthly Fee
The company didn't provide many details about the services rollout. Nintendo has said it has no plans to make the DS into a phone-like device that requires users to pay a monthly subscription fee. Miyamoto said his crew is developing easy-to-use tools for institutions to come up with services, and that later this month a Kyoto museum will begin beaming information to visitors carrying a DS. "What's important is that you can access these services without having to carry around software cartridges," said Miyamoto, who is a senior managing director at the Kyoto company.
You wouldn't want to bet against Miyamoto. The creator of Mario Brothers, he is one of the industry's most renowned video game designers and the brains behind many of Nintendo's best-selling games, including Nintendogs and Super Mario Galaxy. But persuading analysts about the merits of adding services to the DS won't be easy.
After more than two years of big sales gains, Nintendo's Wii living-room console appears to be losing steam in Japan. That's a worry because Nintendo's home market tends to be a leading indicator for global video game sales. Nintendo's Wii console has outsold Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 worldwide. While Wii sales gained in North America and Europe in the three fiscal quarters through December, they dropped 37% in Japan. And in March, Sony's PS3 outsold the Wii for the first time in 16 months, according to Tokyo market researcher Enterbrain. "It's a fact that Wii sales aren't strong in Japan," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters