Nintendo Co yesterday rolled out its first smartphone game after years of refusing to stray from a consoles-only policy as it tries to better compete with rivals.
The Japanese company has struggled as Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp outpaced it in console sales, while the three companies are also fighting off a trend toward cheap — even free — downloadable games for smartphones and other mobile devices.
Kyoto-based Nintendo said that free-to-play Miitomo allows players to create their own “Mii” avatars, customize their outfit through in-app purchases and interact with characters created by other people or friends.
Mii avatars also ask questions to players such as “What did you do on the weekend?” and “What is your favorite food?” with the answers shared with other characters.
The release of the smartphone game “is another step forward” for Nintendo to increase the number of people who play games, a spokesperson said.
The game was only released in Japan initially, but is to be rolled out in 15 other countries, including the US and France, in eight languages this month, he said.
Separately, Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) wants to use virtual reality to enhance the shopping experience for its 400 million users and has set up a lab to research a technology it expects to become as common as television.
The company is exploring how virtual reality technology can be applied to its other services, including online games and video streaming, Alibaba said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Alibaba is revealing for the first time its foray into the emerging virtual reality market, which included leading a round of fundraising for US-based Magic Leap Inc.
The virtual reality and augmented reality hardware industry is expected to reach US$110 billion by 2025, Alibaba cited Goldman Sachs Group Inc research as saying.
Alibaba is to work on creating music and video to help promote virtual reality hardware manufacturers on its e-commerce platforms, it said.
The company has already created three-dimensional visuals for hundreds of products and is to issue standards for merchants to create virtual reality-enabled shopping options.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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