Nintendo’s new “amiibo” toys come to life in compatible Wii U games when the toy is placed on the console’s game pad. Credit: Nintendo
Good Wednesday morning.
What you need to know: Taking a cue from successful ‘toy-meets-video game’ franchises “Skylanders” and “Disney Infinity,” Nintendo announced a new line of toys called amiibo that work in tandem with their struggling Wii U system yesterday.
You can find TechToday each weekday morning right here, at today.drewrapp.com.
E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is going on all week in Los Angeles. On Monday, Microsoft and Sony demoed a slew of new games for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Yesterday was Nintendo’s turn.
Once synonymous with the gold standard in video games, Nintendo has seen sales plummet in recent years. Their latest console, the Wii U, has failed to “wow” gamers the way previous game systems did, perhaps due to a lack of exciting content or the clunky “game pad” controller that comes with it.
In yesterday’s pre-recorded video address (Nintendo opted to skip hosting a live press conference), the Japanese company doubled down on the Wii U: announcing a number of games in development, and showing off new toys that might make the game pad more interesting.
First up, games. Nintendo began their address with an in-depth look at the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game, which is coming to Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS later this year.
The new game will allow games to fight against their favorite Nintendo characters as their own personal avatars (known as Miis.)
A new Legend of Zelda title was also shown off, as were new Pokémon, Mario, Yoshi and even (the universally loved but often overlooked character) Toad games.
Then came the biggest announcement from Nintendo yesterday — something completely new: amiibo. The company unveiled new toy models of popular characters called amiibos, which use NFC chips to pair with the Wii U’s game pad controller.
When the amiibo toys are placed on the game pad, virtual versions come to life in supported games (including the upcoming Super Smash Bros.) It’s a concept we’ve seen before in other games, such as Skylanders and Disney Inifinity.
But since Nintendo’s amiibos will work with a variety of different games, they could potentially be more interesting and successful than other toys which are tied to just one title.
Take a look at the amiibo trailer:
You can also watch Nintendo’s entire announcement here:
This Story on Twitter
—–
Thanks for starting your day with TechToday.
What would you like to see here tomorrow morning? Let me know by leaving a comment, or by reaching out to me on Twitter @DrewRapp
TechToday 