The company wants to introduce a new set of health focused concepts

Jul 8, 2014 23:15 GMT  ·  By

Nintendo has been the loser of the next-gen console sales war up until now, and it seems that the company does not have long-term plans to boost the Wii U by itself, but wants to create a new framework which will include hardware and other initiatives in order to compete with the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the veteran game developer working for the company, has told investors in the company during a Questions & Answers session that “some may think it is fair to compete with others on the same hardware platform, but it is always challenging to become the one strong existence among so many companies, and to Nintendo, it is more advantageous to create and propose to consumers a brand new framework that includes hardware as part of the structure. We would like to continuously develop something unique by not abandoning this strength of our company.”

His statement is a little vague, but it does seem to suggest that Nintendo will not try to make the Wii U equal in terms of sales with next-gen devices from Sony and Microsoft.

The console has sold a much smaller number of devices than the company initially expected, but it has seen a boost from the launch of Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros. is expected to have an even bigger impact later in the year.

Miyamoto is probably referring to the new hardware-based Amiibo initiative, which will offer gamers a chance to pick up special figurines modelled after a range of Nintendo-created characters, with Mario leading the charge.

The toys will be able to connect to a variety of games, giving the players more abilities and a chance to compete with their friends, but they can also gain experience and evolve over time, based on the choices they make.

This means they will be more evolved that the current toy-based gameplay offered by Skylanders from Activision and by Disney Infinity.

Nintendo has previously said that it is also working on a new health-based initiative, which might be linked to the Wii U and will include new hardware.

The company has not yet offered too many details about the concept, but it might open up the video game market to a whole new group of users.

The Wii U and the 3DS might also get more integrated in the future, possibly using the model that Sony has used for the PlayStation 4 and the Vita.