Nintendo Battles Smartphones With Hulu, 3D
Nintendo continues its defense of a deteriorating position in handheld game consoles by bringing Hulu and new 3D media capabilities to its 3DS game unit. The company announced on demand paid TV service Hulu Plus will be available on the 3DS by the end of the year.
The $7.99/month premium app will also come to the Wii console and will stream the thousands of archived TV episodes and next-day show access, a Hulu specialty. The 3DS already has Netflix available on deck.
With its dominant position in the world of dedicated handhelds, Nintendo has had the most to lose as smartphones steadily eroded the market for portable gaming. While the company reported recently that it has sold 50 million units of its popular DS consoles, the latest iteration of the series, the 3DS, has been a disappointment.
Nintendo cut back pricing on the unit earlier this year, but the 3D capabilities of the new version have not had enough appeal to beat back the juggernaut that is app-based smartphone gaming.
Struggling to differentiate itself from the smartphones that bring as much processing power to the mobile gaming market as handhelds, Nintendo is continuing to go all-in for the 3D value add. An update to the console’s operating system by the end of November will enhance the 3DS functionality.
Users will be able to record up to 10 minutes of 3D video on the multi-camera device and can make stop action films, as well. The company is also pumping up its downloadable video library with 3D fare, such as a Shrek character “Thriller” video and 3D music videos.
Nintendo is feeling the smartphone pinch from all sides. This summer investors in the company urged the game maker to start developing titles for smartphones. The company has taken a hard line stand against migrating its famous Mario, Zelda and Yoshi franchises to third-party hardware. Traditionally, Nintendo’s view has been that software drives hardware sales and loyalty. To separate the two is to risk a fatal decline for a company that virtually built the original home video game market.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
New Stanford Initiative Helps Browser Developers Refine Cookie-Blocking June 19, 7:35 p.m.
Privacy advocates at Stanford on Tuesday unveiled a new initiative that could pave the way for ... -
Facebook Aims To Simplify Page Analytics June 19, 5:52 p.m.
In its latest step to simplify advertising and marketing on Facebook, the company on Wednesday announced ... -
Powley Tapped As iCrossing CEO June 19, 5:32 p.m.
Catching agency watchers off guard, Don Scales is stepping down as CEO of iCrossing, effective immediately.Stepping ... -
Twitter Gets Social With Viacom June 19, 5:21 p.m.
Twitter took another step Wednesday toward supporting television. The social-media company signed a partnership with Viacom ... -
Digital, Alternative Media Revs Forecast To Hit $436B By 2017 June 19, 3:01 p.m.
Various types of mobile marketing and advertising accounted for nine of the top 10 fastest-growing digital ... -
Acquisitions Flourish, Google To Seek Equity Firm To Further Deals June 19, 1:24 p.m.
Google is considering alliances with private-equity firms to help structure acquisition deals, but the tech company ... -
Millennial Expands Video Ad Options June 19, 11:44 a.m.
Mobile ad network Millennial Media is stepping up its video ad offerings with the launch of ... -
CIMM Issues Request For Data, Cross-Platform Metrics June 19, 9:29 a.m.
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) said it has issued a request for proposals involving ... -
Heads Or Tails: Facebook Grows A Long One, Surpasses 1 Million Advertisers June 19, 7:48 a.m.
Facebook has reached an important ad industry milestone, becoming one of the few mega platforms to ... -
Consumer Action: Most Web Users Want Control Over Tracking June 18, 8:20 p.m.
Most Web users have expectations about privacy that appear to be at odds with current practices ...
Be the first to comment on "Nintendo Battles Smartphones With Hulu, 3D "
Leave a Comment