Shortly after rival Sony announced its social networking/virtual world concept for its new online PlayStation service, Nintendo Corp. detailed plans to move its "Mii" concept forward for its game
console, Wii, with similar features. Analysts are bullish on Nintendo's new social- networking idea, which would include chat, popularity contests and other community events, in addition to player
avatars (or Mii's") representing them in games. To keep gamers around, the community would also feature news and weather reports and photo-sharing.
Gaming analyst Richard Doherty says
the move is a smart one by Nintendo. Within a year, the Wii may be the most successful and valuable social-networking community on the Web.
Why? For one thing, Nintendo, with its
cutesy characters and politically-correct sensibility (for the most part), attracts a younger audience and plays far better with parents than its more grown-up rivals: PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.
As such, Nintendo's younger user base could be more likely to engage in social-networking gaming features than its rivals' audience, which skews older. The game maker is also opening the virtual
world's doors to third-party developers to help create a rich, open environment that's constantly updated.
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