Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes has been a pretty big success thus far according to company president Tatsumi Kimishima. Though only the third mobile app from the developer, it’s earned $5 million in revenue since launching on February 2nd.

Speaking to Time, Kimishima said that, “We’re experimenting with different types of monetization. As a result of these experiments with monetization styles, we’re gaining what you might call confidence in our mobile business efforts.”

The conversation rate for Super Mario Run was also noted as “somewhere north of halfway” of the company’s goal for 10 percent of 78 million downloads to date. Miitomo has also seen success with 18 million downloads (though revenue wasn’t revealed.

Nintendo is currently focused on bringing non-console players towards its IP while also boosting popularity for its characters (as the success of Pokemon GO did for Pokemon Sun & Moon along with older titles). Kimishima also said that the company wants “mobile to be a pillar in and of itself – a business pillar that is profitable.”

What are your thoughts on the success of Fire Emblem Heroes? Let us know in the comments.

Nintendo products have always tended to be family-friendly and with the Nintendo Switch, parents will have the ability to control how much their kids play in a day. Yes, we are the monsters now as the new trailer helpfully indicates by portraying adults as Bowser.

As an app on one’s smartphone, Nintendo Switch Parental Controls allows parents to set playtime for their kids. Those playing the console will be informed when their time is up and if they go over the time limit, it’s possible to remotely put the Switch to sleep. You can also restrict online communication, view most played games for different days and much more.

Honestly, it’s stuff like this that really makes you glad to have grown up in the 90s/2000s. Can you imagine your console being remotely shut down during an important race?

The Nintendo Switch is out on March 3rd worldwide. What are your thoughts on the Parental Controls app? Let us know in the comments.

Niantic released some new figures for Pokemon GO, it’s breakout mobile release that’s still ticking thanks to new Pokemon and a recent Holiday event. The developer noted that as a whole, players have walked more than 8.7 billion kilometers, which is up from 4.7 billion kilometers in September.

That’s more than 200,000 trips around our very planet and even a commercial airplane would take more than 1,000 years to travel that far. A grand total of 88 billion Pokemon have also been caught with players averaging some 533 million Pokemon captures every single day.

Pokemon GO will be receiving more updates in the coming months with even more new Pokemon to be added to the game. Despite the craze being nowhere near what it was at launch, Pokemon GO continues to perform well. We’ll see how that works out in 2017 but it seems Pokemon GO will be staying in the spotlight for the foreseeable future.

What are your thoughts on Pokemon GO’s success? Let us know in the comments.

While it may not be nearly as manically popular as at launch, The Pokémon Company and Niantic announced that Pokemon GO has managed to cross 500 million downloads worldwide since first releasing in July.

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, stated that, “The phenomenal success of Pokémon GO during the brand’s 20-year celebration is an incredible reminder of how many people around the world love Pokémon. The team at Niantic developed a unique experience that merges their expertise in cutting-edge location-based technologies with the beloved characters and classic gameplay of Pokémon. This ideal match of the right brand and the right technology has resonated with hundreds of millions of existing and new fans around the world.”

The next step for the game is integration with Apple Watch as Niantic unveiled details of the same during Apple’s reveal event for the iPhone 7. John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, said, “The globally loved Pokémon brand paired with Niantic’s platform and game design that encourages exploration, exercise and making real world social connections has inspired millions of people of all ages to go outdoors together.

“We are encouraged by the fast adoption of the game and are pleased to see so many people walk and play every day. Pokémon GO for Apple Watch will be another way people can incorporate the game into their daily lives, even more seamlessly.”

Thoughts on Pokemon GO’s success? Let us know in the comments.

Whether you love it or hate it, Niantic’s Pokemon GO is a massive success. Speaking to Game Informer, Niantic CEO John Hanke said that it has similar projects in the pipeline. He also expects other developers to follow suit and offer new kinds of gameplay using augmented reality and location tools.

“[T]hat’s always been our strategy to build up a platform underneath a game that can be used for other games, and frankly other experiences that may not exactly be games, but are still within that area of exercise, discovery, and social interaction. The Niantic platform is very much a part of our long-term vision and we have some projects that are in the early stages now that will be built on top of it so you can definitely expect to see that from us in the future.”

As for other competitors that could pop up (Sony recently announced plans to aggressively pursue mobile development), Hanke said, “I think it’s healthy. There is definitely room for multiple successful games in the category. I think it is a really fresh area for game designers, developers, and publishers to explore with new kinds of gameplay. It’s an area where there can still be a ton of innovation.

“It’s a positive step for everyone to bring games out into the real word and give people the motivation, the excuse, to get out, get some exercise, see new places, and hopefully have good healthy interactions with other human beings.”

Thoughts on more such projects like Pokemon GO? Let us know in the comments.

Niantic’s Pokemon GO has been an unprecedented success for Nintendo and Niantic since its release but it’s had its share of issues. During a recent Pokemon GO panel at San Diego Comic Con, Niantic chief executive John Hanke took the opportunity to discuss upcoming features and some that were under consideration.

Of course, he also revealed the three leaders for the game’s teams. Check out Candela of Team Valor, Blanche of Team Mystic and Spark of Team Instinct above.

Hanke also talked about the future of trading. For the time being, servers for the game need to stabilize before trading can be introduced. Another interesting feature, that isn’t confirmed but under consideration, is Pokemon Centers. These are used in the Pokemon universe for storing your Pokemon and healing them as necessary. How would they work in Pokemon GO? That’s probably part of the consideration process.

What are your thoughts on Pokemon GO all these weeks later? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more information.

Nintendo’s Pokemon Go, a smartphone version of Pokemon which inspires you to check your surroundings via location data for those delightful little monsters, has proceeded to soft-launch around the world. Not every region officially has it yet but thus far, Australia, New Zealand, sections in Japan and the United States are getting their hands on the same.

The basic gist of the game is to go outside and keep checking the app regularly to rank up. Joining a team will further improve your standing after you hit level 5 so it’s well advise. As Nintendo’s first step towards mobile gaming, Pokemon Go could be a major success. We’ll have to wait and see how it pans out and whether its concept can appeal to its rabid fanbase.

You can find Pokemon Go available on Google Play and the App Store if it’s gone live for you. Let us know what you think of Pokemon Go in the comments below.

Nintendo’s My Nintendo program for the Nintendo Network – which simultaneously acts as a replacement for Club Nintendo and the Digital Deluxe Pro programs, while also giving Nintendo a program analogous to PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold – will be launching this March, Nintendo has confirmed.

Nintendo also confirmed multiple details on the new system- your previous Nintendo Network accounts transfer over to the new program automatically, for example. My Nintendo will be used with all Nintendo services, including Nintendo eShop, Miiverse, Nintendo’s smartphone games, as well as on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. My Nintendo will have two tiers: Gold and Platinum. Gold will function similarly to Club Nintendo, where you earn points that you can trade in against games and software to earn discounts (for instance, having 100 Gold coins may get your $10 off on Xenoblade Chronicles X), while Platinum coins are given out for engaging with Nintendo’s services.

Nintendo confirmed that the My Nintendo service will also eventually include universal friends management, social features, and cloud functionality, so it looks like Nintendo are going all in on this. It is set to launch in 39 different countries in March. It will be available on the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PCs, smartphones, and any future systems Nintendo launches, such as the NX.

We already know that Nintendo is getting into the mobile gaming business along with DeNA and that the NX is a part of that plan but news of the first game in this line-up is coming soon.

According to DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako at the GamesBeat 2015 conference (via VentureBeat), “Soon, we should be able to announce the game.”

It was already announced that the first game would be announced before 2015 concluded so this is hardly a surprise. This will be the first of five new smartphone/tablet games to be announced between now and March 2017 so it should be interesting to see which franchise Nintendo places front and centre, especially considering Japanese industry analyst Serkan Toto’s recent tweet.

“About that first Nintendo-DeNA mobile game: Expect the unexpected, and soon.”

A hybrid between Mario and Fallout Shelter? We’ll find out in the coming days so stay tuned for more information and let us know what you want to see in the comments.

GamingBolt spoke to Teemu Mäki-Patola, COO at Frogmind, about this, including what new players can look forward to in the Game of the Year Edition of Badland and the company’s stance on the console wars, among other things.

"Bringing a game from tablets to consoles is difficult even if it would suit well for that. There is a certain stigma to it. It’s much more okay to do the other way around, even if the game would be totally the same on all platforms."

Rashid K. Sayed: Badland has a very interesting timeline. It was critically acclaimed when it released on mobiles two years ago and is now available for various consoles. What motivated the desire to bring the franchise to PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Windows 8, etc.?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: When BADLAND was initially released in 2013 on iPad, our goal was to create a console-quality game for tablets. Frogmind was just a team of two at the time, without the resources to enter the console market, but we always dreamed of bringing BADLAND also to consoles and Steam. Our backgrounds are indeed in making console games. Thanks to the game’s success on tablets we could fulfill the dream, gain new experience and reach new audience. We felt strongly that it would make for a great game on those platforms. Of course we needed e.g. to redesign the controls and do some changes to get there. Playing the game on PS4 or Xbox One from a big TV in Full-HD and with four players at 60 frames per second, we are happy with the end result and feel that the new version offers good value. But yeah, I do wish we were faster in bringing it over. The development took over a year of work even after all business and platform holder stuff was in order. But taking in 8 new platforms is plenty of work.

Rashid K. Sayed: For those who haven’t played Badland on mobiles, could you explain all the content included in the Game of the Year Edition?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: The GOTY Edition has 100 single player levels, 100 co-op levels (for up-to-four player local multiplayer) and 27 multiplayer versus levels where the players compete against each other. Both the single player and co-op campaigns usually take about 10 to 15 hours to play through. The game has large-scale trophies (1000 points) on the PlayStation platforms and 77 achievements on Xbox One & Steam. The PS versions support cross-buy (get the game for all PS4, PSVita & PS3 with a single purchase) and cross-save (syncs your progress between different PS devices – e.g. PS4 & Vita). The controls have been expanded to support full 2D movement (controlled with the analog stick). And all the levels have been modified for the new control scheme.

Rashid K. Sayed: The gameplay for Badland provides a mix of subtle story-telling and puzzle solving that demands both quick thinking and reactions from the player. How did you feel this would be received on consoles?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: Bringing a game from tablets to consoles is difficult even if it would suit well for that. There is a certain stigma to it. It’s much more okay to do the other way around, even if the game would be totally the same on all platforms. Playing the console version during development, we felt strongly that the game is really good on consoles. If you would play it without knowing anything of the background, you would not think that it’s coming from mobile. It doesn’t look or feel mobile. It feels like a good indie game and at home on the consoles. So based on the game, we expected it to be received well. Based on the genre of the game, we expected it not to be for everyone on consoles but aim to a specific audience that likes indie games, beautiful 2D graphics and puzzle adventures.

Rashid K. Sayed: The art design is also intriguing, especially with what’s happening in the background as well as the silhouetted foreground. How were the visuals enhanced for the transition to consoles and other platforms?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: There are more visual effects such as shaders, tweaks on level elements and assets and setting aspect ratios and safe zones to work on all console & Steam variations. But overall, the original hand painted art style works really well from a large screen. You notice much more details from the assets.

"The biggest difficulty was to make the game suit for natural console controls. We knew it could not be a one-button game. Once we changed the gameplay to controlling the 2D movement with the analog stick, all the timing based puzzles broke."

Rashid K. Sayed: The difficulty of the game has been talked about quite a lot. Was it always meant to be this challenging?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: Kind of was but we don’t feel its too challenging. We felt that some amount of challenge suits well for the console & Steam users. Many of user reviews say that the difficult parts can be frustrating but also that the satisfaction in conquering them is definitely bigger when there is some challenge.

Rashid K. Sayed: What are your thoughts on concerns of Badland being more suited to mobiles than consoles because of the nature of its segmented stages and gameplay?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: On consoles & Steam it is less for everyone than on mobile just for being a 2D-art indie puzzle adventure and not a giant AAA FPS production. But e.g. the level based gameplay suits the console platforms equally well. Our levels were always a bit long for mobile. Many of them take between 5 to 15 minutes to play through. The one button gameplay was a clear concern and that’s why it was changed to more expressive free movement.

Rashid K. Sayed: How difficult was it to translate the gameplay from mobiles to consoles? Did you experience any challenges in porting the control scheme from touch screens to controllers?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: The biggest difficulty was to make the game suit for natural console controls. We knew it could not be a one-button game. Once we changed the gameplay to controlling the 2D movement with the analog stick, all the timing based puzzles broke. So we needed to change the levels quite heavily to match the new freedom of movement. It wasn’t so much of a challenge but just something that needed to be done and required work. And to be honest, the hundreds of technical requirements require work too. Super happy that we had Blitworks and Frozenbyte guys helping us.

Rashid K. Sayed: Of the current gen consoles available, namely the PS4 and Xbox One, which has impressed you the most and why?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: We are not too eager to enter the console wars. We try to keep our focus in the games and less in the platforms. From our perspective, both PS4 & XB1 suited our game equally well. Both are definitely powerful enough.

Rashid K. Sayed: Furthermore, what is your take on the differences between the two consoles?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: Our take is pretty minimal for that. We are not pushing the limits of shaders, effects or polygon output and thus don’t depend on whatever small differences the platforms might have in regards to those.

"Consoles and mobile are getting closer to each other in respect to the power to express. There will be lots of games that can work on all of those platforms as long as the audiences wants that to happen."

Rashid K. Sayed: Badland: Game of the Year Edition on Wii U has somewhat of a delayed release compared to other platforms. Are you using the console’s Gamepad for some additional functionality?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: We struggled some in the beginning of the Wii U development and that started slower than development on the other consoles. The Gamepad naturally supports touch screen playing and playing even without the TV. But other than that, the Wii U version is very close to the others, also by with being 1080p at 60fps. But there has been a bit more iteration on the technical requirements and the testing & approval process is longer as well.

Rashid K. Sayed: What’s next after Badland and will it come to mobiles first or release on multiple platforms simultaneously?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: Our main focus is still on mobile with lots of cool stuff in development. You will see some already after the summer. We are working on multiple projects. Releasing them on other platforms will be considered later.

Rashid K. Sayed: What is your take on the differences between the indie policies of both Sony and Microsoft?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: Both have supported our project well. Microsoft maybe makes more of a statement of supporting the indie side with the ID- program.

Rashid K. Sayed: What is your take on the resolution and frame rate debate that seems to be all the rage on console games these days?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: It’s natural but pretty hardcore. Our approach to games focuses on other things than pushing the maximum amount of polygons per second. The games that are pushing that limit are great to look at but also require 100 man teams to work on them and their content. Of course they tend to be the hardware sellers as well.

They are one side of the industry and then there are lots and lots of awesome experiences you can create by focusing on other factors. We believe to convergence in the platforms: the iPad is already a rather powerful device. So are the best Android tablets. Consoles and mobile are getting closer to each other in respect to the power to express. There will be lots of games that can work on all of those platforms as long as the audiences wants that to happen. We care more about games and gameplay than about inventing standards by which specific platforms can be better than others.

Rashid K. Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us about the game before we let you go?

Teemu Mäki-Patola: The local multiplayer & co-op are a lot of fun, so definitely try those if you have a chance.