It seems fairly obvious that Nintendo would have something up its sleeves in regard to mobile devices, but Nintendo is Nintendo and almost never tips its hand early. Besides apps that connect users back to Nintendo's main business and other plans, like a Miiverse app, and its QOL services, the Big "N" hasn't given much clue of what it is doing in that arena. That is...until today.
Nintendo has filed a patent for a device or service that would emulate Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games on smartphones, tablets, computers and even less ordinary places, like the TVs on the back of your airline seats. Here's an excerpt from the patent filing:
"A software emulator for emulating a handheld video game platform such as GAME BOY.RTM., GAME BOY COLOR.RTM. and/or GAME BOY ADVANCE.RTM. on a low-capability target platform (e.g., a seat-back display for airline or train use, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone) uses a number of features and optimizations to provide high quality graphics and sound that nearly duplicates the game playing experience on the native platform. Some exemplary features include use of bit BLITing, graphics character reformatting, modeling of a native platform liquid crystal display controller using a sequential state machine, and selective skipping of frame display updates if the game play falls behind what would occur on the native platform."
Whether anything will come of this patent remains to be seen, though I have a hunch that Nintendo offering its classic games on mobile platforms could turn out to be a massive long-term advantage for their brand. Thanks to TechCrunch for the heads up.
Stay tuned to HNGN for more on this patent as it develops.
