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Nintendo's first smartphone release is a free-to-play game called Miitomo

Nintendo's first smartphone release is a free-to-play game called Miitomo

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But it's delayed until next year

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At an investors meeting in Tokyo today, Nintendo revealed some details on its very first smartphone game: a free-to-play title called Miitomo. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the new game will let players customize their Mii avatars, which will then communicate with Miis made by other players. It's not clear how the game will actually play, but it will have a heavy emphasis on social interaction and looks similar to the 3DS life sim Tomodachi Life. Miitomo will be free to download with character add-ons available as in-app purchases.

However, while Nintendo originally planned to release its first smartphone game by the end of this year, it's now been delayed until next March. The company plans to release four additional titles by March 2017. According to new Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima, who succeeded the late Satoru Iwata, the game was delayed in order to better promote it. The company plans to start promoting Miitomo after the busy holiday season.

The meeting also provided a few other details about Nintendo's new mobile initiative, most notably the fact that the company will use a cloud transfer system to share data between mobile and console games. And while Miitomo will be a free download, other releases will be traditional paid games.

Nintendo first announced its plan to get into mobile gaming in March, and the five games will be created in collaboration with Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA. Outside of that partnership, Nintendo also recently announced a new augmented reality mobile title called Pokemon Go, built in conjunction with The Pokemon Company and former Google subsidiary Niantic Labs.

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