According to a Hollywood Reporter article, video game giant Nintendo (Pink Sheets: NTDOY) is interested in becoming a player in Tinseltown.
The Japanese company would like to produce some animated films; who could blame the powers that be at Mario headquarters for such a desire? Animation is hot these days, with Shrek and Shark Tale -- both courtesy of DreamWorks Animation, which is slated to go public very soon -- giving Pixar (NASDAQ:PIXR) a lot to think about these days (and that's saying something because Steve Jobs' animation house is no slouch). If Nintendo could get a good pipeline going in this area, it would create a nice new revenue stream.
But the article talked about something even more interesting, in my opinion. Nintendo, you see, has some nifty plans for the next Pokemon film. How about this, kiddies? You bring your new Nintendo DS to the theater and, during specific parts of the movie, you download data coursing wirelessly through the auditorium (exactly how the data is transmitted was not immediately clear)? Does that sound cool or what? Hey, that about sells me on the new portable entertainment device.
Seriously, this kind of interactivity is a value-adding proposition. It is also synergy in its purest form, and I can imagine that the Pokemon/DS project -- if it indeed comes to fruition -- would spur publishers such as Activision and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) to produce games that could be interactive with celluloid projects distributed by Nintendo. I'm sure studios such as Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) and Viacom (NYSE:VIA) will be following the progress of this initiative closely to gauge any opportunities that might be appropriate for their conglomerates; Viacom will indeed watch closely, because Sumner Redstone has a certain predilection for the video game industry, as evidenced by his investment in Midway Games.
This is a forward-thinking, creative approach on the part of Nintendo, and I applaud it; any smart idea to help the company compete with tough nemeses Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony (NYSE:SNE) and their respective consoles (Xbox and PlayStation 2) should be explored to the fullest capacity. I'm not suggesting that people will buy the DS in droves just because a user could conceivably download a new gaming character while at the multiplex, but it is nevertheless a good exploitation of the technological abilities of the machines. The downside risk here is that interactive movies have been tried in the past and never really caught on; what if kids --or even adults-- just want to watch Pokemon and not necessarily fiddle with their Nintendo? That definitely could be the result of the experiment; nevertheless, failure would be justifiable in this case, as there is defendable logic behind the concept.
For recent takes on the video game sector, download:
- Sega vs. EA Sports
- Game On for Take-Two
- New Look at Electronics Boutique
- Spidey Spins Web on DS
- Redstone's Love of the Game
- Ogre and Under
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Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned.
