Wii U and NFC: What I Think Nintendo Will and Probably Should do With It

One of the most recent developments about Nintendo's next home console, the Wii U, is that its controversial tablet-like controller has support for a technology called NFC, or Near Field Communication. Here I am going to write about what I think Nintendo will do, and maybe some stuff they should do to use the technology to its fullest. But what is NFC, and how can it be used in a video game console?

Freakin' NFC, how does it work?

The Wikipedia article for NFC states that it was designed for use in smartphones, and that it requires touching or "close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters" for it to work. Its standards are based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, which as been used in credit/debit cards for quick transactions, such as Master Card's PayPass (which will itself soon have NFC support for smartphones). The difference is RFID is only one-way communication, while NFC chips can be rewritten by the user, even though they aren't powered.

These are some NFC chips manufactured by Samsung

How can this be used in video games? The answer to that is it already has. One of last Christmas' most popular games used it. The game was Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. Well, it actually used RFID chips in the figures, but you get the idea. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Skylanders is based around the concept that you can play this action platformer with a vast array of characters to choose from, 37 to be exact, but in order to play as a certain character, you must have the action figure that represents said character. Needless to say, it was bigger hit with kids than its publisher Activision could have ever expected, with figure shortages aplenty. This comes to my first prediction.

Skylanders became a huge suprise hit last Christmas

Activision has already announced a sequel to Skylanders, which has been tentatively titled as Skylanders Giants. All of the figures released for the original are said to be fully compatible with Giants. What's this mean for the Wii U? Well, since the new Skylanders will be on all major consoles, and the Wii U is coming out sometime this year (at least after E3), I think it'll have a version of it. But I think it will be unique. Unique in the fact that the Wii U controller could be used in place of the "Portal of Power" device used by all current versions of Skylanders. I can see advertisements now. "The controller is your Portal of Power!" The Wii U version of Skylanders Giants would be priced lower than the competing versions, thus giving the Wii U a great edge for the Christmas Season. All of this brought to you by NFC (and its basis in RFID).

No need for some bulky device to play as Spyro on the Wii U!

What else is possible? Well, I think a big reason Nintendo implemented NFC was for their big kid-friendly franchise, Pokémon. There are plenty of ways for Nintendo to use NFC with Pokémon. One that many has suggested is basically making an action figure-based game like Skylanders. In order to catch them all, you gotta buy them all. It'd probably be more of an RPG like Pokémon Colosseum than an action platformer. But if you think that would be too expensive/too much of a copy of Skylanders, then there is another option. It's called the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Nintendo could put NFC chips into Pokémon cards and kids could use them to get bonuses/new characters in this theoretical Wii U game.

Gotta scan them all!

What other ways could Nintendo implement NFC? Well, Satoru Iwata has already blatanly mentioned micropayments. Gone will be the days when you have to type in that Points Card to get the latest downloadable (or in the case of the new Nintendo Network, full retail) games. All you have to do is put that card close to the controller, and you're good to go. And another big idea that has been suggested is having cards/figures that give you the right to download a game or DLC. It'd be perfect for those who don't like making online purchases, especially parents who wouldn't let their kids use their credit card. Another mentioned usage is having your credit card data saved on a NFC-enabled smartphone, and you can use that for purchases. It'd be safer than having Nintendo keep your credit card number, and it would still be quick and easy.

The increasing number of smartphones with NFC support can only help Nintendo

There's plenty of ways Nintendo could use NFC technology in the Wii U, and many more possibilities I haven't mentioned. If you can think of something unique that Nintendo or third parties can do with this, feel free to comment about it below. Since I finally found a non-frustrating way to make posts on my tablet, you can expect more frequent posts. I'm thinking of having this kind of opinion post every weekend, so look forward to it!