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Super Mario Run Is Now Available (independent.co.uk) 70

Nintendo's first smartphone game "Super Mario Run" is now available in the App Store across the world. The game follows the success of Pokemon Go, which launched earlier this year. Nintendo owns a third of the Pokemon Company, but the game itself was developed by Niantic. The Independent reports: But just like Pokemon Go, the game requires that anyone playing it has a connection to the internet. That's intended as a way of stopping pirates getting around the game's relatively expensive $10 price -- not required to download the game, but to unlock it -- but has already drawn some complaints. In the case of Pokemon Go, which also required that people were online, the huge popularity of the game meant that its servers regularly crashed and were sometimes intentionally taken offline. That in turn meant that the game was impossible to play for large amounts of time, since it required that same connection, as Super Mario Run will. The restriction will also mean that fans won't be able to play the game underground or on flights, or anywhere else with restricted Wi-Fi. But for the most part, the game has been hailed as a signal that Nintendo are finally bringing their nostalgia-inducing characters to a broader range of platforms and consoles. The company unveiled the game at the launch event for the iPhone 7, drawing praise for having liberated Mario and his friends and enemies from Nintendo's own consoles for the first time. You can download Super Mario Run here.
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Super Mario Run Is Now Available

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Then do YOUR part. Turn in pirates to the local constabulary. Administer some rough street justice. Women, withhold sex. Help Nintendo, they will help you.

    • ,,,then just download roms and rom hacks and play those.
    • I tried to turn in some Somali pirates, but it didn't help copyright infringement any. Do you have any hints as to how turning pirates in will lead to less copyright infringement?

  • Does Slashdot get a cut for anyone foolish enough to want to play this crap who follows the direct link. This should appear as a brown paid advertisement, except that the editors were stupid enough to post it without even getting a cut.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      How does it feel to finally be old enough to be completely dead inside?

      • by Anonymous Coward

        I dunno. Better than being naive enough to think shit like that doesn't happen the majority of the time? Experience and a bit of cynicism doesn't make you "dead inside" but being gullible and stupid can possibly result in being dead inside and out.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Jesus christ, $10 for one of those retarded 'endless runner' games? (which only exist because shitty touchscreen controls make even NES-caliber phone platformers impossible)

    Also why are we mentioning this in the same breath as pokemon go? I hate the very concept of PG with a passion, but no one can say it wasn't innovative.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday December 15, 2016 @09:08PM (#53494763)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by gnick ( 1211984 )

      I hate the very concept of PG with a passion, but no one can say it wasn't innovative.

      And successful. It seems to have been a flash-in-the-pan, but it was a HUGE flash. Plus it introduced a lot of people to the idea of augmented reality which, many predict, will become nearly ever-present in every day life. At least, that's what the sci-fi movies tell me.

      Riding the coat tails of PG's success has to be the source behind the gigantic balls it takes to charge $10 for a phone game.

  • I'd honestly rather go back to one of the many Mario titles I missed over the years or pick up one of the Virtual Console full Mario games for about $5-$8 instead.

    Sure it looks good for a typical autorun game but that's not a very high bar, and the genre is already driven into the ground.

    • I agree. I wasn't really impressed with it at all. :/ It has a great nostalgia factor, but I won't be spending my money on it. Like you said, just pull out one of your old consoles, and play the real deal. I'm still left with some mixed feelings from it - http://thepollyanna.com/super-... [thepollyanna.com]
  • Problem is... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    this is just adding DRM to see if people will accept it. It will then be used a a metric to gauge that all other games should require constant communication to prevent piracy.
    Pokemon Go at least tried to have an excuse for why online connectivity was required.

    • You have to look back at Nintendo's history of DRM and control over their platform and software. Arguably one of the things that made the NES a success was Nintendo's DRM implementation at a time when it was literally shiny and new. In fact you can argue that Nintendo defined DRM, at least outside of general computing devices / home computers. One of the mistakes Atari made with the 2600 (which probably couldn't be avoided at the time due to the technology available) was no DRM on their cartridge and bina

  • by MtHuurne ( 602934 ) on Thursday December 15, 2016 @07:41PM (#53494323) Homepage

    A big difference is that Pokemon Go actually required the internet to make the game possible, as there is interaction between players. Mario is a single player game, so the internet connection is only required for DRM. I imagine users will be less accepting of it for that reason.

    • by Pulzar ( 81031 )

      That's a huge turn-off, and not for some moral reasons... I'm not going to play Mario, my kids will. And my kids play on tablets, which could be in cars, school buses, or even on restricted wifi connections. The last time I had to explain to a 5 year old why his game stop working when he gets in the car was not fun, I'd rather not go through that again.

      I don't expect that I'll be able to hide the existence of the new Mario game from him forever, but I'll do my best to hide it for as long as I can.

      • Or you could simply say "no" ?
        There are other games that are not actively working against you and treating you as a criminal.

      • by Ranbot ( 2648297 )

        ...The last time I had to explain to a 5 year old why his game stop working when he gets in the car was not fun, I'd rather not go through that again.

        I don't expect that I'll be able to hide the existence of the new Mario game from him forever, but I'll do my best to hide it for as long as I can.

        You might not have to hide it that long, because as you I'm sure you know kids learn technology quickly. Before too long he'll probably be showing you how to work your phone and gadgets.

    • It has multiplayer features. Toad Rally, specifically.

  • by GoodNewsJimDotCom ( 2244874 ) on Thursday December 15, 2016 @08:25PM (#53494555)
    On Android there is a joystick standard. Just make a deal with one of the many nintendo emulators out there, and you could port ALL your titles and charge between .99 and 4.99 and people would loooove it. The new push in Android gaming is game pad gaming. I predicted it long ago, but now it is a thing. Nintendo could also make a standardized Apple Gamepad if they ported their games with it, then everyone would adopt the standard! There is tens of millions waiting on the table for just a negotiation with an emulator, and weeks worth of interns populating and uploading games.
    • The new push in Android gaming is game pad gaming.
      No it isn't. Nobody uses a game pad with Android gaming; just the idea is absurd.

      • I do and also know several people who also do.
        And it's not absurd: Nowadays a smartphone has more or less the same components of a portable console, adding a gamepad allows it to play games which require precision beyond what you can get from a touchscreen. Also, many games on Android already support gamepads. What do you prefer? playing GTA San Andreas (available both for iPhones and Android) with crappy touchscreen controls or use a gamepad which is the originally intended control method?
      • by dj245 ( 732906 )
        Absolutely not absurd for anyone running RetroArch [libretro.com]
      • Yes, it is, and it is actually gaining popularity thanks to Samsung Gear, Google Cardboard, and others who are starting to make inroads into the market.

    • by samkass ( 174571 )

      Nintendo could also make a standardized Apple Gamepad if they ported their games with it, then everyone would adopt the standard!

      Apple introduced this over three years ago, called MFi controllers. You can go to an Apple Store today and chose a wrap-around controller for a phone, or a separate bluetooth controller for a phone, iPad, or Apple TV. From a few manufacturers.

    • by Ranbot ( 2648297 )

      On Android there is a joystick standard. Just make a deal with one of the many nintendo emulators out there, and you could port ALL your titles and charge between .99 and 4.99 and people would loooove it.... There is tens of millions waiting on the table for just a negotiation with an emulator, and weeks worth of interns populating and uploading games.

      It's a good idea and Nintendo is the undisputed expert at repackaging and reselling old games over and over again. Nintendo could even use their hardware experience to make a Nintendo-branded controller for mobile games with DRM baked into the controller, which would be hated by Slashdotters but average people wouldn't care and it could ease Nintendo's concern for their trademarks. I'm not a rose-tinted glasses nostalgic type for old games, but even I think re-playing a straight port of original Metroid on

    • On Android there is a joystick standard.

      This would be a fantastic result for the 5 people who actually use the standard. Porting a game to Android that requires a joystick is dead on arrival. A couple of devote gamers may be pleased but for the most part the casual gaming crowd are not going to carry a joystick in their pocket. It's a waste of time and effort for manufacturers.

  • FOAD
  • by jxander ( 2605655 ) on Thursday December 15, 2016 @11:23PM (#53495301)

    Can we please just get a physical controller for our phones?

    It can be Bluetooth or physically plugged in, I don't care. Just make it universal, or only split Apple/Android if you absolutely must. A physical connection with a cradle dock that functions in both portrait and landscape would be ideal, but at this point I'm honestly not too picky.

    The devices we keep in our pockets today have several orders of magnitude more computation power and graphical fidelity than the first few generations of home gaming consoles. The only thing we lack is a proper input device.

    Fix that, and we can have actual games on our devices (tablets, if not phones) instead of this half-assed shovelware.

  • Is this one a game, or do you just walk around collecting things for no reason like Pokemon Go?

  • Apple only? Fuck you, Nintendo.
  • That in turn meant that the game was impossible to play for large amounts of time, since it required that same connection,

    Did the person who wrote TFA actually ever play Pokemon Go? People are definitely playing it large amounts of time. What is limiting people is that they drained their battery. There were even Pokemon Go branded battery packs on sale shortly after the release and people manage to power through (pun intended) those too in a typical day.

    If there's one thing that Pokemon Go didn't have a problem with, it was features that limited time people could play it.

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