Nintendo experimenting with 'little experiences' on smartphones and tablets

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says the company is experimenting with "little experiences you can have on your smartphone or tablet," but mainly as a way to drive its customers and players back to Nintendo's own hardware.

In an interview with Seattle's KING 5 News, Fils-Aime addressed a frequently asked question: When will Nintendo bring its games and characters to the billions of mobile devices already in consumers' hands? While Fils-Aime said the company recognizes that there's a huge install base of touchscreen devices, he noted, "Our philosophy that Nintendo games are best played on Nintendo devices has not changed."

"We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there," he said, "and so what we're doing is we're being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content."

Ultimately, Fils-Aime sees giving consumers "a little taste of a Nintendo experience," something that will "drive you back to your Nintendo hardware for the full blown experience."

"It's largely going to be much more marketing activity-oriented," he said, "but we've done little things where there's some element of gameplay — a movement, a shaking, something like that that reminds you of the full blown experience."

While Nintendo hasn't released its games for mobile platforms, it has targeted non-Nintendo devices with its Miiverse social platform and a handful of Pokemon-related apps, including Pokemon TV and a Pokedex app, are available for Android and iOS.