Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has announced that the company will launch a smartphone application in conjunction with the global release of the Wii U edition of the publisher’s popular Mario Kart franchise.
The service, currently called Mario Kart TV, will be Nintendo’s first mobile app. The cross-platform service for PCs, mobiles and tablets will permit users to watch and share gameplay footage and screenshots, both Nintendo and user-generated, as well as view rankings and official game tips.
“Our policy is to establish consumer relationships based on accounts named Nintendo Network IDs, which are abbreviated as NNIDs,” said Iwata. “This ‘Mario Kart TV’ web service is available even for players without NNIDs, but by logging into the service with an NNID, they will be able to easily find their rankings, videos that their friends have shared, videos of tournaments in which they have participated, and it will be convenient to access this service through smart devices even when they are not at home.”
Nintendo has yet to confirm an overseas release for Mario Kart TV.
