Miitomo lands in the United States this week
We’ve known for a while that Nintendo’s first iOS app, Miitomo, was coming to the United States App Store soon, but no official launch date had ever been announced. The app, which features known Mii characters and allows you to create and interact with your own avatars as well as your friends’, launched in Japan on March 17. Nintendo has recently announced that the title will arrive in the U.S. and “several other countries” on March 31.
What's a Mii?
If you’ve never played on a Nintendo Wii console, you might not be familiar with the idea of the Mii. A Mii is a free-form digital avatar, used on the console for each player as their representative in games that support the personalized character graphics. For more information on the Mii avatars and what you can do in Miitomo, check out the full overview my colleague, Aldrin Calimlim, wrote when the “game” first launched in Japan.
A new kind of social networking
Once you’ve created your Mii, you can add friends who already have the app in person, or you can link the app with your Facebook or Twitter account. Then it’s time to answer some questions, as Miitomo is all about creating conversations and turning discussions into a form of play. The app will prompt you to answer all kinds of fun questions, like what is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten.
Preregister now and get Platinum Points
If you create your Nintendo Account and preregister for Miitomo before March 31, you’ll receive Platinum Points for the new My Nintendo rewards program, launching alongside Miitomo. This allows you to redeem your points for games, download content, in-app items, and eShop discount coupons. Sign up at Nintendo’s Web page for Miitomo.
I love the Mii avatars on my son’s Wii console, and can’t wait to try out Miitomo. I just wish Nintendo’s first foray into iOS was an actual game, rather than another social networking app.