http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/14/the-looming-amiibo-how-it-could-reinvigorate-nintendo/

Everyone knows that the amiibo is Nintendo's backbone this generation. It was stupid of them to release the Wii U so long before the PS4/XB1, and it was stupid to not have the amiibo ready by the PS4/XB1 launch.

We've all seen the article on how tons of children are interested in the amiibo. It's also widely known how much the Japanese love collectables. To me it seems like a perfect money printer, and the real life of the Wii U starts with the amiibo since the idea was built into the hardware from the beginning.

Seeing the rapid increase in console game based smart toys, Is the "universal" smart toy the blue sea Nintendo is aiming for?

It could be big if they do it right. The idea that someone had of an amiibo focused game where you could play as the amiibo character with all of the stats and abilities collected from other games would be really fun.

You talking about the hypothetical Diablo-esque game I was talking about in that other thread? That would be awesome. The tools are there, just use em dammit!

Yes, wasn't sure if that was you or not. I really hope they come up with something like that, because as it is right now it sounds kind of boring. Your amiibo will just fight by itself right? Or something? That's great and all but that seems really passive.

So a toy is to drive console adoption. Um no. It could be great as its own thing. Blue ocean is gone, was a temporary thing. They should focus on existing markets not hopes of a new blue ocean.

I don't know how much impact it's gonna make on sales. But I feel everything Nintendo is about release in later this year and next year should have been in 2013. Everything is too late. Not looking good man.

They were really unclear at the time, but it seems like it's up to each developer to do what they will. Third Parties may also be able to use first party amiibo data in their games, though not the likenesses obviously, and program perks for people with certain data recorded.

Smash so far looks like the amiibo will grant powers for certain modes and act as ghost data. The ghost data could be a welcome addition to the smash tourney community. If it records your responses to certain situations and makes your ghost respond to similar situations based of %s that could be cool. Could use amiibo data collections to test your skills against carbon copies of the best Smash players from around the world.

There's our difference in views. You're looking at it as some crappy toy. I'm looking at it as a part of the system's hardware, which it is. It's clearly a major part of Nintendo's strategy or they wouldn't have built it into every Wii U ever made.

I think it's stupid to focus on existing markets when your opponents are a hardware powerhouse and a corporation that could buy you a hundred times over. They have a unique system in place that their opponents can't copy, they should focus on marketing that system much more than they currently have.

I wonder how much WiiU was made with Amiibo in mind, I would think that Amiibo functionality was derived from the existing possibilities once Nintendo saw how Disney and Activision are cleaning up with their interactive collectible toys.

I am always sceptical of success when a company comes into the game a couple of years late, and attempts to compete against two rich and powerful "enemies". It just seems to me, although Nintendo has some recognizable names, they are nowhere as popular or recognizable in the west as are Disney characters.

I think that Amiibo will be a big success in Japan, but that, after an initial holiday surge will seriously struggle in the West. Mainly because I think that Nintendo fans are actually much older than Dusney's, and that these people will not be as inclined to spend their income on a series of collectible toys.

I think it will have a bigger impact on Nintendo's financials than people think