Videogames, Comprehension, and Nintendo’s ‘Kind Code’

Nintendo publicly released a patent yesterday — that they filed in July of 2008 — that enables a user to stop playing the game, watch someone else (a developer) play the level for them — demonstrating what levers need to be pulled, who needs to be talked to, and where the hidden items are kept — then rewind the footage back to the player’s current place in the game, and play through the level like usual.

It’s called “Kind Code,” and it’s Nintendo’s attempt to get casual players to play video games that are normally reserved for hardcore players based on the level of difficulty and video game knowledge usually required to play them. Nintendo has already cornered this share by having the #1 console in the country, and selling 1 million Wii’s in November, proving that there is a market for casual gamers. But, what I find even more interesting is the impact this may have on our students who (in case you didn’t know) play quite a lot of video games.