Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD) is a French subsidiary for Nintendo, located in Paris, which develops software technologies and middleware for Nintendo platforms. This includes retro console

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...

s, patented video

codec A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or ...

s, and

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

technology. The organization originated as Mobiclip and Actimagine () with notable customers including Nintendo,

Sony Pictures Digital Sony Pictures Digital (previously known as Columbia TriStar Interactive, Sony Pictures Interactive Network, and Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment) is a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Operating under the trade name Sony Pictures Digital ...

, and Fisher-Price. Nintendo licensed Mobiclip compression technology for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS video game consoles, used by popular games such as Square Enix's ''

Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer. The third installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it is the first numbered ''Final Fantasy'' game to feature the job-change system. The story revolve ...

'' and Konami's '' Contra 4''. Fisher-Price used them for its Pixter Multi-Media educational toy. Sony Pictures Digital and The Carphone Warehouse used Mobiclip software to deliver TV-like full-length movies on MicroSD memory cards for

smart phones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...

. Nintendo purchased the company, to create NERD.

History

Actimagine was established in March 2003 by a team of engineers (Eric Bécourt, Alexandre Delattre, Laurent Hiriart, Jérôme Larrieu, Sylvain Quendez) and a businessman (André Pagnac). Actimagine started out with mobile gaming consoles. The video compression technology offered by Mobiclip was an optimized response to the battery life and video quality requirements of Nintendo video gaming platforms: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Nintendo 3DS. The Mobiclip codec provides high video quality with low battery consumption and has been selected by major studios, such as Sony Pictures Digital, Paramount, Fox and Gaumont Columbia Tristar Films, and by leading handset manufacturers, such as Nokia or Sony Ericsson, to deliver video on memory cards for mobile phones. In April 2006, Actimagine raised €3 million in equity financing from US venture capital firm GRP Partners. This first round of institutional fund raising enabled Actimagine to accelerate its business development in the US and Japan. The same year, Adobe acquired Actimagine's Flash rendering engine optimized for mobile devices. In 2008, Mobiclip launched the first application delivering live TV on the iPhone, a year before Apple. In October 2011, Mobiclip was bought by Nintendo and is now a subsidiary of the latter. Since then it is now known as "Nintendo European Research & Development" or "NERD". In 2017, the United States branch was merged with Nintendo Technology Development.

Mobiclip video codecs

Mobiclip was developed with a completely different algorithm from the one used for other

video codecs The following is a list of compression formats and related codecs. Audio compression formats Non-compression * Linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM, generally only described as PCM) is the format for uncompressed audio in media files and it is al ...

on the market, based on minimal use of the processor resources, allowing battery life to be increased considerably and the cost of the hardware to be reduced.

Nintendo licensing

Nintendo selected Mobiclip as its main provider of video codec technologies on the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS. Major software titles used it for in-game cinematics, including: *'' GBA Video'' series on the Game Boy Advance *'' Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies'' on Nintendo DS *''

Professor Layton ''Professor Layton'' is a puzzle adventure video game series and transmedia franchise developed by Level-5. The property consists primarily of seven main video games, a mobile spin-off, an animated theatrical film, and an anime television serie ...

'' series on Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS *''

Fire Emblem Awakening ''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth ...

'' on Nintendo 3DS. *

Wii no Ma (Wiiの間) was a Wii channel that featured a video-on-demand, film rental and shopping service operated by Nintendo and Dentsu. It was released on 1 May 2009, exclusively in Japan, and it could be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel for f ...

and

Nintendo Channel The Wii Menu is the graphical shell of the Wii and Wii U game console, as part of the Wii system software. It has four pages, each with a 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Available applications, known as "channels", a ...

on Wii. *

eCrew Development Program ''eCrew Development Program'' (''eCDP'', ja, クルトレ eCDP), known unofficially as the ''McDonald's Training Game'', is an educational video game created by McDonald's. Released for the Nintendo DS sometime in 2010 internally within the J ...

, the extremely rare Japanese McDonald's training game for the Nintendo DS. *

The Legendary Starfy is a video game series developed by Tose and published by Nintendo. The series is the only franchise for which Tose owns the copyright, which they share with Nintendo; as a result, Tose, which normally does not put their company name on their g ...

on Nintendo DS. *

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (subtitle read as "Three-Five-Eight Days over Two") is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix (in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios) for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth ins ...

on Nintendo DS.

List of technologies developed by NERD

* Mobiclip

for

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

/ Nintendo DS / Nintendo 3DS / Wii * Media player for

Wii U Internet Browser The Wii U system software is the official firmware version and operating system for Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Nintendo maintains the Wii U's systemwide features and applications by offering system software updates via the Internet ...

* Wii U Chat (co-developed with

Nintendo Software Technology Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, doing business as Nintendo Software Technology (NST), is an American video game developer. NST was created by Nintendo as a first-party developer to create games for the North American market, though the ...

and

Vidyo Vidyo, Inc., founded as Layered Media, now part of Enghouse systems provides software-based collaboration technology and product-based visual communication products. The company's VidyoConferencing products are the first in the videoconferencing i ...

) * Kachikachi: NES emulator for

NES Classic Edition NES Classic Edition is a dedicated home video game console by Nintendo, which emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It launched on November 10, 2016 in Australia and Japan, and November 11, 2016 in North America and Europe. Aesthet ...

* Canoe: Super NES emulator for

Super NES Classic Edition The Super NES Classic Edition is a dedicated home video game console released by Nintendo, which emulates the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The console, a successor to the NES Classic Edition, comes with twenty-one Super NES titles pr ...

, including the

Super FX The Super FX is a coprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to select Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game cartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was designed by Argona ...

chipset series. * L-CLASSICS: NES/SNES/N64/Sega Genesis emulator support for

Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service for the Nintendo Switch video game console. Nintendo Switch Online features include online multiplayer, cloud saving, voice chat via a smartphone app, access to a library of Nint ...

* Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii emulation in '' Super Mario 3D All-Stars'' * Nintendo DS emulator on Wii U * Super-stable 3D display on New Nintendo 3DS *

Nintendo Labo is a toys-to-life concept developed by Nintendo and released in April 2018. Labo consists of 2 parts, where one part is a game and one part is multiple sheets of cardboard. The games come as kits that include cardboard cut-outs and other materi ...

VR Kit, in collaboration with

Nintendo EPD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. E ...

* Downloadable Wii games on the Wii U eShop * Deep learning middleware for '' Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch'' * Heart rate detection system in

Joy-Con Joy-Con are the primary game controllers for the Nintendo Switch video game console. They consist of two individual units, each containing an analog stick and an array of buttons. They can be used while attached to the main Nintendo Switch con ...

, used in ''

Ring Fit Adventure is an exercising action role-playing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game comes with two physical components: the Ring-Con, a Pilates ring that the user holds and one Joy-Con slots into, and a Leg Strap, a ...

'' * Technology for '' Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit''https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2020/200917e.pdf * Filtering Expertise and Gesture Tracking for

Nintendo Switch Sports is a sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the latest entry in the ''Wii'' series of games and the fourth game of the ''Wii Sports'' sub-series, as well as the first to replace the "''Wi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nintendo European Research and Development Mobile content Nintendo divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2003 Companies based in Paris Video game development companies French subsidiaries of foreign companies