Nintendo partners with Facebook in 'Hackathon'
NEW WESTMINISTER (CUP)
– What happens when the world’s
most addictive social networking
site partners with everyone’s favourite
koopa stomping plumber?
The answer is a “Hackathon”. If you’re confused by what that is, don’t worry—you’re probably not the only one.
On September 11 there will be a new release called Super Mario Maker, a new game for the Wii U that will allow players to create their own levels based off of content from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. Users can then share their creations online and allow others to play through their levels.
In order to promote the release of their new game, Nintendo reached out to Facebook, and challenged them to a game.
In teams of five, employees were told to design the ultimate level using pre-release copies of the game.
“Designers present their creations to a panel of judges from Nintendo and Facebook and the winning individual or team has the opportunity to make the level available for Super Mario Maker owners to play after the game’s launch,” Nintendo said in a Betanews article.
Here’s the challenge: Nintendo being the sadistic, albeit lovable scamps that they are, decided to make the contest a “Hackathon.”
A Hackathon is a software-development- specific kind of competition that requires collaborative teams consisting of programmers, designers, project managers, and other people involved in the software development industry, to create and execute a project (in this case, a level), all within a very tight timeframe.
Nintendo gave the Facebook teams two days to complete the challenge, which was held July 28 on the Facebook campus grounds in California, a specialized living complex specifically for Facebook employees that was designed with the help of two consultants from Disney.
Luckily, Facebook employees are more than used to these sorts of competitions, as Facebook uses them frequently to help brainstorm new ideas for their site.
Additions such as Facebook Chat and Facebook Wi-Fi for businesses are all products of this incredibly nerve-wracking process. Taking a break to play an upcoming Nintendo game was probably a welcome change.
Any word on the winning level has yet to be released, and probably won’t be until September. The game itself is currently available for pre-order and there is a gameplay trailer available online courtesy of Nintendo’s showing at the video game industry conference, E3.
The answer is a “Hackathon”. If you’re confused by what that is, don’t worry—you’re probably not the only one.
On September 11 there will be a new release called Super Mario Maker, a new game for the Wii U that will allow players to create their own levels based off of content from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. Users can then share their creations online and allow others to play through their levels.
In order to promote the release of their new game, Nintendo reached out to Facebook, and challenged them to a game.
In teams of five, employees were told to design the ultimate level using pre-release copies of the game.
“Designers present their creations to a panel of judges from Nintendo and Facebook and the winning individual or team has the opportunity to make the level available for Super Mario Maker owners to play after the game’s launch,” Nintendo said in a Betanews article.
Here’s the challenge: Nintendo being the sadistic, albeit lovable scamps that they are, decided to make the contest a “Hackathon.”
A Hackathon is a software-development- specific kind of competition that requires collaborative teams consisting of programmers, designers, project managers, and other people involved in the software development industry, to create and execute a project (in this case, a level), all within a very tight timeframe.
Nintendo gave the Facebook teams two days to complete the challenge, which was held July 28 on the Facebook campus grounds in California, a specialized living complex specifically for Facebook employees that was designed with the help of two consultants from Disney.
Luckily, Facebook employees are more than used to these sorts of competitions, as Facebook uses them frequently to help brainstorm new ideas for their site.
Additions such as Facebook Chat and Facebook Wi-Fi for businesses are all products of this incredibly nerve-wracking process. Taking a break to play an upcoming Nintendo game was probably a welcome change.
Any word on the winning level has yet to be released, and probably won’t be until September. The game itself is currently available for pre-order and there is a gameplay trailer available online courtesy of Nintendo’s showing at the video game industry conference, E3.
