In an effort to "give more life to the Pikmin characters," Nintendo has plans for original animated shorts that are being created alongside an external animation studio and overseen by designer Shigeru Miyamoto, reports Polygon. The videos will be out before Pikmin 3 arrives this year and are going to be watchable on ... 3DS.
"We really just want to take advantage of the Pikmin characters," said Miyamoto. "We have started selling Shaun the Sheep videos, so we're continuing to look at ways to expand the eShop offerings. Nintendo 3DS is great for viewing 3D video content so we wanted to look at ways to expand that offering." He explained that if these videos are "popular," Nintendo "could consider selling them."
It strikes me as a odd that these would be put out on the 3DS considering the new game is a Wii U release, but then again, that does sound like something Nintendo would do. If it helps raise awareness for the series -- the 3DS does have the larger audience -- that's terrific. I think we'd be more than happy to watch these on YouTube minus the 3D support, however.
Nintendo tests the waters for new cartoon series based on Pikmin [Polygon]
via destructoid http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-is-working-on-pikmin-animated-shorts-248389.phtml