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Iwata Asks: NERD (Nintendo European Research and Development, formerly Mobiclip)

S

serplux

Member
IEsnRmu.png


Here ya go: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-NERD/NERD/1-Introduction/1-Introduction-753888.html

You Just Need to Try said:
Alex: Right. And then I saw someone who seemed a bit remote and just walking around, but he seemed to work at Nintendo. He was Japanese and I could see from his badge that he was some kind of general manager, so I realised that he was an important person. So I jumped in and did my piece, saying "we think we can do something great with the Game Boy Advance based on the specs! Please just give us a chance to show it!" But my English wasn’t good enough and I was probably speaking too fast from excitement, so Okada-san didn’t really understand what I was saying.

Iwata: And your English was probably much more French than it is now.

Alex: So I was very disappointed. But he must have thought that something about it was interesting because he came back to the booth we had. But we still struggled to communicate, so I just wrote numbers on a piece of paper. I wrote the resolution of the Game Boy Advance, the frame rate and the number of bits per pixel, and I divided by 100. I was trying to show how much the graphical data can be compressed by this calculation. When Okada-san saw that fraction along with the numbers, it must have rung a bell in his head because he said, “Oh yeah! That’s great!” So the fraction was saying everything.

Iwata: So at the beginning the company was still called Actimagine and your first product for Nintendo was this video codec. Developers in Japan were very surprised to see that video codec working on the “very poor” CPU of Game Boy Advance. “Very poor” means here that its architecture was not very good at performing such tasks. If you had just applied a conventional video codec algorithm, it wouldn’t have worked.
Click to expand...

Working with Nintendo said:
Iwata: So Mobiclip and Nintendo had been building a stronger relationship like this and it was around this time that Mobiclip investors were thinking about selling the company to recoup the investment. My understanding is that the two of you then proposed Mobiclip becoming a part of the Nintendo group, is that right?

Alex: Yes, exactly. The projects we were working on with Nintendo were exciting. At one point I asked Jérôme if he agreed that it was only the Nintendo projects that were exciting and he replied saying, “Well, yes.” We were then bold enough to approach Nintendo and basically say that we wanted to concentrate only on Nintendo projects. Of course investors have their own agenda and we had to convince them. At that time I thought we had only maybe a 10% chance of success because I assumed Nintendo would not be interested in such an offer. We were really surprised when we saw Nintendo was willing to welcome this small French company.
Click to expand...

NERD's Goals and Dreams said:
Alex: We are geographically far away, and I think this gives us a kind of a special position within the Nintendo group.

Iwata: You get Nintendo’s most confidential information on time.

Alex: Exactly. The developers at Nintendo headquarters need to spend their time developing the actual platform, so I think we’d like to explore areas that they don’t have time for. For example the possibilities which are opened up by the combination of cloud technologies and new software paradigms like general purpose GPU programming.

I think we are now in exactly the right place to create the best new ideas, but we need to be very bold and ambitious to do so. That’s why I’m so glad I’m at NERD and not anywhere else.
Click to expand...
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
This is Nintendo's Xbox announcement counterattack? :p

Anyway, will read I want to know more about NERD and why Nintendo bought them out. I kind of get a hint of that from the Wii U asks...
 
C

Captain Smoker

Member
Nilaul said:
So they just make video codecs? They haven't expended into an actual game studio by any chance?
Click to expand...
No.

OP quoted it (example of their work):

"Alex: Exactly. The developers at Nintendo headquarters need to spend their time developing the actual platform, so I think we’d like to explore areas that they don’t have time for.
For example the possibilities which are opened up by the combination of cloud technologies and new software paradigms like general purpose GPU programming."
 
H

Hermii

Member
A pretty good Iwata Asks. So they are making midleware, does that include game engines ? Or things like Nintendo Web Framework ?
 
M

Madouu

Member
It was a very interesting read that made me feel all kind of stupid :/

It also sounds like Nintendo wants to expand their team in very specific areas and are looking for some very specific profiles. Some parts almost sound like a job listing.
 
Z

Zoramon089

Banned
Starwolf_UK said:
This is Nintendo's Xbox announcement counterattack?

Anyway, will read I want to know more about NERD and why Nintendo bought them out. I kind of get a hint of that from the Wii U asks...
Click to expand...

Is this some weak troll attempt? This has nothing to do with the Xbox at all
 
G

Gamer @ Heart

Member
Hermii said:
A pretty good Iwata Asks. So they are making midleware, does that include game engines ? Or things like Nintendo Web Framework ?
Click to expand...
I think so. I read their job as the people Nintendo goes to inorder to hit a performance mark or build the inbetween software and tools for a new project or feature.

I would suspect they have/had some part to play in the 2 major wii u updates.
 
C

Captain Smoker

Member
"I didn't really go into this today, but Nintendo European Research and Development SAS France (NERD)
helped us with our video player and Nintendo Software Technology (NST) helped with WebKit's JavaScript JIT"

Iwata Asks: Wii U Browser




And two recent job listings from NERD:

As a R&D software engineer, you will work in a small team focused on high value projects. You will:
• Work on current and future R&D projects
• Add value by inventing new features and solutions
• Keep up with the state of the art of the domains we deal with
• Produce high quality and high performance code
• Produce multi-platform or console code
• Ship and help maintain your code
• Report your progress, and share your expertise with the technical team as a whole

We are looking for skilled individuals who are serious about computer science and who can show outstanding expertise in a field that is relevant to our work.

Required Qualifications:
• Expertise in C++ programming
• Experience in implementing real-time algorithms using low-level features of the hardware
• Ability to clearly communicate technical ideas and issues in English

Experience in one or more of the following fields
• Signal processing
• Compression
• Multi-core, GPGPU, or heterogeneous computing
• Language theory and compiler technology
• Advanced rendering
• Low level optimization
• Advanced math
• Game development, especially on consoles
• PhD. or exceptional expertise in some related field
Click to expand...
www.nerd.nintendo.com/files/NERD_Console_Software_Engineer.pdf




Nintendo European Research and Development (NERD) is a French subsidiary of Nintendo.
We create key enabling software technologies for the most innovative and popular game consoles in the
world.
In close cooperation with other centers of excellence in Japan and USA, we ship bleeding edge solutions
powering new experiences at the heart of the game system on hundreds of millions of consoles.
Achievements include major contributions in video, media, imaging, cryptography, hardware abstraction...
for the Wii U, the 3DS, and other Nintendo platforms.
Come and discover our team of highly skilled professionals, working in a privileged environment with a
friendly atmosphere in the center of Paris.


As a software engineer, you work within a small team focused on a confidential project. You will :
• Design new modules and contribute additional features to feature-rich embedded systems
• Develop, optimize, document, ship and maintain software technologies and solutions with a strong
added-value for Nintendo companies
• Perform the research and technology watch necessary to propose improvements ahead of the industry
• Report your progress, and share your expertise with the technical team as a whole

• High-energy problem-solver with a passion for excellence and a track record of “getting the job done”
• A quick learner, enthusiastic, proactively mastering new subjects and large unfamiliar code bases

• Expertise in C and C++ programming and complex system troubleshooting
• Experience in implementing real-time algorithms using low-level features of the hardware
• Experience building native apps on devices such as consoles, smartphones, tablets, TVs, set-top boxes
• Ability to communicate technical ideas and issues clearly, in English
• Experience with using or providing middleware and developer support

• Experience of driver-level software and operating system internals : Linux, mobile OS…
• Experience porting or contributing to open source projects : Webkit, Android, VLC, ffmpeg...
• Advanced knowledge of media formats & frameworks
• Intimate familiarity with some application development frameworks and tools
• Good knowledge of web browser and scripting technologies : HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Lua, JIT...
Click to expand...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-beta (deleted but available through Google Cache)
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
Oh, so Actimage = MobiClip? It all makes sense now. For some reason, I thought Nintendo switched codecs mid-generation.

Zoramon089 said:
Is this some weak troll attempt? This has nothing to do with the Xbox at all
Click to expand...

It looked like an obvious joke to me. It was the lone thread in a midst of Xbox threads.

Zee-Row said:
These guys are responsible for all the FMV encoding the DS had huh?
Click to expand...

And GBA, too. I wouldn't be surprised if they're how the GBA Video series came out. (It had things like Pokémon episodes on GBA cartridges.)
 
M

mantidor

Member
Nintendo should have hired ex employees from Factor 5 for their NERD thing.

Interesting Iwata asks, such insight into the kind of approach Nintendo is giving to technology is weird though, it is almost like Nintendo cares for the technology enthusiast.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Captain Smoker said:
"I didn't really go into this today, but Nintendo European Research and Development SAS France (NERD)
helped us with our video player and Nintendo Software Technology (NST) helped with WebKit's JavaScript JIT"

Iwata Asks: Wii U Browser
Click to expand...
Also, the latest additions to NERD's team are all engine developers. Janos Boudet and Bertrand Augereau from Eugen Systems, Aurélien Pocheville and Florent Boutin from Wizarbox, and whoever I forgot.
 
C

Captain Smoker

Member
wsippel said:
Also, the latest additions to NERD's team are all engine developers. Janos Boudet and Bertrand Augereau from Eugen Systems, Aurélien Pocheville and Florent Boutin from Wizarbox, and whoever I forgot.
Click to expand...
game engine? ;)


It would be nice if Nintendo would strenghten their studios/departments outside of Japan, these guys seem to be very eager on everything they're up to and Iwata seems to trust their abilities, well, they seem to get every information currently anyway.
 
D

Darryl

Banned
Captain Smoker said:
game engine? ;)


It would be nice if Nintendo would strenghten their studios/departments outside of Japan, these guys seem to be very eager on everything they're up to and Iwata seems to trust their abilities, well, they seem to get every information currently anyway.
Click to expand...

you know based on this article, maybe they're hoping outsider developers come to nintendo for acquisition. maybe they've just been soured on trying to poach studios and want people to stay with them and be reliable. that makes tons of sense with gaming development, i can imagine there would be a huge loss of efficiency with lost talent between and during the process of gaming development. moreso than would occur in most fields at least
 
J

Jackano

Member
Saw this this afternoon (PAL times). Not very interesting but finally names on NERD. Will stalk the hell out of them starting tomorrow.

Anyway, what are they doing exactly? Nothing but engeenering problems solving? What kind of organisation is that? Seems amateurish for a company like Nintendo. But hey don't get me wrong I'm very happy as a french Nintendo fanboy to have this team nearby.
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
Why would you do that? said:
It looked like an obvious joke to me. It was the lone thread in a midst of Xbox threads.
Click to expand...
Correct. It was more to do with the timing of the thread being minutes before the announcement (though now it being a lone ship in a sea of Xbox weathering the storm...). In my mind was like:
Nintendo lackey: "Iwata, what do we do? They're announcing the new Xbox?"
Iwata: "*laughs* send out...the NERD"

In hindsight it looks a bit daft :( I added the :p to make the joke more obvious.

Anyway, the chapter titles of the interview. Is nerd a loan word? That is to say, does the pun of chapters "The Characteristics of Nerds" and "Proud to be Nerds" work in non-English?

I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the video codec (the compression artefacts being obvious bothered me a bit) and never checked the company out. I did wonder if they were part of the devkit given how used they were.

Sounds like a chance encounter with the Japanese Nintendo designer that lead to the whole thing starting. I was hoping for a more Argonaut or Rareware approach of "we don't have dev kits but look what we've done with your hardware" but its great to hear back of the envelope calculations actually used as well.

Wait, in the end Iwata name dropped Japan Expo 2012. That was start of July in France. What kind of Nintendo centric news/interviews happened that time. Specifically ones in Europe (any interviews? or did shock announcements follow). I just wonder why Iwata would be there, I'd guess tagging a holiday onto visits with NOE but I never really thought of the CEO as being someone who leaves their office.
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
Seems weird that they'd bother doing this interview without really mentioning what it is that NERD has actually done. I mean, anyone who actively follows this stuff knows what Mobiclip has achieved but I get the impression that a lot of people reading this won't even know what video codecs are, much less why they should care.

Oersted said:
We had Iwata Asks: Platinum Games and Next Level Games.
Click to expand...

There was no Iwata Asks for NLG, as far as I know.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Captain Smoker said:
game engine? ;)


It would be nice if Nintendo would strenghten their studios/departments outside of Japan, these guys seem to be very eager on everything they're up to and Iwata seems to trust their abilities, well, they seem to get every information currently anyway.
Click to expand...
Graphics and physics as far as I can tell. At least that's what those people specialize in.


@MUWANdo said:
Seems weird that they'd bother doing this interview without really mentioning what it is that NERD has actually done. I mean, anyone who actively follows this stuff knows what Mobiclip has achieved but I get the impression that a lot of people reading this won't even know what video codecs are, much less why they should care.
Click to expand...
NERD developed the 3D video codec and camera calibration for 3DS. It's a hardware and software R&D outfit specializing in low level stuff. They're currently working on Wii U middleware as far as I understand. They appear to have several small teams with different areas of expertise, like compression schemes and codecs, network technologies, engine development and so on.
 
E

Eusis

Member
@MUWANdo said:
Seems weird that they'd bother doing this interview without really mentioning what it is that NERD has actually done. I mean, anyone who actively follows this stuff knows what Mobiclip has achieved but I get the impression that a lot of people reading this won't even know what video codecs are, much less why they should care.
Click to expand...
Well, seeing mobiclip as an unskippable screen on like 90% of my damn DS library means most of us are probably familiar with them. And hell, I'm grateful they bought them for the sole purpose of getting rid of those boot up logos... although seeing NERD each time might've also been worth it.

Anyways, will have to check it out later, it would be interesting to know how involved they are beyond the portable video codec.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Eusis said:
Well, seeing mobiclip as an unskippable screen on like 90% of my damn DS library means most of us are probably familiar with them. And hell, I'm grateful they bought them for the sole purpose of getting rid of those boot up logos... although seeing NERD each time might've also been worth it.

Anyways, will have to check it out later, it would be interesting to know how involved they are beyond the portable video codec.
Click to expand...
They don't really go into detail regarding their current projects, they just gave a few examples - specifically cloud computing and GPGPU development. According to various Linkedin profiles, it's all very top secret and very awesome.
 
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