Nintendo European Research & Development

Nintendo European Research & Development (or NERD) is a Nintendo subsidiary, located in Paris, which develops software technologies and middleware for Nintendo platforms.[1] This includes patented video codecs and DRM technology.

Nintendo European Research & Development
FormerlyActimagine (2003–2011)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedMarch 2003 (2003-03) (as Actimagine)
HeadquartersParis, France
Key people
Alexandre Delattre
(Managing Director and CTO)
Jérôme Larrieu
(Chief Science Officer)
ProductsVideo playback software
Middleware
OwnerNintendo
Number of employees
41 (2018)
WebsiteOfficial website

The organization originated as Mobiclip and Actimagine /ˈɑːktɪmədʒiːn/ with notable customers including Nintendo, 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 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. Nintendo purchased the company, to create NERD.

History
Actimagine logo

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).[2] 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.

On 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.[3]

In 2008, Mobiclip launched the first application delivering live TV on the iPhone, a year before Apple. [4] [5]

On October 2011, Mobiclip[6] 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.[7]

Mobiclip video codecs
Mobiclip logo

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

List of technologies developed by NERD

References
  1. "Iwata Asks - 1. Introduction - Iwata Asks: NERD - Nintendo". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  2. "Actimagine home page archive". Archived from the original on 9 January 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. "Adobe - Adobe Press Room: For immediate release". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  4. Christian D. "France 24 sur mobile grâce à Mobiclip.com d'Actimagine". Génération-NT. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  5. "Apple launches HTTP Live Streaming standard in iPhone 3.0". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. "Nintendo adquiere Mobiclip". Revogamers. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
  7. "Annual Report 2017 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017" (PDF). Nintendo. NERD Inc., a former consolidated subsidiary, was excluded from the scope of consolidation from the consolidated fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, since said company was dissolved due to the absorption-type merger with Nintendo Technology Development Inc., the surviving entity.
  8. "GBA Video: Pokemon -- Johto Photo Finish and Playing with Fire!". IGN. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  9. http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/manuals/DS_Dragon_Quest_IX.pdf
  10. "実写映画化も発表！　『レイトン教授と悪魔の箱』は映画級の作品に - ファミ通.com". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  11. "Fire Emblem Awakening Movies (Cutscenes) Studio : fireemblem". reddit. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  12. "NERD". Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  13. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2020/200917e.pdf
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