What do you get when you combine one of the most familiar social media and video game brands in a partnership around a game launch and an insiders-only event? You get a Wonder Twins-style Nintendo and Facebook team-up for a unique sort of event ahead of the worldwide September 11, 2015, launch of “Super Mario Maker” on Nintendo’s Wii U console.
“Super Mario Maker” is all about the user-generated content, drawing from “Super Mario Bros.,” “Super Mario Bros. 3,” “Super Mario World” and “New Super Mario Bros. U.” Players can create full level design, enemy placement and more, with control over mixing and matching content in different generation Mario games. Levels can be shared via the game’s Course World, but the game starts you off with 100 levels to warm the creative blood.
This event will be a hackathon, which makes sense for a game based on content the user creates. Hackathons are a signature sort of event for tech capitals like the San Francisco Bay area, so it is the sort of event that fits well into the regional culture. Before you pack a backpack with your gear to go, there is a downside of a sort: This event is only for Facebook employees at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters July 28-29, 2015. But, back to the good news: The event will be updated live through Nintendo’s social media channels. Whether those updates includes a live stream, for folks to watch the content creation, has not been stated but seems unlikely, because Nintendo will be offering a video series from the event after its conclusion.
Participating level creators will be judged by a team from Facebook and Nintendo. The winning individual, or team, will see his or her level offered to players after the game launch. That’s also good news if you plan to buy “Super Mario Maker,” since you will eventually have a chance to try the winning level for yourself.
Whether you are one of the lucky few who can attend and participate, or be apart of the larger community of Nintendo fans to follow the event on social media or play the winning level in “Super Mario Maker,” it looks like there’s plenty of opportunities all around to win.
