Nintendo shows off Mario Kart TV for smartphones

Mario Kart 8's companion service Mario Kart TV will also be available for PC and smartphones, Nintendo has announced.

As previously detailed, you'll be able to edit, upload and view Mario Kart 8 gameplay footage (and publish videos to YouTube) from the game itself.

But this content will also be made available for anyone to browse, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has said, via an online version of the service.

Those playing the game can sign in with their Nintendo Network ID to see rankings, stats and videos that friends have shared.

Nintendo has spoken before about how it sees smartphones as a way to extend the reach of its core games - without expanding to publish actual games on mobiles.

"The smartphone market is probably more competitive than the console business," Iwata told Bloomberg. "We have had a console business for 30 years, and I don't think we can just transfer that over onto a smartphone model.

"Games such as Mario and Zelda are designed for our game machines so if we transfer them into smartphones as they are, customers won't be satisfied," he continued. "If customers aren't satisfied with the experience, it will decrease the value of our content."

While Nintendo isn't looking to mobile game development anytime soon, the company is pondering how it will expand its business into emerging markets.

Iwata has said its focus here will be to develop unique hardware for these new territories, rather than re-releasing existing consoles available elsewhere and hoping they'll still sell.

"We want to make new things, with new thinking rather than a cheaper version of what we currently have," he said. "The product and price balance must be made from scratch."

"It would be difficult to enter those markets if we didn't create something new," he added to Reuters. "For the mass market you need to provide something that most of the middle class can afford."

This specially-designed hardware could debut as early as next year, Iwata concluded.