Nintendo's investor briefing is going on right now, and analyst David Gibson is sharing details on the conversation. As part of the presentation, company president Satoru Iwata showed a new product that will reportedly be at E3.
According to Gibson, the figurines will work with the Wii U and 3DS (the latter with an external device that connects via infrared). The products will be part of a line called "NFP" and the figures will work across titles. To date, we've only seen one title use the NFC capabilities of the Gamepad: Pokémon Rumble U.
Gibson says that a Mario figure was shown off at the briefing. The products have reportedly been in development since 2013, and Nintendo plans to show multiple titles off that use the toys.
Update: Here's an image of the first figurine from Iwata's presentation slides.
[Source: David Gibson on Twitter (1), (2), (3)]
Our Take
With Skylanders and Disney Infinity taking off (and strong on Nintendo's platforms), it's no surprise that a first-party title is coming. The Wii U Gamepad has NFC capabilities, and we've been curious about broader use for some time.