Nintendo Wifi Network Up On 15 Nov

[skysnapper]

For those with DS's and no charges

NINTENDO CREATES AN EASY, ACCESSIBLE VIDEO GAME NETWORK – AND IT'S FREE

On Nov. 14, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Ushers in New Era of Free Wireless Gaming



REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 5, 2005 – On Nov. 14, Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection will begin a new era of easy, social gaming. For the first time, characters from the Nintendo universe will be playable online, as part of a unique wireless community, accessible inside or outside the home. Nintendo DS™ games like Mario Kart® DS, Animal Crossing®: Wild World and Metroid® Prime Hunters will require no additional charge for online play. Each is scheduled to launch in the coming months, along with the first third-party title using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Activision's Tony Hawk's American SK8Land, developed by Vicarious Visions.

From home, if the user already has a Wi-Fi network, the Nintendo DS unit will connect directly to it with minimal setup procedures. Those who have a high-speed Internet connection such as cable or DSL, but no wireless network, can use the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, sold separately, that will plug into a computer USB port to create a wireless access point to connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Outside of the home, players will be able to connect in a variety of ways, including at thousands of free Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection hotspots nationwide. More details about these hotspots and how to connect outside of the home will be announced shortly.

Nintendo DS is just the first Nintendo system to connect via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The same service will be incorporated into Nintendo's next-generation home console, code-named Nintendo Revolution, set for release in 2006.

"Nintendo has taken the online video gaming model and rewritten the definition of community," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "With easy setup and no added service fees, players far and wide will log in and play with one another as easily as if they were sitting in the same room."

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection will create a welcome, inviting atmosphere where video game players of all kinds can log on wirelessly and begin playing. The service will be used in different ways for different games. In Mario Kart DS, four players at a time can race over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Racers can pick opponents from their roster of friends, match up randomly against strangers of comparable skill levels or simply choose to race against anyone in the world. Mario Kart DS launches Nov. 14.

People who hang out in Animal Crossing: Wild World can travel to other players' towns or invite up to three other players to visit their own towns, simply by opening the town gate. The four players then can interact and play together simultaneously in one town. Players must know one another and register to their respective friend rosters before they can connect. Animal Crossing: Wild World is set to launch on Dec. 5.

Activision's Tony Hawk's American Sk8land will let players compete head-to-head in multiplayer games in a variety of modes. Players also can create custom skateboard art and graffiti tags, and share them with other players via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The service will track global high scores and stats. Tony Hawk's American SK8Land will launch on Nov. 14.

Games in development include Metroid Prime Hunters, slated to launch in the first quarter of 2006. Players can hook up for play with registered friends, automatch with other players based on a skill-level match or play with anyone; Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection quickly finds the best match with other players online.

 

[Alpha2]

sounds interesting. hopfully they'll release a Black DS sometimes in the near future so I can buy it and get in on some of this.

 

[deadlychicken22]

Sounds cool! I have a DS so this will definitely be a neat feature. I'm glad they made it free, i wouldn't have paid for it.

 

[yaustar]

Isn't it free for Nintendo/First Party games only? Third Party developers can still opt for a fee to play

 

[Angel]

this is what i've been waiting for since the release of the DS, about god damn time. Bring on Online Mario Kart and Metriod, good bye wedding money!!

I hope Pictochat is wifi. So i can draw pictures of obsene stuff and send it. I'm immature i know.

 

[Bingo Jesus]

Oh ace, oh ace! I can't wait!

 

[Alpha2]

Isn't it free for Nintendo/First Party games only? Third Party developers can still opt for a fee to play

​

Fee based games are usually only MMORPGs, I don't think it's too likely that nintendo or anyone else has one planned anytime soon, so I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[Angel]

don't be so sure. Madden 06 for PSP you have to pay, EXCEPT if you agree to have them spam your email with stuff, but that can easily be gotten around.

 

[Alpha2]

oh.. well theres a reason for that. EA sucks cock sporatically and this is one of those times... Especially with the way I hear they scrrewed up M'06 on PSP.

 

[Shadow of Chaos]

I hope Pictochat is wifi. So i can draw pictures of obsene stuff and send it. I'm immature i know.

​

I bet pig would get banned from server

all shit lost :lol:

 

[diablo2]

still wont make up for gamecube

 

[Thomas Dequinas]

I really can't wait to play Mario Kart DS online, now that will be an awesome experience, well as long as there isn't much lag. I do hope sometime soon we get a web browser which I've heard rumors that we will when Wi-Fi launches or something close to that.

Oh man it's also that time of the year when the DS is getting a bunch of great titles and I can't keep up. I just hope I get everything I want before I can't find the titles I want anymore and later on eventually noone will be carrying them any longer. Well that never happens until like nearly 5 years have passed so maybe I'll be in luck.

I also wonder if Nintendo will include a new firmware update on some of their newer games later on or will update one's DS without the user knowing. It's just something I thought that may happen (but maybe unlikely) after the new DS systems have an updated firmware which you can't use the older PassMes (and also the crappily made Neoflash junk, which I believe was the main reason for the new firmware). At the time a solution was being worked on so the newer passme will work on the updated firmware but I don't know if they'll keep on creating new firmwares and I don't think Nintendo is against homebrew as this was mainly to try and prevent running pirated/illegally obtained ROM images.

I know when PocketNES was in some of it's earlier stages, Nintendo used the emulator for their multiboot GBA NES games and also for the Classic NES Series. Maybe they'll also use SNESDS and release some Classic SNES Series for the DS, who knows. I don't think Nintendo will make that many updates maybe just something that can't run illegal copies but to make sure as long as there is a way around it for homebrew community.

 

[Alpha2]

Nintendo is as much against Homebrew as Sony is, that is to say Neither of them want it on their systemunless it's under their control. he only differance is their method of dealing with the issue. Sony is agressive and Nintendo is more selective in when and where they fight, prefering more to attack the people making the illegal copies wherever possible.

 

[shinneri]

still wont make up for gamecube

​

Man, GameCube's a sad story. I spent a year before release and around a year after being completely enthralled by the little console, and then third-party support started to dry up and the system all but vanished.

Seriously, it's like Nintendo has completely forgotten they ARE in the home console war currently. Worst thing of all is that had Twilight Princess been made instead of Wind Waker (and been release at the same time WW was), I think everything would have been different.


But anyway, Wifi for DS should be great.

 

[Alpha2]

The sad story is more that you still think they're in the console war. They will never be anything more than the 3rd man in a 3 man race from here on out. Portables are their thing now, it's the only market where they can hold their position because their opponents are either not known for their product or their price is outside a reasonable range.

In consoles, Nintendo is carving their own path now, they dont care what the other guys do as long as they make their own person quarterly profit margins.

 

[shinneri]

The sad story is more that you still think they're in the console war. They will never be anything more than the 3rd man in a 3 man race from here on out. Portables are their thing now, it's the only market where they can hold their position because their opponents are either not known for their product or their price is outside a reasonable range.

In consoles, Nintendo is carving their own path now, they dont care what the other guys do as long as they make their own person quarterly profit margins.

​

Who said I did? I completely agree with you. At the present time with their GameCube, yes, they're still in the console war (which is exactly why I said currently).

Nintendo's going their own route with the Rev. Even Iwata said it would be nice to own a Rev and one of the other consoles. That's very telling of their new strategy as basically a "second choice" console. I think it's a reasonable approach; afterall, it's what I plan to do.


Oh, 1000th post.

 

[Alpha2]

Just because you can still buy games for the Cube dosent mean they're in the "war" they're done, the only thing left is for them to make what mpney they can off GC releases or atleast keep their name relavent enough that no one forgets them before they release their next portable or the revo.

 

[Ganepark32]

Yeh totally agree. Gamecube has all but dried up and really the only thing worth getting for it to be released is Twilight Princess. But it is a shame that there wasnt more 3rd party support. I think it was to do with the disc size in comparison with ps2 and xbox. Anyway 'twill be interesting to see how revo turns out but at the mo i think it'll start like ds with virtually no games and then third party support will go to it.

 

[Alpha2]

The disk size had nothing to do with 3rd party support. If they need a second disk it costs pennies to add. Each one holds 1.5gb of info, all they need to do is raise the compression of sound and video data.

The problem with 3rd party support was that... well basically if you go to a horse race you dont bet on ALL the horses. Companies picked Sony first, MS second and Nintendo third and that left them as the weaker backed horse.

 

[shinneri]

The disk size had nothing to do with 3rd party support. If they need a second disk it costs pennies to add. Each one holds 1.5gb of info, all they need to do is raise the compression of sound and video data.

The problem with 3rd party support was that... well basically if you go to a horse race you dont bet on ALL the horses. Companies picked Sony first, MS second and Nintendo third and that left them as the weaker backed horse.

​

For whatever reason, I do believe the disc size scared away some gamers, though. I personally liked them better. Easy to carry, more durable (less to scratch), and they just looked pretty cool. But I guess people felt they were getting less for their money or something.

I think that the kiddy image hurt them most (as it always does), and Nintendo did very little to prevent it. They signed Silicon Knights, which was a great move, and then they let them go. They let Rare go, which was one of the big draws of "older gamers." And then, like I said, they release the extremely bright and stylized Wind Waker instead of the dark, realistic Twilight Princess. Not downing Wind Waker--the art style is pretty amazing--but the general gamer wants the dark, realistic game.