Nintendo, AOL Enter Into Online Agreement

Thanks to IGN Cube for their story that Nintendo of America have reached an agreement for AOL to be the 'official preferred ISP' for GameCube. Nintendo have apparently informed IGN that "...developers who choose to create online games for GameCube will be licensed AOL connectivity software that will enable their games to connect online through AOL", but Nintendo also clarified that "...this does not indicate the unveiling of a new online gaming approach from Nintendo", making this partly an oddly cryptic co-marketing announcement, rather than any major breakthrough.

Comments

Re:Say it ain't so!

[bigman2003]

This actually makes a lot of sense.

Both companies are aiming at the same 'simplistic' demographic.

"We make games that are easy to understand, and you can pick up quickly"

"We get you on-line, no matter how dumb you are"

People always complain that the Xbox and PS2 are less 'accessible'. So I think that Nintendo has found a good partner.

Sounds better for Nintendo than AOL

[tessaiga]

According to the article, AOL agrees to advertise Gamecube games by "spotlight[ing Nintendo products] on key AOL and AOL Time Warner websites". In return, Nintendo bundles more AOL coasters and agrees to feature AOL as their ISP of choice for internet games they don't plan to develop. We all remember Nintendo reporting that, unlike Sony and Microsoft, "We still don't see online gaming as a mass-market thing".

The same IGN press release announcing the partnership even rushes to point out that "this does not indicate the unveiling of a new online gaming approach from Nintendo. Nor does it signify that we have changed our position on the current business viability in the online console gaming field." Unless I'm missing something here, sounds an awful like saying "Yep, we'll use you if we ever want to go online, but we don't, so we won't."