Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo DS to use GameSpy
frikazoyd writes "Not long after Iwata's discussion on new hardware WiFi connectivity, IGN announces that the Nintendo DS is going to utilize their GameSpy network to connect online gamers, and without any fees." From the article: "The service will be utilized by software developers in several Nintendo DS titles, including Animal Crossing DS which was revealed at the Game Developers Conference in March. Players will have the ability to choose to play with friends or strangers anywhere in the world, as long as both systems have access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Nintendo will reveal other online-capable Nintendo DS titles in the coming weeks."
If gamespy is going to be on the DS, no doubt one screen will be for gameplay and the other for gamespy-affliliated advertisements
Slow Down, Cowboy! It's been 60 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment.
I apologize for such a downnote starter, but this news is practically antique.
I think this is great, but I hope it is a step to something I've looked forward to for a long time: multi-platform multi-player. What I mean is that if you've got a PC version of DOOM3 and an XBox version of DOOM3, why not expand the base of available players by letting them play against each other over the internet?
Similarly, if a third party is making a title for both the DS and the PSP, why not figure out a way for them to play against each other, either wirelessly device-to-device or over the net? In a properly enabled home network, why not let the DS in the bedroom play against the Gamecube in the living room?
Shouldn't this stuff be possible? Has this happened and I missed it? Seems like they're missing the boat via lack of forsight.
Some of you already have those cute little shirts on that say disco sucks, right? That's not all that sucks.-Frank Zappa
I cannot stand gamespy. I have had such horrible experiences with it that I avoid it all all costs. Costs like buying games that use it.
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
Just freaking tell us when Animal Crossing DS will ship already. It's been a DS killer app since Day One, and still no word on when it hits.
Ken Katuragi, is that you? :)
Chewie does not get a medal. Come on, George. Can a Wookie get a medal?
You keep posting things like this, and I keep posting the same correction: More people own Nintendo DS than PSP in every region where both are available, and Nintendo DS has been outselling PSP on a weekly basis in Japan since a couple of weeks after the PSP launch. Any joke you crack about the size of the DS userbase only means to prove your ignorance of these facts, Sonyturfer.
I despise Gamespy so much for how hard it makes playing some games like the total war series. While I guess if I had to choose between no multi-player and using gamespy, I would choose using gamespy, I am at the point of avoiding all possibilities of supporting them in hopes that another, better, solution becomes available.
Yeah, all 5 of them. Seriously, the PSP is like the 2005 version of the "Game Gear": rehashed games, crappy battery life, and prone to breaking.
Analog nub, what a fucktarded asshat gimmick.
Would you rather have a free online service and have to put up with advertisements when you login or would you rather pay the monthy/yearly service on top of the $50 you spent on the game? Most PC games have GameSpy built into them and it is not that bad as some of you are making it out to be.
Hopefully a new Metroid will be Wi-Fi. Played the demo at Best Buy. I think the touch pad is actually better than a mouse for FPS. Kicking ass online would be awesome!! I would've bought a DS but I found out that there is no real Metroid game for the DS yet.
So we agree that they both suck equally, then.
Rob
Gamespy is a great network for PC games that nearly everyone knows about. It's clearly not considered a kids game service in anyway, so this is a smart move by nintnedo. Not only are they getting recognition with the Gamespy name, they're getting GOOD recognition. This is another huge step for Nintendo. Maybe now we'll see gamespy involved with Revolution??
Society never gets more or less violent, the definition of violent just keeps changing.
Yeah, now post the cumulative sales for both systems since their launch. You're in for a surprise (hint: the PSP numbers are lagging behind.)
Translation: You don't know what you're talking about.
Hey, I think your current -1 offtopic mod is as unfair as your final assessment, so I'll reply:
Why did you stop at April 11?
What you'll see if you do the research is that Nintendo DS sold over a million units in Japan in the month of December 2004 alone (not counting earlier impressive U.S. sales). To date, Sony has sold only about 1.2 million PSPs in Japan, including BOTH December 2004 sales AND YTD 2005 sales. Nintendo DS has kept pace with the PSP, outselling it both during PSP's launch week and following the PSP's boom period in January. That's how Japan has become home to 1.6 million DS owners and 1.2 million PSP owners by May 2005. Google the numbers for the U.S. to see similar performance comparisons here, and let's not even mention Europe, where the domestic sales difference is infinite.
(When comparing launch numbers in the U.S. or Japan, don't forget that early adopters woldwide imported American DS systems since DS launched here, while all these international buyers had to import launch PSPs from Japan, where it was exclusive for several months, inflating PSP's Japanese sales the whole time.)
So you posted an anomalous week in April. So what? Go pull MC's weekly charts for February and March (Nintendo ceded January big-time, thanks to the PSP's later launch date in December)....Nintendo DS wins. And this is not relying on the strength of its super-impressive titles, because (I'll admit it) they haven't been released yet, whereas the PSP's library has been a relative flood of supposedly jaw-droppingly impressive games. Too bad for SCEI that the sales don't match the fan and retailer hype (OH BOY, look at total individual PSP game sales compared to total individual DS game sales for some sad Sony joke numbers). And lucky for Nintendo that people have come to love Kirby, WarioWare, and Nintendogs in addition to Mario 64, especially since there are multiple DS games that have outsold any single PSP game you can think of by a factor of two or more in Japan. Like I mentioned, they aren't impressive games, just flat out GOOD.
Anyway, I really don't see why there should be a problem for Nintendo gamers that the PSP should perform well. As I've posted in other comments, it has done a lot to grow the handheld market without doing so at Nintendo's expense, which is fine by me. It's for that reason that I also don't understand why you'd assume that I am being blind in my dedication to accuracy when it comes to stories about Nintendo's supposed failures where none exist, especially when the truth is so easily proven.