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Nintendo Takes To The Airwaves
Eurogamer has a look at some new information about the Revolution's wireless presence. From the article: "Iwata confirmed that consumers will not be required to pay any monthly fees to play first party titles - the only costs incurred will be the price of games and the user's own Internet connection. He said that Nintendo has worked hard to design a system which is secure and protected from the kind of abuse that can come from anonymity. A Nintendo-branded USB Wi-Fi access point will appear on the shelves along side the first Wi-Fi enabled game for use by gamers who don't have a wireless Internet connection already set up - which would suggest that third party wireless access points can also be used." Update: 09/20 20:47 GMT by Z : Edited for clarity.
This is exacly why nintendo make great games. They think more about making everyone have a good experience than the games.
Hopefully the Revolution online service will also be free for first party titles.
Zonk, as a proofreader/editor for the games section, you should at least see easy little typos in the first name of the blurb.
:/
If I'm not mistaken, the man is called Iwata, not wata.
Show a little respect, come on
This is the sig that says NI (again)
So the DS' first-party titles will not have any kind of voice chat. That's fine with me - otherwise Nintendo would have to moderate every voice message to check for inappropriate language.
Perhaps 3rd-party developers will allow unmoderated voice. If the game is rated M then who has the right to complain?
However, I certainly hope that Nintendo creates some kind of headset for the Revolution. Playing with other people is nice but how are you going to coordinate strategy or hurl insults?
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
The USB access point is going to be used for the DS. And maybe the Rev later. RTFA before making the title.
Ha! They said I was crazy! --> Nintendo Releasing Wireless Router for Revolution
2) 3rd Party devices can be used. I've already got a Linksys wireless G router, so I won't need to get a Nintendo one. I'm glad that they aren't forcing me to buy an extra piece of hardware. Would I buy one if they required it though? Possibly. But there are probably a lot of people who wouldn't. I'm not sure what similar devices would normally cost, but the price doesn't seem too bad.
3) Free Nintendo supported hot spots. It's nice that they're making a few free hotspots for DS gamers to gather and play online. Once again free is good.
I'm a little disappointed that there won't be voice chat, but then again after some of the things you hear on Live (excessive cursing, yelling, people playing music into the mic) I'm not really so sure this is such a bad thing. Then again, that's not really the fault of Xbox Live, merely that of some of those who use it.
All in all, it's nice to see a company offering free service that you doesn't require first party hardware. I wish that more companies were like this, or at least wouldn't price gouge on the required hardware.
I hope Wifi is an option but they don't neglect an RJ-45 jack. Wifi is great, but i personally don't completely trust it for gaming yet. Anyone have details on that front?
I don't think Nintendo deserve praise for doing something that would probably have been expected of them closer to the release date of the Revolution, when everyone and their dog is probably going to have wi-fi access. Its like clapping for a politician who, when he's elected, says something like 'Okay everyone, from now on, we're going to let you use the library, no charge!'. Like, duh.
"He said that Nintendo has worked hard to design a system which is secure and protected from the kind of abuse that can come from anonymity."
Does that mean I'll be able to completely disable voice chat, unlike most Xbox Live games, which force everyone to individually mute 14-year-old net bullies who spend their lives calling everyone on the internet a nigger? Because if that's what they mean, they've got my Next Gen console dollars.
It's on that very day, that I NEED to buy this console.
I'm just wondering if this scr00s those of us who live in small cities in Canada? because it would suck to have this great free service and not be able to use it just because I don't live in big American cities...
This would only be really great if they covered all of North America, Europe and Asian areas. . . I just can't see that as being too feasable.
Don't get me wrong, this would be a great system, but I can't see it happening right now. . .
This certainly is good news for this news to be reconfirmed, but I still have a few more general questions about big N's online gaming: 1) First Party? - Does this just mean plain old first party titles or also the many more Nintendo-only type developers. In other words, will I be playing online Fire Emblem someday free of charge? 2) Nintendo Management for 3rd Party Titles? - I would gladly pay a monthly fee to one source for my online gaming needs that I can relatively trust, like Nintendo, than a billion developers separately. So I certainly hope it will be broken into basically a free and then upgraded subscription service, where the upgraded service would include all you can eat 3rd party online gaming, or at least Nintendo managed 3rd party billing. I think this is especially important because I don't think 3rd party devs will want to put up with the mess of self-management, and revolution will just result in having not many 3rd party online titles. 3) Some Sort of Meet-up Service? - I think Nintendo has a stellar idea with the self contained gaming social networks idea, but I certainly hope that they have a good way devised to have people expand this said social network, or I have a feeling it will be an unused feature, especially because I just don't see Revolution being the mainstream console of the next-generation.
If nintendo is running the servers, hopefully they dont forget about australia. If our servers are located in europe or japan, im going to be kinda annoyed, as it will be almost unplayable with the lag. im mostly worried because nintendo doesnt have a force in australia. some game stores rarely stock (if at all) nintendo products. and the DS campaign was barely present. while the PSP as tv ads, bus ads, and eb windows are full of psp posters. im sure telstra is probably willing to host down here, but im not even hopeful that we will even get a wifi service.