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Nintendo Takes To The Airwaves

Posted by Zonk on from the wireless-that-is dept.

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.

10 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Misleading title/summary by bartyboy · · Score: 5, Informative
    The article is about the DS, not the Revolution:
    Speaking at the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed more details of the company's plans to promote wireless gaming for the Nintendo DS.

    Hopefully the Revolution online service will also be free for first party titles.

  2. Re:Genius! by Enjoi · · Score: 2

    Shit, I mean the money, not the games. (This is exacly why nintendo make great games. They think more about making everyone have a good experience than the money.)

  3. No voice on DS by Phantasmo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:No voice on DS by Gogo0 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well that sucks, I was really looking forward to screaming at my old college friends over Mario Kart DS. Oh well, not a huge loss.

      Here is hoping to an online Bomberman DS with voice chat =]

    2. Re:No voice on DS by xgamer04 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, its the same as saying "Since you bought a game rated for mature people, you have no right to complain about foul language".

      Yes, that's what it's literally saying. I'm taking the analogy and extending to an absurd extreme, which shows its flaw.

      Here's another statement analogous to the OP: If I watch a movie that deals with hate crimes, do I lose my right to be offended by hate crimes? Of course not! The fact that one uses or experiences media that deals with a certain subject or content does not mean that they endorse or approve of that subject or content. It also does not mean that a person loses the "right" to complain or have a certain viewpoint about the subject or content.

      --
      When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
  4. Good policies by alvinrod · · Score: 2, Interesting
    1) It's free. I don't mind paying a low monthly fee for online gaming if the service is good, but for the most part, my experience with online console gaming is limited to Xbox Live. It's not terrible for $50 a year, but the community occasionally leaves something to be desired. The DS isn't exactly a console though, so it would be hard to say the same rules apply for a console and a portable. Until we see Nintendo's online plan for the revolution, I don't know how much comparison is allowable. In any event, free is always good.

    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.

  5. Re:Genius! by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yet wtf, they make more profit than Sony and Microsoft as it is!

    The GC netted Nintendo 1bn$ in profit. The PS2 netted Sony 600m$ in profit and the XBox netted Microsoft a loss of 400m$.

    But that's because Nintendo HAVE to show a profit since it's their only product, while Sony and Microsoft have many other products.

    --
    ^_^
  6. Re:*All* console-based wi-fi is going to be free by xgamer04 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It sounds to me like you have "wi-fi" and "online gaming access" mixed up. Nintendo's online plan for the DS is to use the built-in Wi-fi capabilities of the machine to connect to their online service. They aren't going to charge people who connect to the online services for first-party games. If they provided "free wi-fi", it would be the big N running around creating access points.

    --
    When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
  7. No more ranting morons? by supabeast! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "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.

  8. Re:*All* console-based wi-fi is going to be free by BlastM · · Score: 3, Informative

    As opposed to Xbox Live or MMORPG subscriptions, people will be able to play Nintendo games online for free. There is no ongoing fee. And unlike PC games which are free to play online (if you connect to an ISP- or player-hosted server), Nintendo is providing all the server and match-up infrastructure. Iwata remarked recently that the reason Nintendo didn't run an online service for the GameCube (instead giving developers free reign to do whatever they wanted to with the broadband adapter by giving away network dev kits) was that there was no business model that made it work for the average consumer. Not everybody wants to pay an ongoing fee to play the odd online game, as can be evidenced by the small adoption of Xbox Live amongst Xbox owners. With the Gamespy partnership, Nintendo can finally make free online console gaming, anywhere, a reality. I think that's bloody marvellous.