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Nintendo Considers WFC A Success

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-a-lot-of-karting dept.

Eurogamer reports that at 200,000 users, Nintendo considers the WFC a success. From the article: "Nintendo has announced that more than 200,000 unique visitors have made use of its new Wi-Fi Connection service since last month's launch, logging nearly 3 million connections around the globe. Wi-Fi Connection allows Nintendo DS owners to play titles such as Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk DS online, via either Wi-Fi hotspot, wireless router or a special USB dongle."

1 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Mario Kart DS's pretty good, in that domain. by Hitto · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've only tried playing Mario Kart DS, since I live in Europe and Nintendo HATES US for not releasing Animal Crossing (not gonna import it, the people I wanna show it to don't want to read english text) earlier, well, let's say it's a start.

    Pros :

      - I don't think I need to remind how mind-blowingly fun Mario Kart is. Just being able to play it on the crapper was a huge improvement in the GBA episode, now being able to compete against humans at anytime makes it even better.
      - It's free. FREE! No subscription, jus' like beer.
      - No lag. I mean, I once had lag, but I slid the bittorrent upload limit button a bit lower (maybe -5K), and it was flawless. Looks like Nifi needs very little bandwidth, which is very elegant, I might say.
      - No chance of anyone shouting "DIE FUCKER PIG JEW NIGGER", unlike some game that starts with "H" and ends with "ALO 2".
      - Some adjustments can be done regarding the rules. For example, for the first few days, disconnecting during a race would have no consequences, the "loser" losing nothing, and the leading winning nothing. Now, any disconnection in the heat of a race means a loss. It's smart enough to notice you're between two races if you really need to disconnect. There's hope for more adjustments, then.
      - I still haven't seen nazi signs or penises used as emblems, so I'll take it that either Nintendo is doing a fine banning job, or that MKDS players are a bit more responsible than the rest. (that, or I'm lucky, and the unlucky players will flood me with shameful replies in 3, 2, 1...)
      - No communication at all possible through the game. (It's a plus for concerned parents, a minus for me.)

    Cons :

      - If you don't like playing against humans, it sucks.
      - Very simple interface means very uncustomizable interface. That's Nintendo for you.
      - The "friend codes" thingamajig could have been optimized so that after each game, you could specifiy if you wanted to add this or that racer into your friend roster.
      - Four races! That's about twenty minutes play, it's very good, but personnally, I have to spend about two to five *real* minutes in the matchmaking room. Not very "on the go", is it?
      - No battle mode, and not all circuits available for online play, due to lag reasons. WTF, Ninty? If I want to lag, I'll lag, now let me play the *full* game, PLEASE! I'll blame my router, not you guys! Promise!
      - The whole territory of France sucks and is still firmly entrenched in the stone age, so I've only played wi-fi domestically, not in the streets. Okay, it's not a Mario Kart con, just a rant. Désolé.
      - No communication at all possible through the game. (It's a plus for concerned parents, a minus for me.)

    Now, I gotta go do something. TTYL. GG.