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1 Millionth Unique User Logs on to Nintendo Wifi

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the rawk-on dept.

MrJack5304 writes "According to Nintendo's official Press Release, the Nintendo Wifi service has logged it's 1 millionth user. In 5 short months Nintendo has reached 1 million users, and had 27 million total connections." From the release: "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection lets Nintendo DS owners log on cost-free to compete or interact in a variety of games, from racing in Mario Kart DS to community-building in Animal Crossing: Wild World. The 1 millionth user was a player in Japan, who logged on to play Animal Crossing: Wild World." The release goes on to mention that Tetris DS and Metroid Hunters will also utilize the service.

13 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Future of online console gaming by the+computer+guy+nex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Which business model will win?

    Sony/MS use a subscription model. Nintendo is using free access.

    The free access is an extra bonus when buying a console, so Nintendo should sell extra consoles to make up the cost of free online gaming. Sony/MS would rather sell fewer consoles but use a subscription model.

    One way or another its nice to have choices.

  2. And his prize? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And for being the 1 millionth user he gets?!? An anonymous mention in a press release... :-(

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:And his prize? by rev063 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's unlikely he can be identified: there's no formal registration process with Nintendo's WiFi service like there is with Xbox Live, for example. I guess the system can identify both the DS and the game card uniquely, but unless this guy registered his purchases with Nintendo, there's no way they can know who he is.

  3. Interesting by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Informative

    So that's why all nintendo products have a hole in the back of the box for the cashier to scan each unique ID at purchase.

    //Did you guys also have to go in the back room and give a dna sample for your DS? 'Cause that wasn't really too pleasant at all...

    1. Re:Interesting by littleghoti · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or maybe they've just been keeping records of the MAC addresses connected to their servers?

    2. Re:Interesting by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, there's another reason all consoles have to have the serial number scanned - it's the warranty registration! That serial number goes to Nintendo (or Microsoft, or Sony), and it activates the warranty from the time it was scanned. If you later need service, all you have to do is call them up, give them the serial number, and they'll verify immediately if it needs service.

      If they don't have the registration on file, then they'll ask for you to include your sales receipt to qualify warranty (and they'll register the remaining period in their systems).

      My DS had a dud pixel, and the store I got it from didn't register it, so Nintendo took the original receipt, then created an extension on the replacement unit to the full year from the date I brought it in (not that it extended it much - just a week and a half).

  4. Nintendo WiFi is nice, but... by dividedsky319 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The WiFi service for the DS is nice, however... it could be implemented a little better.

    My problem with Mario Kart DS is that there's no ranking/ladder type system... so a first time player can be pitted against someone with 1000 wins and 3 losses. Not to mention the fact that I've had some of these people quit right before they were about to lose. (Which, I think, makes it so a loss isn't added to their record... which if true, is something else that should be changed)

    And my problem with Animal Crossing is that there's no "community" place where you can randomly visit someone else's town... you have to manually put someone else's code in.

    The hardware is in place, I just wish they'd develop the online community a little better.

    1. Re:Nintendo WiFi is nice, but... by Lave · · Score: 5, Informative

      >My problem with Mario Kart DS is that there's no ranking/ladder type system... so a first time player can be pitted against someone with 1000 wins and 3 losses.

      Except for the "Rivals" match which searches for people with similar win/loss records.

      --
      http://skeptobot.blogspot.com/ - A site for the Renaissance man and woman
    2. Re:Nintendo WiFi is nice, but... by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Funny

      so a first time player can be pitted against someone with 1000 wins and 3 losses

      Stick and move, Little Mac! Stick and move!

  5. Re:1 millionth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you noticed that every single thing which comes along which might be considered fun by both teenage girls and adult men becomes a new tool for pedophiles in the eyes of the media?

    News Flash: Real pedophiles don't go after teen girls. They go after young children of both genders. When a 26 year-old male finds himself attracted to a 17 year-old girl, that's not a pedophile. That's an ordinary heterosexual male, whose biological impulse runs afoul of our provincial age-of-consent laws. If he acts on that impulse, he's a bit of a dweeb, but hardly what you would call a "predator."

    Apparently, it's okay for corporate America to use 15-year old models to sell issues of Maxim, but completely taboo for anybody to admit out loud that youth is attractive.

    Raise your daughters to understand that adult losers who hit on teens are both too old for them, and kind of pathetic. That's the only defense that's going to matter when she's chatting in the SIMS Online (or whatever) and some dork who can't find a date his own age is trying to make time with her.

    Also, the time to start watching out for sexual predators is not when your little angel starts dating, wearing make-up, and bugging you to let her get her nose pierced. It's when she's 5. Oh, and statistically, that predator you need to watch out for is probably a family member, teacher, or member of the clergy. Odds are, there are no strangers lurking in your bushes.

  6. Re:1 millionth by dogbowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you can't see the difference between the Mario platformers or the Zelda titles and if you can't recognize the accolades that each has received, thats not the fault of the mods

    --

    These pretzels are making me thirsty.
  7. Re:Explain to me... by BinaryOpty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is special because Nintendo's online service reached 1 million in 4 months. Microsoft's took 2 years.

  8. Re:1 millionth by BTWR · · Score: 4, Insightful
    the irony involved with saying 'Nintendo always innovates' while in the same sentence saying that they are looking forward to the next Mario platformer, the next Mario Kart, the next Zelda, the next Metroid, the next Super Smash Brothers, etc.

    (Nearly) each Nintendo sequel is innovative (Metroid Prime, Mario 64, etc), even though it shares a name with it's predecessor. That's like saying The Godfather, Part II is not one of the most innovative movies ever, and basing that argument soley on the fact that it shares the title "Godfather" with the first movie released 2 years earlier...