Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo To Cancel Weather, News, and Other Built-In Wii Apps In June
damn_registrars writes "Nintendo has announced that at the end of June it will be canceling the services of several of the channels that are built in to the original Wii, including the Weather, News, Everybody Votes, and Mii Contest. This will also affect the WiiConnect24 services, though should not affect the Wii shopping channel. They added: 'Exchange of Wii messages on the Wii Message Board, exchange of Mii characters on the Mii Channel and message/data exchange within some games will be disabled.'"
this is the future of gaming if the publishers get their way.
i had a wii years ago and after setting these up out f curiosity i never used these services
the GUI for anything but gaming is pretty limited by the controller
Since nobody actually uses these things, we're turning them off.
Back when I had a Wii, in order to get these network services, you essentially had to set the device to never turn off. And that was something I deemed as pointless and a waste of power.
And, really, who needs to get the weather and news on the Wii?
But, somehow everybody seems to keep acting as if the game console is going to become your internet hub.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Dear Loyal Customers,
Fuck U
Waaahaa!,
Nintendo
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
I've sold my wii probably 3 years ago I wasn't playing it but those were features that I once enjoyed. I'm disappointed that as a console reaches it's end of life that the company can just go and switch off services for it. I know these are added features that don't hinder game play but it still seems like they are taking something people have paid for away. I realize that online services can be costly but this disconnection seems premature. The WiiU only came out at the end of last year and 6 months later they are starting to abandon services on the previous one. That's a shame. In this case I think how Microsoft supports it's products is better. Give it and end of life time frame like their OS's get. Maybe I missed the news but it seems rather abrupt to me and rather soon after the release of the WiiU.
I'm just anecdotal evidence, but I have always seen plenty of WiiU boxes on the floor at my local Best Buy. I don't think sales have been as brisk as they've hoped, and I personally believe there intentionally poor distribution to cause the illusion of shortages to defend the poor sales. Anyone who wanted one could pick up a phone and discover there was a stack of them here.
I recall when the Wii was released, no matter who you called, nobody had it.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Or, you know, people could still use it to, oh let's see ... play games?
I doubt that the networking features are the most used aspects of these consoles.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
They need some games. If Nintendo can come out with exclusives like Mario Kart and Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy for Wii U, then it will start to take off. Right now, the only great game is Mario. Everything else is just OK to poor.
They may succeed yet if Microsoft and Sony continue in their game console missteps, but I'm betting that Ouya takes off in a big way.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
Article from Engadget (Mentions Japan only): http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/12/nintendo-to-retire-some-wii-network-services-june-28/
Who referenced Nintendo's "Japan" website: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2013/0412.html
And that website in English: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendo.co.jp%2Fsupport%2Finformation%2F2013%2F0412.html
I see various posts on here talking about how nobody used those features, or how this is normal EOL, or even berating Nintendo for doing this. But this is not an issue specific to the Wii, Nintendo, or even to consoles in general. This is the future of cloud based computing combined with locked down devices.
As long as we allow the manufacturers of devices (whether it be a gaming console, a tablet, a phone, or even a desktop PC) to control what software we run and what services we connect to, we do not own the device. The manufacturer does, and they can (and have repeatedly proven they will) remove features at their whim.
Unfortunately people haven't learned from the many, many examples in the past, and they keep lining up to thrown money at companies who are actively hostile toward their user base. Until that stops, nothing will change.
If you want ANY feature on a device, you better be sure that you have enough control of the device, and of the service supporting it, that the manufacturer can't remove it, because if they can, they will. It's only a question of when.
They're removing services for an outdated and redundant console- this is far from closing up shop (in fact, based on the article, the shop is specifically left open!)
Currently and regrettably, they're following the same trend that many publishers are- with the new and improved version out, they're shuttering the old one. Who needs all this on the Wii when the Wii U is out? Thankfully these functions were little more than a novelty anyway rather than an actual game, but this is the reality of the world we live in now. We can't keep servers running forever for outdated things- and the difference between this and what EA usually does is, these services were up and around a lot longer, heh.
I'm interested in the Wii U, but until more actual interesting games are on it I'll be passing, but the DS had a similarly slow start and ended up being probably my favorite gaming device of all time. We'll see what happens here.
Irony Captcha: Perishes
Outdated? You could still buy a new Wii through normal retail channels in 2012 (maybe you still can). Less than a year of support is the standard now? That's shameful. Not that I know anyone who uses a wii for news and weather, but still.
Not antiquated, just different from yours.
I won't connect a game console to the internet, because that brings absolutely no benefit to me that I've been able to discover.
The XBox and EA have shown me the future of network connected gaming consoles, and it involves advertisements and DRM.
I don't play any on-line games because I don't want to, because I have no need to have my ass handed to me by a 9 year old, and because I only game a little.
You can feel free to provide an advertising platform, an opportunity to monetize all aspects of game play, and have EA tell you how and when you can use your video game, not to mention the trove of personal information they probably tie to your online account.
But they've already demonstrated that networking quickly turns into a negative feature. I'm not paying full price for a game and paying for my internet connection so they can put ads into the game console. I value my privacy and peace a little more than that. MS and EA already showed me that it's all about them and maximizing revenues, not giving me the best gaming experience.
In fact, I don't believe a single one of my friends has their XBox of PS3 connected to their network. Either because they've got modded consoles, don't want to see ads, or don't play games online.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
For a moment, I seriously wondered whether they could do that. But if anyone could cancel the weather, and the news, it'd probably be Nintendo.
The voting was fun though.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
It's funny that there are plenty of legitimate gripes about the Wii U, but you fail to mention any of them.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
I recall when the Wii was released, no matter who you called, nobody had it.
Not just right around launch time, but for over a year.
You are interested in a Wii U yet you call the Wii outdated...
You do realize the Wii U is simply a Wii with 720p and a overpriced external screen that does nothing except show you what is on the TV.
By which you mean a Wii with a better CPU and GPU, 1080p, and an external screen that can act independently of what's shown on the TV, right? I know, I know, it's a common mistake to get absolutely everything wrong. Must be your crippling Alzheimer's.
Bro, do you even troll?
My Wii is used primarily by my 8 yro for Lego Games, and Netflix - I bet that is 90-95% of how Wii's are used anyway.
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
You do realize* the Wii U is simply a Wii
With an updated CPU and GPU and a lot more RAM.
with 720p
1080p.
and an overpriced
Says you.
external screen that does nothing except show you what is on the TV
...or anything else the system wants to show, and is also an input device.
I was going to get one until I realized it offered nothing at all over the Wii.
It may not offer enough for you, but it's just being churlish to suggest that that equates to "nothing." You sound like Grandpa Simpson when he said that a fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I honestly thought he died back in the 90's.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Oh. My. God. Lego City Undercover. Forget everything else, even Mario.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Lego City Undercover is an absolutely fantastic game that's WiiU exclusive.
There are some other good games, but most of them are multiplatform, so they're not a reason to get a WiiU.
Part of me wonders if this is because these are the exact features the Wii U doesn't support in its Wii mode, so it removes a reason someone might replace their broken Wii with a new Wii instead of a Wii U... but I also wonder how many zombie-Wiis are out there, downloading weather and new Miis every night, even though they haven't been turned on in years. It reminds me of the cost of running the HTML DTD servers, constantly serving millions of completely unnecessary requests.