Nintendo really will be online
There have been a lot of press releases, interviews, and presentations devoted to Nintendo announcing their plans for Nintendo Wi-Fi. This morning, Nintendo announced what this gamer feels is the most important news yet and this short is my reaction to it.
Since the Nintendo DS™ first launched with demo versions of Metroid® Prime Hunters, fans have been clamoring for the completed version of the game. Their patience has paid off. Metroid Prime Hunters will launch in the first quarter of 2006, complete with access to Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo’s upcoming online gaming service. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection will debut before the end of the year with a Mario Kart® and an Animal Crossing® game, and will let players connect wirelessly with one another as easily as if they were sitting in the same room.
[Source: Nintendo]
The news that Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing would be premier titles of the Wi-Fi network was big. News that Tony Hawk, a third party title would also be released towards the launch of the network was equally big. What makes this news more significant is the fact that this title, an important brand and highly anticipated title, was delayed to bring it online. Delaying titles for quality improvements is nothing new for Nintendo. With this delay, Nintendo is communicating to gamers and to the development community that to make Metroid Prime: Hunters better, they need to bring it online. Saying they want to take an arena style FPS and bring it online strikes me as an even more interesting look for Nintendo.
I always find that news of a first wave of support however exciting only takes you so far. In the world of Xbox, the news of increased Japanese developer support is very exciting, yet I believe the next wave of announcements (in addition to the actual release of the initial titles) could carry more weight as it will affirm that the commitment runs deeper. Nintendo’s action to release this news so soon after they announced the delay to explain and promote the title at the upcoming PAX event is something for gamers to be excited about. This gamer is excited.
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26. August 2005 at 10:18
What hasn’t been entirely clear for me in the Nintendo Online department is whether the Wi-Fi will be proprietary or not. Am I going to be able to buzz down to the coffee shop for an impromptu DS online gaming session, or do I have to drive to Chicago to find a Nintendo-run hotspot? If it does turn out to be proprietary, there may be an alternative in the works. Hackers working for the DS TCP/IP bounty are currently writing an implementation that, if successful, will eventually allow for tunneling existing DS multiplayer games over the regular internet.
26. August 2005 at 10:32
Though I don’t have the direct source handy, I believe it was specifically addressed in an interview or press release saying that it will not be proprietary and that you will be able to use your home wi-fi and such. There will be unique wi-fi hotspots and potentially a USB device that Nintendo will be setting up / making available that will make connecting to the network require no configuration, where home and other wi-fi access will require manual configuration.
28. August 2005 at 15:50
The DS specifically supports the 802.11b standard, if I remember correctly, and while it doesn’t appear to be as completely network integrated as, say, the PSP right now, they’re certainly taking steps to make sure it’s compatible with home user networks. There was a download out some time ago that was, basically, a network connection tester that, once it completed and sent back the anonymous data, turned into an Animal Crossing themed desktop clock for your PC. Nintendo was trying to gather some user data about connection type, network setup, that sort of thing, so the conclusion I’d draw is that they’re shooting to make it compatible with standard WiFi networks. It only makes sense from a competition sense, proprietary network technologies have never flown very well and especially in competition with the PSP’s well integrated networking, it’d only hurt Nintendo trying to do so.