DS Online Strategy

[Space Pirate Roberts]

From GamesAreFun:

News - Lots of actual info about Nintendo's DS Wi-Fi service
Posted by Josh Freund at 07:23:36 PM EST on 8.19.2005.

Puissance Nintendo had the chance to interview Jim Merrick, Nintendo's Head of European Marketing, at the recent Games Convention in Germany. The interview (which is rather good, I might add) explains a lot about how the DS's Wi-Fi Connection Service, which launches later this year, will work.

Here's the link.

For those who just want to read the important parts, I've summarized them below.

WCS = Wi-Fi Connection Service

-As Nintendo has stated before, you won't have to pay to play their 1st party DS games online.
-Nintendo's WCS will be free for 3rd party publishers to use. They have the option of charging if they desire. They will own their own network-infrastructure. Use of the matchmaking service will be free.
-Everyone will have a kind of buddy list. You'll be able to add people you know in the "real world," of course, as well as people you only know online.
-There are a few parameters you can set to fine-tune who you play against online. You could choose to only play against people you know (on your friends list), or you could choose to only play with people in a certain area (European players only, for instance), or you could choose to only play against players of a certain skill level. Basically, Nintendo wants you to be able to choose however you want to compete online.
-Each DS user is uniquely identified in the system. Adding people to your buddy list will be kind of like giving someone your cell phone number. Everyone will get a unique "password" of sorts each time they want to send someone a friend invite.
-You can have a separate name or "tag" for each game you play online. Also, you'll be able to pick names that people have used already (if you want to use "Bob," you can, even if someone else used it already). This works because each DS will have a unique userID (which you will never see).
-You'll be able to connect your account to nintendo.com (or nintendo-europe.com). Your stats, friends, etc. can be viewed online.
-The Wi-Fi Connection Service will be launching worldwide (a specific date still hasn't been mentioned; though we know it has to be before Mario Kart DS comes out in November).
-Nintendo took way too long to release Animal Crossing (GameCube) in Europe. Even though Animal Crossing DS will be released in Japan and North America before Europe; the release delay won't be as huge as the original's.
-Mario Kart DS will be the first game to use WFC, probably followed by Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and then Animal Crossing DS. There are a number of other games that you will use WFC that haven't been announced yet.

Good stuff, no? Some details are a bit hard to understand (the interview wasn't originally in English); I suggest clicking on the link above and reading the full interview for more.

Source: Puissance Nintendo

Good to see that nonsense about only connecting to people you know IRL got shot down.

[epmode]

In related news, the battle mode in Mario Kart is not online, even though the racing mode is.

[Jeremy]

That makes no sense, but this service seems great in spite of that one little problem.

[voltz]

In related news, the battle mode in Mario Kart is not online, even though the racing mode is.

You gotta be kidding me.

[Drewbacca]

I agree that it's a bad idea to omit the balloon battles from Mario Kart. In the larger picture of this announcement I have to say that I'm impressed. This is FREE AND actually useful? I can't believe Nintendo would release something like this.

What the fuck is happening? It's like Microsoft and Nintendo have flipped positioning all of a sudden.

[EvilMog]

I have a feeling going online with your DS is going to be very very lonely.

[Dyne]

free and usefull because they want to KILL the psp. MS made a mockery of SONY's online plans this last gen and im sure Nintendo wants to make a mockery of their handheld plans any way they can.

[TobalRox]

ATV Offroad Fury 2 for PS2 had racing only, and none of the other modes... so it's been done before. And then look at Smackdown vs. RAW online... crippled online happens, and it's all because shit gets rushed.

[StriderKyo]

Holy shit. DS WiFi > Xbox Live.

Except for the games part. I don't care about Mario Kart battle mode, but the fact that they didn't enable wireless for it, and axed WiFi from Metroid Prime Hunters altogether can't be a great sign as to what it can handle. They need some killer apps for this...okay, just some apps.

[Compass]

I wish it worked on games already released. Meteos online would be fun.