Nintendo Sets Absolute Standard With DS Wi-Fi Plans – Full Report
Hotspots, in-home access, all free.
David Yarnton
A story we’d been sitting on for some time came bursting out of Nintendo UK this morning, with the company outlining a shatteringly impressive online strategy for the Nintendo DS, Revolution and future Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
Prepare to be impressed. What you’re about to read details exactly how an online strategy should be rolled out – it’s cheap to set up, free to use and is pretty much everywhere across the UK.
The network, set up in conjunction with BT Openzone and Cloud, will see gamers able to play DS online from home and on the move, in what has to be seen as the most important advance in online gaming ever witnessed.
Nintendo will set up over 7,500 DS Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. Gone are the fears that six might crop in Soho and three more in other boroughs. If you live near other people, you’ll be able to join in. Locations include McDonalds restaurants, Coffee Republic coffee houses, Hilton and Ramada Jarvis hotels, Road Chef and Welcome Break service stations, First Great Western railway stations, over 25 Student Unions and city centre BT Payphones and airports, football stadiums and even the British Library and Canary Wharf.
“Nintendo is bringing a significant, groundbreaking deal to the UK. Launching our Wi-Fi service in partnership with two of the UK’s leading providers of hotspots is a massive statement of our commitment,” commented David Yarnton, the jolly and rotund head of Nintendo UK. “Nintendo has revolutionised Wi-Fi video gaming, removing all of the negative aspects whilst retaining the fun and diversity it offers. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service truly offers the mass market a great opportunity to fully embrace Wi-Fi.”
Click here, enter your postcode and you’ll be able to see your nearest Wi-Fi hotpsot. Neat-o!
You’ll also be able to play at home via your existing wireless router. And should you not have a wireless router, you can splash £30 on a USB dongle that will transmit a wireless signal from your PC to your DS. There will also be the chance to snaffle a dongle for pretty much nothing when it’s bundled with various Nintendo online games, including Mario Kart DS due on the 25th of this month.
Then you have to remember that Nintendo’s Wi-Fi service for DS will also create a networked environment for your Revolution inside your home. It’s all a bit much to take in.
Then bear in mind that it’s free. You need to get yourself a DS and a dongle of course, but you’ll pay no subscription fee to Nintendo at any point. You’ll only pay your standard broadband costs to your provider.
As previously hinted at, the networked environment for DS will be safe and easy to use. A Fisher Price style set-up will precede a secured network over which personal details may not be exchanged. You will have the option to either play against friends or people of varying skill levels. Chat and other community functionality will only be available to those in your friends list and to add a person to this list you’ll need their 12 digit personal number – so it’s as safe as it’s going to get, certainly not a conduit to kiddie-fiddling as the News of the World (a newspaper seemingly obsessed with underage sex – go figure) might have you believe.
The service launches across the UK on November 25th this year. We’ll see you there.
Prepare to be impressed. What you’re about to read details exactly how an online strategy should be rolled out – it’s cheap to set up, free to use and is pretty much everywhere across the UK.
The network, set up in conjunction with BT Openzone and Cloud, will see gamers able to play DS online from home and on the move, in what has to be seen as the most important advance in online gaming ever witnessed.
Nintendo will set up over 7,500 DS Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. Gone are the fears that six might crop in Soho and three more in other boroughs. If you live near other people, you’ll be able to join in. Locations include McDonalds restaurants, Coffee Republic coffee houses, Hilton and Ramada Jarvis hotels, Road Chef and Welcome Break service stations, First Great Western railway stations, over 25 Student Unions and city centre BT Payphones and airports, football stadiums and even the British Library and Canary Wharf.
“Nintendo is bringing a significant, groundbreaking deal to the UK. Launching our Wi-Fi service in partnership with two of the UK’s leading providers of hotspots is a massive statement of our commitment,” commented David Yarnton, the jolly and rotund head of Nintendo UK. “Nintendo has revolutionised Wi-Fi video gaming, removing all of the negative aspects whilst retaining the fun and diversity it offers. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service truly offers the mass market a great opportunity to fully embrace Wi-Fi.”
Click here, enter your postcode and you’ll be able to see your nearest Wi-Fi hotpsot. Neat-o!
You’ll also be able to play at home via your existing wireless router. And should you not have a wireless router, you can splash £30 on a USB dongle that will transmit a wireless signal from your PC to your DS. There will also be the chance to snaffle a dongle for pretty much nothing when it’s bundled with various Nintendo online games, including Mario Kart DS due on the 25th of this month.
Then you have to remember that Nintendo’s Wi-Fi service for DS will also create a networked environment for your Revolution inside your home. It’s all a bit much to take in.
Then bear in mind that it’s free. You need to get yourself a DS and a dongle of course, but you’ll pay no subscription fee to Nintendo at any point. You’ll only pay your standard broadband costs to your provider.
As previously hinted at, the networked environment for DS will be safe and easy to use. A Fisher Price style set-up will precede a secured network over which personal details may not be exchanged. You will have the option to either play against friends or people of varying skill levels. Chat and other community functionality will only be available to those in your friends list and to add a person to this list you’ll need their 12 digit personal number – so it’s as safe as it’s going to get, certainly not a conduit to kiddie-fiddling as the News of the World (a newspaper seemingly obsessed with underage sex – go figure) might have you believe.
The service launches across the UK on November 25th this year. We’ll see you there.
Companies:
Nintendo
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Comments
king skins 3 Nov 2005 11:52
1/9
Confused... I thought it was free...?
I went to the site to look up Wi-Fi hotspots where I live and expected it not find any and it found loads!! Got all excited and then noticed that you had to pay £4.50 per hour...
Or is it just the Nintendo end is free?
The other problem I have always had with Wi-Fi is that its s**t in my house. I have had two Wi-Fi routers and I can never get a good signal unless I am right next to the thing!! I get an average of 20% signal strength :(
Also, I was thinking about picking up a DS for my nephew for Chirstmas... are there any good games for 7year old kids? He likes Pokemon and loved Star Wars Lego
I went to the site to look up Wi-Fi hotspots where I live and expected it not find any and it found loads!! Got all excited and then noticed that you had to pay £4.50 per hour...
Or is it just the Nintendo end is free?
The other problem I have always had with Wi-Fi is that its s**t in my house. I have had two Wi-Fi routers and I can never get a good signal unless I am right next to the thing!! I get an average of 20% signal strength :(
Also, I was thinking about picking up a DS for my nephew for Chirstmas... are there any good games for 7year old kids? He likes Pokemon and loved Star Wars Lego
sunkai 3 Nov 2005 11:54
2/9
Nintendo have often been criticised for their business decisions in recent times, ever since the Sony giant entered the market and demonstrated it marketing prowess. I think this is an opportunity that Nintendo have spotted first and will reap the benefits of being on the cusp.
Think about it. If mobile online gaming takes off in a big way like mobile phones have, there will be more products entering the market to emulate the DS' success. I am unsure of Sony's PSP online strategy, but hotspots seem to be the only viable distributed model that fits within current technology, and can offer a subscriptionless connection contract to the user. To me, this suggest that Sony's only option will be to follow.
If Nintendo have built in any exclusivity protection in to their contracts with Cloud and BT, then the only option for Sony will be to have their own contracts drawn up with a separate provider, and have them place their own devices around the country. This brings several issues to the fore for Sony.
Are there providers large enough to emulate the BT/Cloud/Nintendo distribution? Will shopping centres like Canary Wharf's have the tolerence to place multiple devices on their property? How long will it take to build up a similar infrastructure?
Touche Nintendo. Touche.
Think about it. If mobile online gaming takes off in a big way like mobile phones have, there will be more products entering the market to emulate the DS' success. I am unsure of Sony's PSP online strategy, but hotspots seem to be the only viable distributed model that fits within current technology, and can offer a subscriptionless connection contract to the user. To me, this suggest that Sony's only option will be to follow.
If Nintendo have built in any exclusivity protection in to their contracts with Cloud and BT, then the only option for Sony will be to have their own contracts drawn up with a separate provider, and have them place their own devices around the country. This brings several issues to the fore for Sony.
Are there providers large enough to emulate the BT/Cloud/Nintendo distribution? Will shopping centres like Canary Wharf's have the tolerence to place multiple devices on their property? How long will it take to build up a similar infrastructure?
Touche Nintendo. Touche.
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soanso 3 Nov 2005 13:15
3/9
I typed my postcode into that site and all I got back was a list of pubs, some of which I used to frequent, some of which I sort of still do.
ARE THEY TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING!!!
This is pretty impressive from nintendo. I was expecting 3 hotspots, all in london, and call that their coverage for the UK. But no. they have a proper looking plan here.
I'm actually becoming quite excited at the prospect of online DS play. I wasn't bothered before but slowly I'm getting more interested.
ARE THEY TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING!!!
This is pretty impressive from nintendo. I was expecting 3 hotspots, all in london, and call that their coverage for the UK. But no. they have a proper looking plan here.
I'm actually becoming quite excited at the prospect of online DS play. I wasn't bothered before but slowly I'm getting more interested.
YenRug 3 Nov 2005 13:20
4/9
There will also be the chance to snaffle a dongle for pretty much nothing when it’s bundled with various Nintendo online games, including Mario Kart DS due on the 25th of this month.
Ok, you're the only website I've seen mention this as being likely to happen, not even NoE have said they will consider bundling the USB dongle. Where did you get this info?
DoctorDee 3 Nov 2005 13:45
5/9
YenRug wrote:
Ok, you're the only website I've seen mention this as being likely to happen, not even NoE have said they will consider bundling the USB dongle. Where did you get this info?
It's either:
1. We're just so much better than all the other website.
b. One of our retard news writers may not have looked at the embargo date on the press release, and run it a day early.
iii. Both of the above.
VastikRoot 3 Nov 2005 13:50
6/9
I reckon the prices Cloud quote are for normal use -laptops etc. When it comes to using a DS in these hotspots it will probably be a different matter. Here's hoping anyway!
By the way Zoo Keeper is a good kid friendly puzzle game for the DS. Kirby's Canvass Curse might be worth checking too (and Animal Crossing when it comes out).
By the way Zoo Keeper is a good kid friendly puzzle game for the DS. Kirby's Canvass Curse might be worth checking too (and Animal Crossing when it comes out).
kid_77 4 Nov 2005 09:13
7/9
Not sure my lazy-arse could make the 5-minute walk... better just use my WAP. Oh yeah, I don't have a DS... *adds first entry to xmas list*
Joji 4 Nov 2005 18:03
8/9
Nice to see Nintendo have a lot of spots sorted out. Just when you think they might not deliver and they do so in spades and aces.
Looks like I'll have to be keeping my DS on standby a lot more now. Sweet.
Mario Kart here we come.
Looks like I'll have to be keeping my DS on standby a lot more now. Sweet.
Mario Kart here we come.
Praxis 5 Nov 2005 18:55
9/9
DoctorDee wrote:
YenRug wrote:
Ok, you're the only website I've seen mention this as being likely to happen, not even NoE have said they will consider bundling the USB dongle. Where did you get this info?
It's either:
1. We're just so much better than all the other website.
b. One of our retard news writers may not have looked at the embargo date on the press release, and run it a day early.
iii. Both of the above.
A bit overconfident, are you?
Have you considered that perhaps it's incorrect? How would Nintendo bundle it in a normal case- it wouldn't fit...and why? It's $35 in the U.S., the price of a DS game. It'd make a game significantly more expensive, or be a big loss for Nintendo.
Spong isn't always right, you know. Remember the "We know for a fact that either at GDC or E3, Nintendo will unveil a GameBoy Evolution as competition to the PSP, etc etc"? By the time E3 came along everyone had forgotten about the article so Spong never had to acocunt for it.