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Nintendo Businesses Portables (Games) Wireless Networking Hardware

1000 DS HotSpots By End of Year 28

Nintendo has announced that they will impliment up to 1000 DS wireless hotspots by the end of the year in Japan. No word yet on international wireless initiatives, though the article states there are many countries interested in the project. Iwata also repeats an earlier belief that online gaming has yet to really take off. From the article: "Iwata said online gaming had yet to take off and spread to a wide audience of users because of various drawbacks, including a laborious process to get connected to a network and consumers' unwillingness to pay a monthly fee for access."
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1000 DS HotSpots By End of Year

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  • by defkkon ( 712076 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @10:29AM (#12747146)
    Nintendo was heavily criticized for not jumping into the realm of online gaming. I criticized them as well. I was sitting there playing my PS2 online and my Xbox Live thinking "Geez, I wish Nintendo would do this!" Nintendo's defense was that it "wasn't the right time." I called bullshit, along with many many others.

    Now I'm ashamed that I had lost faith in them. Nintendo truly doesn't go with the majority. They really were waiting for the "right time" to do something unique with online (and specifically, wireless) technology.

    Between the DS hotspots and the proposed online service for the Revolution, it just goes to show you that Nintendo will take whatever the competition is doing and find a unique way of adapting it.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Wouldn't it be great if a cell phone plan was basically a "wireless" plan instead, without restriction to one particular device?

    I believe this is where we need to head in order to reach the next level of online portable gaming.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well I would *really* like to know is how and when am I going to be able to use it with my standard wireless router at home.

      In a way a real killer app for home use would be a plain web browser (with Opera style stylus gestures) - maybe with IM stuck in it as well. It would be even better if it was bundled with the DSpeak package for DS 2 DS phone calls that got shown off at E3 last month, and maybe sold as a single 'Touch and Connect' type package.
    • I'm hoping they do *something* with the DS soon. Ever since I got my PSP I gave the DS to the girlfriend. Despite buying every game rated above 40% in any review, I have found no good use for it.

      I'm crossing my fingers and hoping Kirby will save the machine in my eyes.
  • Hotspots (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kutsu119 ( 883719 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @10:42AM (#12747359)
    I'm all in favour for hotspots, they sound like an imaginative way of solving a problem of folks not having broadband. Can't see myself hanging around one of these "hotspots" though, as much as I want to play it online. I question how many other folks would say the same.
    • Re:Hotspots (Score:2, Informative)

      The DS will work from any hotspot, including one in your home.
    • The hotspots can also be used for just downloading new game content though. I remember hearing about how they would have hotspots for DS's in various gaming stores. This would be perfect for people who just want to download some demos or maybe there are a few extras available.
  • by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @10:48AM (#12747467)
    In some of the other articles covering the Nintendo Revolution, a few people kicked around the idea of the Revolution serving as a wireless hub for the DS. This would literally create millions of such hot spots around the world if every Revolution was open to be used as a hub.

    Would be even nicer if they had WiMax in them. Would cost a hell of a lot more, but think of the range. You could play your friend across on the Revolution or DS without either of you leaving home. Would be interesting if they offered the ability to upgrade the network card in the console.

  • by nobodyman ( 90587 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @01:45PM (#12749966) Homepage
    Granted, 1000 hotspots is alot of hotspots in and of itself. But to have 1000 DS hotspots in Japan is staggering. To give you an idea, Japan is a little smaller than California. There are less than 1000 mcdonalds in california (and in Cali, there's a friggin McDonalds EVERYWHERE). So I imagine you wont be able to walk down the street in Japan without passing by a DS zone.

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