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Nintendo reveals DS Wi-Fi adapter, new games
USB peripheral will let wired connections play DS games wirelessly; new games see Mario on b-ball court, Phoenix Wright back in legal court.

After the smoke from the fireworks of Microsoft's X05 cleared, Nintendo quietly held an event of its own in Tokyo to tout a new Wi-Fi adapter for its DS handheld, as well as to announce a slew of DS games currently in development.

Nintendo has announced that the USB Wi-Fi adapter will be available in the US on November 14, the same day Mario Kart DS is released. For those who don't have a wireless Internet connection, the adapter can plug in to a computer's USB port to create a Wi-Fi connection with the DS. The price is still unknown for North America, but Nintendo Europe will be selling the adapter for 30 pounds ($53).

Using its internal wireless functionality, the DS will be able connect to any wireless hot spot that is Nintendo Wi-Fi-enabled without a Wi-Fi adapter. It will use friends lists (theinquirer.net reports that users will be given 12-digit codes rather than names), and it will work for international competition. Further details are expected to come shortly.

Online play for the DS will be free for first-party Nintendo games, such as Animal Crossing: Wild World and Metroid Prime Hunters. It will be up to third-party publishers to decide whether to charge for online play in their games.

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.


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

NeoGoomba wrote:Who the heck wants to play Animal Crossing online?

What are you gonna do? Piss off other players by MOWING THEIR LAWN FIRST or cutting down their trees?

NeoGoomba wrote:Who the heck wants to play Animal Crossing online?

NeoGoomba wrote:Who the heck wants to play Animal Crossing online?