Nintendo Shutting Down Wifi Connection Service On DS, Wii

[Andy Chalk]

Nintendo Shutting Down Wifi Connection Service On DS, Wii

The elimination of the Nintendo Wifi Connection service means that features like online play and leaderboards will no longer be available for the Nintendo DS and Wii.

Nintendo has announced that the Wifi Connection Service for the Nintendo DS, DSi and Wii systems will soon be shut down. Services like the Internet Channel, Netflix, the DS/DSi Browser, Wii Shop Channel and YouTube will not be affected, but online play, matchmaking and leaderboards will no longer be accessible.

Wii and WiiWare games affected by the shutdown include Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, Mario Kart Wii, Pokemon Battle Revolution and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The list of affected DS/DSi titles is more extensive, with a number of Pokemon and Professor Layton games losing functionality, along with Animal Crossing: Wild World, Diddy Kong Racing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Picross 3D and numerous others. The Kirby TV Channel, Mario Kart Channel and Wii Speak Channel will also be lost.

Nintendo responded to inquiries with a statement saying that the shutdown is worldwide and that online play for Wii U and 3DS games will not be affected. "Our focus now shifts to readying our Wii U and Nintendo 3DS matchmaking services for upcoming games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros," the statement said. "We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company's legacy systems. Your enthusiasm for games made for these systems speaks to their longevity, and the passion of Nintendo fans."

Details of the coming service shutdown, including a full list of games it will affect, are available from Nintendo [http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw]. The Nintendo Wifi Connection service will be terminated on May 20.



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[Haakmed]

Now the question is, how many people will come out of the woodwork saying "Nintendo death spiral"?

 

[Callate]

"Our focus now shifts to readying our Wii U and Nintendo 3DS matchmaking services for upcoming games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros," the statement said. "We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company's legacy systems. Your enthusiasm for games made for these systems speaks to their longevity, and the passion of Nintendo fans."

"...Now will you please go out and buy a Wii-U, already?!"

I'd be disappointed, but I have to confess I've never really used the online multiplayer features of my Wii. I'd half-think about it with the few friends I have who have one as well, and contemplate the nonsense involved in punching in codes on top of scheduling a time when we'd both be at home in front of our televisions with nothing better to do, and kind of go "why bother?"

If Nintendo had gone a little farther in making online multiplayer really accessible this generation, they might have had better luck. But everything I've heard suggests, while it's certainly improved, it's still not close to a match to the experiences available to players on any of the competitor consoles (or Steam or the like, for that matter).

 

[Uratoh]

Ya, this isn't a death spiral so much as logistics, While some people will be annoyed/etc, it's been YEARS since they've even made non-3DS games at all, etc, and it's unrealistic to assume servers will remain up forever.

At the same time, I wonder if the 'fake' pokemon global link addresses will still work for the DS pokemon games...

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

This was to be expected. You can't hold servers for your older games forever, especially when you're not charging for them outside of the purchase price.

And in an alternate universe, millions of DS and Wii consoles become useless bricks as Nintendo shuts down all of the DRM servers XD

 

[Rad Party God]

If Netflix and Youtube are unaffected by this, then absolutely nothing of value will be lost, except maybe Monster Hunter Tri, but I guess everyone interested on that particular game already has it on 3DS and/or WiiU.

EDIT: Oh?, I didn't know Capcom already shut down the servers last year.
My point still stands, absolutely nothing of value will be lost.

 

[Gxas]

So wait... This affects Gen V Pokémon games...

How, exactly? Obviously GTS and Online trade/battles, but what else?

(Just double checking to make sure this doesn't have an effect on my transferring of all my Gen V to Gen VI)

 

[AdamG3691]

If Netflix and Youtube are unaffected by this, then absolutely nothing of value will be lost, except maybe Monster Hunter Tri, but I guess everyone interested on that particular game already has it on 3DS and/or WiiU.

Capcom actually shut off that server last year, April 30th IIRC

 

[Trishbot]

If Netflix and Youtube are unaffected by this, then absolutely nothing of value will be lost, except maybe Monster Hunter Tri, but I guess everyone interested on that particular game already has it on 3DS and/or WiiU.

Capcom actually turned the servers off for it a long time ago...

I guess I'm a bit upset that Pokemon's GTS is getting cut down to size (start trading for those rare legendaries ASAP), I just bought Metroid Prime Hunters, and I just got Super Smash Bros. Brawl last month.

 

[weirdee]

well, at least they didn't shut off the dsi bomberman server, those cats can bomb all day

i'm disappointed in the removal of the advance wars server before actually releasing a 3ds advance wars though

 

[AmzRigh]

Only game I'm kinda sad to lose online multiplayer for is Tetris DS. But then, I haven't touched that in years, anyway.

Heck, there aren't even any wifi networks around me that would support my DS.

 

[SD-Fiend]

So wait... This affects Gen V Pokémon games...

How, exactly? Obviously GTS and Online trade/battles, but what else?

(Just double checking to make sure this doesn't have an effect on my transferring of all my Gen V to Gen VI)

You can still transfer to Gen 6

 

[Gxas]

So wait... This affects Gen V Pokémon games...

How, exactly? Obviously GTS and Online trade/battles, but what else?

(Just double checking to make sure this doesn't have an effect on my transferring of all my Gen V to Gen VI)

You can still transfer to Gen 6

That's what I thought. Just got real nervous, you know?

Thank you.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Oh, come on. How am I meant to get all the DQVC exclusives in Dragon Quest IX now? It was bad enough when the servers stopped for three months last year!

 

[themilo504]

I understand why Nintendo does this but could they not have waited until the new smash bros and Mario kart where released before they did something like this.

 

[144_v1legacy]

I understand why Nintendo does this but could they not have waited until the new smash bros and Mario kart where released before they did something like this.

I agree - it seems a bit early.

 

[JoJo]

Ya, this isn't a death spiral so much as logistics, While some people will be annoyed/etc, it's been YEARS since they've even made non-3DS games at all, etc, and it's unrealistic to assume servers will remain up forever.

At the same time, I wonder if the 'fake' pokemon global link addresses will still work for the DS pokemon games...

Well, it may be years but not that many years for some of those games, Pokemon Black & White 2 came out in October 2012 for example, meaning it'll be barely more than one and half years since release date when the servers are switched off in May. That's pretty bad really, you expect a longer service than that even if the sequels have been released.

 

[TimeLord]

So how does this work for Pokemon when transferring generation IV to V? Is the Download Play function on the DSi affected by this?

 

[heroicbob]

nintendo wifi connection was never a particularly easy to use service even with the wifi dongle

 

[BrainWalker]

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm assuming this affects the Wii channel on the WiiU as well? So I can't still play Smash Brothers Brawl online by playing it on my WiiU?