Nintendo hotspots

Yesterday Nintendo announced that it plans to create 1000 wireless hotspots in Japan before the end of the year and plans a similar service in overseas markets. Their hope is that the availability of wireless hotspots will help strengthen their position as the leading handheld manufacturer.

At a press conference, Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata said that 25 software companies have expressed interest in developing WiFi enabled games for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo themselves are planning to release Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing DS, both WiFi enabled, before the year ends.

Iwata went on to say that many people have yet to try online gaming because of the costs associated with such services.

“Because of these hurdles, only a small percentage of people that have bought online-compatible games have actually connected to a network and played online,” Iwata said.

He went on to say, “We would like to create an environment where more than 90 percent of the people that buy our WiFi-compatible games have tried them at least once online.“

The planned hotspots would be located in game stores such as Toys R Us. Nintendo currently bosses the handheld market with a 94% market share, but now faces some serious competition from Sony’s PSP.

In the same conference Iwata spoke about both the Revolution and the Game Boy Micro. He said the Revolution would be marketed at a “reasonable price” and that further details are scheduled to be announced possibly as soon as autumn. Commenting on the Game Boy Micro he said “Although it’s small, we are not going to sell it for cheap.“

Only time will tell if Nintendo can hold onto their dominating stranglehold on the handheld gaming market.