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Nintendo has announced that they have partnered with IGN Entertainment to create their online wireless service for the Nintendo DS. The service has been built to make playing people over the other side of the world as simple as playing a friend sat next to you.
“With minimum setup procedures, Nintendo DS owners will be able to enjoy Wi-Fi gaming just as easily as if they were playing with their friends in the same room,” explains Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales & marketing. “To realize this simple and seamless transition to Wi-Fi gaming, we’re partnering with one of the leaders in the multiplayer gaming world. Accessing the service will require no added Nintendo subscription charges, whether users hook up using a home broadband Wi-Fi connection or access a Wi-Fi hotspot at a coffee shop, library or elsewhere. It doesn’t get any easier than that.”
Games announced to use this service as pretty thin on the ground at the moment, with only Animal Crossing DS officially announced. More titles are expected to be announced at E3 next week, with both Metroid Prime Hunters and Mario Kart DS rumoured to be using the online service.
“We’re excited to bring the technology that powers more than 300 PC and console video games to Nintendo’s innovative wireless platform. Now developers can easily and confidently add advanced matchmaking, community and other multiplayer services to their Nintendo DS games,” says Mark Stieglitz, general manager of IGN Entertainment’s GameSpy Technology Group. “We’re honored that Nintendo is choosing IGN’s GameSpy as their middleware partner, and look forward to a very long relationship.”
We’ll bring you more in the Nintendo DS and its wireless online service next week.
