Nintendo "Planning Wii Menu" NOW with PAYING FOR (some) ONLINE PLAY

[jmoe316]

EDIT: Information is in thanks to Stormbringer:

Infos are in : http://blog.wired.com/games/ Nintendo Will Begin Offering Downloadable Add-On Content On Wii Wii games will soon be able to download add-on content, said Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama at Game Developers Conference. DLC has been a big part of Microsoft's and Sony's online business, but Nintendo has thus far not allowed games to have downloadable add-on content on Wii. For example, the Wii version of Guitar Hero 3 doesn't currently let you download new songs. But at his address at GDC this morning, Aoyama said that Nintendo will, in the near future, allow Wii owners to use Wii Points (purchased with a credit card transaction online or on cards in stores) to buy add-on content for games. He said that add-on contents would also be available for disc-based games as well as WiiWare downloadable titles. The add-on contents for disc games would be purchased within the game, Aoyama said. Nintendo To Begin Charging Money For Some Online Gaming Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service has always been entirely free of charge, but the company will soon introduce a pay-to-play service for some games, it announced at Game Developers Conference. "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay And Play" will let users subscribe on a game-by-game basis to certain titles. Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama announced the service at GDC, but did not say what upcoming games would require payment for the service, or how much they would cost. To avoid customer confusion, Pay-And-Play games will have a red icon on the game's box that reads Pay And Play, in place of the traditional blue Wi-Fi Connection icon, which will only be used for games that are free to play. This is a pretty big change for Nintendo, who has always been adamant about wanting online gameplay to be free. While this might attract more developers to the service with a new revenue stream, it also might confuse consumers -- and be a hassle if the payment system isn't easy. You'll use Wii Points to pay for the online gaming, so it should be interesting to see if this extends to the DS Lite or if it's just restricted to Wii.

[fly high ~ayunite~]

It's not on now, it's on in 30 minutes.

[jmoe316]

Cool thanks. I knew I was going to screw up the time conversion when they didn't have a time zone on the GDC website.

Hopefully some information will come out of it, though I am not expecting anything huge.

[radioheadrule83]

I think 1up or Eurogamer may have mentioned something about covering Nintendo today... I'm sure something will pop up somewhere

[Crushed]

Sakurai's presentation is what, 1:30pm EST?


Hopefully he goes more in-depth about stuff than that pointless IGN interview.

[jmoe316]

What else could he discuss that hasn't already been discovered after the JPN release?

[Crushed]

What else could he discuss that hasn't already been discovered after the JPN release?

Well, he could talk about developing the game, which is what his presentation is about.

One of the strengths of Nintendo is its great number of character franchises. SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL builds on this legacy by providing a unique experience for Wii, leveraging many popular characters from the history of Nintendo and beyond. However, integrating so many different characters, each with its own personality, is no easy task, especially when characters from other publishers are willing to join the brawl. The man behind SMASH BROS., Masahiro Sakurai, discusses how he has approached this unique game series.

[Cosmonaut X]

Well, he could talk about developing the game, which is what his presentation is about.

Oh, you silly - do you really think the GDC is about games development?

[WiiRevolution1]

OK its going on now and I looked everywhere and no video or text updates :\

[Stormbringer]

Infos are in :

http://blog.wired.com/games/

Nintendo Will Begin Offering Downloadable Add-On Content On Wii Wii games will soon be able to download add-on content, said Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama at Game Developers Conference. DLC has been a big part of Microsoft's and Sony's online business, but Nintendo has thus far not allowed games to have downloadable add-on content on Wii. For example, the Wii version of Guitar Hero 3 doesn't currently let you download new songs. But at his address at GDC this morning, Aoyama said that Nintendo will, in the near future, allow Wii owners to use Wii Points (purchased with a credit card transaction online or on cards in stores) to buy add-on content for games. He said that add-on contents would also be available for disc-based games as well as WiiWare downloadable titles. The add-on contents for disc games would be purchased within the game, Aoyama said.

Nintendo To Begin Charging Money For Some Online Gaming Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service has always been entirely free of charge, but the company will soon introduce a pay-to-play service for some games, it announced at Game Developers Conference. "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay And Play" will let users subscribe on a game-by-game basis to certain titles. Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama announced the service at GDC, but did not say what upcoming games would require payment for the service, or how much they would cost. To avoid customer confusion, Pay-And-Play games will have a red icon on the game's box that reads Pay And Play, in place of the traditional blue Wi-Fi Connection icon, which will only be used for games that are free to play. This is a pretty big change for Nintendo, who has always been adamant about wanting online gameplay to be free. While this might attract more developers to the service with a new revenue stream, it also might confuse consumers -- and be a hassle if the payment system isn't easy. You'll use Wii Points to pay for the online gaming, so it should be interesting to see if this extends to the DS Lite or if it's just restricted to Wii.

^^^ ಠ_ಠ

[Stumpokapow]

hahahah seriously?

[Threi]

LAWL

[TheWolf]

wow, you've got to be fucking kidding me.

[Oldschoolgamer]

Nintendo...ugh...what in the fuck...

[Stumpokapow]

don't you have to have... uh... features in order to charge people to access them?

[Crushed]

uh

well




maybe




maybe the pay to play ones don't have friend codes and have voice chat and are unified with a xbl-style friends lists



maybe






please

[CreatureX3]

don't you have to have... uh... features in order to charge people to access them?

[Kroole]

<3 Nintendo. Never change

Hopefully this is just for the mmo type of games.... nah

[botticus]

^^^ ಠ_ಠ

I don't know how you made that smiley, but I agree. Good luck with your random paid online games, Nintendo!

[avatar299]

You have to be kidding. If multiplayer is free then fine,but if not...

[DKJB79]

Animal crossing MMO not free ?!?

maybe to pay server maintenance of persistent worlds ?

[Zozz]

uh well maybe maybe the pay to play ones don't have friend codes and have voice chat and are unified with a xbl-style friends lists maybe please

yea but the thing is you have to pay for every game that has it and what is the price?

[Shadowlink]

WTF? there online sucks ass and they are going to charge us. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Crushed]

Aoyama moved on to discussion of the "Nintendo Channel," which launched last year in Japan -- the channel that lets people see new games for Wii and Nintendo DS, that finds new games that match players' preferences and lets them vote on what games they like. They will offer this service in the U.S. and Europe in the coming months, said Aoyama. For WiiWare, you'll be able to read the game's instruction manual before you decide to download it, so you can get ample information about it before you buy. You'll also be able to use Wii Points to get add-on content and paid services, said Aoyama. This, he said, will let Nintendo offset the development costs of add-on content. This feature will also be available for disc-based games, but the payment for those will be in the game, not on the Wii Shop channel Aoyama then addressed how Nintendo is dealing with a hot topic: Storage limitations. They'll compress the games and then expand them when you start playing them. "This step should help alleviate the problem with size limitations." Apparently the manuals for the game will also be stored online-only, not inside the game ROM itself. Aoyama then talked about some WiiWare games. The first was LostWinds, from Frontier Developments in the U.K. He showd some footage of the game. you control the character with the Nunchuk and use the Wii remote to make the wind blow and carry the character. You can use the wind to surround an enemy and blow it away. The video looks realy pretty! This is apparently a launch title in the U.S. and U.K., so let's look forward to it (bow).

um well that's kinda nice

[hokahey]

Wat.

[Testicular Sound Express]

nintendo's online isn't good enough to warrant paying for it. I don't even wan tot pay for xbox live.

[TheWolf]

Animal crossing MMO not free ?!?

that's my guess. i hope they don't expect people to pay when they don't even have voice chat.

[Ike]

Your fucking kidding me. :|

[fly high ~ayunite~]

Animal Crossing Wii will be a Pay to Play showcase. I put money on it.

[radioheadrule83]

WTF? there online sucks ass and they are going to charge us. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you seriously think they'll just offer what they're offering now but charge for it? Think dude. I'm stopping short of calling certain people in this thread idiots, but seriously, it'll be servers, names, headsets etc no doubt.

I take that part as good news because it says to me they're going to offer a service worth paying for.

[WoWcraft]

About 1) Uh... download to what?

About 2) WHAT THE ****!

[jetsetmario]

Aoyama then addressed how Nintendo is dealing with a hot topic: Storage limitations. They'll compress the games and then expand them when you start playing them. "This step should help alleviate the problem with size limitations." Apparently the manuals for the game will also be stored online-only, not inside the game ROM itself. um well that's kinda nice

that is the most backassward way of "handling" storage issues. I am really starting to believe that there must be some physical issue to opening up the system to reading from sd cards or HDD.

[GoldenEye 007]

I would expect the payments to apply to MMO type games mainly. Nintendo has to know that people will not pay for a service that is absolute bare bones compared to any online service on the market right now.

[nubbe]

So no unified charged serivce?

Pokemon with Pay and Play = BILLIONS of monies!
$2 for each internet trade

[botticus]

I take that part as good news because it says to me they're going to offer a service worth paying for.

That sort of thing doesn't exist.

I really don't understand how they can do this on a per-game basis in any intelligible way unless it is going to end up covering MMO-type games

[Dragona Akehi]

AHUAAUHAUHAUAUHAUHAUHAUAHUAHAAU

[DKJB79]

fly high ~ayunite~ : i think so too :)

[btrboyev]

you guys worry too much...if sega comes out with a pso game, nintendo just gave them the go to charge for it.


I hope.

[Shadowlink]

Wait they announced a Animal Crossing MMO?

[CrushDance]

What? I thought Nintendo's was fully free...And that's weird about P2P for specific titles. Doesn't that mean you'd have to pay, lets say $5 for each title you want to play online with??? Why not just a $20/Month service??

[avatar299]

On second thought I like this. If Smash and Kart, stuff like that is free and AC is not then that's fine. Like paying for an MMO on 360 without the xbox live fee. Whether or not this is good depends on how Nintendo plans on making money.

Also rock band DLC confirmed

[Haunted]

wat

[bigmakstudios]

If Animal Crossing requires a monthly charge to play online, then I'm not buying. :( This is ridiculous. The only reason I put up with Xbox Live is because I'll be getting it for free until 2009. >_>

[brandonh83]

gross.

[TheKingsCrown]

I need a title list for this online pay to play system before I flip out at Nintendo.

If Brawl is on there Nintendo, [ ]


You don't want to see the above message.

[hclflow]

Ahahahahahaha. Ha. Idiots.

[Dolphin]

Good luck with that Nintendo, I don't do pay-to-play and I never will.

[Oldschoolgamer]

AHUAAUHAUHAUAUHAUHAUHAUAHUAHAAU

This better only apply to MMO type games. If not, screw them.

Steam and Psn to an extent, ftw...

[DMPrince]

I support Nintendo all the way, they have my money <3

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Nintendo Will Begin Offering Downloadable Add-On Content On Wii

I will not repeat what I said today....sigh

Nintendo To Begin Charging Money For Some Online Gaming