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Japanese Wii U owners soon to scan pre-paid cards on Gamepads

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Via Polygon
Japanese Wii U owners will be able to make eShop payments using the GamePad's NFC capabilities beginning July 22, Nintendo announced today.

Payments will work with the Sucia rechargeable smart cards, which are used primarily to pay train fares. Tapping a Sucia card on the lower left of the GamePad will let customers bypass the requirement to use a credit card or add funds through the eShop.

In its May 7 fiscal earnings report, Nintendo reiterated its desire to provide software that uses the Wii U's NFC capabilities, including a line of Skylanders-like NFC figurines. Games like Mario Party 10 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will use Nintendo's amiibo characters.

Screwattack expands on it a little
Thanks to the Wii U's patented NFC technology (the very same tech that will be used port Amiibo data), any Japanese customer can take a pre-paid smart card (Suica, Toica, Pasmo, etc), tap it onto the lower left-hand side of the tablet, and the funds are transferred. No numbers, no digits, no typing. Just a quick tap, and you'll be enjoying your new game in no time!
http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/18/5916709/wii-u-nfc-payment-japan
http://www.screwattack.com/news/jap...oon-be-able-scan-pre-paid-cards-their-gamepad

This sounds pretty nifty, it looks like Nintendo is really starting to embrace the digital market. No word on if it's going to be coming over to the west yet.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Can you do it using a crazy Japanese phone too?

I don't know exactly what a "crazy Japanese phone" is, but tons of Android phones have NFC chips. So this would definitely be doable with a phone. But this is Nintendo, so that probably won't happen.
 
This could work out with contactless credit cards, although I'd expect some sort of verification process to validate the transaction. Would be cool to simply tap my credit card against my gamepad to buy a game.
 

urfe

Member
I don't know exactly what a "crazy Japanese phone" is, but tons of Android phones have NFC chips. So this would definitely be doable with a phone. But this is Nintendo, so that probably won't happen.

Many phones work as Suicas, so it would be possible I'm sure.
 
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