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[L~A]

Edit : if you wanna talk/rant about the shutdown itself, please do it in this thread.

On May 20, the Nintendo WiFi Connection will be shut down, and looks like Nintendo is removing the NWFC logo from the box of some games still getting a reprints. No idea if Nintendo's making a special reprint because of the shutdown, or whether it's just for games still selling enough to warrant a reprint.

So far, we only know of 1 game getting a box without the NWFC logo : Super Smash Bros. Brawl (but I'm pretty sure it's the same with Mario Kart Wii).

Actually, I remember... didn't some games get some stickers on the box, to warn people about the upcoming shutdown? Looks like Nintendo's going one step further for those rare games still getting reprints.

Source

Close if old/not thread-worthy.

 

[KHlover]

Makes sense. I wonder if they took it one step further and actually removed the WFC button from the main menu?

 

[Bricky]

Good move, but still a shame the online is gone so soon after the console's death.

 

[L~A]

Yup, I wonder if they'll roll out a special system update to remove anything NWFC related in the Wii/DSi OS.

Good move, but still a shame the online is gone so soon after the console's death.

Gotta thank GameSpy for that.

 

[Neff]

It's odd that they're shutting it down, at least on Wii. You can still join a match of Brawl, at more or less any time, anywhere, and Winter is a long time to wait. At least Smashers will be hungry by then, and it'll obviously provide incentive to move.

 

[Foshy]

Makes sense. I wonder if they took it one step further and actually removed the WFC button from the main menu?

Doubt it, would be too much work. Especially considering they didn't even change the Wii Mini's menu.

 

[one_kill]

I've been seeing stickers saying that it'll be ending soon

 

[BGBW]

I assume the orange logo will remain since DLC goes through the Wii Shop servers which isn't affect by the shutdown (if any game with such a logo is still getting reprints is another matter).

 

[L~A]

I've been seeing stickers saying that it'll be ending soon

Yeah, I remember that too. Got any pic, perchance?

 

[KHlover]

It's odd that they're shutting it down, at least on Wii. You can still join a match of Brawl, at more or less any time, anywhere, and Winter is a long time to wait. At least Smashers will be hungry by then, and it'll obviously provide incentive to move.

Not like they have a choice when GameSpy nukes the servers.

 

[Laws00]

strange ive never played mario kart wii online

am i missing anything?

 

[Zeyphersan]

strange ive never played mario kart wii online

am i missing anything?

With 12 players it got REALLY hectic. I had more fun with Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 7, and expect to have more fun with Mario Kart 8.

Not to say it wasn't enjoyable, but it was a clusterfuck

 

[L~A]

With 12 players it got REALLY hectic. I had more fun with Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 7, and expect to have more fun with Mario Kart 8.

Not to say it wasn't enjoyable, but it was a clusterfuck

But wasn't it confirmed Mario Kart 8 would have 12 players online races?

 

[Waluigilicious]

With 12 players it got REALLY hectic. I had more fun with Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 7, and expect to have more fun with Mario Kart 8.

Not to say it wasn't enjoyable, but it was a clusterfuck

You just made it hit me that at this moment in time there are THREE mario kart games that can go online! Something about this blows my mind and makes me feel really old.

 

[jimi_dini]

strange ive never played mario kart wii online

am i missing anything?

Yes. Voting for Rainbow Road and seeing all sorts of players fall off the map.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

strange ive never played mario kart wii online

am i missing anything?

A ton of fun?

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Doubt it, would be too much work. Especially considering they didn't even change the Wii Mini's menu.

What on that picture were they supposed to change? I don't see anything referencing WFC? And if you mean the little envelop you do realize that is where games tell you how long you've played them for, or other outside the game info. It's more than just online messages.

 

[Foshy]

What on that picture were they supposed to change? I don't see anything referencing WFC? And if you mean the little envelop you do realize that is where games tell you how long you've played them for, or other outside the game info. It's more than just online messages.

There's no problem from a functionality standpoint, it's just really empty and boring. 3 pages full of empty channels waiting to be filled by something, but with the Wii Mini there's no way to install any additional ones. It would've made sense if they designed a new UI that fits the system it's running on.

 

[Duster]

Makes sense. I wonder if they took it one step further and actually removed the WFC button from the main menu?

I seem to remember a channel I never really used self-destructing once it was no longer supported, possibly the Kirby TV one?

 

[Garou]

There's no problem from a functionality standpoint, it's just really empty and boring. 3 pages full of empty channels waiting to be filled by something, but with the Wii Mini there's no way to install any additional ones. It would've made sense if they designed a new UI that fits the system it's running on.

Some games (Mario Kart, Wii Fit, etc) can install channels from disc.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

They still produce copies of Brawl and the production time was such that the box reflects the recent news?

Anyway regarding the end of the service, from my understanding private servers are looking like a real possibility (the Flipnote DSi ones happened months after the service closure due to one person working on packet dumps made before closure).

Doubt it, would be too much work. Especially considering they didn't even change the Wii Mini's menu.

You'll find if you hit the Wii button that Internet settings section is missing.

Some games (Mario Kart, Wii Fit, etc) can install channels from disc.

This one is kind of pointless without online though

 

[Yoshi]

There's no problem from a functionality standpoint, it's just really empty and boring. 3 pages full of empty channels waiting to be filled by something, but with the Wii Mini there's no way to install any additional ones. It would've made sense if they designed a new UI that fits the system it's running on.

Some games, like Mario Kart for instance, have channels themselves on the disc, so you could install them. Not that this would help any. Also, maybe they wanted to have the option to offer the Wii Mini with some pre-installed Virtual Console games later down the road. If the Wii Mini however offered the option of not having a menu at all, but starting the game inserted in the disc slot right away, I'd actually buy it just for the feature, though.

 

[Zeyphersan]

But wasn't it confirmed Mario Kart 8 would have 12 players online races?

Yes, which for me personally is a downside, but might be more manageable with all the item customization?

 

[Red Dolphin]

Yes, which for me personally is a downside, but might be more manageable with all the item customization?

Well you can't hold more then one item at a time now so that will mean a lot less items being thrown around which should make it less chaotic.

 

[Orayn]

Really sad to see an entire online system go like this, and it's all Glu's fault for shutting down Gamespy.

 

[Azure Dream]

This is why you always have a Plan B (that doesn't involve "Oops it's gone now"). It'd be nice if they could release a fixer channel on Wii that automatically configured files the games would know to look for, so they could be redirected to another server/service, hopefully running compatible software. Heck, they could possibly still do it with a new firmware update, using some network intercepts. But considering that I don't think they've touched the Wii since the Wii U came out...

 

[Anteo]

This is why you always have a Plan B (that doesn't involve "Oops it's gone now"). It'd be nice if they could release a fixer channel on Wii that automatically configured files the games would know to look for, so they could be redirected to another server/service, hopefully running compatible software. Heck, they could possibly still do it with a new firmware update, using some network intercepts. But considering that I don't think they've touched the Wii since the Wii U came out...

If the following is true..

I've heard, but I don't know if it is true, that the contract with Gamespy means that they cannot duplicate the architecture, netcode etc. elsewhere.

then I think think they can do anything..

 

[MauroNL]

I've noticed some stickers on some Nintendo DS games like Pokemon Black and White saying online functions will end at the end of May here in Holland

 

[Azure Dream]

If the following is true..



then I think think they can do anything..

Yeah, that would be awful. Which probably makes it true.

 

[maxcriden]

I still don't 100% understand the shutdown. My understanding is that DLC for games like the Layton series and Mario vs. DK won't be affected. But the Layton series at least is listed on the official site as being affected (not sure if Mario vs. DK is).

 

[The Real Napsta]

I still don't 100% understand the shutdown. My understanding is that DLC for games like the Layton series and Mario vs. DK won't be affected. But the Layton series at least is listed on the official site as being affected (not sure if Mario vs. DK is).

DLC and online play are two completly different things.

They are keeping the nintendo store online so you can download netflix and all that jazz.

 

[PAULINK]

DLC and online play are two completly different things.

They are keeping the nintendo store online so you can download netflix and all that jazz.

Some games like Layton and Picross use the Nitnendo Wifi Connection service to download additional content, free dlc through the game. These will be affected.

 

[plutoknight]

Makes sense. I wonder if they took it one step further and actually removed the WFC button from the main menu?

In Smash Bros case, that would suck, as that's a popular method for launching mods for it among other homebrew, iirc! (Of course, these people have already picked up the game so the point is probably moot anyway.)

 

[maxcriden]

Some games like Layton and Picross use the Nitnendo Wifi Connection service to download additional content, free dlc through the game. These will be affected.

Ah, yes. That's what I was getting at. Will I no longer be able to D/L those? I had thought this was DLC that wouldn't be affected.

 

[BubbleBobble]

strange ive never played mario kart wii online

am i missing anything?

you've missed out, bruh!

 

[Waylon Drums]

There's no way that Nintendo's hands are COMPLETELY tied, though, right? I'm assuming that they're just letting the online services die because they're Nintendo and therefore, fucking clueless, but there has to be SOME way they could keep online play going if they wanted to, right?

 

[Saikyo]

Very unlikely, because Ds dont have space for patches like that. Maybe Wii but the costs of buying new servers for games that propably only 100 people are playing are not worth (maybe for pokemon but...), seeing that the latest Wii model doesnt support any kind of online...

 

[Eusis]

It's odd that they're shutting it down, at least on Wii. You can still join a match of Brawl, at more or less any time, anywhere, and Winter is a long time to wait. At least Smashers will be hungry by then, and it'll obviously provide incentive to move.

Not much you can do when you were dependent on a service that got bought by lunatics and/or assholes. They're willing to just burn the whole damn thing down to keep a few pieces they liked for their own purposes. I even think it's a mobile game company that bought them, just to pour salt on the wound as an actual direct impact they've had on consoles/handhelds.

 

[jimi_dini]

There's no way that Nintendo's hands are COMPLETELY tied, though, right?

They used 3rd party middleware to implement online for their games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameSpy

And no, that's not "lol Nintendo". Plenty of other games use gamespy middleware as well.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/22fz75/list_of_games_affected_by_gamespy_shutdown/

They would have to remove all of it and replace it with their own code. Which is of course impossible because Wii + DS games do not support updates. Even if it was possible, it would be a big waste of money.

The actual lesson to learn is: never use 3rd party middleware for stuff like this and Gamespy sucks.
It's quite funny: if Nintendo would have done their own thing with online back then (Nintendo gonna Nintendo), the services wouldn't be closed down now.

 

[Eusis]

They would have to remove all of it and replace it with their own code. Which is of course impossible because Wii + DS games do not support updates. Even if it was possible, it would be a big waste of money.

Well, if it were possible I imagine it'd depend on how easy it'd be to migrate it to their newer service. If they could do that relatively easily had patch support been there it'd probably be done, hell with the way Nintendo is it could've been done anyway just as part of their general focus on long term support when it's reasonable enough, and everything being affected is ALMOST a decade old at the oldest.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Ah, yes. That's what I was getting at. Will I no longer be able to D/L those? I had thought this was DLC that wouldn't be affected.

On the Wii, yes paid DLC is not affected as that uses the Wi Shop*. However, on the DS all online activity** goes through Nintendo wifi connection (though it probably connects to an additional server for this DLC** but still needs to phone Gamespy first)

*-It should be noticed Activision plastic music games have had all their DLC removed from purchase (licenses expire you know).
**-Well except for the DSi Shop.
***-The DQIX stuff was not working for a while until Square-Enix switched it back on.

I assume the orange logo will remain since DLC goes through the Wii Shop servers which isn't affect by the shutdown (if any game with such a logo is still getting reprints is another matter).

Just Dance series is the only one with any chance in that regard.