Nintendo will create 1,000 WiFi hotspots in Japan by the end of 2005 where owners of its DS portable game machines can play games with others online for free – a similar service is planned for overseas markets:
Reuters – Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference that 25 overseas and Japanese software companies have said they were interested in developing games that are compatible with WiFi, a widely adopted standard for short-range wireless networks. Nintendo plans to launch two compatible games — Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing DS — by the end of the year.
“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,” says Iwata.
Iwata refrained from giving details about its next-generation game console, code-named “Revolution,” other than to say it would be marketed at a “reasonable price..”
