Nintendo to Create WiFi Hotspots for DS Handheld

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..”