Nintendo Network announced, will offer user accounts, DLC, more

Nintendo has officially announced the "Nintendo Network." Covering both 3DS and Wii U, the service will be far more comprehensive, and will provide gamers with features made standard by Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

Andrew Yoon

January 27, 2012 6:00 AM

Nintendo has officially announced the "Nintendo Network," a new name for its online efforts. First mentioned in Mario Kart 7, the new service will replace the "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection" that was standard in Nintendo's last-gen efforts. The Nintendo Network will cover both the 3DS and the Wii U. The service will be far more comprehensive than the online coverage Nintendo has previously offered, and will provide gamers with features made standard by Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Mario Kart 7 already offers "community" features akin to clans in other online-enabled games. That concept will be expanded in future online titles on Nintendo platforms. More significantly, the Nintendo Network will eventually offer a user ID system, beginning with the Wii U. Referred to as a "personal account," Nintendo hopes that by having identities (and not friend codes), multiple family members will be able to use the same system.

The Nintendo Network

The Nintendo Network may also offer digital distribution of retail games. Nintendo has no set launch date for this feature, but notes that the "concept was built into the design of the Nintendo 3DS," and will be built into the Wii U as well. Finally, the Nintendo Network will also provide downloadable content and add-ons. Square Enix's Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy will be the first game to provide DLC on the 3DS; additional songs can be purchased after release. Nintendo has reiterated that its own DLC strategy will somehow be different from that of its competitors. The company has promised not to nickle and dime consumers with microtransactions, a popular business model for many freemium games. "Please note that Nintendo, as a software maker, does not plan to deploy businesses where our consumers cannot know in advance which item will appear as the result of their payment and they have to repeat the payments and, before they know it, they end up spending a huge amount of money in order to obtain the items they originally wanted to purchase."

Andrew Yoon

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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January 27, 2012 6:00 AM

Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Nintendo Network announced, will offer user accounts, DLC, more.

Nintendo has officially announced the "Nintendo Network." Covering both 3DS and Wii U, the service will be far more comprehensive, and will provide gamers with features made standard by Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
- multisync
  
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  January 27, 2012 6:00 AM
  
  aw shucks, i really missed Friend Codes it was such a great concept
  - guido anchovy
    
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    January 27, 2012 6:17 AM
    
    Man it was so fun. I loved having friend codes for every game.
    - AndrewYoon
      
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      January 27, 2012 6:22 AM
      
      I wish Nintendo released a rotary phone peripheral, so I could input those two sets of 16 digit codes the way they were meant to be input.
      - kaddar0
        
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        January 27, 2012 6:33 AM
        
        they could probably make a implementation using the wii-mote waggle
        
        Rehevkor
        
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        January 27, 2012 6:49 AM
        
        Smack yourself in the face with it to increment the current digit, then whack yourself in the balls to move to the next digit, repeat.
  - David Craddock
    
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    January 27, 2012 6:42 AM
    
    Didn't the Wii come with a system code as well? I wonder why Nintendo didn't allow that code to function as the Wii's account name, so to speak, and jettison the friend-code-for-every-game concept. Giving my system code to a friend and being able to play every online-enabled game with them would be so much simpler.
    - avatar_58
      
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      January 27, 2012 6:43 AM
      
      Here's a question - why is Nintendo so inept at online play?
      - snubble100
        
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        January 27, 2012 7:06 AM
        
        I think that Nintendo has always focused on local multiplayer as they are a very japan centric company. That means that sometimes online multiplayer doesn't get factored into their budgets because of cost, time, or they feel that latency would be too much of an issue. Brawl has lag problems because it's so hectic, NSBWii left online play out because of latency concerns, Metroid Prime Trilogy was going to have an online mode but was scrapped due to cost/time.
        
        Being japanese centric means that they never really gave much effort to online infrastructure and frankly, it didn't hurt them one bit during the Wii's lifespan because of the audience that was buying the consoles. As anecdotal evidence, one of the guys who worked on Ulitmate MvC3 had said that the japanese audience likes to buy the updates to games in a packaged re-release rather than downloading dlc.
  - redfive
    
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    January 27, 2012 6:43 AM
    
    I got a tattoo of my friend code so I would always remember it
    - snubble100
      
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      January 27, 2012 7:08 AM
      
      But did you remember to tattoo the name of the game it was for and the exact ds it was in? If you changed ds systems, that code no longer works.
      - redfive
        
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        January 27, 2012 10:00 AM
        
        aw fuck
- repeat2k
  
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  January 27, 2012 6:31 AM
  
  Nintendo has now caught up to where Microsoft was SIX YEARS AGO.
- kaddar0
  
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  January 27, 2012 6:32 AM
  
  they need a system to patch zelda :(
  - David Craddock
    
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    January 27, 2012 7:20 AM
    
    Word. I avoided the game-breaking part just last night, but I obsessive compulsively backed up my save to my SD card after every temple so I wouldn't have to start too far back in case I accidentally encountered it.
    - David Craddock
      
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      January 27, 2012 7:26 AM
      
      That, and my Zelda has been freezing/refusing to load occasionally. Doesn't happen with any other game, but I figure if my Wii's on its way out, at least I'll always have an up-to-date save file to pick up the quest when I replace the console.
    - one random winner
      
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      January 27, 2012 9:47 AM
      
      I just copied the save over the bottom save slot.
  - mechanicalgrape
    
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    January 27, 2012 7:36 AM
    
    You can patch zelda, there is a channel on the Wii shop that will fix broken saves.
- avatar_58
  
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  January 27, 2012 6:37 AM
  
  And.....VC? People all claimed it wouldn't die with the Wii. Can you or can't you keep your purchases?
  
  I see this future when people realize all these purchases aren't universal between generations of consoles. Why on earth would I rebuy all my VC games every new system?
  - David Craddock
    
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    January 27, 2012 6:43 AM
    
    I'm with you. I really hope the VC carries over; I've invested a LOT of money in it. It was actually my main interest when the Wii launched.
    - avatar_58
      
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      January 27, 2012 6:45 AM
      
      I'm not interested in the WiiU or 3DS personally, but I find it silly if they just drop the VC every single time they release a new system.
      - Chod
        
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        January 27, 2012 7:19 AM
        
        If they do or Microsoft doesn't carry over XBLA then I simply wont purchase their next systems. They clearly do not need my money.
  - Zek
    
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    January 27, 2012 7:30 AM
    
    If the VC still exists on the Wii U, they'll carry over the content. It's not a guarantee that it will though, Nintendo really doesn't care about the VC at all.
    - avatar_58
      
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      January 27, 2012 7:40 AM
      
      Well here's how I see it - Wiiware games are like buying a boxed game - they are for *that* system.
      
      However an emulated game? One that will be available also on the next system? Why in the world would I rebuy the same games over and over? A simple account could fix this, transferring purchases.
      - one random winner
        
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        January 27, 2012 9:48 AM
        
        I see one time "transfers" using the system code to your nintendo account.
  - Korban
    
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    January 27, 2012 9:24 AM
    
    i really hope they're transferable, and there are a hundred different ways Nintendo could do it. but i'm just not 100% sure it's priority for them.
    
    i'm excited that they're finally doing a unified network thing. i hope this means 3DS and Wii U will use the same "points" system and credits would carry over to both system.
    - avatar_58
      
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      January 27, 2012 9:32 AM
      
      But who cares if it's not transferrable to the Wii 3 or next Gameboy/DS? "Oh they'll do this time I know it" is kind of a naive
  - Conan
    
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    January 27, 2012 10:27 AM
    
    They allow transfer of DSi ware from DSi to 3DS, so I would assume it's fine.
- OverloadUT
  
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  January 27, 2012 9:54 AM
  
  More like features made standard by... I dunno, something really fucking old
  - one random winner
    
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    January 27, 2012 10:16 AM
    
    Still, at least it sounds serviceable.
    - OverloadUT
      
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      January 27, 2012 10:33 AM
      
      Yeah I was trying to make fun of the fact that Friend Codes were already antiquated the moment Nintendo even conceived of them
- Lakipo
  
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  January 27, 2012 10:26 AM
  
  Finally
- [deleted] 342332194
  
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  January 27, 2012 7:53 PM
  
  [deleted]