In an announcement that undoubtedly involved a lot of determined strutting, intimidating glances and overt hand pyramids, Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that there are some interesting things in store for DS owners this year. Speaking at the D.I.C.E. conference in Las Vegas, the name-taking, ass-kicking Nintendo marketing machine revealed that the ridiculously popular handheld would soon be privy to features more often associated with a Microsoft console--downloadable demos and online voice chat.As of next month, Nintendo will be placing Wi-Fi kiosks in retail locations all across the United States for the sole purpose of wirelessly providing gamers with demos and other content. When you're within range of these kiosks, all you have to do is open up your DS, hit "DS Download Play" and start downloading the goodness. Unfortunately, due to the lack of any permanent personal storage, you can only test out one game at a time. The data will also disappear as soon as you switch the system off. It would probably be a good idea to make use of the DS' sleep mode if you want to take something home with you and amaze your parents / siblings / pets / captors. The initial batch of demos include Mario Kart DS, Meteos, True Swing Golf, Pokemon Trozei, Tetris DS and Brain Age.
The Reggie also discussed the upcoming and highly anticipated Metroid Prime: Hunters. The game's online mode will support voice chat, allowing players to discuss matches, arrange settings and offer advice, all in a completely curteous manner. Or not. Brace yourself for a glut of trash-talking, n00bzor.
[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
_cg_oct22_kjgfdhd_thumbnail.jpg "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-09-2006 @ 2:48PM
Ar?GoW] said...
Well, this is no surprise to me. I suspected that Nintendo would announce voice chat with Metroid Prime Hunters. Its too much like a Halo to not get voice chat. I applaud Nintendo for following through with their WiFi service and showing what it can do.
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2-09-2006 @ 3:05PM
Ed said...
The smartest thing about this:
More people will be SEEN PLAYING DS's in stores, encouraging more people to check out the DS for the first time.
An absolutely brilliant step up from simply having a store demo system.
Proud to be a DS enthusiast.
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2-09-2006 @ 3:08PM
bluetrane said...
n00000bz000rrzzz
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2-09-2006 @ 3:17PM
Probot said...
It should be noted that the voice chat is only allowed in the lobby, that is before and after games. No chatting during gameplay.
Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143981.html
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2-09-2006 @ 3:47PM
Tirol said...
No voice chatting during the game is fine by me as you'll busy enough dodging from other player's fire. :-)
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2-09-2006 @ 3:52PM
matters said...
I'm glad. Who wants voice chat lagging down gameplay or keeping you from hearing whats going on in the game
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2-09-2006 @ 4:39PM
Maranello said...
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, oh no, I need money for a wifi adapter, oh well, I can always go to mcdonalds around the corner! Thanks Nintendo
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2-09-2006 @ 4:59PM
badger said...
This might be a dumb question but...
Why should we have to go to a store to download a demo from a wifi kiosk? Why can't nintendo make demos available to download through the NiWiFi service so you can get the wherever? Is the required bandwidth too big?
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2-09-2006 @ 5:59PM
piff said...
i agree with badger. if they can give us tulips on animal crossing from anywhere then why cant we get demos from anywhere?
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2-09-2006 @ 6:20PM
ya-ha said...
i heard back then that you wil be able to download ds demos games from teh revolution console
but at least there going to add alot of games later like in japan.
now i can try out games before buying them
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2-09-2006 @ 6:40PM
Neko Tsukimi said...
I'm totally looking forward to the demo-broadcasting units :D I'm out shopping/wandering around often so I'm game for whipping out my DS wherever I go. The voice chat idea is nifty even if it is only before and after matches. I'm happy it's getting used rather than disappearing into the place where unfulfilled good ideas go.
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2-09-2006 @ 6:55PM
Simon said...
wow, looks like my ds has been hideing some more tricks up its sleeve!
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2-09-2006 @ 9:10PM
matters said...
you can't download from niwifi because the ds by it's self doesn't have the tcp/ip stuff it needs to connect to the internet it's built into the games (animal crossing, mario kart, tony hawk)
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2-09-2006 @ 9:17PM
Probot said...
I believe you use Download and Play option in the main menu to access the demos from the Kiosks. You don't need a NiWifi-enabled game to use them.
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2-09-2006 @ 9:23PM
Probot said...
Hmm, I misunderstood #12. He was answering #8.
Anyways, I don't think these are technically WiFi stations, as you can't connect to the internet. It's more akin to how a DS with Mario Kart allows other DSes without the game to play. The Kiosks just host demoes of Mario Kart, Brain Training, Tetris, etc.
That's why they don't offer these downloads on regular NiWifi.
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2-09-2006 @ 10:15PM
baR_n1 said...
"Why should we have to go to a store to download a demo from a wifi kiosk? Why can't nintendo make demos available to download through the NiWiFi service so you can get the wherever? Is the required bandwidth too big?"
I think its more that the bandwidth would cost too much money. Online servers are charged by the amount of data transferred, which could get quite expensive considering the millions of DS owners out there.
Having said that though, i too would have liked to be able to download demos from the convenience of my own home. Not being a kid anymore, i honestly dont see myself hanging around the video games section of best buy just to get a demo. Hopefully they will make the signal strong enough that i can download from outside the store, inside my car from the parking lot? (Wishful thinking, i know)
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2-10-2006 @ 1:36AM
RageOverdose said...
I don't mind that I won't be able to chat during a Metroid match, because, in fragtastic games like that, you never really hear much talk, unless you are within close proximity to a particular player. Just expect lobbies to be filled with some mild(read: beyond reasonable) profanity, but I hope the "N" word isn't used to such extreme as on Halo 2.
These kiosks are cool too. Now it will be even easier to test out games before I buy, mainly because you don't have to sit and wait for the dude playing to finally die. I just hope some other downloadable features could be implemented, but thats just a hope...
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2-10-2006 @ 1:15PM
Brandon said...
You know, even if the tcp/ip stuff isn't built into the DS (which I think it should have been), they could easily release a GBA cart (i'm guessing it is cheaper to make than a DS one, but if not, a ds cart) that has the relevant tcp/ip stuff necessary to download and try demos/etc.
They could (and IMHO should) realease a "Web Pack) that allows this type of functionality along with perhaps browser support or other relevant online features so that mature gamers can actually make use of the features and capabilities of a wireless environment and the DS device.
Former PSP owner that switched for the games, but wishes that the DS could learn about online functionality a bit from its PSP competitor.
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2-10-2006 @ 1:35PM
hank said...
if you check out the ds linux prodject, you will see that people have been working on the tcp/ip stuff. in fact, there is a beta program some where that has a minimal web browser in it!
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2-10-2006 @ 1:46PM
rekka said...
Does this mean that we'll soon be seeing some sort of solid state memory device that can download and hold multiple demos (thus bypassing the whole "data will also disappear as soon as you switch the system off" problem)? Either way, exciting times for DS owners.
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