Nintendo hints at free 3G Internet with next-gen DS

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Home Nintendo

7:00 AM on 11.01.2009, Jim Sterling

42 comments | 5853 views

Nintendo hints at free 3G Internet with next-gen DS photo

#DS #DSi #Nintendo

There's no escaping the fact that, despite the DS being a brilliant platform for games, its technical prowess leaves a little to be desired. According to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, the next iteration of the DS could jump right ahead of its rivals with unlimited 3G Internet access. Now that would be tasty.

This is merely something being pondered by Nintendo at the moment, so nothing has been set in stone. However, Iwata believes that 3G DS action could put the company in a good position versus Apple and the iPhone.

"I’m interested because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost," declares Iwata. "Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month can be iPhone customers. That doesn’t fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products.

"... In reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up, but it is one option for the future."

I don't know. If the DS had unlimited Internet access and enough of a valid reason to connect it to the online world, I'd be more than happy to pay a little extra. This is something Sony should really be looking at for the increaslingly online-dependent PSP. If Nintendo pipped it to the post, the next generation of handhelds would be very interesting, methinks.

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42 comments | showing # 1 to 42

MasterBalls

Okay Nintendo, make a reasonably sized DS with Gamecube graphics, good battery life, a virtual console, and free 3G Internet and me love you longtime.

Kvb

Nintendo's online features being absolute shit is the company's only true hurdle, if you ask me. So this would be awesome indeed.

Infinite Combo

As good as this sounds, I'm a bit skeptical. Where would the free 3G come from. As far as I know only companies like Verizon, AT&T, T mobile, Sprint, etc. have the 3G networks in the U.S. So how would Nintendo provide the infrastructure necessary for its gaming device to have unlimited free 3G internet?

Clarke

Can we get flash support this time?

bluki

Free 3G? wat? there is no such thing as free 3G.

CapnCrunk

The ebook reader, Kindle, comes with free wireless data. Amazon struck a deal with Sprint. Nintendo could do the same thing, maybe cut a cell provider in on hardware and DSiWare sales?

otikik

ok nintendo. just don't release it next month.

iEro-Sennin

Make it happen and I'll be all yours, Iwata.

Xzyliac

I might actually buy the DS again if they did that.

Neverdizzle

Didn't you guys hear that Nintendo just recently launched their own telecommunications satellites into orbit? I'm sure they could afford to, but I'm a bit skeptical about any type of free 3G. It would indeed be awesome if it happened though.

Hcapt

When I read this, I must ask why?

Why would Nintendo add good internet service to a game player, when experience and history both show that upping the functionality and the cost of single-purpose devices almost always ends in failure? Surre the DS added touch screens and the wii added motion controls, but those were both improvements to the gameplay, which does work. However, Sony already tried this road of all-in-one at a higher cost and failed miserably. Apple gets away with it because it is a technology and services company that doesn't rest on the iphone being a game console - the iphone is a easily accessible download service first, a phone second, and everything else third, and that is what the customers purchase it to do. However, customers purchase a DS to play games first, with very little interest in the other features as they are all secondary.

Doing one thing well is historically much more important than doing many things averagely, and customers would rather have a cheap device that does one thing well than an expensive device that is all-in-one. Playstation 3 vs. Wii and PSP vs. DS has proven this already.

Spilt Milk

Would that mean free skype?

Tron

Friend codes for 3g access.

Adrock

I would buy a DS in a second if they added free 3G (with a browser). Make it happen Nintendo and I will gladly give you my money.

bobyoko

sounds like a pipe dream to me. even if they had 3g, they'd have to build a reason to use it. ie, a flash player included in the browser, and games that had a bit more online functionality. it seems to me that this is a long way off.

Tubatic

That's crazy and I can't comprehend it in a world of data plans and wireless usage costs.

If they could do it though, that would be insane, and totally worth the cost of admission. Data access without a subscription fee? That's a wild, undiscovered country right there.

Also, you would see DS's hooked up to routers, powering small businesses.

artha14

I would be nintendos private whore if this happens.... Well mabye not but you got my point.

Tubatic

@Hcapt

"Doing one thing well is historically much more important than doing many things averagely, and customers would rather have a cheap device that does one thing well than an expensive device that is all-in-one. Playstation 3 vs. Wii and PSP vs. DS has proven this already."

seems like a good time for Nintendo to mirror Apple and split SKU's, imo. Next DS Regular and Next DS.Net. If you don't want good glorious gift-internet, there's your intensely cheaper/plays nearly all the same games option.

Xzyliac

@Hcapt
Where is your argument that these aren't beneficial to gameplay?

Truly portable online gaming sounds beneficial to gameplay to me.

Wintersocks

I cant afford 3G. It's really expensive unless you get a contract that provides you with a certain time of free internet. If you're going to do that, why not just make the next DS a cell phone.

Wintersocks

oh... it's free. Sorry that party last night got kinda late.

Cowboy TTop

I too would have no problem paying a little extra for such a service. I really think that Nintendo should look to Skype, and invest in them to crete such a service. Skype is awesome but usually missed by many, because a computer is really needed to access it.

I know there are some Skype mobiles out there now, so if you took that kind of tech, upgraded it to 3G, stick the tech in a DS, for onkine gaming, internet and free phone calls, and it could really hurt Apple. iPhone's (and many phones) weakest link is that you have to sign up to an expensive contract. If we could get those days of not really having that back, and have DS do it, it could really change mobile online gaming, and scare telecom companies too.

Hcapt

@ Xyliac - I don't have a strong defense against that. All I can say is Mario Kart DS's online is good enough, which means more cost doesn't seem necesary.

I can however defend a DS iteration of a phone, because it has been proven beneficial to gameplay. Pokemon's online system uses the DS microphone for in-game discussion between players in a manner that is intelligible to both parties is both subtle and brilliant, and I could see a wide-spread adoption of in-game voice chat DS style as a great way to foster social interaction among people who are not together. It would also be a great use for the dual screen, using one screen to display your progress and the other to display your friend's progress so you can help eachother out and show eachother how to get through tricky sections of single-player or have an old fasion multi-player race. Using the DS as a phone to inhance gameplay rather than as an add-on, like was done in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl wifi, would be a good upgrade to the DS that would increase it's value to consumers IMO.

Los255

I doubt it. The DS can't even support some routers now...

SakBee

As long as they don't block out my pron websites, we'll be ok.

atastysammich

Naaahh, they don't have the cojones to pull it off. They've been so tenacious about keeping hardware costs low by any means.

GeneOB

As amazing as this sounds, I hugely doubt it. Aside from a provider, Nintendo's online has been hugely spotty at best, never mind really restrictive with the whole friend code system instead of an online handle like everyone else.

naia-the-gamer

This has a lot of potential if they can actually make it happen. If they're concerned about the costs, they could also make a cheaper version with wi-fi only. I would probably go for a handheld like this if done right.

gamadaya

Won't affect my decision to buy. Just add an analog nub and I'll be happy. Also, free 3G isn't a thing. Maybe in Japan or something, but not here.

pedrovay2003

This would be an amazing selling point for Nintendo. If they can pull off decent Internet with their next round of machines, they could very well take the entire market.

jorge

Handheld Pokemon MMO confirmed

Phoenix Gamma

Put it in the fucking DS LL. It'll give people a reason to buy the fucking thing.

Hcapt

@ Phoenix Gamma

I don't think the DS LL was created to be a different product than the DSi that might segment the market. I think the DS LL was simply created because some potential customers need a larger screen than others (old people, people with bad vision), and because it is easier for customers to market an easier to see DS screen by word of mouth and by looking over the player's shoulder than a smaller screen product with hard-to-see angles. It's just a DSi with a bigger screen, not an upgrade to the existing product.

brainderailment

Whose infrastructure will they be using? Who is going to pay for it? ATT is paying dearly for the amount of iPhones straining the network to it's limits, that costs money.

Crunshiii

I would support this 110$, I would pay $300 for a DS with free 3G online connection. Give me couple of DS MMO I can play for free after buying the game and you will have a long term customer base all playing in the new portable revolution. Come on Nintando, you made the buku bucks with the Wii, put those profits to next gen.

I would love for Nintendo to do this because if they did, they would start a whole new thing which no one else has done. Yet this will force Sony to take the same measurements to follow or be crushed (again) by the DS.

fundando

I would buy one on launch day and cancel my Iphone internets.

lewness

This is kinda interesting. However, now that Nintendo mentioned it, Sony and MS are probably hard at work right now doing the same thing. Or maybe a handheld with 23748901237409G, just to make sure Nintendo doesn't catch up.

Liamguy01

Methinks that this be good idea!
Sorry, I always wanted to start a comment that way, but really, when nintendo releaes a smaller DS with a camera, a better DSi shop (ditto MasterBalls suggestion, except it includes GameBoy, N64 and GameCube Games), better online, better graphics, and LESS SHOVELWARE!
That I'd buy without a seconds thought.

Tye The Czar

Fact: iPhone does what Nintendon't. Therefore, like the SNES, they simply need to one-up the competition. Do everything that Apple did, but better!

Brlito

Wow, this shit will never happen. Too expensive for an audience that already pirates every godamned thing they see on the DS.

smoger

i think it's a little misleading to include the word "free"

The quote indicates directly that the hardware price would increase, which is how the consumer would be paying for the service. It's no different than the Kindle or nook - you don't think those things are really $260 worth of hardware, do you? Consider that Sony, one of the most consistently high-priced manufacturer of electronics, undercuts them by ~$60 on their non-3g e-reader and you will see that the cost is in the hardware.

Now, that being said.. if we're talking about $60.. that's a steal for years of 3g service considering cell companies often charge 30-40/per month for it. Now let's hope for a browser, skype support, and (pipe dream) an open-distribution model for independent developers.

epidemico616

If they did this, they would revolutionize the market- if the CPU could handle it, I can see myself video skyping all the time. Plus I'd give it a week before someone comes up with a dsirouter hack

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