A Farewell to DS and Wii Online Gaming

As forewarned, online gaming features for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS have shut down today. This had been announced earlier this year as the company behind Nintendo's online servers, Game Spy has begun shut down of all multiplayer services - both with friends and with strangers. This will affect all games that use Wi-Fi for multiplayer content but does not mean that other internet features have been disabled, such as the Internet Channel, Netflix streaming, and downloading games from the Wii Shop.

It is worth noting that Nintendo games are not the only ones affected by this shut down - third party titles that span across many consoles will be affected in some way by this. Some are making efforts to remedy this situation but Nintendo is not one of them citing that incompatibilities and difficulties would make trying to find another way to host these games not effective.

This shut down affects popular multiplayer titles such as Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, all Pokémon titles on the DS and many others. This does not, however, affect online gaming on the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Those online services are provided directly by Nintendo through "The Nintendo Network".

It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to an era of VR points in Mario Kart but I am hopeful seeing that future games on the Wii U should have an enhanced online experience that some games (I'm looking at you Brawl) could benefit from. So let us not dwell on our memories for too long - there are many incoming games that will soon fill the void.

Online Services Ending for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

Nintendo has announced that the company will be discontinuing the online services that it provides for Nintendo Wii and DS systems. As of May 20, 2014, online features requiring Nintendo Wi-Fi connection services will no longer be operational. This includes online mulitplayer, leader boards, and downloadable games and DLC.

The Nintendo DS and Wii were released in 2004 and 2006 respectively meaning that online support for these devices has spanned nearly a decade. And although many gamers will be sad to see the functionality go, Nintendo will be able to relocate these servers and resources to support the online features of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as the 8th generation moves forward.

With Mario Kart 8 launching May 20, two days after the closure, it looks like Nintendo is prepared to bring all of its resources to support the first major wave of online Nintendo multiplayer titles for the Wii U. Mario Kart 8 will be followed by the new Super Smash Bros. and other games with large online multiplayer potential.

Affected games have been listed on the Nintendo site and will include titles such as Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, DS Pokémon titles, and virtually every other multiplayer game featuring online play. It is worth noting that the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop Channel will still be tentatively functional after that date. Nintendo also released its statement outlining the change:

"Only online features for games using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service are impacted. Other online functionality on Wii and Nintendo DS, such as access to the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop and video-on-demand services, are not affected at this time. Online play for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games will be unaffected (aside from the Wii mode on Wii U and Nintendo DS games played on Nintendo 3DS family systems)." -Statement from Nintendo

8 to 10 years is a good run for a company's first online system. XBox Live for the original console was support from 2002 until 2010, while noting that many low-key 3rd party tiles had scrapped support earlier in its life time.