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.

Rant: Does it make sense to bring the Wii Mini to the US?

*It's been a while since I've had anything to share with you, but here we go - Nintendo's last minute decision to milk as much out of the Wii as possible.*


Nintendo announced that they would be releasing a low-cost, basic model of the Nintendo Wii, the Wii mini, in American markets on November 17, 2013 for a retail price of $99.99. The Wii Mini made its way to Canada in 2012 and Europe earlier this year.

The Wii mini is essentially a stripped down version of the Wii – it lacks backwards compatibility with Game Cube titles (similar to the Wii Family Edition released in 2011), only features component output, does not have an SD card slot, and does not have online capabilities. The system will also be smaller and more compact than its counterpart and is built to sit horizontally. The system comes in one color scheme – black with a red trim. Discs are manually loaded by opening the top rather than through a disc feeder. At launch, bundles will come with a red Wii-mote Plus and Nunchuck as well as a copy of Mario Kart Wii.

What is Nintendo trying to accomplish with this?

READ MORE >>

Some Current Events

So after a slow start, the Nintendo 3DS has finally gotten the ball rolling with two hit hand-held titles. These games in particular were the first Mario games on the system and the first major titles that weren’t remakes. But most importantly, those Mario 3DS titles have had skyrocketing success driving 3DS sales through the roof and each selling over 1 million copies in their first weeks: Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. Super Mario 3D Land is the next iteration in the Mario platforming series and bridges the gap between games of the Super Mario 64 style with side-scrolling in the same vein as the Super Mario series.

In looking at the Wii, it seems that Nintendo really seems to be looking ahead at the “Wii U” and is leaving the Wii to fend for itself in its last few months. Unlike this transition, the bridge from N64 to Gamecube and Gamecube to Wii was a lot smoother with an overlap of new games coming out for the old system at the same time as launch titles were laying the ground for the next generation. And in the case of the Gamecube many games, most notably The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, identical games were simultaneously released for both systems. Usually this helps owners get the full experience of their systems before moving up to the next level and keeps the interest of those like me who can’t always gather up the cash to get the system within weeks of its launch. Hopefully this isn’t true but the evidence is there with the release of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword being the last highly anticipated games and no new major games in production.

And push-backs of the Wii-U’s release date further compounds the issue. So, as usual, only time will tell and if you can’t wait for the Wii U comes out to get your hands on some new Nintendo experiences, the 3DS is your best bet. Or, hit your local GameStop or other Used Game retailer and load up your libraries with titles that you may have missed for your old systems.

So finally, I’m posting some current news stuff and I hope to keep this up along with reviews and other posts and rants.

MC Hammer Bro.