BBC NEWS: Nintendo in McDonald’s wi-fi dealCould that last sentence be any less without point? Could it be any more misleading? It makes Nintendo sound like they are pulling up to the game late. It reads like they are responding to something that Microsoft and Sony have established.
Nintendo has joined forces with McDonald’s to offer free wireless internet access in the US for its DS handheld games console.
The service means McDonald’s customers will be able to play selected DS titles against other gamers around the globe.
Rivals Sony and Microsoft already offer online gaming on their game consoles.
It’s not. What Sony and Microsoft have, in their home consoles is the ability to connect one’s home system to one’s existing internet service. So these are stationary machines in people’s homes that they can connect to the internet service they are already paying for on their own. With Sony’s PSP, and its built-in 802.11g wireless capability, the statement is marginally more reasonable; a PSP can be brought anywhere with wireless access and can connect to the internet. Provided one can find a free hotspot (does the PSP work with paid hotspots?) one can get online and play. Sony has talked extensively about PSP Spots that are coming soon. It seems as though Nintendo has manifested this plan first, and apparently very thoroughly.
What has happened now with the Nintendo has partnered with McDonalds to bring free internet access to enable online gaming at one of the most ubiquitous, child-friendly establishments in America. With people knowing that they can bring their DS to McDs, you can bet that not only will there be chances for online gaming, but head-to-head matches with other patrons and pictochat to meet new child predators... er, friends.
Make no mistake, Sony and Nintendo have both been hard at work on this for some time, and I would not be surprised to see a similar announcement from Sony very soon. For now, when the system rolls out on November 14, Nintendo has seized the lead.
Well as you point out yourself they are responding to the PSP (which only has 802.11b BTW - not g)
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that Nintendo has been very anti-online and is one generation behind in online gaming.
Yes, the PSP can connect to at least some pay hotspots - I suppose it's a YMMV situation.
Finally, many McDonald's have free wifi already. In other words, they work with a PSP right now. And they would work with a DS as soon as Nintendo ships an online title. So actually this announcement is just fluff, to fool the unaware.
As far as who has "seized the lead", I'm giving the crown to the portable console that has online games today, and has had them for the last six months. And that ain't Nintendo :-)
I thought the McD wi-fi was pay-to-play, no? How do they keep all the powerplayers from sitting around and VOIPing through the entire lunch hour? What about P2P glommers?
ReplyDeleteSome are, some aren't (I believe - I've never used McD's WiFi.) I have read blog posts from people who use the free WiFi - and yes I've seen people talking about just parking in the parking lot, grabbing email and then leaving again.
ReplyDeleteAs for what stops "powerplayers" from VOIPing through their entire lunch hour - THEY ARE MCDONALD'S. Powerplayers don't eat at the Golden Arches.
I also see no way Nintendo could make the WiFi free for a DS user, but pay for normal users. At best, they'd have to build some sort of authentication into a DS cartridge - and if they are *really* doing that, then it's gonna get hacked. Or something crazier where the DS uses something other than a normal wireless stack to signon. That sounds fraught with peril to me.
I still think it's meaningless - that McD's is going to slap a Nintendo logo right next to that "Centrino" logo and that's about it.
I thought the DS used a proprietary stack from the get-go. That's why there is a bounty offered for implementing a standard TCP/IP stack on it, no?
ReplyDeleteThe DS uses a proprietary stack for current games (Nintendogs, Advance Wars, and so forth). The whole change for Mario Kart and Animal Crossing is that they are using regular 802.11b.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's vaguely possible that they are trying some custom protocol and then falling back to 802.11b if that fails. I don't think it's likely - and if so that's assy - it will slow down regular 802.11b connections. AND McD's would have to install special software on their routers to run whatever mutant thing. AND it would still get hacked most likely.
I mention it as a possibility, but I'm not going to believe they actually did it without more concrete evidence. Occam's razor says this whole flap was just marketing and mirrors.
(And I still hate talking to you in these comments because of the non-RSS'iness. I'm tempted to boycott :-))
Sorry that I've not yet (YET!) managed the return to RSS-enabled comments. I do not mean to be a hypocrite after you so kindly enabled them at your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I put them in, I broke the entire blog site here, so I want to make sure I can correct any errors I make before I try. That means time, which I have been spending on other things lately.
I didn't realize that Nintendo was going to a standard stack with the newer games. I thought that was why they had the new Nintendo Wifi Adaptor for home use; so people could use the Nintendo stack at home. Hm.
No, no, no. The WiFi adaptor is for users that don't have WiFi yet - it's supposedly a painless Nintendo-simple WiFi (which is a damn fine idea - I'll give them credit there).
ReplyDeleteFor somebody like me (or even my parents/nephew) who already HAS WiFi, no external gizmo is needed.
And it's probably worth pointing out that not all new games will be internet enabled. The old "LAN only" stack is still an option for games.