Topic: Details from D.I.C.E.

[SS4Gogita]

Reggie divulges juicy new details about some upcoming DS features.

THE LEGEND BUILDS: NINTENDO DS OFFERS BOLD NEW FEATURES    

DS Gets Free Retail Game Downloads, Voice Chat and a New Look    

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 9, 2006 – The video games industry's "story of the year" for 2005 is growing even more compelling early in 2006, as Nintendo today announced major new initiatives for its hot-selling Nintendo DS™ portable game system.    

In a matter of weeks: DS owners will sample free games simply by visiting their local game retailers; players will enjoy live, real-time Wi-Fi voice interaction with their portable game play; the 1 millionth DS owner will log onto Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's wireless gaming service; and a new lighter, brighter DS will make its debut in Japan.    

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing, announced the new DS features during his keynote address today at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' D.I.C.E. conference in Las Vegas.    

"Nintendo DS was the only video game system that exceeded expectations in 2005, simply because it dared to be different," Fils-Aime said. "By further enriching the ways in which players can compete, play and sample new games, that process is accelerating in the opening weeks of 2006."    

Here are the details announced at the D.I.C.E. conference:    

DS Download Service: Starting next month, Nintendo will offer all DS owners free downloadable game demos and other downloadable content at thousands of participating retail locations around the United States. An in-store kiosk will beam wireless demo versions of games and other downloadable content into a players' Nintendo DS system. Users simply stop by the store with their Nintendo DS, click "DS Download Play" on their system and choose one of a variety of DS games they want to sample. The game will download automatically and users can play all they want (even if they leave the store) until the Nintendo DS is turned off.    

Sequentially, players can try out as many games as they want, letting them test drive the wide array of games that can only be played on Nintendo DS. The first DS Download Service stations will include free demos of Tetris® DS, Brain Age™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Mario Kart® DS, Meteos™, True Swing Golf and PokĂ©mon® Trozei, along with a Metroid® Prime Hunters video clip. The selection of games and other downloadable content at DS Download Service kiosks will refresh quarterly.    

Metroid Chat: The new Metroid Prime Hunters game for Nintendo DS will give gamers the ability to chat directly with one another before and after matches played via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Players in North America simply click the chat icon and say what they have to say. The microphone of the Nintendo DS picks up voice communication and transmits it to the people on their friend list. Players can use the chat function before a match to agree on settings or after a battle to relive their glories. This Teen-rated first-person adventure arrives March 20 and promises to open a dramatically fun new facet of gaming to Nintendo fans.    

Nintendo DS Momentum: Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection now boasts more than 20 million different connections, representing more than 850,000 unique users worldwide. Nintendo DS has enjoyed extremely strong sales worldwide, selling more than 14.4 million units worldwide through December. The Japanese sell-through of the existing Nintendo DS hardware exceeded 5 million within 13 months, which made Nintendo DS there the fastest-selling video game launch ever. In addition to Metroid Prime Hunters, Tetris DS also launches March 20. Using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, up to four players can compete in wireless two- or four-player Tetris DS battles against friends or strangers, near or far.    

Nintendo DS Lite: The lighter, brighter Nintendo DS system goes on sale in Japan next month. Nintendo DS Lite is about two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter. Its availability in other regions will be announced at a later date.    

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy® Advance SP, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 2 billion video games and more than 360 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario™ and Donkey Kong® and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid®, Zelda™ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.

[Hostile Creation]

HOT F'ING CRAP.  This is incredibly awesome news.
Now all we need is online pictochat and DS will have achieved perfection

[Bill Aurion]

Anyone unlucky enough to face me in Metroid Prime Hunters will be hit with a barrage of strange sounds! =D

[Smash_Brother]

Damn, I've had my fanboygasm before the show even got started.

–SB

[Ian Sane]

Good to see that they're improving on their online play with Metroid Prime Hunters.  They're directly responding to a common complaint about Mario Kart.

"Starting next month, Nintendo will offer all DS owners free downloadable game demos and other downloadable content at thousands of participating retail locations around the United States."

Nintendo does realize they have an online system right?  They must since they mention it in the press release.  So why do I have to go to the store to get my demo?  Why can't I download it online?  The feature is there so use it.  This is better than nothing but it's such an obvious idea to offer online downloads I don't know why Nintendo isn't using it.

[Pale]

Ian, local game browsing is part of the DS's built in software.  Getting demo's off of the internet would be a completely different process, thus requiring either a firmware upgrade or for you to go out and buy a Demo Downloading 'game'.  So the feature isn't necessarily "there" as you put it.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm guessing that they make you go to a store to ownload the demo hoping that maybe you'll like the game and hopefully make an impulse buy, especially since you are already within walking distance of(if not still in) the store.

If you could just download the games at you leisure at home you might just continue to download games everytime you wanna play instead of actually buying the game.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Pale
Ian, local game browsing is part of the DS's built in software.  Getting demo's off of the internet would be a completely different process, thus requiring either a firmware upgrade or for you to go out and buy a Demo Downloading 'game'.  So the feature isn't necessarily "there" as you put it.

True, but it should have been.

I'd take a firmware upgrade which let me browse DS demos from home any day.

–SB

[KDR_11k]

You can get special drivers for some WiFi cards that allow them to act like a DS download station but that makes them useless for WiFi. It requires the card to deactivate features that are usually built into the drivers, that's not possible without such a special driver. Updating the DS firmware to make it accept data via normal WiFi (if that's even possible) requires shorting that firmware upgrade contact and I doubt Nintendo is going to tell people to open their DS and short that contact. It's not a PSP, it's not meant to update the firmware with each game you buy.

[Smash_Brother]

On that note, a friend of mine had the program which emulated what Nintendo is pushing, only it was from E3 with the downloadable demos.

–SB

[KnowsNothing]

Sweet, voice chat.  I usually don't like voice chat because it's usually in-game, and I don't want to listen to you yelling and farting while I'm playing.  But before and after matches seems alright.

[Ian Sane]

"Ian, local game browsing is part of the DS's built in software. Getting demo's off of the internet would be a completely different process, thus requiring either a firmware upgrade or for you to go out and buy a Demo Downloading 'game'. So the feature isn't necessarily 'there' as you put it."

You're right.  I guess the question is "why wasn't it there in the first place?"  That seems like a pretty limiting oversight.  They KNEW they were going online so why didn't they take that into account?  I guess offline Pictochat is the same sort of issue.

Though that idea of them forcing you to go to the store so that maybe you'll have an impulse buy sounds a lot like the sort of logic Nintendo would use.

"If you could just download the games at you leisure at home you might just continue to download games everytime you wanna play instead of actually buying the game."

That's Nintendo's arguement for why demos in general are a bad idea yet I've seen no proof that demos hurt sales.  If anything something like the MGS2 demo helps sales.  That probably is their logic but it's stupid and there's a reason Nintendo is only game company in existence who thinks that way.  

[Pale]

"Why wasn't it there in the first place?"

That's a good question that no one really has the answer to.  I want/wanted to browse the internet with the DS.  That may still happen, who knows.  The cool thing that we can look forward to is the tech that KDR (and many others) are using to convert home PCs into demo stations.  We should expect our Revs to work in the same way, so hopefully by then, we'll be playing DS Demos in our homes.

[bustin98]

How's this for an idea: the Revolution acting as your personal kiosk.

Yeah, it takes away from the impulse buy idea, but I'm sure it's possible with the rumored connection between the two systems.

I just might have to buy one of these DS thingies.

[Rhoq]

I'm sorry folks, but there is no way I'm going to be satisfy craving for a new game by just downloading the demo. A demo is a just that - a demo. Whether you download it from the convenience of your own home or at a store should make a difference. If you like the demo, you'll buy it regardless.

[BigJim]

Well the DL service as it is is a cool start. Hopefully they'll expand it to home DLs someday. Clearly they thought limiting it was a good idea to encourage impulse buys. At least I'll have something to do while I am waiting half an hour for help at Best Buy. (God I hate that place.)

Wanna really get some impulse buys? Update the firmware to allow online purchasing. (protected for parents to approve, of course.) It still amazes me that Nintendo doesn't sell direct.  That's cash on the table.

[Smash_Brother]

An iTunes Store styled DS download service? (they already intend to do it with the Rev...)

Holy crap...

–SB

[trip1eX]

I think the kiosks are about attracting traffic to the retailers.  IT's Nintendo saying hey we'll give our customers a reason to visit your store.  

Also most folks aren't online yet.  And there's piracy and hacking issues online.  
 

[Ian Sane]

"Also most folks aren't online yet. And there's piracy and hacking issues online."

Well Nintendo doesn't have to take away the kiosks so people not online can still do it.  I'm not online with the DS but I want that option becaue I'm going to be online at some point.

At first glance I thought "who cares if they pirate free demos" and then I realized that one could always hack things so that you can download roms of DS games.  That would be a pretty damn good reason to not do it.

[stevey]

I can't wait, voice chat in huters will be so fun.

[JonLeung]

I don't know how true it is about Nintendo being overly cautious about what can happen with communication online, but Metroid Prime Hunters is likely rated T anyway, not like the E-rated Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World.  I heard AC:WW blocks out bad words that are typed (I've never tried it or seen that in action) but controlling spoken language is harder if not impossible.  But I guess they figure if you're old enough to play MP:H, you've probably heard all the words there are to know.  But they put an ESRB disclaimer anyway...

[nickmitch]

I believe Einstein said it best, when he said, "\/\/007!!!11"

[Jensen]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Also most folks aren't online yet. And there's piracy and hacking issues online."

Well Nintendo doesn't have to take away the kiosks so people not online can still do it.  I'm not online with the DS but I want that option because I'm going to be online at some point.

At first glance I thought "who cares if they pirate free demos" and then I realized that one could always hack things so that you can download roms of DS games.  That would be a pretty damn good reason to not do it.

For $20, you can buy a wireless card for your computer to download demos to your DS.  I think it is smart to make the demos in store only, though.  I am more likely to buy a game I've tried if I am already at the store.  It will also bring DS exposure to the store, people will see that other people own it.... you may even find someone else to play a wifi game.  I'm not saying that I don't personally want online downloads...I'm all for it.

Though computers can emulate another DS, Wifi download hasn't been hacked... the demos are signed with a key.   You still need a GBA flash card to update the DS firmware so it can run unsigned stuff.  

[Jensen]

Quote
Originally posted by: JonLeung
I don't know how true it is about Nintendo being overly cautious about what can happen with communication online, but Metroid Prime Hunters is likely rated T anyway, not like the E-rated Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World.  I heard AC:WW blocks out bad words that are typed (I've never tried it or seen that in action) but controlling spoken language is harder if not impossible.  But I guess they figure if you're old enough to play MP:H, you've probably heard all the words there are to know.  But they put an ESRB disclaimer anyway...

The microphone of the Nintendo DS picks up voice communication and transmits it to the people on their friend list.    

They figure if you can communicate with them anyway (to trade friend codes), they might as well let you use voice over wifi connection.  

[Mario]

Quote
Why wasn't it there in the first place?

I'm guessing because they hadn't finalised their WiFi technology stuff back then when the DS launched, and they couldn't just leave an empty hole there that could be filled when DS went online, since that might have left it open to some crazy hacking.

I strongly encourage everyone to download the Brain Age demo, you will say wow.