Bye Bye DS & Wii wifi online play

[Veilor]

Nintendo is killing the ability to play games with wifi online for both DS & Wii games on May 20th. They're focusing on 3DS & Wii U.

Full statement from Nintendo of America

As of May 20, 2014, certain online functionality, including online play, matchmaking and leaderboards for many Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi games, will no longer be accessible. For a list of Nintendo games and services that are affected, please check http://www.nintendo.com. Users can still play these games in offline mode, which continues to offer a rich game-play experience. 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 also 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).

Our focus now shifts to readying our Wii U and Nintendo 3DS matchmaking services for upcoming games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.

We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company's legacy systems. Your enthusiasm for games made for these systems speaks to their longevity, and the passion of Nintendo fans.

Nintendo of Australia, Japan & UK has issued a similiar statement.

List of games affected varies by region, according to eurogamer it's a total of 60 games.

http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Wii/Setup-amp-Connect/Termination-of-Nintendo-Wi-Fi-Connection/Termination-of-Nintendo-Wi-Fi-Connection-859609.html
http://www.nintendo.com.au/termination-of-nintendo-wi-fi-connection

Guess it's time to buy Mario Kart Wii and play Pokémon Battle Revolution for some online play before this happens.

[badATchaos]

does this include the Wiiware/VC stores?

[atarileaf]

We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company's legacy systems.

Considering the state of the Wii-U, that's a fairly bold statement.

[jobocan]

does this include the Wiiware/VC stores?

From what I've heard the online store remains.


I'm sure the network closure will really sadden the 2 people who were still playing Wii games online.

[haloofthesun]

There's been surprisingly a lot more complaints about this than I would have thought. People are acting like servers being shut down for an old console is completely unheard of.

[Veilor]

There's been surprisingly a lot more complaints about this than I would have thought. People are acting like servers being shut down for an old console is completely unheard of.

Actually this is happening rather fast. PS2 can still connect to the network & Xbox had it's internet shutdown 2010, 5 years after Xbox 360's release.

does this include the Wiiware/VC stores?

I'm sure the network closure will really sadden the 2 people who were still playing Wii games online.

A lot more, no more Pokémon battles online on the DS games, the latest games(Black 2 & White 2) was just released 1.5 years ago!

[karyann]

There's been surprisingly a lot more complaints about this than I would have thought. People are acting like servers being shut down for an old console is completely unheard of.

Oooh yes. People are so damn whiny about this, but as sad as it is, it's the normal flow of life for a gaming system.

[atarileaf]

I've yet to get an email that the Atari 2600 servers have shut down so . . . 

[karyann]

I've yet to get an email that the Atari 2600 servers have shut down so . . . 

Oooh yes. People are so damn whiny about this, but as sad as it is, it's the normal flow of life for a modern gaming system.

There, I fixed it 

[pceslayer]

The DS and Wii had online?

[scott]

I dont get thebl big deal. EA shuts down servers on a yearly basis for their games. 

[Veilor]

I dont get thebl big deal. EA shuts down servers on a yearly basis for their games. 

The big deal being that they shut down the ability to play ANY of those games online on any console. The only reason is that new consoles have released. I could see the reason for the Wii games, no one plays those online...But Pokémon is a big deal. Not everyone can afford a new 3DS + game. There's still a lot of people playing Black & White versions. And as I said version 2 of those games aren't even two years old. In EA's case it's mostly yearly games & games lacking players. But I find it hard to believe Pokémon games lack players.

[scott]

Ya, but servers shut down all the time, is what I'm saying. MMOs that are too old or low on player base get shut down all the time. Online modes for games disappear. Patch servers go down. Eventually the Xbox 360 and PS3's online marketplaces will also disappear, along with the ability to download XBLA/PS3 PSN digital titles. Nintendo's Wii and DS servers going down is just another tombstone in a long line. Hell, you can't even use the full Final Fantasy IX strategy guide, because when Final Fantasy XI came out they revamped PlayOnline into the launcher for the game and gutted all the information for FFIX's guide out of the site.

Plus the 3DS is now 3 years old and the price had come down quite a bit from the original MSRP, and there's the 2DS. It's getting easier to make the switch all the time. I'm sure there are people that still play Pokemon: Black and White 2 and do internet stuff on there. But, one can't really expect that they'd just leave the servers for an 8 and 10 year old console running indefinitely.

[disgaeniac]

Heh, I still haven't:

1).  Ever hooked up the Wii that I bought from Soera,

2).  Un-boxed my PS4 (and/or Vita),

3).  Even had my 3DS-XL on for more than an hour or two, and

4).  Played more than 1 game (and only during Sandy & not having any power) on my DSi-XL, and/or ever used it for on-line playing 

[topspot123]

There's been surprisingly a lot more complaints about this than I would have thought. People are acting like servers being shut down for an old console is completely unheard of.

Actually this is happening rather fast. PS2 can still connect to the network & Xbox had it's internet shutdown 2010, 5 years after Xbox 360's release.

I was under the impression that there are no remaining servers supporting PS2 games.  Are there any still going?