Kiss DS/Wii Online Goodbye

[FoxNtd]

Just saw this in a random Japanese chat tonight.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2014/0227.html

The article politely thanks everyone for their continued support and long-term usage of their services but they have announced the termination of service for May 20 2014. It does not make any reference to regions so it is not clear if this is exclusively Japan's region only, or worldwide.

For amusement I saw comments in the chat about this such as "campaign to force Wii U" and "Nintendo sucks" so it seems they have a bad taste in their mouths about it just like, well, the rest of the world probably will.

EDIT: Courtesy of the post below, worldwide discontinuation has been confirmed.

[Jorpho]

Well, shucky darns. It'd be nice if someone figured out how to replicate the servers, but then that's what people keep hoping for every time an MMO shuts down, and I don't think it's ever happened.

EDIT: Global shutdown confirmed (http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw).

I forgot how much Pokemon depended on the Internet. I guess now I know what I'll be doing for the next few months.

[buzz_n64]

I assume this would render playing Wii game Online on your Wii U useless. Well, that's another feature to be lost on the Wii U.

[LordsOfSkulls]

Just saw this in a random Japanese chat tonight.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2014/0227.html

The article politely thanks everyone for their continued support and long-term usage of their services but they have announced the termination of service for May 20 2014. It does not make any reference to regions so it is not clear if this is exclusively Japan's region only, or worldwide.

For amusement I saw comments in the chat about this such as "campaign to force Wii U" and "Nintendo sucks" so it seems they have a bad taste in their mouths about it just like, well, the rest of the world probably will.

See this why as a gamer i dont agree with "I get only games with Multiplayer" people. Cause within few years you cant play the game you love and gotten for multiplayer.

And reason i stick to going for the "Awesome" Single Player Experience >.> so i can experience it at any time or Split Screen/Co=Ops.


Also their was not that many games that used Multiplayer that are still popular among people for DS/Wii other than maybe like Mario Kart/Smash Bros

[NeoVenom]

It's sad but then again they did say that the Virtual Console store will still be up. A lot of Wii's game are single player games, as mentioned before, and not many games used the online multiplayer feature. I can see people who played Brawl and Mario Kart Wii getting upset though.

[kupomogli]

It's sad but then again they did say that the Virtual Console store will still be up. A lot of Wii's game are single player games, as mentioned before, and not many games used the online multiplayer feature. I can see people who played Brawl and Mario Kart Wii getting upset though.

There are games though that have no 3DS or Wii U equivalent. Once the servers shut down, games like Advance Wars Days of Ruin, Jump Ultimate Stars, and Clubhouse Games won't have a 3DS or Wii U equivalent. It doesn't take a lot to keep servers running, but all because Nintendo wants to force people still playing Mario Kart DS/Wii or Brawl, etc, to move onto the next gen, they fuck the rest of the community that plays an online game every once in awhile.

[Atarileaf]

Does this mean no more netflix through the wii? I have it on PS3 but for some reason it doesn't work right - always gets to 25% and stops.

[NeoVenom]

There are games though that have no 3DS or Wii U equivalent. Once the servers shut down, games like Advance Wars Days of Ruin, Jump Ultimate Stars, and Clubhouse Games won't have a 3DS or Wii U equivalent. It doesn't take a lot to keep servers running, but all because Nintendo wants to force people still playing Mario Kart DS/Wii or Brawl, etc, to move onto the next gen, they fuck the rest of the community that plays an online game every once in awhile.

Yeah, it's messed up, I agree with that. They can't use the excuse that the DS and Wii are old because the 360 and PS3 are both almost a decade old and you can connect online with them still. Yeah, their next gen consoles are out and are still rather fresh compared to the Wii U but a lot of people are probably going to wait a while before getting Xbox One or PS4. My only question is why Nintendo didn't make the Wii U use the same servers as the Wii? That way people who still want to go online with the Wii can still have that option. For example, Xbox 360 and Xbox One uses Xbox Live, PS3 and PS4 uses PSN.

EDIT: Like they can add DS and Wii to the Nintendo Network since both 3DS and Wii U use it.

[Tanooki]

It's just the online server, probably given the date they want to get rid of the overhead before the new Kart and Brawl games pop up for stability reasons and to help peddle that more. The writing was on the wall the moment they made unified accounts and left the dead systems off the list, same with the point cards that wont work on them too. People should consider themselves lucky they can still get points for them and buy games added to the services. They're a waste to have around as it's time to move forward, but it also makes anyone aware the failure of the download happy market lemmings will face -- shut doors and closed away from things if your hardware fails.

[Leo_A]

Does this mean no more netflix through the wii? I have it on PS3 but for some reason it doesn't work right - always gets to 25% and stops.


The video streaming and the Wii Shop (Where you download the video streaming apps and purchase/redownload Virtual Console/WiiWare games) are all that will remain online on the Wii after this.

And the internet browser still works (In the technical sense, it was awful when it new and today's more bloated websites are usually too much for it now), but I don't think they have any way to shut that down once you've downloaded it.

So Netflix is safe for now and probably will be the primary reason why the Wii Shop stays online. I suspect once Netflix updates things someday and breaks compatibility with the Wii that that will be when the Wii Shop goes away.

[kupomogli]

Nintendo isn't going to drop the Wii shop. They don't care if you play games online, but they care about you buying their overpriced games.

[JSoup]

They can't use the excuse that the DS and Wii are old because the 360 and PS3 are both almost a decade old and you can connect online with them still.

Different situation with those two. Not sure about the 360, but the PS3 connects directly to the server of the online game you're trying to play. This is why pretty much every PS3 game that has online is still playable online, most of the servers for those games are still running. Wii routes to a privately owned Nintendo run server first, then to the server of the game you're trying to play online.

[Leo_A]

You're greatly mistaken for most instances. The vast majority of PS3 multiplayer enabled releases rely on publisher ran dedicated servers which is why so many PS3 titles are already offline where as the vast majority of 360 releases outside of EA rely on P2P and don't require publishers to setup any online infrastructure to support their titles.

I can fire up most any non EA 360 game dating to 2005 and still play online. But on the PS3, much is already offline. Oftentimes as a result, 360 versions remain online to this day like Outrun Coast 2 Coast from Sega or Grid from Codemasters years after the PS3 version that relied on company ran dedicated servers has been taken offline to reallocate those server resources to newer releases.

If it's on 360 and isn't EA published, odds are it's P2P and nothing exist for the company to discontinue at their end since the player's host their own servers (And Microsoft's generic Xbox Live framework handles the matchmaking). On the PS3, odds are it relies on publisher ran dedicated servers rather than P2P (And even those with P2P, the publisher most allocate their own resources for matchmaking).

If I was to venture a guess, 90% of online enabled 360 releases remain able to be played online with few non EA exceptions like Test Drive Unlimited where as the PS3 percentage is going to be closer to 50% with a long list of games that are offline that can still be played online in their 360 form.


Nintendo isn't going to drop the Wii shop. They don't care if you play games online, but they care about you buying their overpriced games.

I doubt they're moving a lot of digital sales these days for the Wii. It matters so much that there was more money in it for Nintendo to drop online support entirely from the Wii than it was to retain the additional hardware in order to preserve that ability to make digital purchases.

And backwards compatibility for the insignificant Wii U will only matter less as time goes by. An awful lot of the most dedicated segment of Nintendo console fans already have their Wii U and have already transferred that content over and have it present on their Wii U. Much of the value of the Wii U having access to the Wii Shop has thus already been fulfilled.

I predict when the day comes that Netflix no longer supports the Wii, the end of the Wii Shop won't be far away. If a significant number of Wii owners continue to use it for Netflix like I'm guessing is the case, there's incentive there to maintain the online shop to preserve access to downloading the app itself.

[JSoup]

You're greatly mistaken for most instances. The vast majority of PS3 multiplayer enabled releases rely on publisher ran dedicated servers which is why so many PS3 titles are already offline


That was the difference I was getting at between PS3 and Wii. PS3 games are pretty much up to the whim of the developer and the Wii is at the mercy of Nintendo. One is a situation shut down, the other is a culling. As the state of online for the majority of PS3 games, I fully admit I was guessing. I tend to not enjoy online multiplayer games, so I can only guess from the few that I own. Of them, only two can't be played online anymore (Ghostbusters and White Knight Chronicles).

[Leo_A]

The Wii is the same way as the PS3. The publisher must host their own online services.

There just happens to not be any more 3rd party releases left to be discontinued since Nintendo's own was all that was left [Edit: Not sure if that's the case, just saw a list somewhere else and a lot of 3rd party games are listed as part of this shutdown]. I'm admittedly not sure about 1-2 games in that DS/Wii list, but everything else was definitely Nintendo published.

Most online DS/Wii games like Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 slowly went years ago like PS3 games do as publishers big and small reallocate their online infrastructure to better support newer releases. I suspect the day way in the future with the plug is finally pulled on the PS3 that its list won't look much different with most games left being 1st/2nd party releases.

Or maybe not... Gran Turismo 5 was just announced for discontinuance, is a 1st party release, isn't terribly old at just a bit over 3 years, is one of the best selling titles on the platform, still has a thriving online component, and remains widely available new at retail to this day. Still rather puzzled by that. I could understand when GT6 experiences a price drop or two since it essentially retains all GT5 content, but not at this time when it's still a $60 game and GT5XL is $20 or less.

[Greg2600]

There are a HUGE number of Mario Kart Wii players still out there. It's a very active game online, this will infuriate a lot of people. That game just requires matching servers, there's not that much overhead there. This is horse poo poo.

[kupomogli]

Gran Turismo 5 was discontinued to force those owners to purchase Gran Turismo 6. It's better to get $60 from people who still want to play online rather than them playing online while waiting for GT6 to drop to $20 before purchasing it.

If Nintendo wanted to force Mario Kart fans to go over to the Wii U, then why not just close Mario Kart servers for those games instead of the entire online infrastructure. It's like Nintendo thinks everyone is too stupid to realize that's the reason why they've closed the servers when they did. They're not going to say the reason they've did it is to force Mario Kart fans to purchase a 3DS or Wii U, that'd get a lot more backlash than we just want to cut the servers off for no reason.

It's really not a big issue to me except that I was planning on playing two of those games online again. Advance Wars Days of Ruin and Jump Ultimate Stars. Now unless I get on and play the games now, putting some new games I've purchased in my backlog, I'm going to lose my chance.

This is the reason that I don't want the current gen to be mostly online only. You'll put a lot of time into a game only for the online to be pulled and you're screwed out of what you may or may not have paid $60 for.

[Jorpho]

I only just found out about the Mario Kart Wii tournaments that do fancy things like let you race a Wiggler on Wario's Gold Mine. That seems like a loss.

I don't really care all that much about online play, since there's always someone out there who is tremendously better than you, if not someone who is just flat-out cheating. But Pokemon – without online trading, you're kind of stuck if you want to finish those.

At least Professor Layton's "downloadables" are trivially unlocked with the right save data.

Every time an MMO shuts down, it seems like someone desperately hopes to get some kind of open-source server clone going, but never gets anywhere. I wonder if this might turn out differently? It is just a matching service, after all.

[Niku-Sama]

man I never played an epic fortune street session online....that's all I can say other than not being able to do general things online with the wii that weren't game related....
well crap what about Netflix on the regular wii? I imagine that will stop aswell?
man I am gonna have a bunch of pissed off dumb as bricks customers come yell at me about their problems they are having with their wii like it was something I did.

you'da thought in this day and age that regular people would figure out by now that these things have a finite life and services end eventually along with newer versions coming out....

[Press_Start]

Nintendo isn't going to drop the Wii shop. They don't care if you play games online, but they care about you buying their overpriced games.

Overpriced my @ss!

You tell me where in the world you can buy Super Mario RPG for $8 dollars?! Super Mario 3 (a $15 game) for 5 bucks. And a treasure trove of rare Turbo Grafx/CD/Super CD games worth $60-$110 a piece for $6-8 a pop.

At the least when I download them I'm getting a complete game and it's helluva lot cheaper than spending $30-40 on dlc, map packs, and costume sets for every incomplete PS3/360 game.

[Tron 2.0]

Got the notice from nintendo,through the wii when i was watching a anime on netflik.Other then they stated (May 20TH) i guess if want to play any wii game online still i better enjoy it while it last then.

[BlastProcessing402]

This is (one reason) why I don't play online. I don't want to spend time in something that's just going to go away at some point.

[kupomogli]

Overpriced my @ss!

You tell me where in the world you can buy Super Mario RPG for $8 dollars?! Super Mario 3 (a $15 game) for 5 bucks. And a treasure trove of rare Turbo Grafx/CD/Super CD games worth $60-$110 a piece for $6-8 a pop.

At the least when I download them I'm getting a complete game and it's helluva lot cheaper than spending $30-40 on dlc, map packs, and costume sets for every incomplete PS3/360 game.

Hey guyz!!! Let's compare an old game rereleased digitally with brand new games to try and spin Nintendo's overpriced Virtual Console games!

I'm not going to lie. If I want to play my NES games digitally I'm going to emulate them. But when it comes to price for digital RERELEASES Nintendo is far more expensive than the competition.

Nintendo charges $5 for a NES game, $8 for a SNES game, and $12 for a N64 game. Some of those games cost more, like Earthbound which costs $10.

Compare that to Sony which allows the publisher to price them, although most games are $3-$6. Few games like some Square Enix games(mostly Final Fantsy titles,) Metal Gear Solid, and a couple other third party rereleases are $10. So most are only $1 more than NES games, cheaper than SNES, to the few premiums being $2 more than SNES games. All of the games, including PS2 games which are all priced at $10 are cheaper than N64 games.

Unlike the Virtual Console though, games on the PSN frequently go on sale, including PSOne Classics. Persona 2 Eternal Punishment is 50% off, so $5 right now, $3.49 with PS+. That's less than even an NES game on the Virtual Ripoff Console.

Also, anyone who is interested can purchase Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, 45 games, for less than $20, have been able to for awhile. Sega Genesis Collection, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed, and Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded digitally for the PSP on PSN for $10. If you use Steam, you can get some of the Sega Genesis games for $3 each or you can pay $7.50 for each pack of 10 games. So $.75 per game. That's when there's not even a sale going on.

The Sega Genesis games that are on the PS3 and 360 on the PSN or XBL are also $5 each compared to $8 for the Virtual Console. The PSN and XBL versions have leaderboards and online play, where as the Virtual Console versions don't. So you're getting ripped off and you get less features.

[Press_Start]

blah blah blah....

I'm not going to lie. If I want to play my PS1, PS2, PS3, DLC, blah, blah, etc. digitally I'm going to emulate them.

Blah! Blah! Blah! Nintendo is evil w/ zuccinninninninninniiiiiiiiiiii*derp*.

Congratulations kupo. You contradicted your whole entire statement in one little sentence. Nice job, you Nintendo-hating bigo....trollboy.

(P.S. What good are those leaderboards when either Sega/Sony shut down their servers in about a few years time? :P)

[Leo_A]

With how long it took to get essentially perfect SuperNes emulation, I bet the wait for a suitable PS3 emulator is going to mean waiting until about 2040 before there's a seamless homebrew solution that's a full replacement for the real deal. Something that just sort of works or only runs a minority of the library with a minimum of errors is no replacement for the real deal.

And with things like cloud computing, streaming, and such, we're looking towards a future where we someday probably won't even have the code to even be able to attempt to emulate it.

[kupomogli]

duplicate.

[kupomogli]

Posted above

If I want to play my PSX and PS2 games digitally I'm going to emulate as well. I'm not going to pay a second time for something I already own and it's simple enough to play on other devices without purchasing again.

It doesn't change the fact that the Nintendo Virtual Console is way overpriced compared to other console publishers who do the same. I pointed out Sony, I pointed out Steam, even Microsoft has cheaper prices. $10 for Perfect Dark HD, a remake of Perfect Dark complete with online play compared to $12 "if" it was on the Nintendo Virtual Console.

[Emperor Megas]

Mario Kart Wii is the only online game I ever play. In fact, I think it's the ONLY multiplayer game I've EVER played online, and I do daily. This sucks, but I saw it coming.

[PizzaKat]

Never played online, but since Mario Kart is active by some I gotta check that out. I'll definitely pick up the new one.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom was another game I'd love to play but I\ve read there is a lot of lag. I tried to search for a match but got nothing. I'm guessing I have to trade FC. I'm a total noob on this.

[Zthun]

Mario Kart Wii is the only online game I ever play. In fact, I think it's the ONLY multiplayer game I've EVER played online, and I do daily. This sucks, but I saw it coming.

I'm actually surprised they kept it around this long. Less than 8 months after the Wii U came out, they already started shutting down some of the Wii channels.

It's going to really suck when MS and Sony do this. I hope there's a piracy group out there that will soft mod the systems to connect to a homebrew XBL and PSN when it happens.

[Jorpho]

I keep hoping that somehow someone, somewhere, will change their mind. Maybe a lot of people just aren't aware of what's going on just yet?

To be clear, the problem is that Nintendo licensed Gamespy Tech for their servers, and Gamespy Tech (not to be confused with the other Gamespy owned by IGN, which is really only a memory now) was bought out by GLU Mobile in 2012. And GLU Mobile is evil.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-02-27-hundreds-of-wii-ds-games-losing-online-play

Perhaps some innocent child will tug on the CEO's pantleg and look up at him with tears welling up in his eyes? It's a server for increasingly-redundant console games! How much upkeep could it possibly require?

[kupomogli]

It's a server for increasingly-redundant console games! How much upkeep could it possibly require?

I'm sure my current internet connection and PC build are both fast enough and powerful enough to be the server for every DS and Wii game combined. A small MMO server would probably be more stressful to the PC than Nintendo's library of DS and Wii games.

[PreZZ]

i wonder if Activision will keep the cod games online, I played both mw3 and black ops last month and they are still a lot of people playing them. I like playing them with the wiimote sometimes!

[Rickstilwell1]

I'm actually surprised they kept it around this long. Less than 8 months after the Wii U came out, they already started shutting down some of the Wii channels.

It's going to really suck when MS and Sony do this. I hope there's a piracy group out there that will soft mod the systems to connect to a homebrew XBL and PSN when it happens.

Flux-gamer.net had links to torrents from whatever source was preserving the digital PSN and Xbox Live content, but the site went down, probably due to not paying their bill. At least we know there are underground private trackers that are doing this. I wish they'd stop being selfish though and upload it on thepiratebay already. Relying on a small tracker that can just get shut down is stupid. At least the digital Wii stuff through Feb 2012 is on the pirate bay. On June 6, 2013 a new updated pack was made and uploaded in July. Nintendo DS games were usually being archived in packs of 100.

[Jorpho]

At least the digital Wii stuff through Feb 2012 is on the pirate bay. On June 6, 2013 a new updated pack was made and uploaded in July. Nintendo DS games were usually being archived in packs of 100.But the Wii Store and the DSi eShop aren't going to be shut down. No content there will be lost, in theory.

[Rickstilwell1]

But the Wii Store and the DSi eShop aren't going to be shut down. No content there will be lost, in theory.

Actually some of that content has already been lost, by licenses expiring and individual games being taken down. Those too, are backed up and included in the romset.

[Jorpho]

Acht, what gives!? The Pokemon "Global Link" service for Pokemon Black/White was apparently shut down January 14!
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/661226-pokemon-black-version-2/66613904

This sucks! I might have started playing it back then if I had known it was already going to start losing functionality.

[Jorpho]

So what sort of connectivity did Final Fantasy III have? The funny thing is that it isn't even listed in the official Nintendo list (http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw).

There's something here (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/924897-final-fantasy-iii/answers?qid=1055) about an extra job class only being available if you send messages over Wi-Fi, and that you can duplicate the same functionality with a second DS running Final Fantasy III, but is there something else?

Also, what sort of content is only available in Dragon Quest IX via connecting online?

[kupomogli]

Final Fantasy 3 I don't think let you get extra classes, I think it allowed you to get the overpowered onion knight weapons.

I think Dragon Quest 9 let you play multiplayer. So instead of your hero and three allies. You could play with your hero and three other heroes as your party. I've never used the multiplayer so I'm not entirely sure. I think this is right though.

*edit*

Watching a video it looks like one player controls where him/her and their characters goes, while anyone online can go wherever they want to, and so long as you travel together, if you get in a battle, you can fight in the same battle. Or maybe if you're in the same room you fight the battle whoever is first player gets in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09rSt4vWqfk

[Jorpho]

Hm, no worries there, I guess.

Looks like the major contests for Warioware D.I.Y. (http://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_contests_in_WarioWare:_D.I.Y.) all finished up three years ago. There's still content available, but it's kind of limited. I guess the time for some of these things is long past.

[Niku-Sama]

kinda makes me a bit sad that my wii didn't get more use.

oh well

[Aussie2B]

See, this is why sometimes I really, really hate modern gaming. What a lot of you are neglecting is the fact that this isn't just a multiplayer thing. Personally, I couldn't care less about online play and leaderboards and such, but when there's content in the single-player mode that becomes permanently inaccessible, that's when I get ticked. I know servers go down eventually, I don't fault them for that, but, developers, DON'T DESIGN YOUR GAMES AS IF THEY'LL BE UP FOREVER. If it's DLC that must be bought, that's one thing, but don't take free content and hide it away, whether it be data on the game that must be unlocked or content that is legitimately downloaded. I get that sometimes these are expansions that come later, but a lot of the time this content is ready from the get-go and the developers just think it would be fun to use the Wi-Fi technology, without considering that even only a few years down the road players may not be able to access 100% of the single-player game's content because the servers are down.

I know not everybody is a completionist like myself and won't care about missing some stuff, but I find it really frustrating thinking of the games I may play in the future only to discover that I'm out of luck on some content. (Maybe with cheat devices or hacking or whatever we can get around it, assuming the content is on the game to begin with, but it's still lame if we have to spend extra money and jump through hoops.)

I'm glad that I at least got the extra content in Final Fantasy III years ago, and I also got all of the extra quests for my Japanese copy of Solatorobo (that's one thing great about the US release, it has all the "DLC" unlocked automatically; I wish more games did this when they came to our region.)


So what sort of connectivity did Final Fantasy III have? The funny thing is that it isn't even listed in the official Nintendo list (http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/vyWpoM6CBIe6FjW8NIY7bvzOrgBURhzw).

There's something here (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/924897-final-fantasy-iii/answers?qid=1055) about an extra job class only being available if you send messages over Wi-Fi, and that you can duplicate the same functionality with a second DS running Final Fantasy III, but is there something else?

Also, what sort of content is only available in Dragon Quest IX via connecting online?

That list is just the Nintendo-developed titles affected, I believe. This is the full list:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/games-wifi.jsp

It's been a while since I played Final Fantasy III, but I think sending the letters unlocked the Onion Knight job, additional equipment, and a bonus dungeon. Here's a FAQ about the Wi-Fi-required content:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/924897-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/46074

Maybe it's possible to get the stuff with two DS systems, though, I don't know.

From what I've heard about DQIX, there's a bunch of content you need the Wi-Fi service for. Quests, items, and the like.

I wish fans who are already familiar with the games on Nintendo's list could compile their own list explaining what the Wi-Fi service is used for in each game. Specifically, if it's for just multiplayer stuff or if it's used to unlock single-player content. And info on how easily the content can be acquired would be great (like, can you get it on the title screen, or do you have to get a ways into the game before it's accessible?). If anybody here knows of a list like that, I'd love a link. I went through my collection of DS and Wii games, checking which were on Nintendo's list and then looking them up, but I either couldn't find much info or it sounds like I have to play multiple hours to get the option.

[Jorpho]

That list is just the Nintendo-developed titles affected, I believe. This is the full list:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/games-wifi.jspYikes! It's worse than I thought.

Looks like there's only enough space on WW:DIY for half the content that's still up. I guess if I want to archive it all personally – without paying for DIY Showcase for the Wii – I'll need to run a second copy from a flashcart, assuming that works at all, and it might not. (Of course, someone out there has probably backed everything up already, but dangit, it's the principle of the thing.)

EDIT: Wow, something was easy to do for once.

[Gameguy]

Personally, I couldn't care less about online play and leaderboards and such, but when there's content in the single-player mode that becomes permanently inaccessible, that's when I get ticked. I know servers go down eventually, I don't fault them for that, but, developers, DON'T DESIGN YOUR GAMES AS IF THEY'LL BE UP FOREVER.
They do it on purpose so you'll have to buy the new version that comes out for the newer system. It's all made like tax software now, they expect you to upgrade when games become "obsolete" and newer versions are made available. Consoles are thought of as disposable electronics, just like with computers and cell phones. Those developers aren't thinking of their games like films which can be appreciated and made available for decades, they're thinking of them like business software.

Like you I'm basically done with modern games, I don't feel any real attachment to them. I prefer the games that don't have any online content at all. The service discontinuation list does remind me that I have a bunch of games I haven't got around to playing yet, I probably will still have them around 5 years from now waiting for me to get to them. Assuming the batteries will still be functional in DS systems at that time. I've already come across some SP systems with the batteries starting to bulge out, the systems still need working batteries installed to work even when plugged in.

[Aussie2B]

As exploitative as that may be, I would feel better about it if there were alternate versions of the same games on other platforms, ones that offer 100% of their content, that is. I mean, that would at least help in terms of games I haven't already bought. But "newer versions" in a lot of cases just means the next entry in a series, and my desire to play an old game and a new game are not mutually exclusive. I suspect that a whole lot of these titles that will be affected haven't been and won't be ported to anything else (or at least not any time soon), so we're really just shit out of luck when it comes to what we lose access to.

[importaku]

Not much use complaining as it will do absolutely nothing it's not going to change anything, if there is content you simply can't live without then it's your responsibility to get it all while it's up. It shouldn't be like that, but this is how gaming is going so might as well take steps. It's going to get worse from here on in.

When i heard the news i got all my DS games that utilize the wifi connection & went online & got everything i could. Then i used my USB save adapter dongle to back up all my cart saves onto my pc so now they are safe forever. Yes there are games where it's impossible to get everything daigasso band brothers DX had hundreds of free DLC songs online to download but a cart can only store 100 & once filled up it cant be deleted by any method.

Some stuff can be activated by action replay but a lot can't. Got a huge archive of Japanese DS game saves now with most if not all the online DLC data available at the time. Sure there are games that have DLC which i haven't got yet but i'll search trhe Japanese sites for AR codes to unlock if i need to. Not many DS games that are left that i want now i pretty much have everything i ever wanted.

[Jorpho]

I found this paean to DQIX. Nothing irreplaceable, but quite a loss.
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/nintendo-wi-fi-connection-and-the-new-impermanence-of-gaming

Did anyone here ever even bother playing Phantom Hourglass online? I read about the multiplayer in the manual and it seemed like a drag.

[Gameguy]

As exploitative as that may be, I would feel better about it if there were alternate versions of the same games on other platforms, ones that offer 100% of their content, that is. I mean, that would at least help in terms of games I haven't already bought. But "newer versions" in a lot of cases just means the next entry in a series, and my desire to play an old game and a new game are not mutually exclusive. I suspect that a whole lot of these titles that will be affected haven't been and won't be ported to anything else (or at least not any time soon), so we're really just shit out of luck when it comes to what we lose access to.
importaku basically summed it up.


Not much use complaining as it will do absolutely nothing it's not going to change anything, if there is content you simply can't live without then it's your responsibility to get it all while it's up.
If the content would be available indefinitely, what incentive would there be for you to buy the game for full retail price at release? It's just like with games now coming with codes to unlock online features, you need to buy those games new to get a working code. Companies are doing it on purpose.



Then i used my USB save adapter dongle to back up all my cart saves onto my pc so now they are safe forever.
I wasn't aware these were available for DS games. I'll have to look into one at some point. Of course, DS games don't use batteries to back up saves so there's little risk of them just disappearing. At least the DLC data can be saved and made available for those looking for it.


Did anyone here ever even bother playing Phantom Hourglass online?
I still haven't got around to playing it at all, and I've had the game for years.

[Jorpho]

I wasn't aware these were available for DS games. I'll have to look into one at some point.There are homebrew utilities for flashcarts that will let you back up saved games as well. You run the program, eject the flashcart (yes, while the system is on), and insert the game you want to back up, and it will send the data over wifi to a PC. I seem to recall reading that these programs won't work with the DSi, as the DSi hardware does not allow ejection while the system is on – but I could be wrong on that.

It seems that no one has written a homebrew program for dumping saves from Warioware D.I.Y. and Jam with the Band (which both use large amounts of special flash memory), or at least I haven't been able to find one – which is weird, as there are numerous utilities available for hacking Warioware D.I.Y. saves. I can only assume that they are only for use with emulator and flashcart saves.

I found this thread (http://gbatemp.net/threads/preserving-ds-saves-with-the-dlc-flags-unlocked.362667/) which is a start on save data containing DLC. It's weird that Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 has six levels available from Nintendo, but Mini-Land Mayhem has piles of them – many of them from old weekly challenges.

[Jorpho]

I finally got around to looking at the Pokemon Gen IV WiFi plaza (in Platinum). The place is deserted. Kinda sad.

I guess Nintendo might be fighting this more if people were still getting a lot of use out of WFC, but maybe they aren't.

Less than a month to go!

[Jorpho]

Welp, this is it! I finally got around to verifying that I have all the Gen IV Pokemon unavailable in Black/Platinum/HeartGold. (Holy crap, there was a lot of them.)

For kicks tonight I fired up Diddy Kong Racing DS to see if I could find anyone looking for a match. LOL What a sucky port that game is! I had forgotten.

[JSoup]

Did anyone here ever even bother playing Phantom Hourglass online? I read about the multiplayer in the manual and it seemed like a drag.

Yes and it's not that bad. Basically tag with phantoms. Nothing amazing, but worth it once or twice if you happened to know someone else with the game. The annoying thing is online is the easiest way to get all the ship parts. Many of them are gotten during normal play and many more can be obtained in tag mode (which doesn't require internet), but trading with people who have extras is undoubtedly the fasted method. I think the trading aspect applies to Spirit Tracks as well, never tried.

[PizzaKat]

Havent Played Mario Kart Wii Online since the beginning of the month. I guess its too late now. Just gotta wait for the 30th. Less than ten days away for MK8. Should be fun. Hopefully theres no idiot hackers and theres more than just numerous Funky Kongs on a bike ( IKnow hes not in 8) he was the Zero and Vergil from UMVC3 of MK Wii.