22 replies to this topic

[Pro Pizza! >:D]

What would you do if Nintendo ends up like Microsoft and you have to pay for online?

Also

Would Nintendo make people pay for online? I think not since the only real good part of online of the wii is that it's free.

[Caius Casshern Sins]

I would rather have a free online service, but there are advantages of a paid service. Nintendo will probably not make people by play for a basic service, but they may provide a service that gives more to the user if they pay.

[Auzzie Wingman]

I wouldn't mind if they had it free, but there was an option to pay for a premium service.

So like you can get 90% of the stuff without the premium.

Edited by Auzzie Wingman, 18 July 2011 - 06:19 PM.

[henryjm19]

If Nintendo charged to play online I probably would.
But I doubt they would because they said they weren't aimimg to be the best online so most likely they wouldn't charge.

[Joshua]

If they do charge online for the purpose of funding the security of the service, then by all means.
However, I personally would rather just have it free because I don't want to pay for extra online over what I am already paying for it.

But I doubt they would because they said they weren't aimimg to be the best online so most likely they wouldn't charge.

That's a very good point there. That's an indication that it is most likely going to be a free service.

Edited by Nin10doh, 18 July 2011 - 09:46 PM.

[Dementis]

Free - this is Nintendo we're talking about.

[nintendo3DS]

What would you do if Nintendo ends up like Microsoft and you have to pay for online?

Also

Would Nintendo make people pay for online? I think not since the only real good part of online of the wii is that it's free.

I highly doubt this will happen. Besides, Nintendo themselves already said that they don't want to charge people for their online services. I already pay for Xbox Live anyway, I don't want to pay for anything else (for online services anyway).
Nintendo hasn't been fond of making people charge for their online services. That is why all Nintendo consoles that are out right now, are able to play online, for free.

[AMAC]

I can't see Nintendo charging for online, although if they did, I wouldn't pay. I don't play online enough for me to justify spending money on it on a monthly/yearly basis.

[Feld0]

I highly doubt this will happen. Besides, Nintendo themselves already said that they don't want to charge people for their online services.

This. Charging for online functionality is simply against Nintendo's philosophy. Part of the reason for SpotPass's existence is because Nintendo isn't a strong believer in laying down $60 for a game, then having to shell out another $30 on DLC to get the full experience.

[StreetPassWanter]

Nintendo would NEVER do that. If that happens, I will probably cry.

[Ponkotsu]

Charging for online would easily be one of the most effective methods of making sure the mass market doesn't get into online play or internet features on the system. Nintendo's stated in the past that their goal is to get as close to the entirety of their userbase as possible online. Obviously, their lacking internet features and clumsily designed friend code systems as of far have been very effective in preventing their mass market base from getting online. I suspect we'll never see Nintendo charging fees for online as they continue to improve it, but due to the open nature of the new service they're working on for the Wii U with third parties, I'm sure we'll see paid subscription services for specific games and series from the likes of Activision, Ubisoft, and EA. Activision already has plans in that vein for Call of Duty and EA has already talked about basically focusing on making their sports games - Madden especially - all about online subscription services. Whether they'll succeed or these franchises will be hindered by these subscription services remains to be seen. But I'd definitely count on Nintendo to keep the core of online play and features focused on being free. It'd just be sort of an inconvenient XBox Live type paid situation with subscription games, all that entirely up to third parties' discretion - this part of the freedom of the Wii U's online service is part of why they're so excited for Wii U online, I suspect - while otherwise services like Netflix still require that you already be a paying subscriber to get any actual use out of the Netflix Channel for video streaming.

Nintendo's online itself should only get better while remaining free and keeping their first party games' DLC and so forth free, everything else being up to third parties. Larger companies like Activision, Ubisoft, EA, and so on will probably use their own services, just as Valve would have the Wii U connect to Steam. Then Nintendo, smaller third parties, and those that elect not to use their own servers or separate service connected to your new Nintendo online account would use Nintendo's standard free service that they're currently working on crafting with third parties. And things like DLC would probably be left up to third parties' discretion on whether or not to charge for it. There'll be significantly more internal space on the Wii U, plus the option of using big SD cards (like with the Wii and 3DS), as well as external hard drives, but Nintendo seems to thankfully be avoiding the pitfalls of gigantic forced installed and things like that, after what a mess of things those were on the PS3 and 360. A major reason console gaming effectively beat out PC gaming was convenience - you just pop in a game and go. The storage issue having been largely resolved on the 3DS and Wii U - and Nintendo has invested in holographic storage as well, so we'll likely see that for an insane amount of internal space in future platforms once the medium is both viable and affordable to integrate - we shouldn't have to worry about not having enough space for save files and most downloadable games. As such, I expect we'll be seeing a lot more DLC on the Wii U than on the Wii, like we've already begun to with the 3DS, but hopefully nothing along the lines of installing huge multi-gig chunks of games onto internal space or an external hard drive or SD card. Console and portable gaming should always be more convenient than PC gaming.

[Narcidius]

While I agree that it seems HIGHLY unlikely that Nintendo will charge for its online service, I can't say that I am particularly happy about this...

XboxLIVE is a great service. It really is... and millions of adopters, "hardcore" and "casual" alike, agree. I'm not saying that I really want Nintendo to do something similar, but I AM afraid that I will end up paying each individual company individual, monthly fees on separate account systems for online functionality in their particular game (which is a nightmare). A few things that Nintendo has said make me think in this direction, and I am REALLY hoping that this doesn't happen (but don't know how it can be avoided, especially being that companies like Ubi are already headed there)...

[Ruthie]

I personally wouldn't mind paying for online if it was an extremely amazing service but as other people have mentioned it would be a really counterproductive move.

It's also unlikely that Nintendo would do this, if they do I have to admit I would be really surprised. The reason Iwata gave for the 3DS not having 3g was because he didn't won't people to have to pay monthly fees.

[xXSuperNintendoXx]

Could happen bu probably won't

[Guy Fieri]

I doubt they would do that. Wii, DS and 3DS online is free so probably we wont see anybody paying for online.

[DaPimpJ]

They wouldn't to that and if they no way in hell I'll pay.

[Pong]

A few Wii games had downloadable content, but I don't think they would make you pay for anything else.

Edited by Pong, 20 July 2011 - 10:42 AM.

[SHADOW]

If Nintendo do charge you and it would be a rip off of microsoft

[Wertville]

As a few have stated, Nintendo simply won't charge people extra fees for anything. So, while specific companies might do things differently, expect to get Smash. Bros, Ninty channel, chat/messaging and similar things for free. And that's good enough for me, honestly, because I don't usually play console games online

[Tony Bradshaw]

Free online gameplay with paid DLC seems reasonable.