During the ongoing GDC ’08 festivities, Nintendo announced a pay to play service for some upcoming Wi-Fi enabled Wii games.
Dubbed the "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay and Play" service, this new endeavor will surely confuse the gamers that once thought Nintendo would continue to support free online gameplay.
In a presentation, Takashi Aoyama, Nintendo project leader, announced the service at GDC ’08 but didn’t specify which upcoming games would require a purchase or a price tag for these games.
In effort to distinguish from free titles, the "Pay and Play" games will be identified with a red icon on the game’s box instead of the blue Wi-Fi icon.
So to sum it up, the Wii’s Wi-Fi Connection (Internet play) will remain free, while additional services or games may have to be paid for. In other words, Nintendo is trying to get more money from us. But from a developer’s point of view, this new revenue stream may give light to some creative game ideas. Also would persistent online games eventually come to the Wii? World of Warcraft for the Wii, who knows!
[Via Game | Life]
