Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection marks 2 million unique users
by Blake Snow 
{ Aug 28th 2006 at 6:30PM }
In a press release today, Nintendo announced that over 2 million unique users have logged onto their free Nintendo Wi-FI Connection service creating over 70 million game sessions. From the release: "Late on Thursday, a Nintendo DS owner... unknowingly became the 2 millionth unique player to use Nintendo's wireless gaming service. To put that number in perspective, the population of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection users now surpasses the population of 15 different U.S. states, including Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico."I could have sworn Nebraska had more than 2 million residents, but thanks anyway for the population lesson, Ninty. You've been known to trick gamers into learning before (read: Brain Age, etc.), but I'm onto you this time!
[Thanks, supa]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
big n @ Aug 28th 2006 6:39PM
Theres been no better time to own a DS. Now if only I could get a hold of a Lite...
mykie @ Aug 28th 2006 6:46PM
Over 2 million unique visitors?
then why does it still take me 25 minutes to connect to 3 other people in Tetris DS?!
exy @ Aug 28th 2006 6:48PM
I see only good things in the future for the DS Wi-Fi...
Come October... or November... or whenever the Wii is released, I (and about a million other Wii wanters... Wii wanters?) am going to be unable to get my grubby hands on the damn machine... Only 1.5million in the US!
To console myself I will undoubtedly purchase an Onyx DS and, while crying, pretend my MarioKart DS over WiFi is actually a purchase I made over Nintendo's Connect24.
So here's to Nintendo, who, now and forever, has the potential to make this man cry.
Alkaiser @ Aug 28th 2006 6:49PM
Blake:
This time Nintendo's gotten their facts down.
2005 population of Nebraska according to the Official Nebraska site is 1.758 million.
TravistyOJ @ Aug 28th 2006 6:52PM
"Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection users now surpasses the population of 15 different U.S. states, including Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico."
Also surpasses to population of 91 countries!
tactics @ Aug 28th 2006 6:55PM
awesome numbers! my family is responsible for 1/500,000th of the total unique online userbase! :)
-"superfan" tactics.
SilverSurfer @ Aug 28th 2006 6:56PM
Sorry exy its 1.5 million in North America. Dont forget Canada, we're people too! :)
KingOfGods @ Aug 28th 2006 6:58PM
"Over 2 million unique visitors?
then why does it still take me 25 minutes to connect to 3 other people in Tetris DS?!"
I agree....I can never find any players on Mario Kart.
.ed @ Aug 28th 2006 7:02PM
.135% of that 2 million make up my Animal Crossing group on myspace.
Tyler M. @ Aug 28th 2006 7:26PM
Nebraska:
Population Ranked 38th
Total (2000) 1,711,263
Density 22.3/sq mi
8.6/km² (42nd)
You learn something new every day. :)
AssemblyLineHuman @ Aug 28th 2006 7:31PM
2, mykie: Is that an exaggeration? It never takes me more than about 30 seconds-1 minute to find 3 people.
idioteraser @ Aug 28th 2006 7:29PM
If you are having such a hard time finding three try to find two people to play at once. Ever think that maybe people want smaller size matches of two people rather then four?
GSI @ Aug 28th 2006 7:39PM
-->"then why does it still take me 25 minutes to connect to 3 other people in Tetris DS?!"
B/c maybe you have a crappy network or possibly an incompatible router?
Oh and the Nintendo Wifi network...Powered by GameSpy. :-)
Ben @ Aug 28th 2006 8:02PM
I live in Nebraska...
I feel ashamed now.
Dman @ Aug 28th 2006 8:50PM
unique users?
BlackYoshi @ Aug 28th 2006 8:26PM
2. Over 2 million unique visitors?
then why does it still take me 25 minutes to connect to 3 other people in Tetris DS?!
Because Nintendo counts one connection as a unique visitor. 2 million people are NOT consistently using the service, but they like to say so in order to justify their poor online decisions.
brandon_r87 @ Aug 28th 2006 8:22PM
Nebraska pride! Today the state is getting that fancy 'lectricity, tomorrow... THE WORLD.
And no, we don't all just watch football.
apoc06 @ Aug 28th 2006 8:34PM
Keep in mind they are going by the 2000 census numbers. The census is notoriously flawed [it doesn't take into account college students properly, illegal immigrants, homeless... etc]. So if you can't trust the figures, basically we start back at square one.
That said, Nebraska might still have it over the DS. lol!
2 million uniques? Unique according to hardware id/ MAC address, or unique usernames? Impressive nonetheless.
GSI @ Aug 28th 2006 9:23PM
-->"to justify their poor online decisions."
Right...and the PSP's online network is superior. Oh wait...the PSP doesn't have an online network and there are no real games to help push it that would appeal to a broad spectrum of people. Socom doesn't count b/c it is not a pickup-and-play title like Tetris DS, Mario Kart, etc.
Jamesypoo @ Aug 28th 2006 9:26PM
It surpassed Montana's population a loooong time ago.
I just wish I wasn't the only Montanan resident to own anything electronic.
El Hajjish @ Aug 28th 2006 9:35PM
It has never taken me 25 minutes to connect with anyone online using DS Wi-Fi. Mario Kart might take a minute or two at most, but I never wait more than 30 seconds for 4-player Tetris.
Personally, I think the service is fantastic, considering it's free. It's nice to see lots of new games coming out that will use it too.
R.A.N.E. @ Aug 28th 2006 9:49PM
I only go on NWC on weekends when I have the time, but it never takes me more than 3 minutes to connect to 3 people. Fairly good service. I'm sure I'll have alot of fun with Clubhouse Games, too. Up to 8 player wi-fi with
pictochat? About time.
subnet6 @ Aug 28th 2006 9:51PM
@Brandon
"And no, we don't all just watch football."
Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one in the damn state that didn't care about Football.
I almost got the license plate HSKRH8R (when I moved to Nebraska) but a friend told me not to or my car would get vandalized.
They DO love their football here. Well except when they lose, then they are like rats from a sinking ship.
Ben @ Aug 28th 2006 9:58PM
A fellow Nebraskan who doesn't love football?
Such a travesty hath never occured!
darryl @ Aug 28th 2006 10:05PM
2 million... what's the percentage compared to total number of hardware units sold? yup, i thought so... pretty sad.
GSI @ Aug 28th 2006 10:09PM
Like I said...Darryl, a person in capable of having an educated thought.
Stu L Tissimus @ Aug 28th 2006 10:48PM
This is me, not caring: -_-
Why don't I care, you ask? Quite simple. I do not wish for WFC to continue growing in popularity. Why? Because it's a horrible, horrible system and somebody has to get the message to Nintendo. It's not so hard to implement Battle.net-style rooms. I know, they're doing it so they can protect children, but there has to be a better way.
Why not have a set up where you can enter a credit card to confirm that you are 18 or older, or have parental permission to play online? It'd be so much more convenient....
Dr.Swiss @ Aug 28th 2006 10:59PM
Hey darryl, how about what is the percentage compared to total number of online psp users? Your life = pretty sad.
GSI @ Aug 28th 2006 11:24PM
@ Stu L Tissimus:
you are comparing something developed from the ground up for a platform that is always on and doesn't have to worry about connection issues, loss of power from batteries dying, etc. to a portable.
Unless battery life can match that of a console or PC (which isn't happening for a LONG time), then a Battle.net type service isn't gonna work on a portable.
It's common sense...
striderhayasa @ Aug 29th 2006 9:47AM
I like the wifi service. I think Metroid and Tony Hawk sets the standard for what the DS can do with robust online play. Tony hawk offers online vs play in addition to ranking boards, and downloadable replays from the ranking boards, clans, downloadable objectives, downloadable/up loadable lcons and board designs.
Metroid gives you the ability to set up your DS similar to a server and host games where every parimeter can be adjusted. Then there's the voice chat, IM, complete stat tracking, rankings and the entire playmode list is available for online play when hosting or playing in a hosted game. Awesome.
Now if Square/Enix can make FF:CC on wifi we could have a portable rpg online community!
Vejadu @ Aug 29th 2006 9:54AM
There are plenty of people here (Nebraska) who either hate football or simply don't care. While I like college football, it's the only sport I pay attention to.
Anyway, those are encouraging numbers for the DS online service -- especially considering how few DS games have online functionality.
I have yet to bring my DS online. I'll have my WiFi set up before the Wii launch though.
BlackYoshi @ Aug 29th 2006 10:47AM
19. -->"to justify their poor online decisions."
Right...and the PSP's online network is superior. Oh wait...the PSP doesn't have an online network and there are no real games to help push it that would appeal to a broad spectrum of people. Socom doesn't count b/c it is not a pickup-and-play title like Tetris DS, Mario Kart, etc.
Posted at 9:20PM on Aug 28th 2006 by GSI
Where did I say ANYTHING about how "great" the PSP's online service is? Your post is the classic fanboy "jump to conclusions" attack. Because I said I didn't like the DS system, I obviously must own a PSP and think it has a better online system. In fact, I own only a DS and think its a very good system, but the online multiplayer needs a tune-up. Truth is, they both suck. Mario Kart and MPH lack intuitiveness in the fact that it disconnects you from WFC if your match has the opponents leave. In a 1v1 match that you are winning, this is very frustrating. It generally takes 2-3 minutes to connect, 3-5 minutes to find opponents, and in general your choice of game types is very limited. Honorable attempt for handheld online, but a similar system (which they want to use) will not hold up for console play, where they have to compete with Xbox Live, PC online games, and even PS3's Live-style service. And honestly, Live and PC online systems absolutely slaughter WFC in terms of online play. The free excuse doesn't cut it. Battle.net and Steam are free services and they obliterate WFC (even though Steam is not very good.)
GSI @ Aug 29th 2006 4:04PM
Fanboy huh? Aren't you a being a tad hypocritical by saying I'm jumping to conlusions when you just did the same thing?
You can't compare something from a console or PC to a portable. PCs and consoles have the luxury of not having their batteries die, having a constant online connection, etc. Portables on the other hand don't have that luxury so it's kind of difficult to have a constant gui like the 360 or something even remotely close to the PC.
Mario Kart was the (unfortuantely) the first real world test for playing online with the DS. If you were to player the newer online games, finding people to play isn't a problem anymore b/c the bugs have been worked out. I know A LOT more about whats been done on the DS online network then anyone here AND I know what games are coming out in the near future.
As for the DS online network, saying it is as pathetic as the PSP is down right stupid. Sony does nothing to help get games online for the PSP (just like they did for the PS2.) Nintendo on the other hand is helping get developers from all over the world make their games online capable.