Seattle Mariners' in-stadium DS service goes free

31 Comments by Kyle Orland Apr 22nd 2008 8:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Hacks

Seattle Mariners fans tired of paying money for the Nintendo Fan Network -- Nintendo's questionably useful in-stadium DS service that premiered last fall -- will be encouraged to hear that the service will now be offered for free to any Safeco Field attendee with a DS. The service lets you view MLB stats and scores, order overpriced food, and watch grainy, laggy video of the game that is actually going on right in front of you at the park if you'd just look up from the screen for a second jeez!

Nintendo also promises undisclosed "new features" will be coming soon, but even without them, The Slog's Sam Machkovech thinks the Network has some potential as a free service. He even urges his fellow Seattle brethren to "descend upon Safeco in droves, stare at your tiny screens mid-game, and be satisfied!" Now that's something we'd pay to see.

Tags: baseball, mariners, Nintendo, Nintendo-fan-network, safeco, safeco-field, seattle

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Jay: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:16PM

Screw Safeco.....put this in at US Cellular field and I'll be happy.

sox...woot

Dr. Stabbingworth: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:15PM

white sox

a shitty team that people from the south side of chicago like because they could never be as devoted to their team as cubs fans could.

shawanda - man, i hate my life because i'm a crack dealing prostitute.

timmy b dawwwwg - oh, well atleast you're a white sox fanizzle.

(thanks, urban dictionary!)

Mr_Hyde: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:52PM

Those cubs fans are devoted alright. Devoted to etting as drunk as possible before the 7th. http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=4029

Dr. Stabbingworth: Apr 22nd 2008; 10:38PM

Eh, I'll take drunk whores over basecoach rushing hillbillies any day.

Still, I'd like to know how people afford 10 $6 beers.

Co: Apr 22nd 2008; 11:07PM

Hey Stabbingworth, GO MARLINS!! hahahahahhahaha BARTMAN!!!

Go White Sox and Go other Team: Apr 23rd 2008; 12:00AM

Here's a question to all Clubbie fans out there.

What do the NHL, NBA, and NFL have in common?

None of them existed the LAST time the Clubbies won the WS

No matter how good the Clubbies look, they WILL find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Why? Because its the Clubbies, and ALL they know how to do is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSE.

Hey Clubbie fans....2005

Go White Sox and Go other Team: Apr 23rd 2008; 12:08AM

Hey Dr. Stabbingsworth, do you like my avatar?

finnith: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:22PM

Wouldn't this be better if it were integrated with a cell phone network instead? Not everyone has a DS.

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083): Apr 22nd 2008; 8:27PM

Not everyone has a cell phone. :P

TrojanGuy: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:32PM

Yeah but more people have a cell phone than have a DS.

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083): Apr 22nd 2008; 8:34PM

I would like to see these figures, please. Plus, don't you see what I did there?

finnith: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:50PM

I guess I just made an assumption based on my impressions and not hard facts.

I don't know a site where i can get worldwide sales of the DS as of recent, but wikipedia says they have sold 64.79 million (sorry for citing this site, number includes both DS Phats and Lites) as of December 07.

Softpedia says that 35.5 million phones were sold in North America during Q2 of 2005 so I think more people have cell phones.

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083): Apr 22nd 2008; 8:55PM

I was making a joke.

finnith: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:04PM

Apparently I suck at reading sarcasm.

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083): Apr 22nd 2008; 9:13PM

It is pretty hard to grasp by means of text only.

Kodros: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:33PM

FYI, Nintendo owns the Mariners.

SillyShiggy WSN (if it had one): lovsatan: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:34PM

Beat me by a second.

SillyShiggy WSN (if it had one): lovsatan: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:33PM

I hope everyone remembers that Nintendo of America owns the Mariners.

hvnlysoldr: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:54PM

Congratulations on achieving 1.2 million votes on Time 100 beating out everyone.

Cesaria (SSBB: 3136-6466-5083): Apr 22nd 2008; 8:33PM

I would like to see these figures, please. Plus, don't you see what I did there?

Ken Seang: Apr 22nd 2008; 8:54PM

Well how many people own cell phones that is capable of viewing stream videos and not be charged a cent for having that service????

sp: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:03PM

That's some authentic jibberish right there.

Let it go man.

Double J: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:12PM

I live 45 minutes from Safeco, and I've only watched one baseball game and WrestleMania from it's lovely seats. It's only a little shy of a decade, no need to rush into things....

mr nimblewick: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:47PM

Hey cool, I'll be going to mariners game soon... should I take advantage of this? Or decide to not look like a geek infront of my friend?

mr nimblewick: Apr 22nd 2008; 9:48PM

I meant "friends"! I have more than one! I swear!

Matt B: Apr 22nd 2008; 10:08PM

Isn't the reason you are there to watch a baseball game?

Superstar90: Apr 22nd 2008; 10:12PM

No, usually people just scream insanely into each others ears, while eating overpriced F-grade hotdogs and drinking cheap, watery beer. This is for the kids/women who are dragged to these neolithic sausage fests.

colin: Apr 22nd 2008; 11:24PM

neolithic: a little bit newer than prolithic.

Squirrel3D: Apr 23rd 2008; 1:22AM

"No, usually people just scream insanely into each others ears, while eating overpriced F-grade hotdogs and drinking cheap, watery beer. This is for the kids/women who are dragged to these neolithic sausage fests."

It's nothing like that at Camden Yards. Boog's BBQ FTW!! As a diehard oriole fan, I don't see the need to have this DS service at the Yard no matter what Nnitendo says. We go to a ballpark to WATCH THE FRIGGIN GAME, NOT TO PLAY DS.

As least me oriole fan, and white sox fan and cubs fan have one thing in common: We hate the yankees.

And oh yeah...orioles will win the AL wildcard. Keep underestimating them everyone....

DAK: Apr 23rd 2008; 2:07AM

I used this tonight for the first time since its now free and as a free service, its really really good. It detects the network rather quickly, goes into sleep mode, and the quality of the video is really impressive and the delay is maybe 3 seconds, just enough to whip out the DS after a questionable play to see the video footage.

I am very impressed with this service along with the fact that you can have friends from around the stadium on this network and updates from around the league, traffic information, order food, and even find out where certain concession stands are.

For a free service, this is amazing, for $5 like it was before, it's pretty good.

bm: Apr 24th 2008; 5:52AM

Oh, but don't let a little detail like -that- prevent the 'tards from ragging on anything Nintendo related! ;)

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