Nintendo announced today the free online gaming service Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection has reached more than 5 million unique DS owners worldwide. Nearly 65 games support online multiplayer through the service, accumulating over 200 million gameplay sessions since its launch in late 2005. Not surprisingly, the five most popular games are all from Nintendo: Animal Crossing: Wild World, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Barely nine months ago the service hit 2 million, showing an impressive growth in a short amount of time. For comparison, Xbox Live has just over 6 million subscribers, including paid members. Even though we feel the multiplayer gaming support for Wi-Fi Connection is a bit thin, a lot of gamers love them some online pokemans.

As so many did, my friends and I bought into the original Diddy Kong Racing, which had been hyped as a superior blend of Super Mario 64 meets Mario Kart 64, from the same developer that had won our allegiance with GoldenEye 007 just months before. Diddy Kong Racing wasn't fun (despite mostly bloated reviews). Still, we fell into a self-perpetuating trap of lying to ourselves; reassuring each other of the game's promised greatness. Weeks passed, and Diddy Kong Racing eventually faded away -- but not for good.

Rare has remade its N64 "classic" for DS. Despite Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support, Diddy Kong Racing is still lame, further marred by poor DS-specific design choices. Thankfully, critical reception seems to be more on point this time around:

• IGN (71/100) - "[Any] time you're encouraged to touch the lower screen, you can pretty much assume that it wasn't in the original game and created specifically for the Nintendo DS "remake". It's these new DS-centric elements that point to the fact that this is a first-generation DS game handled by a team that's not quite familiar with the platform ... someone really needs to tell Rare that microphone blowing is so 2005. It wasn't a whole lot of fun when developers did it in the Nintendo DS' early years, and it's still not fun now ... unfortunately the development team focused a bit too much on "DS-izing" the product with completely unnecessary and frustrating touch-screen and microphone challenges that disrupt the racing design."
• GameSpot (67/100) - "Diddy Kong Racing DS isn't a bad kart-racing game, but its best feature, the racing, is buried underneath so much unnecessary garbage that some people will find it nearly impossible to enjoy. Had Rare stripped the island setting, toned down the tedious collecting, and tweaked some other minor issues, the game would have been better with less. Instead, it chose to add more and more content, and the game suffers for it. Some of the new additions, such as online multiplayer and the various customization features, make the game more enjoyable, but many of them, particularly the touch-screen controls, make it worse."
• Games Radar (60/100) - "Diddy Kong Racing wants so damn hard to be the next Mario Kart that it hurts our eyes to play it for long periods of time. The racing itself is totally fine (if a little slow), but this simple pleasure is smothered in monotonous collecting and mindless wandering ... For those who remember the Nintendo 64 version from 1997, this is mostly the same game. Back then it wanted to be the next Mario Kart 64, but obviously wasn't. Now, the only thing that's been done to bump its stature is moderate touch screen silliness."

Arrr, says the pirate cat stranded on Konami's Vacation Island. Squeezing in somewhere between Nintendogs and Animal Crossing, GoPets is Konami's attempt to capture some of the virtual pet niche's market share on DS. Players will be tasked with nurturing the growth of either a virtual cat or dog, and then presumably must send their pets off to an anthropomorphized island community where minigames are the way of life.

While derivative, GoPets will support the underused Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing pet groomers to share their experiences through a text-based chat system, complete with universal icons for cross-language communication -- it's unclear if friend codes must first be exchanged in order to chat (a requirement that has limited Animal Crossing's online mode). Apparently, the handheld version will also share some level of compatibility with a planned PC iteration of the GoPets franchise.

Who says DS can't handle an MMORPG? South Korean publisher Nexon has finally confirmed its bringing a version of Maple Story to Nintendo's handheld. Unlike standard sprawling MMOs, Maple Story is a side-scroller with chibi-style visuals and an emphasis on shopping. Peep this ridiculous teaser trailer.

Maple Story will debut on DS this September. Nexon has yet announce plans to release the game outside of South Korea.

[Via DS Fanboy]

'Animal Crossing Mafia.' Sure sounds like an oxymoron, don't it? Well, for the gang that boasts, "you hit me, we hit you," it's serious business.

Of course, Animal Crossing: Wild World is not without its limitations, and we suppose there's not much risk in wronging this mafia. What's the worst they could do? Chop down your tree? Regardless, if you're in need of ACWW buddies, this might not be a bad crew to get involved with. After all, thy claim to "do many things other clans won't try..." Sounds like fun. Where do we sign up?

[Thanks, Fish]

A Final Fantasy III (DS) video -- minus the fluff -- has surfaced on YouTube. Although edited, this clip is 3:44 of gameplay footage: a lil' exploring ... a surprise skirmish ... some more explorin' ... a lethargic giant-tortoise boss battle ... a shiny crystal -- you know, classic Final Fantasy. Sure it's garden variety, but it's a proven formula and looking extremely polished at home on DS.