5 weeks remain for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

Exactly five weeks from today, the Wii and DS/DSi will no longer be able to make use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which will be shutting down services on May 20, 2014. While the current generation’s Wii U and 3DS will continue to connect, all previous systems will be excluded from online activity. This also means the end of Wii Speak in its entirety, as it relies on the NWFC in order to function. As of this writing, the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop are NOT affected by this change.

The good news is that all affected games will continue to function normally in their offline modes, but depending on the game, there may or may not be much left to do without online access. Unfortunately, piggybacking Wii games into the Wii U and DS games into the 3DS does not bypass this exclusion.

So what does this mean for gamers still using these consoles? Mostly that only about a month remains to update leaderboards, download user-generated content, and face your friends in online matches. The loss will be relatively benign for many titles, but games like Animal Crossing Wild World/City Folk, Mario Kart Wii/DS, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and WarioWare D.I.Y. could take a major hit by the loss of the NWFC. For a complete list of affected games, click here.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

I am not affiliated with Nintendo or any of its subsequent consoles or IPs, unless you count the fact that I own a few titles. Then again, if that’s all it took to be affiliated, there’d be a lot more people out there with Nintendo on their resumes.

Legend of Zelda: Four Swords For Free For Four Days

I am never writing a title like that again.

American Legend of Zelda fans are in for a treat, because for the next four days, LoZ: Four Swords Anniversary Edition is free to download from the Nintendo eShop for the 3DS. The promotion ends just before the stroke of midnight on February 2nd, allowing players four days to dig up four buddies to forgo any aforementioned plans and place more forethought on Four Swords.

Okay, I promise I’m done with the four-puns now.

And anyway you’d only need to dig up three buddies, since you’d be the fourth player.

In all seriousness, this is a big deal for Zelda fans who were disheartened to discover that Four Swords: Anniversary Edition was removed from the Nintendo eShop in 2012. The game was originally released on 9/28/11 as part of the series’ 25th anniversary celebration, and like now, it was free to download. As of 2/20/12, Four Swords was completely removed from the Nintendo eShop (not even as a paid download, just completely gone) and has not been made available again until today.

There’s no confirmation just yet if the game will disappear from listings once again after this four-day promotion, or if it will become a permanent figure in the eShop at long last. If you have any interest in obtaining the game, now is the time to do so, just in case Nintendo seals it off for the second time.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

The Legend of Zelda, Four Swords: Anniversary Edition, and the Nintendo eShop are all © Nintendo. I did take a picture of my 3DS, which is awkward as hell to coordinate, but the image is still Nintendo’s property. (Seriously, it would’ve been so much easier if they’d just let me take a screenshot.)

Xbox: 1, PS: 4

It is currently 12:16 AM on Friday, November 22nd. Just like the PS4 last week, I worked the midnight release of the Xbox One tonight. In my last article, I had so much to write about that about half of it had to be cut for the sake of flow. This week, I was worried I wouldn’t have enough to justify writing at all.

I am pleased to say that I gathered enough content, but it’s probably not content that Microsoft would want me writing about.

Launching the PS4: A Memoir

As I write this, it is 1:18 in the morning on Friday, November 15th, 2013. The PS4 has just been released to the open market, and I was at my local GameStop — to work, not to buy. Oh yes, this humble writer you’ve come to know and love picked up a part-time job at GameStop this fall, partly for the extra holiday money, but mostly to witness the major launches this season. I have just returned home from work, and I’ve decided to report on my experiences.

The console that literally 1-ups the PS3.

I can already tell you that this article definitely isn’t going to be the straight-forward newsy reporting I thought I’d be doing.

Mario & Luigi Specialty WiiMotes Available Now: $40

To help round out the celebrations of The Year of Luigi, a special edition Weegee-themed Wii & Wii U remote is available for $39.99 as of today. Oh, and there’s one of some guy named Mario, too.

In addition to just plain looking swank, these remotes also give Club Nintendo members a reason to waste their points on those wrist straps that no one cares about.

The remotes come just in time for holiday shopping now that Halloween’s passed and Thanksgiving’s already being overlooked.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

Mario, Luigi, and their Wiimote likenesses are © Nintendo. The colored wrist straps belong to Nintendo, too (and no one else that I can think of).

Nintendo Shuts Down Swapnote Indefinitely

In a sudden announcement late Halloween night, Nintendo has shutdown use of the Swapnote feature for the 3DS in all available regions. As stated on the official website:

“Nintendo has learned that some consumers, including minors, have been exchanging their friend codes on Internet bulletin boards and then using Swapnote (known as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) to exchange offensive material. Nintendo has been investigating ways of preventing this and determined it is best to stop the SpotPass feature of Swapnote because it allows direct exchange of photos and was actively misused.”

There is currently no indication as to whether or not the service will ever return. The abrupt cancellation has been met with mixed reactions, but there seems to be a universal agreement that this is why we can’t have nice things.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

Swapnote is the property of Nintendo, as evidence by the fact that they’ve quite literally packed it up and gone home.

Nintendo-Refurbished 3DS Price Drop: $110

Since the release of Pokémon X/Y last Saturday, there have been two major events in the world of handheld gaming. One of them is that a large portion of gamers have dropped off the face of the earth as they fall into the latest monster-training rabbit hole, and the other is that we’ve all been deafened by the collective anguished shrieks of Pokémon fans that lack a 3DS.

You can’t catch ’em all unless you catch a 3DS first.

Well, banshees, scream no more! For a limited time, Nintendo has lowered the price on their refurbished 3DS stock to a mere $109.99, so long as you want blue or purple. If midnight blue is more your taste, you can get a DSi XL for even less. These are used 3DSes that have been personally inspected, tested, repaired (if necessary), and warrantied by Nintendo themselves. The consoles may have a few nicks and bumps here and there, but Nintendo guarantees they’ll work. It’s just like getting one new, except it’s not new at all. But it’s a lot cheaper. Just think of it as replacing the new car smell with the scent of fresh cash.

As noted, these are temporary price reductions, and there’s no indication on the website just how temporary it’ll be. If you need a cheap way to get your hands on Pokémon X/Y, now may be your chance!

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

The 3DS and Pokémon are © Nintendo. If you don’t believe me, the fans have probably erected a monument in their honor by now, so you could go there and see for yourself.

Don Mattrick: The Weedkiller of Business

Remember last month when Don Mattrick abandoned ship from Microsoft after the Xbox One unveilings went down in flames? According to AllThingsD, it doesn’t sound like he’s doing too much better at Zynga. Within the first 90 days of assuming his new position, three high-level executives have decided to cut and run.

Never ask someone known for screwing the pooch to save a company with a dog in its logo.

To be fair, it’s not completely clear from the wording whether the trio will be leaving due to having been eliminated in the restructure, or if they’re packing their bags because they refuse to work with Mattrick. However, it’s noteworthy that David Ko, one of the three executives, was made Zynga’s COO at the end of last year. I don’t think he would’ve gotten that sort of promotion if he hadn’t been doing something right, so perhaps that can tell us a bit about the fact that he’s now riding into the sunset.

Then again, he was promoted by the company that hired Don Mattrick to save them. Maybe it doesn’t tell us that much after all.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

I do not own Don Mattrick’s face, just the right to talk about it. Even if I did own his face, I’d probably sell it on eBay.

Nintendoes what Xbox don’t

Please tell me I’m not the only one that remembers that reference.

We’re all well aware by now of the freak show that Microsoft’s been putting on with the Xbox One. Hell, I’ve even written about it twice in a row myself now. However, as I continue to watch this console Hindenburg itself into oblivion, one detail has been bugging me in the back of my head — and it’s not even Microsoft that’s the culprit this time.

Games check in, but they don’t check out.

It’s surprisingly uncommon knowledge that Nintendo has serious problems with their digital media policies. As with the Xbox One, many of these rules and regulations shouldn’t have ever gone into practice in the first place, and it’s cost Nintendo’s own customers dearly on several occasions. Given the way gamers dug in their feet on the Xbox One’s proposed game-locking policies, it’s bizarre that Nintendo hasn’t had to face the same sort of heat over their own convoluted mess.

Xbox One’s downward spiral continues

In a continuing series of events that seem to point to the Xbox One going down in flames, Don Mattrick is now packing his bags.

For those not in the know, Don Mattrick is the president of Microsoft’s Xbox division. He was one of the ones loudly and proudly proclaiming the revolutionary changes the Xbox One would be bringing to the gaming world, especially at E3. After so much trumpeting about how much he stands behind his product, it seems a little peculiar that he’s now abandoning ship.

“This console is so cool that I’m now going to run for the hills away from it.”

As of yet, Microsoft has not offered a comment on the situation, nor has Zynga, whom Mattrick will now be working for. With nothing else to really go on, eyes often look to common business practices for guidance on what to make of things, and there’s one practice that immediately comes to mind in the wake of a fiasco like this: Did Mattrick really leave of his own accord, or was he “asked” to hit the road? It’s not uncommon at all for a company to sit down an employee that’s royally screwed them over and essentially tell them that they have the options of quitting or getting fired. Walking away from a job at least (somewhat) saves face, and I think we can all agree that the fiasco surrounding the Xbox One is enough fuel for Microsoft to give Mattrick a quiet ultimatum.

For the time being, however, nothing is absolutely certain other than the fact that he IS leaving.

 

Obligatory Legal Crap

Xbox One is the property of Microsoft and not myself. If the Xbox One WAS my abomination, I certainly wouldn’t be posting about it using my real name.

Don Mattrick is property of… well, Zynga now, apparently.