Nintendo of Australia Finally Reveals Wi-Fi Plans

[boratika]

Nintendo of Australia have finally sent out a press release regarding their online plans, which you can read at Planet Gamecube (http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6650) .

Some key points:

-Mariokart and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect launch on the 17th.
-There will initially be 26 official hotspots across Australia, rolling out between the 17th and 30th of November and will be located in Electronics Boutique, Myer (Couches!) and Dick Smith Electronics.
-People can download demos at hotspots, as well as use a special Nintendogs function.
-The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector will be $49.95, with no postage and handling costs.
-More detailed information about Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, as well as a list of participating retail hotspots, will be available soon at www.NintendoWiFi.com.au (http://www.NintendoWiFi.com.au) .

Check the press release (http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6650) for the full details.

26 hotspots probably sounds pretty (amazingly) lame when compared to the thousands in other countries, but since Australia has the most centralised (living in cities) population of any country, it should work if you live in a city. (As long as there is at least one in each city.)

[Pantsmonkey]

Rest assured in spite of nintendo offering 26 lame hotspots in places that sell games for more than kmart and make you wait an extra day.

As long as you have personal wifi your sorted. I wonder how long delivery of the usb dongle is and how long before the mario kart bundle is announced.

26 is so ubelievably lame. I would say at most that will cover 20 or so shopping centers 9-5.

We live in hope. God mario kart looks sweet.

[boratika]

Well here's my guess for how it could breakdown:

Sydney-10
Melbourne-10
Rest of Australia-6

[51|RandoM]

Was chatting with some Australian tourists in a midtown pub the other day. They said something to the effect that nyc, at the peak of a typical business day, has more people than all of Australia.

I started looking at the numbers, and it appears to be a true statement.

That in mind, 26 spots doesn't look so exceedingly small, now, especially with a centralized population in and around a handful of coastal cities.

[Savok]

Australia has a population of 20 million, quite a lot of that is indeed in Sydney and Melbourne.

That said, 26 hotspots is amazing compared to what we normally get when it comes to Internet in this country. I'm just fucking happy they have the thing here at all, this is awesome.

[mkelehan]

Interesting that you can download demos there. NOA said nothing about doing that at the McDonald's here.

[feeble]

playing mario kart in myers - not going to happen

playing mario kart standing up in EB - not going to happen

playing mario kart standing up in Dick Smith - Definently not going to happen

couldnt they have picked a more relaxing place to put wifi. starbucks, maccas even. a place with a seat.

[51|RandoM]

playing mario kart in myers - not going to happen

playing mario kart standing up in EB - not going to happen

playing mario kart standing up in Dick Smith - Definently not going to happen

couldnt they have picked a more relaxing place to put wifi. starbucks, maccas even. a place with a seat.


Not without paying for it. Look at the places they're putting it, and what they sell. Now look at the places you want it, and what they sell.

[feeble]

Not without paying for it. Look at the places they're putting it, and what they sell. Now look at the places you want it, and what they sell.

i know that people will probably buy it there. but going there just to play mario kart for a few hours.

lets see how long someone playing will probably get uncomfortable standing up with his ds in a busy eb, an empty dick smith, or an empty myers with retails guys staring at you.

my main concern, no coffee.

it could be just me, but ill be only using this wifi to get my nintendogs gift then getting the hell out of there.

there is also that eb and gameswizards mostly promote psp in australia as its where there is more money. moreso gamewizards.

[51|RandoM]

You're missing my point. The coffeeshops don't want you sitting there taking up a chair for two hours playing mariokart, even if you do buy a latte every 15 minutes. The wifi point isn't going to bring them more business, and in the long run will probably reduce outright sales, unless they strictly enforce a timelimit policy of some type, which is a pain in the ass for all involved.

The only places that want you to do something like that, curiously enough, are those billing you for the 'experience'. Nintendo is quite obviously putting these into places where the big N has to foot as little of the bill as possible, places that see this as a value-add for their customers, not detrimental to current business, and are willing to pony up the ongoing costs.

[codswallop]

That in mind, 26 spots doesn't look so exceedingly small, now, especially with a centralized population in and around a handful of coastal cities.
Australia's population might be "centralised", but 26 is still no way near enough. Not by a long shot. Our centralised cities are usually 30-40 miles in diameter (inclusive of suburbs, etc) -- do you really think that 26 wireless units would even cover 10% of that (just one city)?

I would have hoped for around 1,000 (realistically they would have been able to do this easily) but Nintendo of Australia is notoriously pathetic.

[nonchalance]

26 is pathetic, the spots only being in Dick Smith and Myers is pathetic, but at least we get the fucking service.

The NYC thing is an interesting comparison, because sure. New York has more people than the entirety of Australia.
But Melbourne is nearly as big, physically - just lots less people.

And this means that nobody in the regional cities will be able to find a wi-fi spot.

Effectively, nobody's going to play except from home or work networks.
Great.

[Ravana]

26 for the entire country. That's around 4 in each state. Thanks, Nintendo.

[Savok]

Internet services here are notoriously pathetic as well, very few places around here are able to get broadband. Yes that's right, they're stuck on 56k or getting a horribly expensive satellite dish which won't work when there's clouds, or when a plane flies over.

26 does indeed suck, but compared to what the norm is, it's a fucking miracle. And jesus is it that hard to use your own connection?

[nonchalance]

26 does indeed suck, but compared to what the norm is, it's a fucking miracle. And jesus is it that hard to use your own connection?

I suppose. I was just dreaming of wandering down to internet cafes on my lunch break and playing some Kart, that's all.

[Savok]

Couldn't they just get one of the dongles, plug it in, and let folk play? Or does Nintendo have to have a say in that?

[nonchalance]

You'd assume they'd be able to, wouldn't you?

I wonder why they couldn't get Maccy D's on board here like they did in the US - McD is rolling out wi-fi at the moment, and quite a few of them have it.

[Savok]

This is only what's official, might be the cafes will just dongle up on their own as an extra service for their customers. Not like Nintendo loses anything with them doing that, they aren't paying the connection bill.

[boratika]

couldnt they have picked a more relaxing place to put wifi. starbucks, maccas even. a place with a seat.

Australia doesn't have anyone like Wayport or Fatport who put WiFi in shops and fast food places. If somewhere wants WiFi for their customers, they have to go to a regular type ISP and get it on a per outlet basis, which (appart from infantile broadband infrastructure and pricing) is why you rarely see Wi-Fi around in Australia. So if Nintendo wanted to put it in McDonald'ses, they would have to negotiate it with McDonald's and and ISP themselve's, neither of which they have a buisness relation with, rather than go to Wayport for their intended service. If they put them in retailers who sell their product, they are dealing with someone they already have a mutual interest with, selling DS games. Also, fortunately for me, we don't have Starbucks here. Mmmm brown scum water.

As for rural and regional areas: It's not like many have broadband in the first place (For those that do, I guess the USB conector has free postage Aust wide), so I guess you could blame that on Telstra and the privatising of said Telstra.

As for Australian capital city sizes, I live in Perth which has a populatioin something like 1.8 million and in terms of area is the second largest city in the world (after L.A.). But I live near the CBD, so I should be covered.

Nintendo probably have had the reality of how bad broadband is in this country driven home. 26 is pathetic, but I am Impressed they mannaged that many.

[Savok]

Telstra sucked back when they were Telecom, privatising has nothing to do with how fucking awful they are.

[boratika]

I disagree, I think it has made a terrible company worse. I think I get the privlige of saying this since I'm a share holder. Complaining is the only perk.

[Savok]

I think I get the privlige of saying this since I'm a share holder. Complaining is the only perk.
Hah! Touche.