Nintendo Wifi Connection servers being discontinued

[Inferna]

As of the 20th of May this year in all regions (Europe, US, Japan and Australia) Nintendo's WiFi connection servers are shutting down.
The server has been used from the days of the original DS, with Mario Kart DS being one of the first games to use wireless online play on the DS.
This means you will no longer be able to access the gts or any other online features on any pre gen 6 pokemon game! Other games affected are SSBB, Animal crossing wild world and city folk. For a list of affected Nintendo games click here

Personally I'm sad about this, had lots of great memories playing online. It sucks though that pokemon players will no longer be able to battle or trade online with 4th and 5th gen games.

This will affect Wii games and games released for the DS not current Wii u or 3DS games

What are your thoughts?

[Del]

Having not used any of the online services on any of my DS games in a very long time, and having not owned a Wii for years, I'm not particularly bothered by the news. I feel for anyone who still plays Wii or DS games online though.

Curious as to why they're shutting them down though. Are the servers too expensive for them to continue paying for them? Trying to get people to upgrade to the 3DS or WiiU to enjoy Nintendo online? Just trying to free up more server space for 3DS/WiiU compatibility?

I'm also surprised at how small the list is. Always thought there were a lot more online games on Nintendo platforms.

[sylar]

what the hell nintendo

[The Shrub Dragon]

^yeah pretty much

like damn if you need to do that then do it but at least give a reason so we're just angry and not confused and angry

[Turner]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

This sucks...I don't really use any DS Wi-Fi services anymore but I feel for people who are only just getting a Wii. I have a feeling this is a move to push people into getting a Wii U. There are going to be a lot of very angry casual Wii players. I was going to buy a Wii at somepoint but I'm probably not going to bother anymore. I doubt I'll get a Wii U either.

[Awkward Squirtle]

Are we forgetting that nintendo announced not too long ago that they're making massive losses? If there's only minimal use of these online services, I can see the business sense in it. It's a shame for older games, but they need to force revenue on the new systems somehow, as well as cut costs.

[SirBlaziken]

Well, looks like my legend of zelda special edition ds will be pretty much useless now. Ah well, I don't use it anyways.

Trade while you still can!

[Angelic Lapras King]

For the DS, the service is about 9 years old for some games. That's a mighty impressive lifespan, and while I dunno the costs of running online servers for hundreds of different DS and Wii games, I'm sure it's not cheap or profitable for 2 last gen consoles around about now when their successors have been out a few years, especially when some game lobbies have been dead for years now. I'm also sure that once the Wii and DSi Shop no longer become profitable, the plug will be pulled from those (But since the 3DS and Wii U have the Wii Shop and DSiWare games, it probably won't be for a long while).

Fact is, if you want to continue using online, you now have to purchase a 3DS or Wii U which I'm sure will help boost the Wii U numbers a bit (After all, Mario Kart 8 comes out 10 days after the services are shut down).

[Hahex and Oshawott]

For most of the games with wifi capabilities, nintendo doesn't even produce and sell them any more. Its unreasonable to assume that they'll keep the servers up for games that they're making no money for.

[Clairefable]

Um both the Wii and DS are nearly ten years old how long are Nintendo expected to keep these services going for??

[OpalRhea]

The only thing that doesn't quite make sense to me is that isn't pokebank partially designed to let you transfer mons from earlier gens to x and y? If they're shutting down wifi servers, doesn't that make it awkward to use pokebank from earlier games? Or are you supposed to have done it all by now?

[SirBlaziken]

That reminds me, I still have to get the trial.

[Awkward Squirtle]

The only form of pokémon transfer that requires wifi is pokébank, which remains active. The others have always been link services rather than internet.

[Angelic Lapras King]

Pokemon Bank and Transporter are 3DS Apps anyway, much like Radar that communicates to the B2W2 cart in your 3DS, so...yeah.

Pity this will mean the DS games for the Wii U VC probably won't likely have online multiplayer, given they won't even emulate multiplayer on GB/GBC games on the 3DS VC. There goes my dreams of online matches with DSs and Wii Us linked up...

[the bread dragon]

what the hell nintendo

my thoughts exactly jfc dont plz