Nintendo UK Announces 3 Million DS Online, Retailer Support

Author: by David Jenkins, London

At a Nintendo UK press event in London yesterday, and attended by Gamasutra, Nintendo UK head David Yarton revealed that Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection service has now registered three million unique connections with an estimated half a million unique users for Nintendo DS titles Tony Hawk's American SK8Land, Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World (which has yet to launch in Europe). As a result of the continued apparent success of Nintendo's Wi-Fo Connection service, Yarton announced that a thousand new hotspots were to be made available for Nintendo DS use, through existing deals with BT Openzone and The Cloud. The unusual press event took place at the British Science Museum in London, and featured the European unveiling of the first of the Brain Training games as well as a panel discussion including BBC documentary maker Adam Curtis, responsible for the controversial The Power of Nightmares, and Camilla Wright from irreverent music website Popbitch. During the proceedings, it was announced that Nintendo would be sponsoring the Science Museum for the next four years in a deal apparently worth £1 million ($1.79m). In addition, following two days of press and trade conferences, Nintendo has announced a new deal with European publisher Koch Media, for the company to act as Nintendo’s preferred distributor in the EU. In an apparent attempt to aid independent game retailers a new dealer community scheme will also be created, offering extra support for smaller businesses. “Nintendo is always looking for ways to improve our support and relationships with independent retailers and we are very excited to be working alongside Koch Media to develop this vital sector of the market,” said Nintendo UK head David Yarton. “Our joint key goal is to simultaneously increase the business done by independents on Nintendo products at the same time as ensuring that we deliver transparent information to retailers,” said Koch Media MD Craig McNicol, as cited by UK game trade paper MCV.