Iwata Talks About 3G Connectivity, SpotPass, Tag Mode Overseas and Low(er) Battery Life
http://nintendo3dsblog.com Iwata Talks About 3G Connectivity, SpotPass, Tag Mode Overseas and Low(er) Battery Life
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Iwata talks about 3G connectivity, SpotPass, Tag Mode overseas and battery life
http://nintendo3dsblog.com/iwata-talk...
Talking with investors, Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata has said that, with the Nintendo 3DS they "could integrate a function similar to the ones embedded within mobile phones" to allow for persistent connectivity, but laments that customers would have to "be willing to pay monthly fees," which is why they have chosen not to go down that route....yet. He does somewhat suggest the possibility for 3G connectivity in the future, but comes back to the point that Nintendo wants to "improve the circumstances for providing valuable offers to our consumers without asking them to pay monthly fees." To combat this, however Nintendo wants to "expand the access points [for SpotPass] so that an increasing number of people in the U.S. and Europe too can feel that it is fun to carry around a portable gaming device wherever they go out."
In terms of SteetPass (Tag Mode), Iwata acknowledges the concern that it won't be as useful in overseas markets because of lower population density. He offers the advice of taking your 3DS "to events and places where people with similar purpose gather," citing the recent range of Dragon Quest IX events. Beyond that, he thinks if SpotPass is widely supported, people will carry around their 3DS more often which could establish "the culture of StreetPass" in markets outside of Japan.
Iwata also confirms one of our fears: low(er) battery life. He doesn't give us any concrete details but says that "it is inevitable that Nintendo 3DS will be a device which requires more frequent recharging than Nintendo DS," explaining that this is the reason they're including the charging cradle with every 3DS. Check out the source link a lot more thoughts from Iwata.
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Transcription:
Following on from the video I just did a few hours ago we've got a lot more thoughts from Iwata, the president of Nintendo.
Now, there's a ton of questions he's answered in an investor relations meeting, and you may want to read the whole thing, but I'm just going to run through three things that stood out to me.
In the past Iwata has hinted at 3G connectivity in the Nintendo 3DS. This would basically allow your 3DS to be connected to the internet 24/7 making it super easy to download new content and that sort of stuff.
He's now said that they could do it still but, at this point in time, they would have to charge a monthly fee which is not something they want to do because the majority of people would want to pay for it.
But, the possibility is still there for perhaps a future iteration of the 3DS. They just need to figure out how they could offer that level of connectivity while still keeping it free.
Iwata has praised the Amazon Kindle in the past so we could perhaps see some sort of additional fee for downloading content over 3G, if it ever does come to the 3DS.
As a consolation though he does talk about the SpotPass functionality of the 3DS which allows your device to connect to Wi-Fi networks automatically and silently while it's asleep. Japan will have access to over 1000 access points around the country by March next year, but Iwata does want to expand the access points for both the US and Europe.
It's not a perfect substitute for 3G, but it's a step in the right direction.
There's a little talk of StreetPass or Tag Mode as well, which works by connecting your Nintendo 3DS to other 3DS devices when you walk past them.
The flaw of this approach is that not everyone lives in areas with a high population density. Iwata suggests that we take our devices to events that bring together people similar to us, such as the recent range of Dragon Quest IX gatherings.
Aside from that he hopes wider SpotPass coverage will encourage people to take their 3DS with them, making StreetPass more useful in the process.
At the end of the day though I wouldn't expect StreetPass to be very useful in most regions beyond the initial buzz of the system launching.
And finally, we've got some potentially bad news about the battery life of the Nintendo 3DS.
Iwata doesn't give any concrete details, but says that the 3DS will require more frequent recharging that the Nintendo DS, which is the reason Nintendo are bundling the charging cradle with every device.