Today Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo will operate one thousand wireless access points in Japan to encourage the growth of its online Nintendo DS games. Iwata also confirmed strong third party support for Nintendo's online strategy, with "25 software makers" pledging their support for the online gaming service.

Obviously the key detail there is "in Japan" but it is still a great idea, particularly for kids and those from less-tech-savvy households. Imagine if every Toys R Us or GameSpot had a little wireless network for DSs (and PSPs) to latch onto for free downloads and local matchmaking. The reality is that most people don't have wireless networks at home, and they aren't likely to set one up anytime soon. Which leads into Nintendo's next bullet point:

Nintendo will have downloadable online demos of DS games, which can be downloaded from home, and the company will sell a wireless access point that attaches to PCs via a USB drive, making DS and Revolution connectivity straightforward for those currently without a wireless network.

A Nintendo-branded wireless. Sure, it's another way for Nintendo to shake you down for some extra bucks (if you don't already have a LinkSys or an AirPort)... but I would wager that it will be the simplest thing in the world to do. Probably not much more complicated than "plug this into the USB port of your internet-net connected computer." I don't suspect it will act as a true wireless signal for laptops etc, nor do I guess it will work with the PSP... Nintendo will likely keep this limited to their own tech. If this hits the States and costs less than $30, I could see lots of households getting it without even realizing what it truly is; it just becomes another accessory for their DS or Revolution, magically connecting both to the internet.

GameSpot also confirms what PGC suspected: Revolution Virtual Console downloads will not be free, though he suggests Nintendo may provide special promotional offers: "We believe that there's a number of ways that we can use the system, such as to offer a bonus download with the purchase of a new game, or allow some games to be downloaded during a limited time during a campaign period."

Who thought this would be free? Adoy. Nintendo is not going to just give away their catalog of old games. They've made a lucrative side business out of re-releasing their classics every couple years for every new platform. I'm not even sure the extent to which I'd even take advantage of this, considering my usual stance of out with the old, in with the new. I could see me grabbing Super Mario Bros for a night, or checking out some recent-old games that I missed due to bad reviews (like Starfox Adventures), or showing off some classics to my son... but it's nothing I'd pay big bucks for, certainly nothing I'd pay a monthly fee for access.

Finally, Iwata elaborated on recurring comments about complex games, explaining that Nintendo feels large games are important, but an overabundance of them is folly. He claims that consumers have a limited amount of time, and most can only play one or two huge titles a year. Nintendo hopes to encourage a variety of games of varied scales and prices.

I say that one is nuts. "One or two huge titles a year"? No way. Hardcore gamers blow through tons of huge titles a year. Most games I play to completion clock in around 20 hours. Huge games hit the 40 hour mark. Truly massive games, like Pokemon Sapphire or GTA: San Andreas, will approach or break the 100 hour barrier. You can do plenty of 20 hour games in a year. He's only correct if he's talking about the 100-hour behemoth games... yes, those do tend to trump all else for a couple months, but those are already pretty rare to come across (outside of MMORPGs).

And even kids and casual gamers: they're still always looking for something new. They may not finish a game, but they'll still be done with it and ready to buy something else. This is why casual gamers rent games. How many kids out there own - but didn't finish - Paper Mario, Sonic Heroes, X-Men Legends, Spider-Man 2, Crystal Chronicles, Metroid Prime 2 and Pokemon Coliseum? I'd call all of those big (or biggish) 2004 Cube games in terms of marketing hype and time to play... and I'm sure three quarters of those are in every young GameCube owner's library.

Part of the scalable nature of video games is that they must meet the needs of the casual/young gamer who just pops in to play some levels and have some fun, as well as the serious completist. To say that most people need only one or two "huge" games a year is to forget all of that and assume that the audience gets laser-focused on one single game for six months at a time, with only minor breaks for a "lesser" game like Mario Kart, which is absurd. Maybe Nintendo themselves can only output one or two huge games a year (which has never been the case to date) but we still can take plenty of good sized games from third parties to fill in the gap between first party releases.

Of course, who even knows what he's talking about when he defines "huge." Racing and sports games can suck up a lot of time, but I doubt they're considered huge games, simply because each game is functionally equivalent to the next one. Most licensed games, like Spongebob Movie or Yu-Gi-Oh Whatever, might have gigantic ad support, but are usually forgettable cash-ins. Mario Party and WarioWare have stupidly large amounts of unlockables and nearly infinite replay value, but their very nature probably precludes them from being huge releases. Pikmin 2 - another big 2004 game - has genuinely huge gameplay, but has proven to be a comparatively unsellable franchise... not huge.

Aside: I just read the most awesome thing about the new stranded-on-an-island DS game Lost in Blue. You have to cook your own meals in the game, collect the ingredients from around the island blah blah blah... but then to do the actual cooking, you have to close the DS and open it again when you think the appropriate cooking time has passed! Leave the DS closed up too long and you'll overcook! PUT THAT ON THE BUY LIST.