Nintendo Updates On Wi-Fi Success, Animal Crossing Debut

On the eve of Animal Crossing: Wild World's debut in North America, Nintendo has updated on both the relative success of its Wi-Fi connectivity, and on plans for further titles using the online features. According to Nintendo, in the three weeks since its launch alongside Mario Kart DS and a DS-specific Tony Hawk title, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection has logged almost 3 million connections worldwide, from around nearly 200,000 unique worldwide visitors. The latest Wi-Fi enabled title, Animal Crossing: Wild World, which is a follow-up to the more than 1-million selling GameCube version, lets players move into a village and have fun fishing, catching insects, remodeling their homes and interacting with their neighbors. The game also makes use of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which lets users near and far connect with their friends via Wi-Fi hotspots, so they can visit one another's towns (done via memory card in the GameCube version of Animal Crossing), where they can find exotic fruit or hunt for new animal species. Nintendo also revealed that, although no further third-party titles making heavy use of the Wi-Fi connection have yet been officially confirmed, the next first-party North American release utilizing the Wi-Fi enabled service will be the NST-developed Metroid Prime Hunters, which will debut on March 20, 2006, following a significant delay to add online compatibility.