Nintendo To Charge For Online Play

In a move that is particularly baffling -- especially given its previous stance on the matter -- Nintendo is planning to charge for online play on its Wii console.

Wired reports:

"Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service has always been entirely free of charge, but the company will soon introduce a pay-to-play service for some games, it announced at Game Developers Conference.

"Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay And Play" will let users subscribe on a game-by-game basis to certain titles. Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama announced the service at GDC, but did not say what upcoming games would require payment for the service, or how much they would cost.

To avoid customer confusion, Pay-And-Play games will have a red icon on the game's box that reads Pay And Play, in place of the traditional blue Wi-Fi Connection icon, which will only be used for games that are free to play."

Given the quality -- or lack of -- Nintendo's current online offerings, this seems like a slap in the face to gamers. Nintendo's offerings are nowhere near the quality of Xbox Live, or even the PSN, which Sony still offer for free. Little is known about which games will require payment for online play, but keep it locked to NZGamer for more information on this shocking revelation as we get it.

 del.icio.us  StumbleUpon  Facebook  Reddit