Nintendo 3DS and 3G?

[Viper]

A picture has surfaced on the forum for the Internet web site VGChartz (http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=113760&page=1#) that may suggest that Nintendo has contracted with Vodaphone (owns a 45% of Verizon Wireless in the US) to provide 3G service to the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo has spoken of providing the 3DS with a means to connect to the Internet without the necessity of a Wi-Fi connection. Perhaps this is their solution. But if so, at what cost to consumers and will this enable telephone functionality via the 3DS?

Nintendo will make a formal announcement regarding price and availability of the 3DS on September 29th. Maybe we'll also get the answers to those questions at that time.

Take a look at the picture below and draw your own conclusions.

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[Generosity of God]

it would be nice to have 3G. finding wifi hotspots is still a pain. i wouldn't care if it's an option you have to pay for. as long as the pricing is reasonable obviously.

would be good if it adds phone functionality or can be bundled with a mobile phone plan. they're already testing video chat with Pokemon B&W so i could see at that kind of communication function for the system.

Iwata hinted a while ago that they were looking at this kind of connection. And now that they have actually labelled Apple as a competitor, it would be a smart idea to not limit the connection to Wifi.

[Crazybone126]

it would be nice to have 3G. finding wifi hotspots is still a pain. i wouldn't care if it's an option you have to pay for. as long as the pricing is reasonable obviously.

would be good if it adds phone functionality or can be bundled with a mobile phone plan. they're already testing video chat with Pokemon B&W so i could see at that kind of communication function for the system.

Iwata hinted a while ago that they were looking at this kind of connection. And now that they have actually labelled Apple as a competitor, it would be a smart idea to not limit the connection to Wifi.

How come they do all this cool online stuff for a handheld instead of their console, the Wii? Do you know how awesome it would have been for Nintendo had developed the Wii around having a huge community focused online? I mean of course 3G and telephone wouldn't work on a home console I'm just saying I wish they made the online features and functionality cool for the Wii too.

On topic, I wouldn't really mind 3G being put into the 3DS simply because I think all mobile/handheld devices need it. Wi-Fi is just so hard to spot sometimes and it's a pain in the neck. Although 3G does have some reliability issues, and Wi-Fi has some bandwidth issues, everything should counteract each other. If the 3G is acting up just use the Wi-Fi, if that's acting up use some 3G.

[Generosity of God]

How come they do all this cool online stuff for a handheld instead of their console, the Wii? Do you know how awesome it would have been for Nintendo had developed the Wii around having a huge community focused online? I mean of course 3G and telephone wouldn't work on a home console I'm just saying I wish they made the online features and functionality cool for the Wii too.

On topic, I wouldn't really mind 3G being put into the 3DS simply because I think all mobile/handheld devices need it. Wi-Fi is just so hard to spot sometimes and it's a pain in the neck. Although 3G does have some reliability issues, and Wi-Fi has some bandwidth issues, everything should counteract each other. If the 3G is acting up just use the Wi-Fi, if that's acting up use some 3G.

the way i see it, the 3DS online is basically an improved version of what they've done on Wii/DSi. 3DS is probably getting improved weather, news, shop, apps, etc. so why doesn't the Wii get it? because they're probably just going to concentrate on getting it better for their next home console.

[Unspoken]

I'd totally be fine with paying for 3G access as long as they get their act together in making the online functionality actually worth it. Video chat is a nice start, too.

Biggest thing that could peeve me about the system's web services would be if they stuck to the Friend Code service. They've been spending so long on improving their Club Nintendo service, so why not have it link through that? Game registration would be effortless, and maybe even downloading/sharing games with friends would give everyone coins toward their account. Also, I would love to have Flash/Java for the handheld. One thing I'd love to see for a portable, highly web-based system.

[Lucent Beam]

That would be so awesome, but I would need to feel like it's 100% worth it for me to sink any money into it. Especially given that I haven't bothered with 3G on my phone either yet.