Nintendo and McDonalds hook up for WiFi

Written by Wil Harris

October 20, 2005 | 10:03

Tags: #nintendogs #wifi

Companies: #nintendo

Philip Brown writes:

You would not normally associate McDonalds with the gaming community, nor would you associate Nintendo with McDonalds.

With that said, McDonalds - the biggest provider of fast food in the US - has teamed up with gaming giant Nintendo to offer US and European customers the chance to play selected DS titles against other DS owners around the world, via a Wi-Fi service, which McDonalds is to soon to roll out.

McDonalds currently offers Wi-Fi in some of its restaurants for a small fee, but the service will be free of charge to people who wish to use a DS to game online.

The service will be provided by having hotspots installed in the restaurants by a company called Wayport, who is a market leader in providing wireless Internet access. Wayport has apparently received a large chunk of cash from Nintendo, and is due to debut the service on the 14th November in the US and the 25th of November in Europe.

"This agreement with Wayport will bring countless people together to play games in a single, simultaneous wireless community," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing.

"By enabling Nintendo DS customers to access Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection via our Wi-Fi World network and business model at McDonalds, we are continuing to drive more customers to the restaurants we serve and increase the relevancy of Wi-Fi to a broader customer base. "

The beauty of the DS is it requires minimal setting up to play online - in fact, all you need to do is launch the game in the DS's Wi-Fi mode.

If you're wondering what games are going to be released with a online gaming function then look no further, as top games Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk's Sk8LLand are due to be released in the near future.

So what's the connection between McDonalds and Nintendo, when all is said and done? Well, surely the answer is that both attract kids. Just like movies often have tie-ins with fast food chains, it seems like video games might be going the sam way.

You can grab a list of McDonalds outlets supporting the WiFi rollout at NintendoWiFi.com. Got some thoughts on the deal? Let us know them over in the News forum.
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