When they first talked about the online capabilities of the DS, Nintendo sounded very aggressive, almost to the point of being arrogant. They even mentioned some kind of outrageous penetration figure, like 90% of DS owners. Well, it hasn't reach that yet, but obviously Nintendo knows what it's doing because they just announced that over 2 million people have logged on to the DS wireless network.

The online service is not even a year old, having launched in November of 2005. Just to compare, it took years for Xbox Live to reach 2 million subscribers. These 2 million people also obviously tap into the network often, because more than 70 million individual game sessions have been logged. I'm impressed, Nintendo.
The always dapper George Harrison had this to say: "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection continues to set the standard for easy, fun and safe wireless gaming. Our handheld leadership will continue unabated with the launch of Star Fox Command and the anticipation of our upcoming Wi-Fi titles."

This statement isn't just a bunch of hot air this time. And with Starfox Command coming out this week, I could definitely see that number increasing by a large margin.

Via GamesIndustry.biz

Report Published by: Mark Raby