Nintendo to offer DS wireless at McDonald's

We don't mean to get up on a soapbox here or anything, but the same DS WiFi network Nintendo's setting up in Japan in more benign spots like video game shops is still scheduled to hit America (as expected), but will land in a slightly more inauspicious venue: McDonald's. There are a lot of ways to roll out wireless access, but did Nintendo really have to go the one route that not only plays into the fat-gamer-nerd stereotype, but actually actively encourages unhealthy diets in America's youth? Gamers will supposedly be able to compete via WiFi in one of MickeyDee's 6,000 hotspot restaurants; we're as yet unsure of whether there'll be other future wireless venues for the DS, but let's hope there will be by giving them a resounding lack of support on this one.

[EgoAnt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Okay, now although I agree that McDonalds is an unhealthy choice, but lets face it, as business decisions go this one is a no-brainer.

If you want to really hit the market hard with something, team up with McDonalds. It's everywhere. Not to mention the fact that people are going to go to McD's anyway, wireless or no. I'm sure Nintendo will put up other hotspots soon enough, but right now they need attention in North America, and they need to partner with someone who is willing to help front some serious marketing dollars.

[ISAIDTHAT @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

YES YES YES.I can now go to Mcdonald 's but a small coffee and donut and spend the whole day surfing and wasting their bandwith. I love it!

[Pip @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I'm rolling my eyes at the stupid commentary for this story. Nintendo has always been good with McDonalds since the 80s. They've always had gaming stations with their consoles and contests and such . Adding in WiFi hotspots is the next logical step. Obviously people enjoy their partnership or this would have died over a decade ago.

[ISAIDTHAT @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I don't care if I Must go to mcdonalds to use wifi. what, you wanted the service to be available at freaking Starbucks? Then some idiot will start complaining about the caffeine abuse . No matter were Nintendo puts the service there is gonna be and idiot who is going to complain.At least Nintendo is launching the service. See if Sony has any plan or a plan at all to do the same for its PsP crap. Precisely old man, they don't.

[Robert Summerville @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Actually most of the McDonald's restaurants (in my area at least) already has WiFi hotspots. Maybe this was just the easiest way for Nintendo to begin the setup (since wireless is already there).

[Brady J. Frey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

With their blatantly out-of-touch marketing campaigns, does anyone think that McDonald's is cool anymore? I see this as successful marketing to young kids, but not to teenagers or adults. Maybe it's my location, in California I'd hit an In 'N' Out burger before going near a McDonald's - in fact, have avoided them for years now.

[Cem @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I don't think this is smart. Customers will be encouraged to stay longer at the McDonald's, without spending more money than a non-playing customer. It would be better if customers leave after finishing up their meal, so that there's room/space for other money-spending customers again.

[Dave Zatz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

With that touch screen and all, I sure hope fries start coming with wet-naps.

[KINGOFNOOBS @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Does PSP Have the same access since they use the same kind of internet WiFi??? if so then psp will be the best since the 2.0 browser will be awesome

[WizarDru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Are you seriously trying to intimate that Nintendo was worried about your personal hangups when making this move? There are thousands of McDonald's across America, and if you don't think that kids will already be there with a DS in hand, you clearly don't have kids. The Happy Meal made McDonalds king in the 1970s on the strength of sales to busy moms and kids.

This is a high-profile move that makes investors and DS owners happy at the same time. Virtually every DS owner knows where the nearest McDonalds is; how many know where the nearest Starbucks, Borders or B&N can be found, by comparison? I can't see how Nintendo announcing that nearly 1 out of every 2 Mickey Dee's offering support for their wireless internet initiative is a bad thing.

[Chris Norman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

What, didn't you know that Ronald McDonald is actively surfing the web, and when he comes across the post by "XB0x4_eva" on a video gaming website he'll say "Stop the deal! This kid doesn't like the DS or McDonalds! Certainly the Nintendo partnership is the reason that we are hurting financially as a company...

oh shits! Our food makes people *FAT*!?"

God bless the pimply-faced 20-something man-children who pulled themselves away from a marathon WOW gold-farming power-levelling session long enough to engage the fight against childhood obesity.

[mr.ortiz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Did Nintendo have to play to the fat-gamer-nerd stereotype? I don't know. Did you have to play to the whiny-hypersensitive-geek stereotype?

I do agree that this is hopefully not an exclusive partnership, but the first of many. I'll be checking engadget for the details once the official announcement is made. Try to get down from that soapbox by then.

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

People might enjoy the Nintendo-McDonalds partnership but that doesn't make it any less cynical to try and attract kids to eat a load of unhealthy crap so that they have happy childhood memories of McDs and keep on expanding their waistlines into adulthood.

Ultimately though you can't really blame them - they are just trying to make money for their shareholders. All you can do is not go if you don't agree with it.

[kzmk @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

@#3 -- The original story has more info, and you're absolutely right. Nintendo's just using existing infrastructure. In fact, the agreement is not so much with McDonald's, but rather with Wayport, which provide McD with WiFi.
Read about it on IGN-DS (http://ds.ign.com/articles/659/659005p1.html).
Strange how Engadget got it all twisted in an attempt to act politically correct, he? Nothing beats "le Big-e Mac-e with Cheese" -- and now DS. :P

[push2flush @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

all nintendo is doing is providing free wifi spots for the DS, it shouldn't matter where. i'm sure most of the people complaining about the partnership have wifi at home anyways.

[Homestar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Im so close to mcdonalds i would probably pick up there signal if i went outside.

[jr @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Heh, well, currently McD's doesn't offer free traditional wireless (if there is such a thing). Everywhere i've gone to you have to pay to get online. There might be a few, honest to God "free" sites out there, but it's a diminishing number.

I'm also betting that McD's probably will have some sort of timelimit on the free connections. As much as they love to see you smile as you hand them money, they also love to see nice, high turnover so they can get more smiling money. Having a bunch of tables filled with non-eating, DS toting kids for a few hours during the lunch or dinner rush probably won't set well with the local franchise managers.

I'm honestly surprised that Nintendo hasn't tried rolling out a net dongle for folks to use at home. There are folks already describing the sort of equipment you need to use to connect to your DS wirelessly, why not make a few bucks by selling a USB or 10bT unit for $70 before someone else does?

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

McDonald's sucks!!! Anyone ever watch the movie "Super size Me"...if not watch it, and it will change your thinking about going to McDonald's for food.

[sr @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

^^^The USB dongle is coming.

This is a no brainer for them, I mean anytime you go, McDonalds is loaded with kids.

[Jamaicanbwoydre @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

So, they are giving away PSP's in their monopoly promotion and offering wireless with the DS also, way to play the field Mickey D's.

[Danny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I'm amped!
I have a DS and McDonalds are everywhere,
so it's really convienient for me to go
to one and I can order a salad or a coffee.
Parents have a responsibility to provide
proper nutrition to their children, but that
doesn't make me a sellout, it's just cool and fun.

[hall @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

the service sounds cool

[Bandon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This comes directly from their press release about the mcdonalds/wifi announcement:

When a user brings a Nintendo DS unit and a Wi-Fi-enabled game into a Wayport-enabled McDonald's, the user simply launches the game in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection mode. No setup is required.

From home, if the user already has a Wi-Fi network, the Nintendo DS unit will connect directly to it with minimal setup procedures. Those who have a high-speed Internet connection such as cable or DSL, but no wireless network, can use the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, which will plug into the USB port of a PC running Windows XP to create a wireless access point to connect a DS to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector will be sold exclusively on Nintendo.com.
___________________________________

This confirms that there will be a wifi adapter for those of you who want it at home, and that there is no set up for people who want to go to mcdonalds. You just go in and log in.

[Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Wayport and T-Mobile are battling it out to be the largest hotspot provider in the US with about 6,500 each. Wayport's got Micky D's and T-Mobile's got the Starbucks crowd. For Nintendo, the choice would be obvious. For PSP, hmm, maybe T-Mobile should get that one!

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This means I may be playing my DS in a parked car outside of McDonald's sometime in the near future. Let's hope they don't run out of parking spaces :)

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Hey Engadet ... you forgot to mention.. DS advertising in 6000 McDonalds shops.

Oh..

Yeah...

DS owns.

[Bandon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I could see that happening a lot, actually! ;p

[pixelator @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Now see, this is where it gets confusing.

1). The DS is supposedly (according to fanboys and some articles) COMPLETELY WIFI capable, right? The missing TCP stack that currently keeps it from going online (like a PSP) can be provided by some games, supposedly like Mario Kart. Right?

2). The WiFi dongle is supposedly JUST so that you can get wireless online with NON-WIFI-ROUTER-EQUIPPED computers, right? Because, according to Nintendo advocates, you could get online with no problem if you simply have WiFi already.

3). We have NINTENDO offering 'hotspots' - which doesn't contradict the previous two points, exactly, because while there are free hotspots around, these would supposedly be free. Whether they're only for (somehow) DS games is murky, but whatever.

4). NOW we're hearing McDonald's WiFi for DS. Now wait a second. If McDonald's already has WiFi (I can use it with my PSP or WiFi PDA/laptop), then why does Nintendo have to have anything to do with it? Is it just that it's free? The article makes no mention. So, this stands in contradiction to the idea that the DS will be openly WiFi on any WLAN - that there's something else needed or required. Because, were it as WiFi capable as any other wireless device, you wouldn't NEED special Nintendo hotspots, now, would you?

Well?

[Ryan Heath @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Whoever wrote this article is an idiot. Nintendo is offering FREE wifi in a place that millions of Americans go...and you mock them? What's wrong with eating lunch and playing Metroid Prime online or Mario Kart? What would your suggestion be? Free wifi at Gamestores? Where there are no seats and you could stand around like an idiot? Sony is offering nothing of the sort, but Nintendo is going the extra mile and you criticize them? What is your problem?

[pixelator @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Now see, this is where it gets confusing.

1). The DS is supposedly (according to fanboys and some articles) COMPLETELY WIFI capable, right? The missing TCP stack that currently keeps it from going online (like a PSP) can be provided by some games, supposedly like Mario Kart. Right?

2). The WiFi dongle is supposedly JUST so that you can get wireless online with NON-WIFI-ROUTER-EQUIPPED computers, right? Because, according to Nintendo advocates, you could get online with no problem if you simply have WiFi already.

3). We have NINTENDO offering 'hotspots' - which doesn't contradict the previous two points, exactly, because while there are free hotspots around, these would supposedly be free. Whether they're only for (somehow) DS games is murky, but whatever.

4). NOW we're hearing McDonald's WiFi for DS. Now wait a second. If McDonald's already has WiFi (I can use it with my PSP or WiFi PDA/laptop), then why does Nintendo have to have anything to do with it? Is it just that it's free? The article makes no mention. So, this stands in contradiction to the idea that the DS will be openly WiFi on any WLAN - that there's something else needed or required. Because, were it as WiFi capable as any other wireless device, you wouldn't NEED special Nintendo hotspots, now, would you?

Well?

[shinyhat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Brian: Yes I've seen Super Size Me and it only made me hungry for some hamburgers. If anything that movie made me realize what a lame attempt it is to blame the restaurant and not the consumer. The guy ate the worst McD's food he could find everyday, what a surprise he got fat. I could do that at any restaurant or grocery store. Hey everybody, watch me shove fatty foods in my mouth and blame the cash register that sold it to me! The real story in the movie was the guy who ate a Big Mac every day and is in better health than the retard who made the movie. Morgan Sprulock is a talentless idiot film maker. He failed so miserably with that movie that I wondered if the film was some how actually sponsered by McDonalds to help their image.

This announcement is great for DS owners that can't afford broadband and wifi at home. I'm all for more places to get more players on line.

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

#24. Mcdonalds wifi is not free you have to pay for it. The deal with Nintendo and McDonalds is to allow free access to that wifi for DS's. This is because the DS has limited connectivity. Your only playing games on it.

Previously you could've gone there and played you would've just had to pay for it, but it was true wireless. However, you also probably would have to go through the setup screens for the wireless connection as opposed to this situation where it is presumably a plug-n-play sort of thing much like the DS connection you would use at home with the adapter

[Slashbunny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Free WiFi = win. I don't care if it's coming from McDonalds.

[bunnyrabbitz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Hey at least it isnt' Starbucks... at McDonalds I can get a whole reasonably healthy meal (salad & coffee or whathaveyou) for the same price as a single cup of Starbucks coffee.

And while McD's isn't the healthiest thing for kids, does anyone here even know that they now offer fruit and milk or chocolate milk with the kids meals now? (Or if you're a polite adult, you can switch your drink for milk too) If parents still insist on letting the little brats stuff their faces with 2 cheeseburgers and fries then that's their own fault, but they were given a choice.

If they gave out cool limited edition styli in the happy meals they'd even have me hooked.

[Kurdt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

There are more than a few good reasons not to frequent McDonalds; there is the exploitative nature of the corporation, which runs the gamut from underpaying its workers (the food is cheap b/c someone else is paying for it), to the horrendous conditions animals endure in factory farms (again, the food is cheap b/c something else is paying for it). Pretty common knowledge and easy to "overlook".

[Trejkaz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

They might be partnering with Nintendo such that the "free WiFi" will only work if you're intending to connect to online gaming services hosted by Nintendo. I get the feeling that if you want to move in with your PSP and browse the web, that you won't be able to, and such things are relatively easy to enforce with firewall rules.

That being said, this sounds cool, as long as it eventually spreads outside the US.

[Sean DL @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Pixelator Yes McDonald's already has Wi-Fi, but no you have to pay for it.

This deal with Nintendo makes it free for those who have the Nintendo DS.

You can use the Nintendo DS with any free or pay Wi-Fi spot, so yes you can use it at Starbucks, if you pay for the T-Mobile hotspot thingy.

So lets break it down:

* 6,000 Mcdonalds have Wi-Fi hotspots that you can use for one hour(for about 5 bucks).

*Nintendo makes a deal with McDonalds to make these 6,000 McDonalds free Nintendo Hotspots.

Yeah, love or hate Mcdonalds, this was the quickest and cheapest way for Nintendo to set up hotspots for the DS. I see some Gamespots becoming Wi-fi spots(for both DS and PSP), but that'd be up to the store managers.

And yeah, I wouldn't be surprised is PSP+Starbucks(via T-Mobile) did happen. I wonder if the PSP could use the DS McD's hotspot....

[Chad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Yay, now I can get fater and play mario kart all wile having no life . :) Thanks Big N you made my even life better . thumbs up to the BIG N !!!

[Maverick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

And what happened to the resounding lack of support for nintendogs? The 3D tamagotchi! Or the resounding lack of support for the countless awful games being released on nintendo consoles to date. The first and third party support is now truly atrocious. The hardware is amazing, but what use is that with nothing to do with it. Do the developers not realise that the DS is capable of 3D? Or that the gamecube is capable of more? Or that multi platform games should include the cube? Far more people are going to be settling with sony.

[Chad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

F Sony !!! Nintendo rox

[baileyear @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Nintendo and chemically enhanced-cheeseburgers go perfectly together.. they BELONG together.. this is Awesome

BUT

A. it should be free .. unless McDonalds has a warranty plan to replace your DS when some spazztic kid knocks soda all over it

B. we need better tasting veggie burgers and salads, and we need them NOW, and they can't have fat in them .. and McD's also needs to build a training room with a 200 meter track on the circumference ..

they should also make game centers at local beaches and parks.. Starbucks would make a great venue, anything like this is good..