And suddenly Wii and DS servers go offline in May

[BigusSchmuck]

What sad times we are in...
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/02/the-day-the-mario-kart-died-nintendos-killswitch-and-the-future-of-online-consoles/?curator=MediaREDEF

[pulstar]

That really doesn't make much sense. If people are still playing they should leave it on for a bit longer. I have a feeling they may extend that date a little.

[BlueBMW]

If its not making them any new revenue I cant see them continuing it longer than they have to.  Though you'd think Nintendo of all companies would be a little more "kind" to their gamers...  Though I guess back in the 80/90s Nintendo was super cutthroat so I dunno...

[Bernie]

Hell with it.  Makes it easier for folks to mod their systems without the big N sticking their noses in it.  Mod it, play any game ever released via a HD or install whatever WADS or emulators you want, without worrying.  I think its a win/win.

[esteban]

I suppose Nintendo wants to push folks to the WiiU.

My family still uses the Wii and I'd even pay a modest fee just to keep the servers going...but, clearly, Nintendo knows that even if many millions of folks were willing to do this (pay to keep old hardware and games relevant), it effectively delays migration to WiiU.

Wii = Windows XP, the older uncle who refuses to die. (I still have XP on my desktop, by the way). Personally, I don't want the old bastard to die.

[TheClash603]

Worst part of modern gaming is the eventual disappearance of game features.

I played the Michael Myers COD add-on and it was really neat actually (if inaccurate), but the whole time I played I couldn't help to think that no one will have access to that 10 years from now.

[Punch]

That's why game collecting will be pretty limited starting from PS3 and up. What's the fun in buying untangible goods that can have most (if not all) of it's features turned off in the future?

[SmaMan]

They should release the Wii/DS server backends to the public and let them run the servers themselves. Hell, look at Phantasy Star Online... granted SEGA didn't officially release the server code in that case, but the community figured it out and as a result, we can still play PSO to this day.

But who am I kidding? This is Nintendo. That has a ice cube's chance in hell of happening. 

[geise]

Hell with it.  Makes it easier for folks to mod their systems without the big N sticking their noses in it.  Mod it, play any game ever released via a HD or install whatever WADS or emulators you want, without worrying.  I think its a win/win.

Total truth!

[Miracle_Warrior]

That stinks.  We often play Mario Kart online, and it seems like there is never any shortage of people playing at any given time. 

[SmaMan]

Yeah, I too was planning on buying Mario Kart in the near future... not anymore.

[KnightWarrior]

Can you play Mario Kart online though the Wii U?

[nodtveidt]

Will this affect Wii owners who subscribe to Netflix?

[SmaMan]

Can you play Mario Kart online though the Wii U?

I don't think so, since the Wii U doesn't change what servers it's going to connect to... and said servers are about to get shut down.

Will this affect Wii owners who subscribe to Netflix?

I also don't think so here. Netflix, Hulu, Youtube have their own servers, and unlike XBOX, you don't need to sign in with your XBOX Live Gold account to access them (seriously)

[TheClash603]

Will this affect Wii owners who subscribe to Netflix?

I bought my GF a Roku 3 for her birthday to replace using the Wii as the streaming device in one of our rooms.  For $99 (occasionally a little cheaper on sale), it is a major upgrade to the Wii for this purpose.  I'd recommend checking it out!