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During IGN’s latest Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, former GameSpy Technology general manager Todd Northcutt was brought in to discuss some of the behind the scenes details about the service and the company’s relationship with Nintendo. For those unaware, GameSpy provided the back-end infrastructure for Wii/DS games.

We brought you just a few of these details on Friday. Now you can find a more comprehensive summary below.

Today we’ll be continuing our look at the Nintendo Wi-Fi lineage with a focus on Wii titles. The Wii’s online infrastructure surprised us time and time again with what it could (and couldn’t) do, with experiences ranging from the cohesive and fleshed out Mario Kart online to a slideshow crawl through Super Smash Bros. Brawl matches. With the rise of homebrew, we saw some interesting mods to popular games, some of which also found their way into the online scene (like Project M and CTGP). Here’s a look at some of the more popular and interesting titles that used the service and what we’ll miss most about them:

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On May 20th, GameSpy ceased all maintenance for multiplayer services that they previously hosted, marking the end of online support for Wii and DS titles and the end of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC) era. Since its launch in November 2005, the little blue circle on the boxes of our beloved franchises have signified the ability to participate in matchmaking online and experience Nintendo’s first real take at online gaming. From Friend Codes to Nintendo branded Wi-Fi dongles, let’s take a look back at some of the best WFC had to offer in all its WEP encrypted, Wii Speak glory.

During the latest episode of IGN’s Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, former GameSpy Technology general manager Todd Northcutt revealed some interesting behind the scenes tidbits about the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. As many of you know, the big N partnered with GameSpy back in the day for Wii and DS titles incorporating online play.

Here’s a summary of what was shared:

– Not getting a copy of Monster Hunter from Capcom and having the game go live in Japan and kill server capacity while not having anyone that spoke Japanese on staff

– Not being able to patch games so Smash on Wii was broken and Gamespy had to fix it all server side

– Meeting with 2 separate Nintendo teams at once and having them go off for 10 mins arguing against each other cause one side wanted one friend code per user/system and messaging and invites and such and the other didn’t all in Japanese while Gamespy Tech sat there seeing it unfold

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The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is officially no more.

All services were terminated just a few minutes ago, meaning it’s no longer possible to play the various Wii and DS titles that took advantage of the functionality (at least through traditional means). DLC offered through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is now unavailable as well.

It was nice while it lasted!

In February 2009, Wall Wireless, LLC initiated a patent infringement case against Nintendo. But today, Nintendo announced that the court dismissed the case after the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled all the patent claims Wall Wireless was relying on in its case.

Wall Wireless, LLC primarily enforces patents, for those unaware. The company claimed that the DS and DSi family of systems infringed a patent.

You can find Nintendo’s full announcement below.

In just a few days, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service will be discontinued. This affects a whole slew of games – see a listing of first-party releases here.

Even though the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is reaching its end, fans have put together an alternative method of playing some titles online. The “Wiimmfi” essentially patches the server addresses in the game to play on custom servers once May 20th has passed.

There’s lots more information about the project here.

Pokemon Black 2 and White 2’s soundtrack found its way over to the iTunes store today. The soundtrack is huge, with 173 tracks and a run time of over 4 and a half hours and features all the music and sounds we’ve come to expect from all previous releases. It’s currently listed at US $9.99.

iTunes Link

 

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At the end of this month, GameSpy will be ending all hosted services for games. This move will affect titles produced by a variety of companies, including EA.

Due to GameSpy’s shutdown, the following Nintendo-related games will no longer offer online functionality starting on June 30:

Bejeweled 2 for the Wii
Dracula – Undead Awakening for the Wii
Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
MySims Party for Wii
MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
SimCity Creator for Wii
Skate It for Nintendo DS
Sneezies for the Wii
Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS

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