Nintendo announces new digital network

Nintendo has revealed that they will launch a new online service for the 3DS and its upcoming Wii U console that adds support for downloadable content.

The 3DS racing title Mario Kart 7 will be the first title to feature downloadable content, and will launch in “the near future,” says Company president Satoru Iwata.

Nintendo said it will finally support multiple user accounts on the Wii U hardware. It will also introduce what Iwata referred to as “digital distribution of packaged software” — offering users the choice of purchasing its top-tier videogames either at retail stores or through direct download.

“This concept was built into the design of the Nintendo 3DS, and we already have the necessary infrastructure,” Iwata said of the plan to sell games digitally. “We will prepare the same infrastructure for the Wii U. However, we have not decided the concrete timing of when we will start it. The decision must be made by taking into consideration such factors as the relationship with the wholesalers and retailers, and the best way to be embraced by consumers, as well as the environment surrounding the market and consumers, such as the required memory capacity on consumers’ SD memory cards. However, as an option for the future, the significance of this business field will increase,” he said.

Nintendo has long said that it would launch Wii U, which features a tablet-based controller, in 2012. This week it confirmed that it would launch the new machine in four major territories — Japan, the U.S., Europe and Australia — by the end of the year.

“The company is aiming to firmly complete the development of the entire system and prepare sufficient software so that the Wii U will be at its best at the time of the launch,” Iwata said. “Needless to say, we have learned a bitter lesson from the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.”