Nintendo Co. Ltd. said on Tuesday it would establish 1,000 WiFi hotspots in Japan by the end of 2005 where owners of its DS portable game machines can play games with others online for free. The company is planning a similar service for overseas markets, aiming to expand sales of the DS and protect its leading position in the handheld game console industry from Sony Corp., which recently launched its own handheld machine.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference that 25 overseas and Japanese software companies have said they were interested in developing games that are compatible with WiFi, a widely adopted standard for short-range wireless networks. WiFi connections have grown increasingly popular in recent years, used by consumers and business travelers in airports and coffee shops to access the Internet.