‘Pay & Play’ service headed to Nintendo WiFi Connection

Nintendo has revealed at GDC that its online service Nintendo WiFi Connection will soon grow with a subscription and payment-based ‘Pay & Play’ extension.

Nintendo’s Takashi Aoyama explained that players will use Wii points to pay for content and services online.

No direct examples were given, but Aoyama said Nintendo was looking to adapt to the cost of content and "challenge ourselves on an ongoing basis" to address the way consumers were buying games.

He added that the advancements in Nintendo’s online services also meant that users will soon be able to buy downloadable content for disc-based games – although unlike the Wii channels such as WiiWare, WiiShop and Virtual Console, payment for the content will occur within the game itself rather than via a dashboard level ‘channel’.