Nintendo’s online store isn’t working for many gamers at the moment—not on Wii U or 3DS—making it essentially impossible to use many of
the systems’ core online services. So this is why I couldn’t update the Netflix app on my parents’ Wii yesterday! And it’s why a lot of Nintendo gamers are pulling their hair out now.
As of 9:30am ET on Dec. 26, Nintendo’s online services were all having problems. See the image above or simply see what my Wii U and 3DS looked like when I tried to access the eShop, Nintendo’s online store, on either unit: Nintendo’s online stores have been having problems like this
huc99 com since yesterday, which was, of course, a day when a lot of people were getting new Nintendo machines and probably eagerly hoping to hook them up to the Internet.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"e3616d04-4972-4839-a63a-c6975e2e9731","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.kotaku.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"1489822952","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"uncategorized","SECTION":"","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"uncategorized","TAGS":"","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); Nintendo was in apology mode yesterday: Hi, everyone. We're aware that some of you are
75r encountering issues with eShop and creating NNIDs. Our team is working hard to resolve them… — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 25, 2013 …And we are truly sorry for any inconvenience. Please follow us for more updates. Thank you for your patience! — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 25, 2013 You can check the status of Nintendo’s online services here The inability to create Nintendo Network
IDs blocks any new Nintendo Wii U or 3DS owner from being able to make purchases on the Nintendo eShop or even begin using a profile that is intended to serve as a unified identity—similar to an Apple iTunes ID or a PlayStation or Xbox account—that tethers all
of a Nintendo gamer’s online transactions and money balance to themselves. Until just a few weeks ago, Nintendo didn’t use the NNIDs for this and did not use an account-based system to preserve its customers’ purchases. The company instead tethered purchases only to a specific piece of hardware and only allowing a transfer of purchases from one piece of hardware to another.
To apparently lighten server load, Nintendo of Japan, is removing the newly-released Pokémon Bank application from its 3DS eShop, according to a post on the company’s official site (and spotted on the NeoGAF message board). Nintendo isn’t the only major gaming company to have online problems this Christmas. The PlayStation Network was malfunctioning on Christmas Eve:
https://twitter.com/embed/status/415591981515948033 It’s up at the time of this writing. Valve’s Steam store went
75r com down yesterday but has since been brought back up. https://kotaku.com/no-its-not-just-you-unable-to-connect-to-steams-serv-1489626551 Thursday is usually the day Nintendo releases new content on their eShop. No sign of that still happening today. UPDATE: Nintendo has put out their weekly Nintendo Download press release, though it hadn’t been e-mailed to Kotaku staffers, which it normally is. The release lists several games and the Pokémon Bank app, all supposedly coming out today or in the coming week on the various Nintendo machines’ eShops.
I’ve reached out to Nintendo for an explanation for what went wrong and for an update about when things will be working. I’ll update this story should they supply any insight. UPDATE, 6:50pm: The eShop still appears to be down. Nintendo says they’re still working on it. We apologize for the continued interruption of Nintendo eShop service and are working to resolve the situation. Thanks for your patience. — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 26, 2013 To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.