Nintendo To Introduce Online Play Charges [2/26/08]

[havoc802]

Nintendo has announced plans to rake in even more cash out of the Wii. It will begin charging gamers to play some video games online over the console's Wi-Fi link.
Dubbed Wi-Fi Connection Pay and Play, the service will see virtual red stickers added to certain titles to highlight to users that they must pay to play them online.

Although a formal pricing strategy hasn’t been detailed yet, Nintendo did say that gamers will pay for titles using Wii Points, the console’s virtual currency.
Gamers can already play lots of titles online for free and some content is expect to remain free of charge, but probably not the best stuff.
Nintendo’s not alone in charging users to access online content. Xbox 360 owners can already access games and other material through the console’s Xbox Live service, but gamers are offered a staggered pricing strategy. For example, the gold-level membership, which claims to offer exclusive content, costs £40 (€60/$80) per year, while access to the silver level is free.

Source: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/26/wii_pay_and_play/
Image: edgadget.com