Nintendo

Nintendo is terminating "certain online functionality" for the Wii, DS and DSi including online play, matchmaking and leaderboards for many of its games.

The functionality is offered via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature and its removal on 20 May will affect games including


Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, and Pokémon Black and White.

Also closing are Wii Speak and the Wii Speak channel, and the Wii mode on the Wii U console will no longer be functional.

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The offline functionality for the games won't be affected and Nintendo says things like access to the Wii Shop channel, the DSi shop and the video-on-demand services won't be affected. Not yet, anyway.

Nintendo's announcement refers to the DS, DSi and Wii consoles as legacy systems and thanks fans for their support. Given the current poor performance of the Wii U, it may be that Nintendo is hoping to spur its user base into upgrading to the newer console rather than sticking with the original Wii.

A full list of games affected by the decision can be found here.