Is this possible?

[lilboo]

So with the DS having able to connect the internet with Wi-Fi..Is it possible for games to have downloadable content?

Example: Let's say "For a limited time, all Nintendo Wi-Fi users who play Mario Kart can get Toadette into their game...." and have us connect and get her?

Or probably not? Not talking about unlocking Toadette per say, or any character in Mario Kart--Just the general idea of it.

I wouldn't see why it wouldn't be possible, but who knows.

What do you guys think?

[mcgavin27]

the only think stopping is the fact of where can you save it? The game's cart is probably full already with memory and the ds has no external memory.

[lilboo]

Well I doubt that each cart is full.

[DeathPrawn]

I believe that cartridges are write-only excepting the save mechanism, which I would imagine is a TINY amount of space that most likely cannot be used to actually add new content that did not previously exist.

There are two ways this could theoretically work. Stuff like "Toadette" could be UNLOCKED by going online, which means that they devs would have had to program it into the game to begin with, and going online just adds the marker to your save file that you are allowed to use her. In my opinion, that is just bitchy. If you're going to spend the time to add in signifigant extra functionality on the cartridge, I don't think it's fair to keep that from the people who might not get to go online.

The other way is the way that Tony Hawk's American Sk8land handles its downloadable content. Roughly every week or so the devs post up a new level challenge; since there is no way to save it, you have to play it while still connected. A challenge that offers you five minutes of gameplay every two weeks doesn't seem like much, but it means that the developers still care about the player base, even for a game that fared terribly (which is a shame, since it's such a good game).

[lilboo]

So in a way, they could simply make more online-only content?
Example: Gamers who play Mario Kart online get the characters they have in their game plus Toadette, Birdo, Bowser Jr, and Diddy Kong--But once they disconnect that's it--Until they connect again?

I guess stuff like that COULD be pretty cool.

[Redeema]

Exactly, it has to be there in the first place. That's how Phantasy Star Online worked, on holidays they would bring out certain decorations (online only of course) and items that you could trade in for stuff and in some cases they even had quests with Sonic and the character from Nights into Dreams.

[lilboo]

Well that would be cool, really hope that do stuff like that soon or to newer games coming out.