Wii Spot Podcast from WiiSpot.com

Satoru Iwata announced today that the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS will be able to connect with each other wirelessly via wi-fi. Although not surprising, its nice to hear the official word. Nintendo’s first attempt at connectivity didn’t really go anywhere as it required a special cable to connect the GameBoy Advanced to the GameCube. This time around, the experience should be much more enjoyable with both platform wi-fi enabled. Iwata revealed a few ways that the two platforms can connect.

• The DS can act as a touch screen controller for the Wii.
• DS games can be expanded through the Wii (playing DS games on a TV for example).
• Gamers can access the DS Station through the Wii to download content to their DS’s.

Iwata showed one example demonstrating Wii and DS connectivity and revealed Pokemon Battle Revolution in the process. If gamers own Pokemon Diamond or Pearl for the DS and Battle Revolution for the Wii, they can connect the two games wirelessly. You would play Pokemon Diamond (or Pearl) as you would normally but the characters would also be displayed on the television screen in full 3D. Although I’m not a big fan of Pokemon anymore, this kind of connectivity is very exciting to see. Developers can greatly extend the gameplay by taking advantage of the strengths of both the Wii and the DS hardware to allow players for an even richer experience.