3DS gets free Wi-Fi at U.S. airports

by Steven Mostyn - Dec 9 2011, 00:01

The autostereoscopic Nintendo 3DS may have failed to capture the imagination of gamers when it launched earlier this year, but that hasn’t stopped its Japanese creators from offering up incentives.

The latest such festive carrot dangled before the pre-Christmas consumer donkey arrives in the form of free Wi-Fi access for console owners traveling through some 42 airports across North America.

Some of those airports include hugely popular hubs such as JFK in New York, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, and O’Hare in Chicago. 

According to Nintendo, once users are beneath the Wi-Fi blanket—offered in conjunction with Boingo Wireless—they will be able to play their games online, browse through the dedicated 3DS eStore, and watch online video content.

“With the holiday season approaching, more leisure travelers and families with children will fill our airports and have access to our hotspots,” trumpeted Colby Goff, senior vice president of strategy and business development for Boingo.

“Our state-of-the-art networks will provide Nintendo 3DS users with seamless connectivity and fast, reliable service to help them make the most of their travel downtime,” he added.

Boingo’s extended Wi-Fi access, which is being made available via an official Nintendo update, bolsters the other 29,000 wireless hotspots already offered to 3DS users across the United States.

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