Family Computer Network System
 Famicom with modem | |
| Developer | Nintendo |
|---|---|
| Type | modem peripheral |
| Generation | Third generation |
| Release date |
|
| Lifespan | 3 years |
| Discontinued |
|
| Units shipped | 130,000[1] |
| Removable storage | ROM card |
| Connectivity | dialup modem |
| Online services | Nomura Securities |
| Related | Famicom |
The Family Computer Network System (Japanese: ファミリーコンピュータ ネットワークシステム, Hepburn: Famirī Konpyūta Nettowāku Shisutemu), also known as the Famicom Net System or Famicom Modem, is a video game peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer, released in September 1988 only in Japan. It uses a card based format, reminiscent to the HuCard for Hudson Soft's and NEC's PC Engine or the Sega Card for the Master System.[2][3] It allowed the user access to a server that provided live stock trades, game cheats, jokes, weather forecasts, horse betting, and a small amount of downloadable content.[1]
The experience Nintendo gained with this endeavor led directly to the deployment of the satellite based Satellaview network for the Super Famicom in the early 1990s. Nintendo would eventually engage in Internet based networking, via the 64DD and its accompanying Randnet service, the GameCube, the Game Boy Advance Cable, the Nintendo DS's DS Download Play, the Wii's WiiConnect24 and its shop, the Nintendo DSi's DSi Shop, and the Nintendo Network for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Switch.
History
Development
By 1987, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi foresaw the impending information age, developing a vision for transforming Nintendo beyond a toy company and into a communications company. He wanted to leverage Famicom's established and totally unique presence in one third of all of Japan's homes, to bring Nintendo into the much larger and virtually limitless communications industry and thus presumptively on par with Japan's largest company and national telephone service provider, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). He believed the Famicom should become an appliance of the future, as pervasive as the telephone itself.[4]: 76–78 Beginning in mid-1987, he requested the exploration of a partnership with the Nomura Securities financial company, to create an information network service in Japan based on the Famicom. Led by Famicom's designer Masayuki Uemura, Nintendo Research & Development 2 developed the modem hardware; and Nomura Securities developed the client and server software and the information database. Uemura cautioned that they "weren't confident that they would be able to make network games entertaining". Five unreleased prototypes of network-enabled games were developed for the system, including Yamauchi's favorite classic board game, Go.[1]
Production
The Famicom Modem began mass production in September 1988. The accompanying proprietary online service was soon launched the same year alongside Nippon Telegraph and Telephone's new DDX-TP telephone gateway for its existing packet switched network. NTT's launch initially suffered reliability problems that were painstakingly assessed by Nintendo at individual users' homes and traced back to the network.[1]Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). New services included buying stamps online from the postal service, horse race betting, the Super Mario Club for game reviews, and the Bridgestone Tire Company using a Famicom online fitness program for its employees.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Internet-based gambling was banned in Minnesota.[5]
Online content would later be delivered to Nintendo's customers via the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral. Masayuki Uemura, lead designer of the Famicom Modem at Nintendo Research & Development 2, said: "Our experiences with the Famicom Modem triggered Nintendo’s entrance into the satellite data broadcasting market in April, 1995".[1]
See also
- 64DD's Japan-based dialup Internet service called Randnet, from December 1999 to February 2001
- Nintendo Entertainment System's Teleplay Modem
- Famicom Disk System
- Atari 2600's GameLine
- Intellivision's PlayCable
- Sega Genesis's Sega Channel
- XBAND
- Super Famicom's Satellaview
References
- ^ a b c d e Takano, Masaharu (September 11, 1995). "How the Famicom Modem was Born". Nikkei Electronics (in Japanese). English translation by GlitterBerri.
{{cite magazine}}: External link in|others= - ^ "ファミコンの周辺機器が大集合! ザ☆周辺機器ズ 11". Ne.jp. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ Wi-Fiコネクションについて講演 『ウイイレ』など40タイトルが開発中. Famitsu. 25 March 2006.
- ^ Sheff, David (1994). Game Over: How Nintendo conquered the world (1st Vintage books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780307800749. OCLC 780180879. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- ^ "Minnesota Gambling and Criminal Defense". Retrieved February 7, 2015.