Remember the StreetPass Relay function that Nintendo spoke about recently? The one where your StreetPass data is stored in Nintendo Zone locations and then exchanged with the next person to walk past? Well, that feature has just gone live thanks to firmware update 6.2.0-12 — now available in both North America and Europe.
As always, the update also comes with undisclosed improvements to system stability, as well as "minor adjustments" to "enhance the user experience".
We've just installed the update to our European 3DS XL, but have yet to test it at our local Nintendo Zone wireless point. Let us know if you're running 6.2.0-12 and have already benefited from some additional StreetPass hits by posting a comment below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 88
Still waiting for better stuff... I don't, maybe a account system! I don't know that's just me.
I thought it was enabled already?! Then the 10 StreetPasses I got last week in a couple of hours were real ones? WOW!
@Undead_terror - Agreed.
We really need a proper Nintendo account system.
All I really want is Miiverse.
@datamonkey It'll come eventually. But in the meantime, the odds of losing your system or having it stolen are fairly minimal. So practically speaking, we're all most likely going to be fine without one. It's been confirmed that if your system breaks or is damaged, Nintendo WILL replace your content. So again, it just boils down to if one got lost or stolen.
I'm not defending hardware-tied accounts, I'm really not. Trust me, I'm with you on this one. I'm just saying that for the large, large majority of us, we'll never lose our content. But rumor has it the big Wii U update planned this September might coincide with a 3DS update tying accounts and integrating Miiverse on 3DS...
If this is something that we all really want, we need to let Nintendo know, whether on Miiverse with posts everywhere, or their Youtube channel or FB page (if they have one). And we need to speak as one voice on this, instead of a few wanting tied accounts, a few complaining about region locking, a few complaining about more 3rd party games, a few complaining about Retro bringing the next Metroid, etc... One crisis at a time and in one voice.
Watch the profanity please — TBD
Having accounts as said would be nice. My 3DS's analog stick is starting to stick a bit after 2 1/2 years of regular usage. I'm hoping to beat Shin Megami Tensei IV before it gets too bad. Depending on if I repair it / get a new 3DS, there's at least system transfer, but still...
I feel a trip to MacDonaolds coming on...
I wish we had a Streetpass Relay system in Australia, I'm lucky to get a single hit a month...
@JaxonH
Yes I agree our voices need to be heard! I feel we are in dire need of a unified Nintendo account and 3DS Miiverse.
And region locking, well I'm just surprised it's still a thing in this day and age.
I agree with most of the complaining ATM there's just not enough of us making it apparent how much we want this, the Earthbound boycott worked well I guess.
Personally I just want to see more Metroid, Kirby, Star Fox and F-Zero on the 3DS who knows what Nintendo is doing next :L I mean I also welcome new IP's
I'm also wondering with the Megadrive getting some of it's games ported for 3D games like Streets of Rage and Sonic, will Nintendo (if ever) jump on board with SNES 3D ports? Would love to see that!
Ughh so many wants haha
;TLDR;
We need more people (way more) telling Nintendo what the fans want.
We need VC titles like the top titles from SNES & GBA (or 3D ports) or at the very least the same SNES titles as the WiiU
We need a unified account system.
Region Locking needs to be a thing of the past for all Game developers/publishers.
Watch the profanity please — TBD
This could potentially boost the amount of streetpasses I get drastically as there are loads of Nintendo Zone spots at stations on the train line I use daily.
We will know everything about each other soon thanks to streetpass. lol
@Pittoo
Guys I don't know about petitions and stuff, but wouldn't it be great if an organize boycott was made where everybody agrees not to use the eshop at all on 3DS and Wii U for one day as a way to protest against tying games to consoles
I wonder if this works if I make my phone a Nintendo Zone. Currently it won't work, but I guess because the last StreetPass of my 3DSes isn't long enought ago.
People stop complaining! My gosh. Just about every McDs has one. Best Buy, AT&T locations. Most of you have these. I have 5 within 2 miles.
NLife, put a link to Nintendos website where you can do a search for Nzones near you.
@Sakura
I went there YESTERDAY!!!!
Ah well at least I crossed a Tuscanian 3DS-toting tourist there...
now i just need to know where the hell these relay points are
I might have some luck. I know for sure that I drive by a Nintendo Zone daily! I wonder how close you have to get.
Well this is going to be completely useless to me seeing as there are no Nintendo Zones around here.
@datamonkey Like lately Anonymous is "not" attacking many things account based like Steam, Origins and uPlay lately.
Get informed.
I might test this out later today. Depends on if its still raining later and ill take the kidos to McDonalds!
Damn, not a single zone in Helsinki, although there are at least 25000 zones in Europe. Then again Nintendo never has given Finland any attention.. hope they plan to increase the amount of zones.
Umm...every _Cloud wifi hotspot is a Nintendozone! Pretty much every Pret, McDonalds, a load of pubs, and every railway station in the UK...You're bound to run into one when out.
excellent! since the announcement I stopped by a couple locations and was sad that the function was not working. good to know an update had to happen that was not in place yet. I will test it out this weekend.
Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Have updated the system to 6 12E, but there's no notification on UK console so wondering if we just need to wait a bit more...Will try with US console (that has notification) later.
The sooner this all gets maniuplated/hacked/abused or whatever the better, I get 0 street passes in my area I get one a day from my brother, who lives in the same town as me and even when I travel to bigger towns/cities still nothing sometimes one or two. ~Northern Ireland has none (or next to none)
This ain't bad, but I do have to agree with some comments above me (except for PIttoo). We could use an account system, and we're still waiting on Miiverse for 3DS.
I don't think it will work in the country I live currently (Mexico) so Im not that excited.
Woohoo I'm going to try this today at work
Got a chance to update my 3ds before I left for work. I guess I'm the first one In my part of the city to pass the NZ hotspots since I got only one unrelated streetpass. Probably get more as news picks up.
So what happens when I show up at a Nintendo Zone w/ my 2 kids and each has his 3DS turned on?
Here's the NZ map, I think it's only US though, sorry:
http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/nintendozone
How does the Relay work? Do you just walk into a Nintendozone spot and it works? or do you have to launch the Nintendozone software? I launched the software just now from work and didn't see anything new. I'm pretty excited about this my work is a nintendozone Wifi spot. In 2 years I've only received 16 streetpass hits. You would think with my 3DS in a hotel lobby in las vegas 8 hours a day 5 days a week I would get more hits than that. If this works im going to purchase that 4 pack of Mii Plaza Titles
@Windy You have to update your system, and then pass a Nintendo Zone while your 3DS is in sleep mode (and hope someone else has done this before you). You do not have to log into the Nintendo Zone app at all.
@Klimbatize Ahh cool Thanks I updated my system last night. And Good morning
@Klimbatize Im going to be at the West Charleston Libarary again on Wesdnesday August 28th @ 6pm. I got 2 streetpass hits last month from that craiglist add I ran. I have also received 10 emails from this months ad to keep doing this Craiglist thing that they would come to it if I kept it going. So im going to try it one more month and see how it goes. Last Month was pretty cool me and my wife went into the library grabbed a couple books sat down and just relaxed a couple hours. I put my 3DS on the table so People could see it. Nobody approached me but I got 2 hits
@Caramel
Stop your wining, we live in the same area, and there are plenty of Zones.
Not that this matter, we have all come to learn that the Streetpass is still a useless and not very fun feature.
How about we just get streetpass from our online friends, you know, the people we really play with.
have gotten over 200 streetpasses, and never got a pink puzzle
Surprisingly a Nintendo Zone is in Belize. But I live nowhere near it.
@Windy Yeah, I was out of town for your last one.
I think this relay system, when it becomes more established, will render meet-ups moot.
There are only 5 of these nintendo zones in Belgium. Why nintendo!
@LordJumpMad That is an awesome Idea. It strikes me funny that nintendo has this thing about playing with strangers yet streetpass is totally based on allowing strangers. People on your friends list although can be strangers you usually know them somewhat, whynot allow them in your Mii Plaza? I've always thought since I bought my 3DS that when you add someone to your friendslist they should immediately go to the MiiPlaza so they can be in the Find Mii or puzzle game. Doesn't that make more sense?
Wonder if the trick to convince the 3DS that it is connected to a Nintendo Zone (Via a mobile with the right settings) will work with this or not.
I am not bothered about Streetpass. Need a streak of 10 wins in a row via Spotpass though to unlock something on Mario Tennis Open. (I have a streak of 2 matches that are the only two I have ever played on it).
@sakkenijs Is there a way to trick your home wifi into making it think its connected to ATT. Maybe use the same settings of an ATT router or simply naming your Router ATTWifi or something like that? Maybe it would be something that simple as Naming the Router ATTwifi. Probably would not work but its worth a try. I may try that this week and open up my router and see what happens I will let you guys know
@Windy I Don't know if that will help. There aren't many people coming though my street. I guess i'll have to live with the fact that I won't get many street pass hits.
It would be neat if you could turn your own home router into one of these relays. Im going to change my router name to attwifi tonight and see if that works. it might be something as simple as that
I'm so glad that this update is finally released. Perhaps now I can get some of the bigger puzzles completed in a reasonable time frame.
So THAT'S what that update was for. It took about 5 seconds to complete on my 3DS XL, and I wondered whether it was anything worthwhile at all. That's cool, but I'm an hour away from the closest Nintendo Zone. Guess I'll take advantage of it when I can.
What they REALLY need to add is the ability to add a StreetPass-ed Mii to your Friends. Like, they tell you their Friend Code at the Plaza Gate. It could even be turned on or off. Don't know why they haven't done this already...
Anyway, this Relay System is pure brilliance. Hopefully I get more StreetPass hits now, I've had my 3DS since December 25th, 2011. And I have less than 10 hits( excluding Special Mii's).
@WinterWarm Same here. I have 16.
Home Depot also has NintendoZone.
My local Best Buy's NintendoZone has been down for months!
I was unable to get the Animal Crossing items...
@Undead_terror: Also agreed. We do need a proper account based system. But StreetPass relay functionality is a good thing.
@Windy
Actually that's exactly how it works... at least before this update. All the 3DS is looking for are certain SSIDs like "ATTwifi", "bestbuy", and so on.
The relay system might not work on your home network (as the update said) if they are sending special software to those who are running legitimate Nintendo Zones, in which case we may have to wait before we can take advantage of this, as I can't imagine most businesses getting around to setting it up, if at all.
I live in a pretty big city and have gotten 65 tags over the last two and a half years. I have a lot of Nintendo Zone locations around me so hopefully this boosts my tag count by quite a bit. I'm amazed how many tags some people have. Some of the people I've tagged have well over a thousand tags. Maybe they travel a lot or something.
@SmaMan Then I am so Changing my Network name tonight. i'm even going to open the network up I would think that the system itself sends the information to Nintendo then Nintendo sends it back. We will see and I will let everyone know later
Hmm maybe a trip to McDonalds, Starbucks, and Barnes and Noble is in order today....
I've gotten 380 tags, and I've had my 3DS for a little less than a year. It certainly helps that I go to a few cons a year. But I'm loving this relay thing! Gotta try it out! But it sounds like it depends on people updating their system first. Might take a few weeks to actually catch on. :/
Would be nice if the NZones could store multiple StreetPasses instead of just the last one, but I'll take what I can get.
@JaxonH I think its blown way out of proportion. They have procedures in place, is it cumbersome? yes, but is it prohibitive? of course not.
@Windy
Name it bestbuy so you can download the BestBuy exclusive Animal Crossing items!
Just updated. your white 3ds is sexy :):)
I haven't gotten a single StreetPass from since I bought the 3DS XL. And I've been walking around the mall with it a few times, so... lets see if this will boost my StreetPass count up!
Can't some people make their own Nintendo Zones? Heard there was a router trick. Would love to try that.
I hope this is automatic, and happens just by passing by these hotspots. Also, I think most people don't realize every McDonald's and Starbucks have Nintendo Zone hotspots...
got my update
Woah that's awesome......To be honest, I can care less for the Streetpass because, I live in a very small town that not many people have 3DS system. What they need to do already is give us a Account already.
@FJOJR Im going to try it tonight by simply naming my wifi Router to bestbuy or attwifi. I will let everyone know later Tonight
At McDonald's right now, got a Street Pass. I'm assuming its from the relay cause looking around I don't see anyone with a 3DS or who looks like the Mii. So I guess it's working? Gonna try another place next as I run errands.
Haha, I read the title of this article, and then opened up my 3DS, and it said "ready to update"! My 3DS is really on the ball with these things.
There are no Nintendo Zone hotspots in Poland (we don't even have any official dealer of Nintendo products here), so the relay functionality won't give me squat. I'm only getting passes once a year while the community from entire country meets up, and I guess it's gonna remain that way until the end of time. They should focus on account system, not such useless features... ;/
@JaxonH - I don't think you're completely accurate; just had to send in my daughter's 3DS XL which I just got a few weeks ago (upgraded from 3DS); will cost $130 to fix "IF" they think it was due to physical damage (how they can tell with no obvious damage, I don't know), but I'm only going that route because it's cheaper than losing the $200 of games I have on the system (brought over from a 3DS system transfer)... I Sure would have liked to have taken the system back to the store, replaced it for free and then just log into some sort of Nintendo account....
Yes! I'm going to my local Barnes and Noble today to get Streetpass!
Edit:Looks like I didn't went there to test it out.Maybe I'll try it today if I have time.
Passed by a Starbucks in a shopping center I had to go to, no relay pass. Last stop was the bookstore Barnes and Noble and nothing either. Guess I started the baton pass at those locations then!
@DrGerm
Well, I think you'll be ok. I speak from personal experience- I broke my Wii U gamepad by being a clumsy fool and they still replaced it free of charge. I'm pretty sure they won't charge you- I think they just want to make you didn't smash your system with a hammer and then ask them to cover the tab. If there's no physical damage (no sign YOU broke the console), they shouldn't charge.
But I do see your point, and I agree with you. Yes, it's a pain in the rear having to send the hardware into Nintendo as opposed to trading it in at the store. No doubt about it. And again, I'm NOT saying we shouldn't have unified accounts. Not at all. I'm just pointing out that in most cases, even if it's a pain to do so, we can recover our digital purchases. That's all.
Met 3 new Miis today using the relays. 2 of them had some purple puzzle pieces, which was nice. I was beginning to think I had 0% chance of finishing any of those puzzles.
Tried again...still not working though update installed. Unless I'm the first person to pass the relays... Anyone had any luck in the UK?
Its only day one, people! Give it a week or so before the relays are flowing.
@Sakura
I'm in the UK. Working fine for me.
@MadDragon1846
Great, thanks! Actually, it may have worked but I took 3 consoles with me and I thought that they had StreetPassed each other. But they've all StreetPassed each other again now even though it was way less than 8 hours ago. Still no-one new though so no idea...
Glad it's available! I can't bring my 3DS everywhere so I know that if I go to Best Buy and etc., then Ill obviously get a Streetpass.
I went by three Nintendo Zones today. Didn't pick up anything but if my streetpass data went up on those and helps someone else get a streetpass I feel it was worth it.
I grab my regular streetpasses at the mall. Since Animal Crossing came out the EB games staff has had their consoles there and there's a Toys R Us demo model thats up and working. I check through the last few Mii's on the demo unit because sometimes you can get an idea of how many others have been through that day.
I work at a best buy at a pretty busy mall, none today but i can't wait to start getting more streetpasses, i have all the puzzles done except for the new 5!
Well my trip to McDonalds today paid of really well.
Awesome really helps out areas where 3ds isn't exactly staple.
Is there a link somewhere to check the local relay points? My Game store are clueless.
@WiiLovePeace - Join the club, here in New Zealand your lucky to get a hit every 2 months. I only have 35-40 hits and they were all from the Armageddon Expo
@All - Miiverse is kinda like an accounts system, so really you just have to wait for that. If you don't like that then yeah, you can wait.
(NOTE) Just found out some peeps at my school have a 3DS, street passing time
@SanderEvers So it will work with a selfmade Nintendo Zone? I tried it yesterday but didn't worked...
@IKAY
This is what Nintendo says on their website:
"Your wireless home network cannot be set up as a StreetPass Relay Point."
Working fine now. Seems like I'm the only one with a 3DS that passes the local Greggs though. I got back the data I left yesterday with another console. And if you take more than one console along they streetpass the relay station one by one and you get your own data back. Okay for a few extra hits, but won't get you new puzzle pieces. Worth knowing if you're out with friends. A very quick walk around Coventry got me 6 hits (two of the same person) and one pink puzzle piece. That's six more hits and one more pink puzzle piece than usual, so happy so far.
I tried it today with my phone set as Nintendo Zone. I waited some minutes. Then I turned the wireless of my 3DS off and my girlfriends 3DS on. It took some time but she got a StreetPass hit from it. But now the cool part comes: I turned my wifi on again. Then she got my StreetPass data again! People with several 3DS can get 2 hits in a row all 8 hours! But the Nintendo Zone StreetPass has to be the first.
I am to understand this helps street passing a lot?
@Deemed It's supposed to do. But be honest: If you have no StreetPass nearby and you are not willed to travel around (join a StreetPass group or such things) to get some more hits, will you travel around to visit some Nintendo Zone HotSpots?
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