UK Nintendo Zones Are Now Only To Be Found In Branches Of GAME

Homepass is the only reasonable way. Or a StreetPass group.

...I'm not in UK, but...really? WTF Nintendo? :c

Considering I practically never go to a McDonalds (or a GAME for that matter) I doubt I'll notice any differences.

@Equinox I believe that was because for a short while The Cloud hotspots acted as Nintendo Zones. My university had a Cloud hotspot so I used to get loads of Streetpass hits every day!

The only reason to ever go near a McDonalds is gone. Oh well. But yeah, I always wondered why GAME was never a StreetPass relay. I used to walk past Greggs, McDonald's, open it up, then walk past Cafe Nero and Argos to get another lot. My girlfriend would go mad, hahaha.

Now, StreetPasses are very rare! It's making it hard to get the latest puzzle (Yokai) and also - why bother with the new games if you can't StreetPass anyone anymore!? I mean, I've got six 3DS so I could StreetPass myself but that's a bit boring...

I'll miss StreetPass, it's been awesome fun and helped me fall in love with the system.

I didn't even know these were a 'thing'. If I did, I'd probably have more than 1 street pass hit in the 5 years I've had the 3DS! Oh well, too late to do much about it now.

There used to be quite a few relay places along my high street which included some pubs, Subway, a few coffee shops, and Argos. Iwas never short of picking up hits. It's been quiet for a few months now, so it wouldn't suprise me if Nintendo had already been closing them down before now.

whilst that makes sense it also puzzles me in a way, Nintendo only just released a new batch of streetpass games so now they are limiting how you can get streetpass hits? seems to suggest the new streetpass games could potentially be a waste of money!

This makes it a bit more limited considering GAME has downscaled the quantity of stores in the past few years

Well that sucks. I used to intentionally take my 3DS out with me if I was going to McDonalds. This makes little sense now you have the queue feature because you can easily pass multiple points in one street and queue all the hits. How many GAME stores are still around? A lot of them closed when it all went bust not long ago. There aren't any where I live except in the centre of the city. So the potential Nintendo Zone's has gone down from hundreds to now just 2...and a lot of small towns must be lucky to even have a GAME.

I hope nintendo bring out an app for the phone which turns it into a portable streetpass hot spot.

There has never been any where I live, the only one I knew about was in departure lounge in Gatwick Airport, and even then no one was ever on it

I noticed a couple of weeks ago I wasn't getting hits at CEX anymore.
It's a shame, Costa Coffee, a couple of pubs near me, WHSmiths, Argos - they have all switched off in the last year or so.

I can remember the "too easy!" outcry when the relays first appeared, but they made the streetpass games a lot more fun.

I still take my 3DS with me though, whenever possible.

I pity anyone who bought the new games.

I'm still baffled that the play coin Dogs/Cats for hire never received a buff. If you had them for all the games it would allow people with no streetpasses to have a full set for all the games every 2 days with I think is pretty reasonable whereas now it is only one game and given the latest batch of games lasts about 12 seconds each it kills incentive to even bother.

Why don't I go to GAME? My nearest store is 6 miles away. I'm not doing a 12 mile round trip for the possibility of 6 Streetpass Mii Plaza hits.

Hadn't noticed yet, but annoying given the new recent street pass games.

Game sells hardly any Nintendo stuff as it is, they should keep Ninty Zones at Maccy D's

Maybe NX is ditching streetpass?

It was a cool idea, but Streetpass just don't work that well outside of Japan without lots of Nintendo Zones.

I made a point of visiting Subway and Mickey D's when I had my 3DS or my kids 2DS systems, I'll definitely frequent them less often now.

Half the time I visit Gme in Westfield, the zone isn't turned on. And Game are really second rate in many aspects.

If they are phasing these out I can't help but think that the next system won't have street pass functionality, hopefully it has something similar to it though. Otherwise I am going to be disappointed.

The situation is similar here in the US.
Fewer and fewer places offer Street Pass functionality.
For example, Best Buy stores (a leading electronic big box retailer) are still listed as zones — but an increasing number (including my local store) appear to have permanently turned off their server.
The only bright spot on this side of the pond is that the 3DS automatically connects to AT&T WiFi and those are still working zones. This includes one major hotel chain — which means if you stay at a Hilton property in the US you may get a lot of hits (or the same hits a lot of times). It also means most McDonalds still are places to StreetPass.

great, the closest GAME store to me is 30 miles away

Never used it much anyway. StreetPass would work much better on phones.

Just build the raspberry pi streetpass relay and receive 6 hits every 2 hours. At home!

@lemonjellydude

That's exactly what I was thinking! I don't even play them anymore. There's no point since I can't even get streetpasses.

Nintendo Zone has also been removed from many (maybe all?) Best Buys in USA.

Never used street pass no idea what it's for

No wonder I've only been getting 4 streetpasses for the whole day. Coupled with the possibility there are less people with a 3DS around, gathering streetpasses is becoming increasingly harder.

It used to be that I could sit in a shopping centre for a few minutes, and I'd have my 10 hits that I could let in, then repeat for another 10, then I'd play the games when I got home.

The new streetpass games look like they're going to be difficult to finish off, due to this.

I had been trying to look into the Homepass system - with a little fiddling with your computer, you can turn it into its own network node, and collect as many hits as you want. It kind of goes against the original intention of streetpass, but it's looking quite appealing now.
That is, if I could get it to work...

Nintendo is currently rather dead in the UK, so hardly a surprising move.

streetpass is dead, hardly anyone brings their 3ds outside which sucks

Got my new 3ds a few months back and took it to work and on holiday in the isle of wright. Only got 2 hits
Finally finished 'quest' using play coins and realized it was all for nothing....

That's a shame. I used to get loads from Argos and B and Q before that one went quiet.

Really glad I haven't purchased any of the new games.

@Lord
Better yet, up to 6 hits every 5 minutes

@Equinox
A maximum of 6 every 8 hours per zone

My local McDonald's doesn't seem to be working as a relay lately, I wonder what's going on there...

@NFreak007
I believe those hotspots still work, but only if you haven't updated your 3DS past a certain point. I've got two that I haven't updated since I bought them and they can connect to the "_The Cloud" hotspots and get hits.

GAME is a pile of crap, they overcharge for everything and it's a shame that they basically have the UK monopoly on gaming (exclusive content etc.). I'd much rather go to an old school independent, but sadly they were all killed off by the likes of Tesco.

@shaneoh Yes; the hotspot list is stored in the system memory. (They will have just deleted all the entries for the UK barring Game)

@jsa

Wait, you mean all those stability updates come at a cost?

At least you have Zones. In Ireland we don't have any!

My sympathies, everyone. Dang.

That sucks.. I love StreetPass and have used it loads since 2012, and I just handed over £8 to Nintendo for EVEN MORE DLC than I already had bought and now they do this?

@dizzy_boy
Yeah I've noticed the reduced hits too; both from those outlets mentioned as well as some supermarkets, such as Tesco and Asda as well as coffee shops and cafes.

I really love the StreetPass games, especially Puzzle, but it's going to be nigh on impossible to grab any pink squares now (if there are any more puzzles, that is).

It is definitely the end - which is strange really, as if the NX is a portable, then that could also use the StreetPass system.

I had noticed that I was getting less streetpass hits than normal, but assumed that I just wasn't getting in range of them.
The loss isn't really a problem for me, as I have 2 GAME stores in my town, and I frequently stop by both, so I can easily still get 10 hits each time I go into town.

I have got six GAME stores and they are all simply a bus ride away from me.

Streetpassing has been incredibly hard in Nordic countries already for a few years. In Finland we had only Nintendo Zones in local burger chain Hesburger and even that stopped so now we have none.

Okay Nintendo, you won't get my money for the new streetpass games, as whats the point in an area where it hard to be near a Game store? Crazy!!

Sadly I bought the new Mii Plaza games and Dragon quest 7 and now I have no ways to get StreetPass Tablets or Mii hits when I used to get 10 when I went up town (Argos, McDonalds, Homebase and Waitrose). May I ask why turn them off when you released new DLC that needs such?