Nintendo warns players to expect potential server overload at Christmas

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

If there’s one thing that video game fans can expect when December 25 rolls around, it’s server outage. As the planet simultaneously makes way for an abundance of new consoles and online store gift cards, services from PlayStation Plus to Nintendo Online are often left feeling the strain as players spend a good few days gobbling up the juice. And speaking of Nintendo, the legendary developer/publisher has already candidly stated it expects this week to be no different.

Through its support account, Nintendo that players looking to use Nintendo’s online services () this festive weekend perform as much prep as possible beforehand. Whether booting up new consoles and installing updates, pre-purchasing games and software, registering Nintendo Online or Family account, The Big N has openly tipped players to jump online and gets these acts completed right now, before December 25 sees the service run thin, possibly delivering little more than a very slow service at best and network outage warnings at worst.

Of course, this is by no means a Nintendo-only Christmas issue, nor a particularly new issue. Ever since gaming hit its online stride with the PS3/Xbox 36ꦛ0, players have been left frustrated by server outages, store closures, and network failures over the holiday season. While all major publishers have taken steps to curtail the problem, there simply is not enough power at the source to cover an entire international community of eager video game fans — so take a tip from Scar and Be Prepared.

[Siliconera]