Going against everything Nintendo have ever said about online gaming in the past, straight from the GDC, we bring you news on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay and Play.

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. In the past, Nintendo have always gone to extreme lengths to stress the importance of keeping online gaming free and easy to use. In one of the final GDC conferences from Nintendo, they have announced a new pay-to-play service for certain Wii games.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay and Play was announced by Nintendo project leader (and mastermind of the Wii Menu) Takashi Aoyama, and it has been described as a subscription service that works on a game-by-game basis, meaning that gamers will pay a subscription for each title that you use on the service.

A red Pay and Play icon will adorn the boxes of games which utilise the service, though the service will only apply to certain games. Many games will remain free to play, and will therefore still bear the brand of the blue Wi-Fi Connection logo.

We truly are surprised, but... maybe this will mean that Nintendo will begin to stray into territories such as MMOs, downloadable content (speak of the devil) and even voice-chat?

Do let us know your thoughts on this below...