Australian Street Pass Groups Getting Bigger and Better

Nintendo Australia in the past few months has been working with local StreetPass groups and helping to promote them via their official web site. It’s been just over two years since the release of the Nintendo 3DS worldwide and now they are working on the local StreetPass groups to help spread the 3DS love over Australia.

Bringing together Nintendo fans to help with their Mii Plaza, exchange puzzle pieces, and interact in some heated and crazy Mario Kart 7 races was the highlights of my first ever StreetPass event.

It was a chilly Saturday afternoon in the capital of Australia Canberra. Despite the cold weather everyone who slowly turned up to the event was friendly, happy, and quite willing to discuss and chat about everything about the 3DS. Mark Bormann played the perfect host of our event – friendly, laid back and looked like your passionate Nintendo fan wanting to create a fun experience for all.

What I learnt was that Nintendo fans are very social when it comes to their games. While the main playing was Mario Kart 7, some were playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, talking about Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon and Fire Emblem Awakening. The ages ranged from young teenagers to their thirties – proof that Nintendo is enjoyed by many ages and their appeal knows no age barrier.

There were some handouts for people who came early to the event and some prizes for the Mario Kart 7 comp they held.  Personally I came 4th out of sixteen racers from two heats and a final played out – losing out to my friend James by two points and beaten by some great experienced racers.

What I learnt was that winning or losing didn’t matter it was about the community feeling of playing with people with common interests. I felt instantly that I belonged to the group which I felt was a similar to everyone else who clicked with each other. That is part of what Nintendo wants you to feel with these StreetPass groups and playing with each other.  That’s also the feeling they want you to feel with the Miiverse – a place where you feel like you belong and it feels like your virtual home.

I have heard that portable gaming is dying because of mobile gaming but this was proof to me that it’s still alive and kicking and the 3DS brings a special experience that a phone can’t.  Only Nintendo could bring that fun and joy that I haven’t had in quite a while. We even joked about most of our time would be spent using Street pass features than actually playing games which is nearly true – I found 23 hits and that would normally have taken me over a month to find those numbers walking around Canberra. Will I be attending  the next Street pass event in Canberra. In Reggie Fils-Aime’s words – Absolutely!

Nintendo Australia has a list of local Street Pass groups, there should be one near you.

Have you ever been to a Street Pass meetup? Let us know what you think or tell us about your group!