In a recent interview with USA Today, Nintendo’s president and chief operating officer, Reggie Fils-Aime, revealed that the company plan on offering a free, non-subscription based, online service ready for the consoles launch. From the article:

“We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They’ll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you’ll be able to plug it in and go. It won’t have hidden fees or costs.”

Of course, When asked about the release date or price of the console he remained tight lipped, simply saying: "We’re well on our way to sharing all of that information with our retailers and our licensees. We’ll be sharing that information publicly later on."