The recently translated interview between Iwata and his team of Nintendo engineers has been an interesting insight into what has gone into this new console. Today, another portion has been translated for the non-Japanese speaking public that covers the Wii Message Board. Or, as I like to call it now in a fit of dorkdom: One Wii Channel to rule them all. I say that because the interview shows this particular channel will run on top of all the other Wii Chanels (like the weather one I covered a bit too closely here on Infendo).
It sounds interesting; Iwata and company call it not quite email, but not too simplistic either. There’s even mention of message board content being fully inetgrated into future games (I think an early indication of what this means is how the Mii can be used in WiiSports, etc.).
However, and there is certainly a very big “however” in this interview, we have this bit about “registered friends.”
Iwata: It can be fun to be connected to the network, but it can be stressful or frightening if you are interacting with people you don’t know.
Tamaki: Exactly. Basically, we’ve designed it so that you can exchange information with your registered friends. I’ll give an example of the kind of information that could be exchanged. Let’s say someone buys a new game. When they switch on their console, a question could appear on the screen: “Do you want to let your friends know you have bought this game?” If you select “Yes”, the message “X has bought the game Y!” will pop up on your friends’ Message Boards. You can send messages like that from within the game, or you can make your own message to send to your friends. Actually, the example I just gave is still under discussion and has not been finalised yet. But I think it gives you an idea of the kinds of things that would be possible.
Friend Codes are now all but confirmed for the Wii… did I miss a memo?