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The February issue of EGM critiques Wii’s virtually non-existent online play. Though I’m reserving final judgment until we see online multiplayer, I feel that online play isn’t a priority for Nintendo. From the article (issue 212): “The Wii’s unified friend code system initially seemed like an upgrade to the DS’s daft online plan, but it’s actually just more of the same nonsense. Once again, each game requires its own separate friend code list…so get ready to input lots of 14-digit codes. Seriously, designing your entire online strategy around preventing child predators simply isn’t a good idea.”
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Each game using a different code? And this has been confirmed?
I could really care less about the friend codes. That is only if you want to play against your real friends. I would much rather just get online, play against random people out there, around the world. (This is why I love the WFC so far). If I wanted to play against my real friends, I would go over to their house or they would come to mine. Talk smack to their face. GET SOME! (Another game of Wii Sports?)
Wii’s online play strategy could be its weakest point… I truly believe online gameplay is the future of gaming, more than graphics or unique controllers.
I can’t believe the world is so pathetic that a little effort is too much to protect kids. Wow. Friend Codes are my friend, and is the friend of every child, like Gamera.
-Fank
Friend codes can be irritating, but the amount of money they lose over lost customers versus the amount of money they’d lose over a frivilous “Some bad man touched my baby! Satoru Iwata is to blame!” lawsuit is probably far greater.
my wii only connects to the opera browser, i dont even try to download VC’s anymore cause i sit staring at a blue circle spin around, once left the system on for over 24 hours and it was still spinning…
btw online play does not appeal to me all my friends keep askin when are we having another wii party
until egm can link to a confirmation of their rumor its only a rumor. there are at least 2 online games right now.
pokemon battle which uses the DS wifi feature, so yes, for that one you have to enter codes manually.
then there is elebits which i think only lets you connect to people in your contact list, but it does not make you enter codes yet again, it simply uses the same codes that are already on your system. i think that game alone is confirmation that a game can read that list and not need its own list.
also that doesnt matter, because as somebody here pointed out, even for ds, many games use friends codes, but also lets you play against random people not in your friends list.
so to people too lazy to deal with the unified friends code list, there is always random play if the game allows it.
The friend code is an ineffective way to prevent the work of child predators. There are plenty of child friendly game on the other systems, like XBox, with a much more open internet play. Have they been sued by anyone? Why is Nintendo fearful that this would happen to them? This is the one thing that makes me regret my purchase.
then wtf is the point of the damn wii code? for mii’s and mail probly but still.
thats gay nintendo can kiss my ass right now. retards.
J-man
Laziness isn’t the issue when you got 2 other consoles with universal online handles rather than credit card numbers as ID, one of those consoles also having free service. Who’s really lazy, us or them?
Wii is great with local system multi, but it’s not accomodating without an online network that’s quick and easy to access. “Quick” and “easy” are supposed to be Nintendo bullet points, if i’m not mistaken.
I’m just gonna hold out before I judge Nintendo’s online strategy (if any).
I hope they are holding back games like metroid just to work in a kick ass online multiplayer element.
If they do friend codes, maybe they can do it more like Clubhouse games.
There are two fixes that need to be done to make the Wii number code universal like Live: 1) a community space, much like Nintendo’s own website, where every Wii owner can participate and exchange their codes easily and 2) when someone registers you on their Wii, a confirmation mail is sent to the Wii owner asking if you want to accept. If you do, then they are added, and if not, then they aren’t.
As for every game requiring a code… wrong. Elebits doesn’t. It picked my firends list up right from the Wii. Sent my friend a couple of homemade levels.
Online gaming will do just fine, just like the ds’s WFC (record breaking connections that time – still every night enough people up for kart, metroid, tertis and 42 cluhouse off course).
Screw friend codes, screw xbox live just enter the wide world of random foreigners bashing, but please keep a scores list. By the time Mario Kart Wii will be released, and Smash Bros and (hopefully online)Metroid, we are ready for world domination.
I could be wrong, but wasn’t the Wii Friend Code debate from a month back only in regards to the Pokemon title? It was because the game supposedly synchs up with the DS version, no? Because DS titles do have individual friend codes? I think this was all cleared up in the IGN story that broke the news.
Could EGM be wrong? No idea, but they aren’t being sold off by ZD for no reason at all.
I agree that friend codes are somewhat meaningless. The handful of people you play with regularly you can maintain manually without much effort.
Of course none of this really matters BECAUSE THERE ARE NO ONLINE GAMES! That is the real problem and danger that Nintendo faces right now. No, swapping levels in Elebits doesn’t count. How many people do you think will actually create a level, let alone swap it with a friend. Until I can fire up Metroid, jump into a chat lobby, join or start a game, and kick some strangers a$$, there is no online play.
I think that the strengths of the single palyer can carry Wii a long way, but in this day and age they will eventually get left behind without a solid online service and component to games.
-Chris in TN
wait for the next smash game -.-
there will be plenty of online games a year from now… no online games now doesn’t mean they wont win in the future… you have to pay for xbox live… you don’t pay for nintendo wifi… nintendo will easily beat microsofts numbers for online connections… just wait and see…
Elebits does count, I have traded numerous levels with friends.
Remember people this isnt M$, who spent 2 billion alone getting the orinigal Xbox live going. Nintendo has a service that it free, and if you are too lazy to enter a code, thats your own problem!
As a previous poster said, the Wii online is different from DS, but if you are useing both together, the Wii part will have to have that seperate code.
I would rather Nintendo stay away from ‘chat’ ingame. I dont want to hear anyone, unless its someone I actually know. as I have experianced more than one profane ladden user over Xbox live, and would not let my kids play it under NO circumstances.
As for DS, my shildren are free to play any online game they choose, be it MKDS, Tetris, or Animal Crossing. with me knowing who they can connect with.
The whole problem with friend codes is they limit the enjoyment of certain games like animal crossing. The only way you can get online and interact is with people on your friends list. When i bought the game and realized this i was bummed. With teh Wii’s parental control system childrens safety is really no excuse at all since it could easily be implented to block out certain online features with the parental controls.
Myself and many people I have spoken to have all been waiting to see what Nintendo comes up with for online play.
Online play in games has been a staple in gaming for 10 years now. It’s not voodoo magic. You do not have to spend 2 billion dollars to do it right.
Sony is providing a free service. Nintendo will too. The big differences is that Sony’s will probably be half decent.
The WFC codes are rubbish. It’s a clumsy, pathetic way to manage online gaming. I also do not see how it protects children. So a child can either give their gaming user ID to a predator or their friend code, how is the friend code so much safer? It isn’t.
While Nintendo ‘gets it’ in many areas, it seems to completely miss it in others. They should have learned their lesson with the Cube.. they said they did, but they’re doing a fine job at screwing it up again.
i’d assume that when wii has online games it’ll be similar to the nintendo wifi connection with the DS. i’m also assuming it’ll be similarly successful. is the nintendo wifi connection a failure? if so, then yes. if not, well…. this article is pointless…….
I think the Wii codes are not an issue… if they work in the same way as gamer tags in Xbox LIVE.
The potential problem I see with Nintendo’s online strategy for Wii is if the network is not strong enough to make it possible to hold online matches of, say, Super Smash Bros. I still have serious doubts that the connection through, for example, the USB WiFi dongle is strong enough for reliable online gaming…
Be prepared for Nintendo dropping the bomb that some Wii games will require you to have a wireless router for connecting!
Considering the fact that the 2 missing kids had an Xboxlive account with a picture in front of the kidnapper’s house may have something to do with this safety thing. Nintendo has always been mixed with lawsuits, even the fucking strap was getting people into lawsuit mode. Imagine a rapist meeting people in a “CHILDREN TARGETED” gaming console.
The server are there already but Nintendo is covering its ass from american lawyers, It would be pretty funny if the japanese got it working and americans wouldn’t get the online play..
I have and loved Elebits, but trading meaningless screenshots and creative levels doesn’t count as online gaming. It counts as trading levels and screenshots.
Hey, i don’t give a goddamn if a year from now there are online games. I have the system now. I don’t get to play local multi very often and have friends that also have the thing. People have inconvenient schedules to adapt to. If me and a friend are only available to play at 2 in the morning, i’m not travelling to his neck of Manhattan at that time just to play. I should be able to hop online and kick his ass in my underwear.
Seriously, stop caring about what Nintendo has to do to win and start caring about them treating their customers a little better. Online gaming doesn’t need stem cell research to figure out. They have already won the install base race, you can stop gloating now and worry about you the gamer. If you’re not “with” Nintendo because of the quality of their products and services, forget about the whole thing. You can’t be a fan if you relinquish your right to complain.
Friend codes are stupid no matter how you slice it. I have yet to see them do anything parental controls can’t. America is too litigious, so i can understand the hesitation. But at the same time the Xbox community is much different than Wii’s and Nintendo can take other measures to raise awareness about wifi predators. The fact that these are 14 year old kids who were playing M-rated games on Live is enough to settle the case, in my eyes.
And if Corruption comes without an online multiplayer component, Gamestop can keep it.
Nintendo really does need to get its head out of its ass on this… The way things are shaping up, it’ll be a bitch to play someone online, but we’ll still have full uncensored access to the Internet through the Wii…
I’m thinking that if friend codes are to exist at all, they need to have real parental control options. It would be nice just to deactivate the damn things.
Starfox Command, Metriod Hunters, Mario Kart and Castlevania POR do not need friend codes to play online. They all just search for a rival and you play together.
Its obvious that Nintendo cares about online security but they arent Microsoft who’s company has worked online for years, so of course Microsoft’s service will be much better.
But look at the facts though, look how many people played Mario Kart and Animal Crossing online when they first came out. Obviously they are doing something right, and the sales show that. I for one am glad they are taking the extra set in the name of security but they also need to make sure it works first before they release it. Remember, they arent Sony who just patches everything if they made a mistake. Nintendo tries to do it right to benefit themselves and their consumers first. If they release a bad product that people notice then they might get branded the rest of the cycle as having a bad online service, but if they wait and perfect it a little they may come out better then anyone else.
It is entirely possible that not all titles will use this Friend code setup. It may be something we’ll see in 1st party titles, but 3rd party titles may be a different matter.
Other developers may opt for a standard lobby and play against who the hell you like system. So all hope is not lost.
They’re wrong. It does have a code for each system, and people don’t have to use it. As of now only Pokemon uses it, and that’s probably because of all the kids playing Pokemon.
I assume Nintendo will have online games similar to how they do it on the DS, where you don’t need friend codes if you want to play against random people. And I only want to play against random people because none of my friends are gamers.
Friend codes are, in my opinion, unacceptable for anything other than kid friendly and kid targeted games. Even at that a predator can STILL find kids on Wiis and DS’es if they know where to look. While I understand why Nintendo did this and even appreciate their effort, they’ve shot themselves in the foot with this. At the very least, M and T rated games should be free of such nonsense since, in theory, kids shouldn’t be playing them and teenagers should be smart enough to avoid internet creeps (Yes, I have no sympathy for teenagers who run off with web-weirdoes. I figure that by age 13 you should be smart enough not to do such things.)
And, yes, I’m long winded…
I’d rather have fun online than worry about who is yelling obscenities at my 8 year old.
If you aren’t fully retarded you can still play online, you just can’t pick any child you wish to harass, and I’m fine with not playing against retards.
I kinda understand friend codes but wished that there was some kinda xbox live style subscription offer aswell, to a community server where I can get to know people at the same skill level as me in games and meet up and play them when I want. Friend codes require to much effort to arrange something like this and I thoroughly believe that internet console gaming is the next step in gaming wiimote or no wiimote
InvisibleMan said: “Wii’s online play strategy could be its weakest point… I truly believe online gameplay is the future of gaming, more than graphics or unique controllers.”
Online play is the NOW of gaming, nintendo is behind the times as always.
If people are really worried about their kids playing online, set it up for them so they don’t have to speak to strangers or they only play with people they or you know. Remove the headset or stop complaining. That’s the equivalent of parents who get mad at game companies for an M-rated game that they themselves bought for their kid.
And every person of age saying that the “security” makes them feel nice, realize that Nintendo can take measures to prevent any predators or obnoxious kids from bothering you without hindering the playability. Precluding chat altogether would disable any security problem you can think of with online gaming. A chat lobby and a silent lobby. There, i solved it. Now do it, Nin.
This makes no sense to me.
What do they have to base this comment on? Pokemon Battle Revolution?
1. This is the only game so far that uses a separate friend code. Elebits uses the code that is already on the Wii.
2. The Wii friend code and the Pokemon Battle friend code are different lengths.
3. Even if some games happen to have a separate friend code (which I personally think will only happen if it can sync with a DS game), It has already been proven that we can battle random people without using friend codes. For example: Mario Kart DS and Metriod Prime DS.
4. It wouldn’t make sense for Nintendo to use friend codes solely on the basis of protecting it’s users from predators and weirdos. You can go online and play Joe Random and never have to see a text from him or hear his voice. It does make sense to use it for things like the Wii message board and playing private games over the internet.
5. The only reason I can see that Nintendo would continue to enforce that you have the other persons friend code for games would be to reduce the load on their servers. That way, they could limit online play without taking away the fact that its still free.
However, I have faith that the entire service will get better and we will see many Wii games with random player options in the future.
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