Nintendo Wii Fanboy

First of all, though everyone cites Nintendo Europe, the page linked is found on every region's page. It's that developer round table that was reported about a few weeks ago.

http://wii.nintendo.com/iwata_asks_vol1_p1.html

This rumor is based on the mentioning of accounts. However, it is only mentioned in terms of the Wii itself, and online accounts aren't brought up at all.

This just means that the channels (play history, messages, etc) will be available to everyone and there won't be any seperation between users.

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Another thing that bugs me, especially in the Joysitq thread: people don't understand how frend codes work.

I've never entered one friend code ever since I've owned a DS, and I have no problem playing online. You do not *need* friend codes for any game except Animal Crossing, and there it makes sense.

You can easily play with strangers through random matchmaking. That's been possible since Mario Kart DS. Having a robust system for friend management doesn't make any sense because the DS is a handheld. 99% of the day it's off and and it's online even less time than that. There's no way for one game to communicate with another game, so if I'm on Tetris and my friend is on Mario Kart, we can't play together, nor can we see what the other is playing.

Yes, it would have been nice to have one friend code per system, but most people have never played a DS game online and assume you can't play online unless you enter friend codes, and that's not the case at all.

But the Wii is not a handheld, so their online system will have to be different. There has really been no talk of online gaming from Nintendo, despite what N-Europe says, so we don't know what the system will have.

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Please email Nintendo with any complaints you have about their online services. They really do listen.

/PSA

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You need FC's in MvsDK2. That's a bit annyoinh as well. The system should allow for people to veiw user content, and download that way. The only thing I should need to do is upload my levels. Sadly, the system works a bit differently and each user has his/her own area acessable only through FC's.

However, in most games, you can randomly engage people without hassle

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@Probot: It's not a matter of people not understanding Friend Codes - it's how the FC system works. For one thing, no you don't need FC's to play online, but often you do to get the most out of the online. In particular, in Metroid, you can't choose any paramaters aside from your character and the level. To have anything but the default death-match, you have to be in "Friends and Rivals" mode, and while there is a voice chat while setting up the match you can't hear or talk to rivals, only friends. You can't set up a Prime Hunter game and see who joins, and you can't mix friends with random match-ups, so for anything but the default setup you have to have several friends online at the same time, and who are sitting around waiting in the F&R lobby to see if you come online.
Essentially, there's either completely random default games or a match you have to have the game completely co-ordinated so you have everyone online at the same time. No inbetween. (The Mario Kart DS system isn't as restrictive, but has its own problems, like being unable to choose the which friends you race against)
Basically, it's just that in the compromise between security and convenience, Nintendo spared nothing in making the system completely and totally safe from anyone you don't know personally being able to find or communicate with you in any way unless you both have each-others friend codes, for the sake of children not being exposed to "The Evils of the Internets."

Of course, one really huge blunder that pisses EVERYONE off is that, on Nintendo's official forums, you cannot share Friend Codes. Yep, you can talk with the other fans about the game all you like, but you can't actually play it with them unless you know someone from somewhere else.

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you can talk with the other fans about the game all you like, but you can't actually play it with them unless you know someone from somewhere else.

that sucks!

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"It's unclear whether a different code might be generated for different user profiles on an individual Wii"

Read the rest of the interview. :) There are no separate user profiles - it's just one interface and one bucket of information no matter who's in front of it; no logins, passwords, or anything.

With regards to friend codes on the DS, I have two points:
1) It's a solid system. If you want to play against your friend in a game, you enter each other's friend codes. Obviously you will be playing the SAME GAME at the same time, so it's not as big of a hassle as it sounds like.
2) The ONLY reasons that this sucks are a) because you cannot find people online with whom you enjoy playing and add them to your friends list, and b) you have to add an extra code each time. That's it. If you think about it, how often do you do that anyway.
Finally, I want to note that DS friend codes aren't the point of this article. Wii friend codes are, and since it has been essentially confirmed that we will be using system codes, I don't think this is the place to be complaining about the friend code system on the hand-held. kthxbye.

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Ok, I've actually gone back and read the entire thing now. It seems that I was incorrect when I said it was the roundtable discussion for a few weeks ago. It's actually a regularly updated area called Iwata Asks, and the lastest section was about the Wii Channels.

However, the fact remains that there is almost nothing about online accounts. The last page is about the Message Board, not about WiiConnect24. They basically say that both parties will need to confirm each other before they share messages. That's all.

"Once the console is online, it can also be used to share all sorts of information with friends. That isn't to say, however, that all of your information is available to other people. I should just stress the point, in case anyone gets the wrong idea, that this network basically works in the same way as the one for 'Animal Crossing' on DS. That is, connection is not possible unless both users register each other. That means there won't be any unwanted communication from strangers, like harassment or suspicious spam messages."

They don't ever say how they register each other, whether by email, username, or friend code.

The only other mention of accounts is to say that there won't be any for the system itself. You don't have to login to see anything. All messages will be displayed to everyone, like a bulletin board.

The rumor stitching those two ideas together is a bit of a stretch.

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Friend codes suck.

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What if you share your console with someone else? Can you create multipul accounts?

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