[[image:jd_090115_friendcodes.jpg::right:0]]So you might have heard that an upcoming Wii game will be omitting friend codes. Or perhaps you haven’t, because who would bother reporting on Nintendo’s online platform?
From the sound of it, it appears the game won’t be a first-party title — meaning this news would be a natural, though refreshing, extension of Nintendo’s laissez-faire attitude towards publishers on the Wii. You can get away with releasing any crap game on the system, and apparently now you can choose to forego Nintendo’s intentionally obtuse friend-matching system. I’m willing to guess Nintendo has simply stopped caring. They’ve built up enough good will as the family-friendly console to be a little more cavalier about the possibility of predators stealing peoples’ kids via Dragon Quest Monsters. Good news for us though! That is, if they ever actually release any Wii games with online capability that we’re interested in.
P.S.: This is where we theorize about the Pokémon MMO that will cripple Japan’s workforce productivity and destroy scholarship among the world’s young.
I get the feeling that it’s The Conduit… But whatever game it is, it’ll definitely be nice to actually be able to remember your online name, instead of having to write down some obscure number. I wonder if there would be a way to just “skin” friend codes, by having some sort of online database that just maps your username onto your friend code, so just for that one game, you could have user names instead of friend codes, but still be able to add someone from a game into our friends list. Like a mod, instead of an outright replacement. *shrug* …well, that’s my theorizing for the day.
Your assumption about Nintendo is completely wrong; Nintendo’s attitude is not laissez-faire its scyzophrenic.
I work for a company that makes Wii games and they haven’t done away with Friend Code restrictions. If we want our games online we have to use friend codes. Now what is possible is that Nintendo let 1 company forgo friend codes for 1 game. This isn’t very unusual for the big N, they play favorites and pick and choose who can bypass which restriction. I know my company has gotten certain benefits from our relationship with Nintendo that other companies don’t, and apparently that’s true for the mysterious 3rd part that got a free pass on friend codes.
In the future please keep in mind, the video game industry (like any industry) is not fair. Just because one company gives another a break doesn’t mean that they will do it for anyone else.
I feel so lonely when I play on the Wii. Not knowing which of my friends are online, or even what they have been playing recently, is something I miss. I make sure to turn on my other consoles even when I don’t have anything to play on them just to check my messages / friend requests / and to see what everyone is playing.
Probably Monster Hunter 3. If it’s not, then it’s The Conduit.
But I really wouldn’t be surprised if it’s MH3. That stuff sells like hotcakes in Japan.
Pokemon MMO . . .
I’d quit day to day life for a few years if Nintendo ever made such a glorious product.
My guess is Monster Hunter 3 as well.
Re: N/A
Seems I’ve been overenthusiastic about the possibility of change in Nintendo’s online platform. Hopefully this game will do well enough that they’ll allow other developers to do likewise.
Amen to that Driggs. I can only hope that as Nintendo gets more hardcore online games on their console that they let those games use a grown up friend system.