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Nintendo: Friend codes are here to stay, and no hard drive planned

maxconsole.net — Nintendo's in-house Public Relations manager, Eric Walter has revealed that there are no plans for a Wii hard drive despite the upcoming WiiWare medium. He also claims that gamers PREFER friend codes in games! "in the feedback we've gotten, people don't mind the friend codes. They like them" Is this how we gamers really feel? Your Digg = Vote NO!

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  • dan.edwards, on 11/05/2007, -51/+144While I think friend codes are bit hard to setup, I understand why I need them. 30% of people are idiots! Sometimes with random matches you meet neat new people, but most of time I just end up with some twit who either thinks cheating/screwing up the game is hoot, or can't find a different adjective/verb other then "*****." Oh and god forbid a girl should join in, because then she is harassed up the wazoo. I really would rather just play a fun game with a few friends then have to sort out most of the internet.
    • Azimuth1, on 11/03/2007, -20/+87That's the idea of online games that people who don't play them have. People who actually play games online regularly know that it's rarely like that.

      And having a friends list and voice chat and all the other features that say, Xbox Live has, makes it a lot easier and better to play a fun game with a few friends.

      Also, 30% =/= most.
      • dan.edwards, on 11/03/2007, -4/+29While I admit I have not played online much in the last 3 years, I used to be very heavy into Quake, Unreal Tournament, Tribes & Tribes 2, but that was before my kids were born. At that time if you did not password protect your server, all you got was cheaters and twits. Your comment did get me looking into XBox Live features and it really does have a nice setup for filtering and ranking from what I can read, so it sounds like I am out of date with the online matchup world.
        On the other hand, in my post kids world, I have all the friends and family I need to keep me busy. Playing a few games online with my friends and family is all I would have time for. So the idea of only them having access to me online is really appealing to me. But now I can see why it might not be for others with a totally different life then mine.

        And your right 30% does not equal most. But it sure seamed like that 30% found my servers most of the time ;-)
        • ahoyhoy, on 11/03/2007, -0/+16Xbox Live has this nifty feature which enables you to play a "Private" game with people on your friends list: meaning, people you already know.
          Of course, if you wanted, you could just play with random people and mute the annoying ones
          • mywhitenoise, on 11/03/2007, -1/+3And you can play random people on the Wii and DS as well, friend codes are just to get messages and added by people.
            They're ***** retarded, on the PS3 (and im assuming 360 too) when someone requests to be your friend, you have to accept the invitation before they're on your list, you can block them if you don't want to be their friends.
            Friend codes are a waste of time, and pointless.
      • chugger1992, on 11/03/2007, -8/+2Play Mario Kart. Dan tells the truth.
        • Daveecee, on 11/03/2007, -0/+6Are you talking about snaking? Because if so, that's hardly cheating.
          • MarkOfTheDead, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2damn right, that ***** is winning.

            Cheating is when those little ***** move like they're picking the kart up and moving it and launch you across the course while they're blinking colors.

            I REALLY hate game hacks on netplay. Some people are so pathetic.
      • staticneuron, on 11/03/2007, -1/+7While I dislike friend codes I would have to disagree about the online gaming part. On live across multiple games I am expose to bad sports, whiners, racist, foul mouth people and I am not even talking about the children yet. Thank you bungie for the mute in halo 3. But Live is as bad as it comes in terms of running across people who just mess up your gaming experience.
    • Wiinii, on 11/03/2007, -4/+78Agree with Azimuth, and also why do we have to put a friend code in for EVERY GAME instead of for every friend? It makes no sense.
      • doshindude, on 11/03/2007, -2/+28especially since Nintendo said themselves you only ever need ONE friend code for all games. (total BS)
      • sauvaget, on 11/03/2007, -1/+3@ doshindude that's just for DS games isn't it? Wii consoles all have a unique code right?
        • bilbravo, on 11/03/2007, -0/+6They all have a unique code, but then the games have their own code also. Mario Strikers Charged, for example.

          It seems the Wii code is only for sending messages to other consoles, not for games. It's a shame, because one code would be very similar to a name--just harder to remember.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 11/03/2007, -1/+17I agree, but why not give players a choice? Let people actually vote by actions, and not by surveys of which the results are not published.
      The one thing friend codes do for nintendo is remove a major legal liability of arranging partnerships between players. That is offshored to a code trading site. This could be a massive liability. But most online games for the DS/Wii do have a random player mode, its just you can't meet them that way...
      • nastajus, on 11/03/2007, -0/+5can you elaborate on this " major legal liability of arranging partnerships between players" ? sounds interesting.
    • salmonmoose, on 11/03/2007, -2/+32This is why Live! lets you rate users.
      • Pake, on 11/03/2007, -2/+6Well, the ratings aren't exactly fair. You're more likely to rate someone only after a negative experience than after a positive one, as is the case with most twits who play and think they're badass, so when they lose, they rate the people who played better than they did negatively.
        • bmdt2000, on 11/03/2007, -2/+1I have to disagree. Except for new players on Live, I have never seen somebody with less than 5 stars when I look at their rating. If anything, it looks like the exact opposite is happening.
          • Pake, on 11/03/2007, -0/+4I have close to 5 stars and I've hardly ever played. Then again, it probably adds good rating every time you play and only subtracts when someone actually rates you. So really, it's nearly impossible to tell a good player from bad, either way you go about making a rating system. At best, it just warns of the really lowlife people (and I mean REALLY bad people).
    • mikehrp, on 11/03/2007, -6/+15"25% of Americans are retarded"
      • jackyyll, on 10/30/2007, -2/+20Only 25%?
        • TheAcclaimed, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3It's supposed to be a south park reference (I think), but he screwed it up by saying 25% instead of 1/4.
      • vanbacon, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3I think it just rose to 26%
      • CraigCarlyle, on 10/30/2007, -1/+11Why are we discussing Bush's approval ratings in a story about Wii Codes?
    • ProtossX, on 10/30/2007, -27/+3YEAAH A 30 YEAR OLD MORON DAD THINKS FRIENDS CODES ARE GOOD WOW SHOCKING go be clueless somehwere else idiot you dont' know half of what gamers want god moron friends codes any idiot over 20 years olds who agrees friends codes its absolute retard gtfo of the internet gtfo gaming an takin ur friends codes ***** assf riends codes with you moron
      • sremick, on 10/29/2007, -0/+6I think I agree with whatever it was you failed so horribly at trying to say, but dude... maybe learn some basic English before calling other people "moron" and "idiot". And periods are your friend. Use one once in a while.
      • Dracusis, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4I think you just proved his point for him.
    • ProtossX, on 10/30/2007, -26/+2YEAAH A 30 YEAR OLD MORON DAD THINKS FRIENDS CODES ARE GOOD WOW SHOCKING go be clueless somehwere else idiot you dont' know half of what gamers want god moron friends codes any idiot over 20 years olds who agrees friends codes its absolute retard gtfo of the internet gtfo gaming an takin ur friends codes ***** assf riends codes with you moron
    • Chubs83, on 10/30/2007, -0/+15The problem isnt that you're not able to play with random people, the problem is how annoying it is to be able to play with your friends. For almost every online game (such as mario strikers) you need to enter another wii friend code so that you can play with your friend. It would be a lot easier if it was just a name that you can remember and tell your friends if they ask you instead of having to go figure out your 16 digit wii friend code every time a new friend wants to play some game with you.
    • Slippy1, on 10/30/2007, -3/+0Hey! It's the 30% rep, PssX! Awesome and yo to the dark side!
    • daridave, on 10/29/2007, -3/+4Bravo. That was a nice comment. For that very same reason I don't complain about Friend Codes anymore, for that very same reason I'm not mad at all the Wii is lacking behind online, and for that very same reason I am also pissed off when I hear news like COD having only 4-6 hours of offline play. Online is fun, but it will never, ever replace offline gameplay, because when load up a game to RELAX and have a good time, offline is where I want to be.
    • aywwts4, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3The real problem with friend codes is simply that, because of them, I play with friends less, and play with asshats more.

      Its a piece of cake to go onto mario kart and play a quick round with a few glitchers and incredibly detailed penis avatars, but if I wanted to add a list of say, a handful of friends and a bunch of cool guys from a forum I hang out it... well that would take hours of work that feels like activating windows a hundred times over. Now get a new DS, and you and all your friends have to repeat the process... And I have had to repeat it 3 times already.

      Instead of being able to go, oh hey, that guy wasn't an asshat, "friended!" then accumulate a nice list of a few hundred people who aren't ***** online and have a much better experience.
    • kuri, on 10/29/2007, -0/+130% eh? You must be getting your statistics from the same place as Nintendo.
      (I say it's more like 80%, myself)
    • liwii, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1You could always just share your online wii game friend codes at http://MapWii.com or sites like it or forums.
  • estvir, on 10/29/2007, -29/+11Welcome to the next generation.. right?
    • KnockoutNerd, on 10/30/2007, -9/+23Well come on, no game company is going to do everything right.
      • chris9902, on 10/29/2007, -13/+5yeah because the Internet just game out of nowhere didn't it.
        • KnockoutNerd, on 10/29/2007, -1/+6There was no reason for that typo, G and C are not that close.
          • KibibyteBrain, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4There are reflex typos too that do not deal with a slip but a reflex gone wrong.
      • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3I can't believe you just ***** said that. This is worse than Apple at this point. My god.

        They don't need to do everything right, but how about not ***** your fans over, can we at least have that? No? But you still like it anyway, don't you. Unbelievable.
        • brotherfranciz, on 10/29/2007, -4/+1How is that ***** their fans over? We all KNEW the Wii wouldn't have great online capabilities to begin with, at least compared to XBL.

          In fact, I feel the opposite of getting ***** over - Nintendo recently offered Wiimote jackets to everyone FOR FREE (the article was on Digg a little while ago... something about spending $18 million on the jackets).
          • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1I'm not talking about online capabilities. I'm talking about that plus all the other stuff they did wrong. What Nintendo? Widescreen but no HD? Gee thanks!

            HOW MANY WIDESCREEN SD TVs ARE THERE, NINTENDO?

            That's just one small example. Another might be being forced to use a system made for the "casual" user to play all the great stuff that those same users won't even care about, like Zelda. I'd rather have an awesome looking Zelda in HD than wave around your remote that's made for playing fake baseball, but who cares, right?

            Sometimes they make something amazing but manage to ***** it up so bad that they lose the console war. This time the situation is unique: while a real gamer might be pissed off right now, they've successfully tapped the non-gamer demographic, which is considerably larger. So my hat's off to them for that, I suppose. They won't lose money this time around, but they may lose their fans. I wonder which is more important? (Honest question there)
  • Okari, on 11/01/2007, -23/+246It seems the Sony PR team moved over to Nintendo.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/30/2007, -0/+48Well, they had to go somewhere after the layoffs following the PS3 fiasco.
      Really, this could be Nintendo showing more of her true colors. Maybe people here are too young, but there was a reason why Nintendo so easily lost its dominance in gaming...it was sort of always a control freak. Iwata's administration has been working on this, but there are still old segments in the company...
      • ZenMojo, on 10/30/2007, -12/+9What do you mean "more" of their true colors? When people started declaring the Wii this generation's winner, I wrote a huge post explaining how Nintendo, over the years, had grown fat, lazy, complacent, and exploitative and how they would do the same if they controlled the console market. As examples...
        1) 30 dollar ports of 20-year-old NES games shrunk down with levels removed to port to the GBA SP.
        2) Nintendo creating one of the crappiest controllers ever for the Gamecube.
        3) Nintendo refusing to release M rated games for the Gamecube for years.
        4) Nintendo consistently and repeatedly throwing out storage increases in order to control the proprietary rights on their media.
        • imikedaman, on 10/30/2007, -3/+7The GBA ports didn't remove levels, the GameCube controller felt nice, and they are using the same storage format as the Xbox 360 now. If your only real argument is not allowing M-rated games, then I see why people are so keen to digg you down.
          • Whaines, on 10/30/2007, -1/+6Well, you have to admit the Z button was very poorly placed.
          • Recoil, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1Say what you will, but the Playstation 2-controller was the best "classic" controller since Super Nintendo. Comfortable grip and familiar button layout. Only gripe I ever had about it was that your thumbs would easily start sliding off the analogue sticks after a while.
      • ganjadude4391, on 10/30/2007, -1/+5I dugg you up, I totally fell off the nintendo bandwagon after 64, Personally I liked cartridges, less likely to be broken in 1/2 Sure blowing in them to make them work sucked but it was that or a scratch id pick the first.
        • sauvaget, on 10/30/2007, -2/+3good point actually, considering how cheap memory has become in the last 10 years.
        • sauvaget, on 10/30/2007, -2/+1good point actually, considerung how cheap memory has become in the last 10 years.
        • senatorpjt, on 10/30/2007, -0/+2I liked cartridges when I was younger because I got a head rush from blowing in them all the time. Although, now that I'm old enough to drink the excitement has worn off.
    • omgroffles, on 10/29/2007, -0/+9I chuckled.

      Seriously though Perrin Kaplan would've handled this much better. Her and George Harrison knew how to play the PR game very well.
  • dan.edwards, on 11/01/2007, -4/+97After reading Azimuth1's comments to my first post and spending some time thinking while loading the dishwasher I had a realization on a few points.

    Nintendo probably feels trapped when they said Nintendo WiFi would always be free. XBox live has shown how online can be done, but that kind of management takes a lot of resources. Nintendo has never been one to want to sell something at a loss just increase market share so they feel trapped.
    The answer? Offer both.
    Friend codes allows Nintendo to allow tightly controlled online play cheap. They have to do very little management and the cost to Nintendo is very low. Offer that for free as planned.
    For those that want more, offer a subscription service like XBL.
    It is possible to have the best of both worlds.
    • Wiinii, on 10/29/2007, -4/+38Xbox Live has gold and silver memberships. But the bigger problem here is that no matter which you have, you still have to enter a friend code for EACH GAME instead of for each FRIEND.
      • FriedTurkey, on 10/30/2007, -17/+5That's only on the DS. Wii is one friend code.
        • Misanthrope, on 10/30/2007, -1/+2No idea why you got dugg down. It's the truth.
      • staticneuron, on 10/30/2007, -2/+5Xbox live silver membership does not allow you to play online with your freinds. Personally that is all I care about and it is annoying to be charged for that.
        • Christbait, on 10/30/2007, -0/+7If you can't get off silver and want to play online sometimes, then you should check the Xbox forums often for updates, sometimes MS lets all silver members play with everyone else.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/29/2007, -1/+24Part of the problem is that Nintendo just can't magically whip up something like XBL. Microsoft has experience in writing and managing servers, online services, client software, etc with tons of features, Nintendo is used to making game APIs and Hardware, and then developing software to use the APIs. Networked services really are in their own world in IT. There's a reason kernel developers like Linus always sort of shove away network questions to experts...
      • grumbel, on 10/29/2007, -1/+9That online is going to be important has been known for at least *10* years (see Dreamcast), when Nintendo still hasn't bothered to actually look seriously into the issue, their is something seriously wrong.

        That said, I don't see how that relates to friend codes, from the network side it makes no difference if you have friend codes or not, since games do have random matchmaking, it is simply a user interface issue and a pretty simple one to fix, if they would care.
      • skyfire1, on 10/29/2007, -0/+16If Nintendo doesn't know then Nintendo should LEARN.
      • SkippyDoorknob, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4They're a big company with lots of money. They can hire people that know.
    • rellik12, on 10/29/2007, -3/+18You - load the dishwasher?
      • Wiinii, on 10/29/2007, -1/+5Aren't you married? LOL

        j/k
      • wiihuck, on 10/29/2007, -0/+15believe it or not, some of us moonlight as serviceable husbands.
      • geoboy, on 10/31/2007, -0/+1I know, really. Over here in Soviet Russia, the dishwasher loads me. Sheesh.
  • mittortz, on 11/01/2007, -23/+125While I still have the chance to get this in at the top:

    Before anyone posts anything, understand what a friend code actually is! You DO NOT need to exchange friend codes with ANYBODY to play him/her online. Yeah, that's right. Nintendo still supports random matches in nearly all of their online games. Most people playing one of Nintendo's online games will not have any problems whatsoever with friend codes.
    The ONLY reason people dislike friend codes is because they are more of a pain to remember than a nickname when you want to play with/against a SPECIFIC PERSON online. That is the one and only reason. Everyone seems to blow this out of proportion to the point where it's like, "AH, but how am i gonna play online cause i don't know friend code!!!1!" It's pretty simple actually, you just go online like any other game.
    And yeah, I agree with those people who would rather have a nickname than a 16-digit code. It is easier to use and remember. However, friend codes are not nearly the problem that everyone makes them out to be.
    • JonTheGoose, on 10/31/2007, -2/+71The problem i have with friend codes is that if you happen to find someone you enjoyed playing against in a random match there is no way to add them to your friend roster or communicate with them to trade codes. You play against someone, the match is over and then they're gone for good. For alot of people, that social aspect is a big part of online gaming and friend codes do nothing but cripple it.
    • chugger1992, on 10/30/2007, -0/+9The Pokemon random matches are tightly controlled. You download the player's pokemon and play against a CP that has those Pokemon...
    • CheezIt9109, on 10/30/2007, -13/+1They help keep the console family friendly as well.
      • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -1/+19It isn't Nintendo's job to be our parents. I definitely didn't pay for a new set of parents when I bought my Wii. I just got rid of the presence of my old parents when I moved to college. The games would be just as family friendly without friend codes and then the people older than 12 can enjoy games like they're meant to be played online; in a community. They add parental controls for a reason anyway.
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 10/30/2007, -0/+9I recall a digg article saying even Square-Enix stated they hated the friend codes.

      I hate them, all my friends hate them, all of digg hates them, major game developers hate them.... why can't Nintenod just bite the bullet and realize EVERYONE HATES THEM?
      • Exhaust, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Because its easier to just spin the subject like they did in this article. The fanboys will drink the Koolaid and get on forums defending them like they are now. Its the majority of gamers that play all platforms that know the real difference. If your just a Nintendo fanboy you have no perspective... The Wii's online offering is better than the Gamecube sadly that's good enough for them.
    • smedrick, on 10/30/2007, -3/+2I agree that the friend code aspect is annoying, but the reason I enjoy Wii multiplayer is because they concentrate on local multiplayer first. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy playing on Live, but I have to turn off the XBox and turn on the Wii when friends are over. The 360 is great for online play, but when I want to play with friends, I always turn to the Wii.
    • halicon5, on 10/30/2007, -0/+6The reason why I don't like the friend codes system is that it is cumbersome. For a company that is billing the Wii as an easy to use system that anyone can pick up and play, they really dropped the ball on this. A more user friendly system is in place with XBL and the comparison is night and day. The Wii is my favorite system, but 16 digit friend codes are asinine. At the very least, the system should have let me use the console friends I've set up carry over to every game. Making a separate code for each and every game is absurd.
      • senatorpjt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Yeah, and why 16 digits? Are they expecting 10 quadrillion people to get a Wii?
  • MechaZain, on 10/29/2007, -9/+19Nintendo will never have a XBL-like system of online in the vain of talking online with strangers. If you don't understand why, pop in a multiplayer game and see what the environment is like and then consider Nintendo's demographic.

    They will have MP without Friends Codes however, (SEE: Super Smash Bros Brawl) so I don't see where the issue is. Gamers seem quick to just want it all without considering the position Nintendo is in: please the masses by only allowing voice chat with known friends, or please gamers by just going all out.
    • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -1/+9If you are claiming that Nintendo's demographic is for young gamers, then that goes against what they themselves say. Wii is for everyone. Why is it that the hardcore online community-seeking gamers (who last time I checked were part of the "everyone" demographic), don't get anything to look forward to in terms of competent online play?
  • DarkSamus, on 10/30/2007, -9/+14this is truly stupid and lame, there should be a way of scanning how many users there are in a given area or just make it like a browser, wtf is wrong with nintendo?
    Am I gonna have to get on digg every time to find some players!@#?
  • eyefone, on 10/30/2007, -48/+31Nintendo - Always 1 generation behind.

    N64 - No Cd drive
    GameCube - No Dvd support & lack of online
    Wii - Lack of online + last gen graphics.
    • Robbothehood, on 10/30/2007, -11/+72Their hardware is slow to change, but their games are still consistently among the greatest of each generation at least.
      • LemmingJesus, on 10/29/2007, -29/+6Funny, Nintendo seems to love rehashing the same games over and over again, for example, Mario. Zelda never changes, not even the music.
        • REUYL, on 10/29/2007, -5/+24Did it ever occur to you that games in a series share common themes?
        • juicebag, on 10/29/2007, -0/+6IMO, this generation it seems that the only really good things on the Wii are the games like Mario and Zelda.
        • Murdats, on 10/30/2007, -2/+20right, because final fantasy, GTA, ... and any games in a series must suck.
          • staticneuron, on 10/31/2007, -2/+6If there is only a slight difference in the game..... yes. I consider most of the nintendo games they put out tripe because it feels like the same game over and over and the die hard fans eat it up. What I do respect is the actual mario games (not the spin offs) because at least they seem to constantly evolve. Compare all you want but other games in series normally have large changes, story, presentation and gameplay (even if they are needed or not). Final fantasy, gta, resident evil and DMC are just a few examples of games in a series that actually change on multiple aspects.
      • Pritchard, on 10/29/2007, -2/+1Hardware in general didn't change fast enough for *any* of the systems to make proper moves forward into the gaming market to those extreme levels. They lose money per sale, other than Nintendo. Nintendo took the right path here. Stick with the right kind of hardware. Games are Games are Games are Gaming Consoles :D
        • TheTaoOfBill, on 10/30/2007, -1/+3That argument would work best if there were good games other then the childish 1st party games. I'm sorry but Mario is getting a little old for me.
    • arunforce, on 10/29/2007, -4/+8I agree with both of you. :O
    • airwalkery2k, on 10/30/2007, -2/+17Yeah, and the SNES was really just a slow-to-come answer to the 16-bit competition arising known as SEGA Genesis. And the GBA was ready years before it was finally launched. It's just a very conservative company. It doesn't follow the market trends in a mad dash. Sometimes it works, sometimes it puts them behind when they don't invest in something that takes off.

      Just look at the old Gameboy the competition it faced over the years. It changed very little until the GBA in 2001 came out. Yet you had the Gamegear, Lynx and other superior systems fail against it.
      • senatorpjt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Yeah, Nintendo's answer is to always have the weakest, cheapest hardware. It seems to be what people want, though.
    • legendxx, on 10/30/2007, -7/+17Nintendo - Leader in console sales.
      @eyefone - don't become an analyst, you're bad at it.
    • Obligation, on 10/30/2007, -1/+41I liked cartridges. =(
      • gudnbluts, on 10/29/2007, -2/+10Yeah. Me too. They're quicker, and because of teh limited space, they don't have all those bloody annoying cutaway scenes.
        • juicebag, on 10/29/2007, -6/+4Remember blowing in them? Needing to clean them?
          • Murdats, on 10/29/2007, -1/+16remember scratches and needing to resurface disks?
          • Laxaloot, on 10/29/2007, -2/+11And discs are such a unbreakable medium?
          • IndigoMoss, on 10/29/2007, -1/+4I'd rather blow in carts every once in a while than have my brand new sixty dollars game stop playing because my little brother doesn't take care of games. I seriously have about 1/3 of my collection of games broken because of that, where as my N64 never had a game that wasn't broken. Since Nintendo was catering to a younger crowd with the N64 it's a very good idea,
          • juicebag, on 10/31/2007, -0/+2Actually, I prefer digital content delivery like Steam over anything, as long as it doesn't have crippling DRM like Bioshock.
    • fognozzle, on 10/30/2007, -1/+8N64 had better graphics than its competitors... I guess they were "last gen" back then? Or you're just bitching about Nintendo...
      • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -4/+3Wow. You make a stupid comment (he said the flaw with the N64 was the storage medium, you tool) and get dugg up anyway by Wii-tards. ***** you guys, you're all insane.
      • Exhaust, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1He made a valid point that you obviously missed. Most analysts would agree that the reason the N64 failed to the PlayStation was the limited storage carts provided. Faster loading yes... But the consumers voted with their dollars and CD won by a landslide. Stop being such a blind Nintendo apologist.
  • Robbothehood, on 10/29/2007, -6/+15This is a disgrace. They have a net profit of a billion dollars right? How much does XBL cost to maintain? Nintendo can surely afford to support a much stronger online service, perhaps input more powerful gag options on people on your friends list to prevent unwanteds. The VC income alone can likely cover a lot of the costs. The hard drive needs to be addressed as well. Perhaps a modular drive system? Small 1G or 2G cubes or something that fit together. Whenever a game required an HDD, they can contact Nintendo and add some cubes to it, when the game is bought it can be packaged with however many they want. Distribution can follow different strategies. This packaging with HDD enabled games at the developers expense, or a shared expense with Nintendo, shouldn't cost either party much right? A drive of that size could be around half the size of a 2x2 Rubik's Cube and still cost very little right? This game bundling could be permanent with heavy marquee titles (a few a year) for widespread distribution, with individuals sold for VC or smaller titles.Could they sell a moderately sized drive, like 30-40 GB for relatively cheap in the form of a replacement stand for the Wii? Might be a little wider or taller, but wouldn't affect the overall space taken up by much. Smash Bros seems to be pushing their online to the next level, but the progress is too slow. I don't
  • coheedcollapse, on 10/30/2007, -5/+66Very lame. Wii is fun, but the friend code system truly gimps the system's ability to make multiplayer online fun. I still haven't played matches with some of my best friends because it's such a huge pain in the ass to add those stupid things. Even worse are when I meet people in classes that I really don't know well and have no way to write down some huge 16 digit code. It's easy to remember "Darkaegis" but I'll crap gold before I remember 5122 2516 6733 2673 without some sort of aid.
    • nastajus, on 10/29/2007, -6/+1but not impossible. maybe they don't want to get involved in censoring names.
    • postenl, on 10/30/2007, -14/+7I'm not trying to defend the friend code system here. But, you go to class without pen and paper?
      • Mike89, on 10/31/2007, -1/+20You go to class with your Wii friend code?
        • postenl, on 10/29/2007, -3/+2Nope. See the first sentence of my previous comment.
      • coheedcollapse, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Touche. I was only using that as an example. Honestly though, by the time I actually get to talk to people we're on our way to our next class and anything that we'd write stuff down on is already packed up in our backpacks.
      • TheTaoOfBill, on 10/30/2007, -2/+8I'd be embarrassed to ask a friend for his wii code. My friends are bored with it. The system has once again achieved the uncool kiddy system status. I'm closer to selling it everyday.
    • bilbravo, on 10/31/2007, -0/+5Hey, that's my friend code!
  • Robbothehood, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3(Cont.)
    What companies use their net profit for, don't they ivest at least a portion of it back into the business? They should have plenty to make significant headway on HDD and online issues.
  • greenblob, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2I wouldn't mind random matches it it didn't mean limited gameplay options. I want to play competitive 1v1s in Brawl without the hassle of Friend Codes.
  • Narcowski, on 10/30/2007, -0/+39Friend codes don't really bother me, but it would be nice if they could be standardized to 1 code / console....

    What people really want is voice chat... Please Nintendo, at least add voice for friend code matches.
    • inertic, on 10/29/2007, -0/+17Yeah really, even pokemon for the NDS has voice chat.
    • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3How about voice chat for all matches? Medal of Honor with its 32-player online is going to be crippled without it.
      • skyfire1, on 10/29/2007, -2/+5Medal of Honor will be crippled either way.
      • sorrytheusernam, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3Not according to IGN.
  • doshindude, on 10/29/2007, -10/+4that sucks. wtf nintendo. wtf.
  • Frostman3D, on 10/29/2007, -8/+3I think this is a really bad move for Nintendo. Over the past few years, they've made some really stupid mistakes. It's a damn shame, cuz most of us love Nintendo.
  • ggnictee, on 10/29/2007, -2/+4:'(
  • pedo, on 10/31/2007, -4/+88this is the same nintendo that said gamers don't want online games a few years ago
    • BlueSkyfish, on 10/31/2007, -3/+9They're a very Japanese-centric company. It seems like mostly Americans and Europeans are interested in online.
    • inertic, on 10/29/2007, -3/+35Then they can leave their Japanese-centric policies in Japan. If they want a bigger market in US and EU, then they better start adopting.
      • keviniskool, on 11/03/2007, -2/+3Adopt? They better start finding some homeless dogs.
    • shinythingy, on 10/29/2007, -1/+3Yep, im still pissed with Reggie about what he said about their online at E3 this year. I know you have online reggie, we all do. Don't insult me and make your online better than it is. It's *****.
  • Hoogs, on 10/29/2007, -1/+42Friend codes are a pain.....why not just have a Gamertag-like system instead of these huge numbers?
    • saintdesy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+7Even if they are really committed to numbers, does it have to be a 16 digit number? Does Nintendo really expect to sell several thousand Wiis to every person on Earth? They don't really need trillions of possible code numbers, these aren't credit cards we're dealing with. They could get away with using a nine or ten digit code which is A LOT closer to the human ability to remember.
      • greenblob, on 10/29/2007, -1/+310,000,000,000,000,000 (ten quadrillion) Wiis?
    • postenl, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5Yeah, I don't understand it. Its like nintendo is doing everything they can to prevent you from meeting new people online. I know many parents would be against their kids having the ability to add anyone or to hear voice chat in games.. but how hard could it be to add parental controls to that stuff?
    • AmICoolNow, on 10/29/2007, -2/+4Numbers = Innovation.
    • ButchersBoy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4***** me, we have Mii's, why not just use them?
  • Gerchak, on 10/29/2007, -2/+8The only disadvantage to a lack of a hard drive is how large the WiiWare games can be in size. Unless they decide to release firmware that finally lets you run games off of the SD card, which would work as well.
    • mcnasby, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3I'm pretty sure that's the game plan. I remember seeing an interview with Perrin Kaplan a couple weeks ago. The interviewer asked her about the possibility of an add-on hard drive and she replied (paraphrased), "No, gamers will just have to stock up on SD cards..."
    • grumbel, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2While at the topic of SD cards, does anybody know if the Wii can read SDHC cards (i.e. cards >2gb) or could be made to read them via a firmware upgrade?
      • GhostCow, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3I just tried my 4gb sdhc and the Wii wouldn't read it. I don't think it would be possible for the Wii to read sdhc without new hardware.
      • Whaines, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3The Wii reads my 4 gig card just fine.
        • grumbel, on 10/31/2007, -0/+1There are non-standard 4GB cards (officiall they only go till 2GB) around that the Wii can read, but those aren't SDHC cards.
  • pumacub, on 10/31/2007, -1/+24I love Nintendo, but their online setup is a joke. And considering how profitable they've become a comment like this amounts to a virtual slap in the face.
  • gamergod42, on 10/29/2007, -10/+5Friend codes are here to stay. They suck, but you can always exchange friend codes on any of the thousands of forums out there or friend code sharing sites like http://MapWii.com Maybe Nintendo's next generation console will be different...hold out hope!
  • SagiMewtwo, on 10/31/2007, -1/+29Friend codes are a step backwards for online gaming and either a Wii Drive or proper SD card support is needed.
    • bingobongony, on 10/30/2007, -5/+14that seems appropriate, since other than the controller, Wii is a step backward for gaming in general.
    • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4Friend codes are *****, I think we're all in agreement on that, but... Who cares about a "hard drive"? What's there to download for the Wii? Overpriced N64 games, perhaps? The 360 has a hard drive and I download HD TV shows with that. That's an example of needing a hard drive. But what the hell do you need more storage on the Wii for?
      • GhostCow, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4Guitar Hero is going to have downloadable content, other games will in the future as well.
        • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Fair enough, but that would be just a few megabytes, right? I don't know, it just seems like it would take a while to fill up the built-in 512 MB with the scarce downloadable content that will be available.
  • Linh, on 10/30/2007, -1/+25I really don't understand the point of having friend codes if we already have wii system numbers. That way any friend we have on our address book.. automatically should look and see if there are common games, and fill in the blanks.
    • Frostman3D, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5I think it's a kid thing. Parents don't want their kids playing online with just anybody. Nintendo probably set this up to make sure you only play with people you know. Still, it's a bit retarded.
      • Linh, on 10/29/2007, -0/+11yes, I understand.. but I don't want to do it for EVERY freaking game. parents can see what wii numbers are on there.

        and besides, as everyone said already, you can play random ppl just fine. This makes playing friends far more inconvenient than it needs to be. I would be fine with the wii numbers only.. it sucks, but it's there, why the hell not use it for something other than miis
      • saintdesy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+7They already have Parental Controls built into the system settings on the Wii...couldn't they have used THAT to protect kids from getting diddled by some random person instead of some ridiculously huge code?
      • skyfire1, on 10/29/2007, -1/+2Tell that to all of the whinny 9 year olds on XBL.
  • Rosamilia, on 10/29/2007, -0/+33If the friend code system was anything close to a good idea, it would've been mimiced by now.
    Silent battles against random opponents... wohoo?
  • gajolo, on 10/29/2007, -13/+12Nintendo's just like any other company... It's not that they don't care about the costumer... Nevermind, they don't care about the costumer.

    All the want is more money.
    • soccerman90, on 10/29/2007, -0/+8how does FC's and no hard drive get them more money?
      • pumacub, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2They don't have to spend the money Microsoft does to implement something like Live.
        • soccerman90, on 10/31/2007, -2/+4wow FC's are free and usernames cost money
    • gamergod42, on 10/29/2007, -1/+15You couldn't be more incorrect. They do right by their customers much more than Sony and Microsoft. Call their customer support - they are the nicest people in the world.
      • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -2/+999.9% of people who call Sony or MS customer support would say the same thing. EVERY company has isolated instances of bad customer support.
      • Whaines, on 10/29/2007, -1/+2I agree with bingobongony. The Xbox divison of Microsoft Technical Support has English speaking people who are very helpful and very nice. One of the best tech support calls I've had, actually.
      • senatorpjt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1If customer support is the issue, then the 360 is the winner hands down, just because of how many 360 owners have had to use it. It's easy to provide good customer support when your ***** doesn't have a double digit failure rate.
    • xerus, on 10/29/2007, -0/+8I've heard too many stories about Nintendo having awesome support from friends to not believe they care about the customer. They're one of the few companies left that believe going the extra mile to keep a customer is worth it.

      A friend of mine had a cracked hinge on his DSlite so he sent it back and had it repaired for free, but he got it back and the border around the touchscreen had been damaged a little bit, so after phoning them they ended up giving him a free brand new DSlite. I dont know a lot of companies that go around doing that sort of thing.
      • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2almost all would if they damaged the item.
      • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1@ ^

        Proof?
        • shinythingy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Proof that this actually happened other than a comment on digg?
    • tehbored, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Nintendo actually has a pretty good reputation in the customer care department.
    • shinythingy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2All companies exist to take your money. Priorities for standard company
      1)Consumer's money
      2)Consumer
    • bilbravo, on 10/29/2007, -0/+3Why would Nintendo care about costumers? Well, Halloween is just 2 days away...
  • soccerman90, on 10/29/2007, -8/+6this is only for first party games. Games like medal of honor heroes 2 will not use fried codes
    • doshindude, on 10/29/2007, -2/+10Not true. Guitar Hero III is 3rd party and uses friend codes.
    • soccerman90, on 10/29/2007, -2/+1what i mean is he is speaking for first party games only. Every fpg will use FC. TPG are not obligated to use them
    • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5Yes it will. And it won't have a headset.
      • fumar, on 10/29/2007, -1/+0It has no headset but it does uses EA Nation
  • NikoKun, on 10/29/2007, -2/+28i only like friend codes, so long as they keep it, One code per system... not one code per game... @_@
    • SkippyDoorknob, on 10/31/2007, -0/+4I would sort of prefer one code per Mii, that way you can essentially have multiple user accounts per Wii system.
  • Xondar, on 10/29/2007, -9/+12Friend Codes are a way to make your Wii more secure and family friendly. Unlike XBox Live, you don't really play games with random people, you play games with people you've met and exchanged Friends Codes with. This makes parents feel better because they know their children are playing Wii games with Tommy down the street and not some random paedophile.

    It would be nice to have the option of networking without Friends Codes though, for people who are adults and can handle all the crap you get from random strangers on the internet. Perhaps this option can be disabled in the parental options.
    • frositay, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2oh yes because pedophiles are gonna start using wii games to find kids /sarcasm.
      • Xondar, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1Why not? They've used every other online medium to do it. Go into some random chatroom and pretend to be a 10 year old girl, then come back and be an idiot.

        Also, I was just using it as an example. Strange adult vs. Tommy from down the street if you will.
    • PixelD, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2You actually think most parents care that much about who their kids play against online? If they did, then I wouldn't have some 11 year old in a mature rated game tell me what hes going to do to my mother tonight. I sure do love Live and parents that care about what their kids play.
      • Xondar, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1Parents should care. If I was a parent, I would care, I'd watch what TV shows my kids watched, I'd play what games they played, and I'd browse the internet with them.

        Just because some parents shouldn't give a damn aboiut their kid's lives doesn't mean that's right.
    • jdoe562, on 10/30/2007, -1/+5Remember kids, everyone on the internet is a pedophile who only wants to rape you! That's why the internet was invented!
    • fumar, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2Basically friend codes allow the Wii to become the family babysitter. Except its a babysitter with a full web browser where little kids can look at all the porn they want. Kind of a double standard don't you think?
  • mrfreeziexp, on 10/29/2007, -17/+8Friend codes are why I don't own a Wii.
    • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -0/+5Just FYI, people are digging you down because they think the Wii is the goddamn holy grail of gaming devices and what you just said is worse than insulting their mother, their sister, and their dead grandma COMBINED. Don't ask me why this is so, I just observe...
      • bilbravo, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2No, people are digging him down because that's a stupid reason not to buy a console. There are lots of great games that aren't multiplayer, so not buying it simply because it uses friend codes doesn't make sense. Now, if he only wanted a system for online gaming, it would be stupid to buy a Wii anyhow. Either way you slice it, his comment deserves to be dugg down.
        • MagicCake, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2"Now, if he only wanted a system for online gaming, it would be stupid to buy a Wii anyhow"

          So maybe that's him. How the hell do you know what he wants? You just admitted if he's a person that's into online gaming, the Wii is a bad choice. What he said is perfectly valid if that happens to be an important element to him.
  • Pfhor, on 10/30/2007, -4/+38Please, for the love of all that is good in the world (Twinkies, the Bugatti Veron, et cetera): Stop claiming that digging a story is the same as endorseing a position. It looks childish, and will do nothing to change Nintendo's policies.

    Do something constructive to express your frustration: Phone them up, or file a complaint. But please, stop hijacking digg's publication system.
    • sanotaan, on 10/29/2007, -3/+0goodness, man.. if i could digg you up a thousand times i would. saying digg == vote on something is a hilarious lack of understanding of...really any kind of corporate/governmental process.
    • Wiinii, on 10/29/2007, -2/+4If you don't think Nintendo is watching Digg, you are dead wrong. They made replies specifically to comments only made here on a couple of occasions. Bad press does make a difference.

      And do you not also think that people who see this Digg are also inspired to email Nintendo about it. Think.
      • bilbravo, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2If you think they are acting on anything they read in online communities, you are dead wrong. Otherwise, friend codes would have been abolished long ago and Earthbound trilogy would have been released in the US already.
        • Exhaust, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2I thought Nintendo cared about its customers?! They don't listen to customer feedback?
    • Wiinii, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2Oh, and it appears that a couple thousand people disagree with you.
      • Billykerr, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2Or maybe a couple thousand people just happened to like the story and dugg it...you know...Digg's purpose?
  • merdiesel, on 10/29/2007, -10/+10Don't even give us online if your going to half ass it!
    I'm really starting to get sick of Nintendo's *****.
    • thebuggalo, on 10/29/2007, -0/+7agreed. After spending some time on Xbox Live, I can't comprehend what was going through Nintendo's mind. 16 digit friend code, no matchmaking, and wireless only. Why can't we pick our own WiiNames? Why am I stuck with having to tell my friends a 16 digit number if they want to add me? That is just ridiculous, and anyone who says they like Friend Codes are just denying to themselves what a crappy online system it is. Also, what if I don't have any friends with a Wii? Then what? I am stuck to never be able to play online. Finally, I have some friends who don't have wireless routers. They just have a desktop and are happy to plug their pc into their router or modem. So these people have to pay an extra $60 just to get online?

      Sorry, but if this is what Free Online means, I am more than happy to shell out $50-60 bucks for Xbox Live.
      • fohf, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1i agree with most of what you said, but I offer a few counterpoints to your argument.
        1. while i do agree xbox live is far superior compared to nintendo's online, i don't think it is worth $50 a year. especially since they are doing nothing other than unlocking the console to allow it to connect to other consoles. they don't host games on servers or improve connection speeds.
        2. i hate that i have to pay $100 dollars for a wireless adapter on a 360 since my modem is 100 ft on the opposite side of my house. the best solution would be to have wireless & ethernet included, but if i had to choose only 1 i would want wireless instead of 100 feet of cat 5 cable.
        • Exhaust, on 10/31/2007, -1/+1Including built in wireless would have increased the console cost which everyone would have bitched about. You can't please everyone. Suck it up buttercup and buy the adapter if you want WiFi. There are third party options that are cheaper than the MS adapter also.
          • fohf, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1it still shouldn't cost $100 to add it on later. that's just greedy.
  • caponumen, on 10/29/2007, -23/+3Translation, the Wii is for dorks and kiddies........
    • Synn, on 10/29/2007, -2/+11And playing a 360 or a PS3 makes you a man?

      Bad news for you sport...at the end of the day you're still playing video games and that makes you a dork.
      • Christbait, on 10/29/2007, -3/+3"at the end of the day you're still playing video games and that makes you a dork."

        The 90's called, they want their socio-stereotype back.
    • Shirt, on 10/29/2007, -1/+5You're fat and adopted because you don't play the Wii. Easy to throw around generalizations like they're facts, eh?
  • ryancalderoni, on 10/29/2007, -7/+4bury to vote yes? lol
  • juicebag, on 10/29/2007, -7/+5Nintendo is really killing themselves. The only thing they have going for them anymore is a few exclusives like Brawl and Galaxy.
    • REUYL, on 10/29/2007, -2/+8So the only thing they have going for them are AAA games?
      • christpr, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3Only a few AAA games unfortunately. They're all first party too....
        • Shirt, on 10/30/2007, -2/+1Why is that a bad thing? Is there a surplus of AAA games on PS3? 360 has a FEW, but it's got a year's head start, and that does count for something. If you can't find any good 3rd party titles on Wii you're not looking very hard, and it's likely you're just trying to bash it.
        • fumar, on 10/30/2007, -3/+0Spore. You lose. Go flame on some other thread.
          • GhostCow, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Spore will be for DS, not Wii. It will only focus on a small portion of the game, and it's the part before you have complex organisms
          • senatorpjt, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3Spore? Why not go for the gold and say Duke Nukem Forever?
    • sanotaan, on 10/29/2007, -1/+0killing themselves? that's the kind of drivel i'd expect to hear from an investment analyst.
    • Mendeleev135, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1"The only thing they have going for them"?
      Their games and the console are aimed at a larger, more niche collection of people. It was my birthday recently, and me and my family (grandma, grandad, mum, dad, brother etc) were all playing WiiSports etc. My grandma isn't going to sit down and play Gears of War or Warhawk really...
      • senatorpjt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1I don't have a 360 so I can't speak for it, but there are quite a few casual games on PSN.
    • ButchersBoy, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Yeh right. Whilst I agree that their online isn't great I think they have a few winning facets, sales speak for themselves. And agreeing with Mendeleev135, I've had more 60 year old mother-in-law playing Wario Ware...gaming doesn't get much more fun that that, believe.
  • HUKI365, on 10/29/2007, -0/+6Funny, this issue was raised a year back I think here on Digg, and was one of the first stories I dugg. I think I actually sent an email to Nintendo and got a reply back saying they're "listening". Too bad they didn't do anything.
    • shinythingy, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Not hard enough apparently
    • meechums, on 10/29/2007, -2/+0Just because someone says they're listening doesn't necessarily mean they're going to do what you want. Listening =/= complying
  • naonao, on 10/29/2007, -9/+10No hard-drive is bad but seriously, friend-codes are fine, I've been using them since 2005 and its done me fine.
    • thenewmadmax, on 10/30/2007, -5/+1really? i find that odd seeing the wii came out Q3/4 of 06...
  • xerus, on 10/29/2007, -0/+23Should we take this "no hard drive planned" the same way we took the "no future DS iteration planned" right before the DSlite was announced?
    • Hoogs, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2Bungie did a similar thing...saying no online co-op in Halo 3 and then a little while later BAM, four player online co-op is announced. We'll see...
    • TheGuy20, on 10/29/2007, -2/+2The wii drive is planned. Reggie let it slip during an interview about Mother games. I think the quote was roughly. "Is there going to be a hard drive expansion for the wii? --- "There is no wiidrive I mean hard drive for the wii planned at this time"
  • InuX, on 10/31/2007, -11/+3last time i check a hard drive didn't mean the console was any better. We all have been spoiled by HDD in game consoles. Remember Sega, Super Nintendo? PS1 ? all didn't have a hard drive and we lived. so quit yer' bitching and just play. If you bought a Wii you know what you were getting into, so don't complain now.
    • Wiinii, on 10/31/2007, -4/+9"Remember Sega, Super Nintendo? PS1 ?" - Did they have online downloadable games and content? Ever wondered what the difference between "classic" and "next-gen" are? *****?
      • fognozzle, on 10/31/2007, -7/+3*****? Grow up. XBox360 doesn't have a standard hard drive, so the Wii isn't exactly alone as a "next-gen" console without a hard drive.
        • Slippy1, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4He's a dip, yes, but the XBox 360 without a drive is a crippled 360. The option is only there to drop the bottom price (aka advertising). And ancient systems were cool at the time - but times do change whether you or Nintendo want to admit it. MP3s, cellphone, the internet. All these new-fangled technologies hanging out on your lawn, g'ol-darn-it!
        • fumar, on 10/31/2007, -0/+4When you run out of storage space with 3 or 4 vc games you'll understand why the Wii needs a HDD. Not to mention the lack of an HDD means that there are no Wii game demos available for download. I know a demo of Red Steel would have saved me $50.
          • Whaines, on 10/31/2007, -2/+2I don't think your Red Steel story is helping the case at all...
  • macweirdo42, on 10/29/2007, -4/+8People need to understand where Nintendo is coming from here. Believe me, I agree with the outraged masses wholeheartedly, but let's look at the facts. Nintendo products have always been touted as family-friendly. They see that online is the wave of the future, but the last thing they want is for a Wii to be featured on "To Catch a Predator." So they go into it reluctantly, and we get this pain-in-the-ass online support that we have.

    I know it doesn't help the situation much, but I think people need to see that it's not a matter of hardware, or Nintendo being incompetent and actually thinking that people really like this system, or that they're lazy. They're just trying to cover their asses, because they don't want some Nintendo child-predator story making the headlines.
    • dragonDC, on 10/29/2007, -2/+5thats simply not an excuse, and to me it is an unacceptable line of thinking. the "dangers" of the internet are well known to everyone. its not Nintendo's job to take responsibility for any of that, its ours.
    • hockey, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2But what about the people who are touting the Wii's browser's ability to surf porn?
    • senatorpjt, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1When I hear about a pedophile picking up a kid on XBL, PSN, or even a PC game then it'll make sense.
    • ufee, on 10/31/2007, -0/+1"Nintendo products have always been touted as family-friendly."

      Ok. So the online is partially justified. But the Wii still needs a HDD.
  • bpapa, on 10/30/2007, -4/+31Dugg down for "Your Digg = Vote NO!", because it really doesn't work that way.
    • Wiinii, on 10/29/2007, -1/+2Looks like a couple of thousand people disagree with your stance.
  • mepawl, on 10/29/2007, -1/+10I really have to say that friend codes are the worst idea ever! If I wanna play with friends I already know, I would call em up and get them to come to my house and we would play in Multiplayer. If I'm alone or pissed off at my friends, what makes you think that I wann play with them. And hence only two of my friends own a Wii. Second of all, online gaming with no interaction is horrible, no chat, no voice chat makes the whole thing seem 'plastic' and it feels like you're playing against the computer.

    Friend codes are HORRIBLE! Please get them off my system!
    • Shweeeb, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1Friend codes have nothing to do with no chat or voice chat. That all depends on the developers if they want that kind of thing implemented. Friend codes are also optional, so if you don't want to play with your friends, there is always the random match up option.(Which is in most, if not all, nintendo wifi games.) Your beef is with socializing in the online games, not with friend codes.
    • ButchersBoy, on 10/29/2007, -1/+1So what you really want is voice chat?!!
      • mercano, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2Well, if I'm playing an FPS, say TF2 or DoD:S (Valve junkie, I know), its allot easier to coordinate things with my teammates through voice chat then having to stop and type a message and get killed while I'm standing still. And, honestly, I spend most of my time looking at the middle of the screen shooting at people, not in the corner reading text chat.

        Admittedly, I haven't played a Wii online game yet, but there really hasn't been any big online one yet.
  • Synthesize, on 10/29/2007, -5/+7Friend Codes is a joke. Seriously.
  • UndeadOverlord, on 10/29/2007, -1/+8I love Nintendo and all I'll be a Fanboy to the end, but Seriously Nintendo who the ***** do you think you're fooling!? Friend Codes Are THE DEVIL!
  • whyufail, on 10/29/2007, -6/+5I really don't care about either one. First, I would like to see some more actual games, not just "Super Mario Wario Hyper Galaxy Land Minigame Extravaganza VII"
    • razmig, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2Speak for yourself, though I doubt you meant to say Super Mario Galaxy is a mini-game type deal, I am still looking forward to playing that thing, and I will sure as hell be looking forward to any other Mario sequel.
    • ButchersBoy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1Dugg cos I'm a fanboy, but that made up game name made me chuckle at my desk.
  • jolt459, on 10/29/2007, -11/+3Another reason I will not be buying the Wii.
  • vamos, on 10/29/2007, -2/+10You know the reason they aren't releasing a hard drive is because people would instantly hack it and store all their SNES and NES ROMs on it, so there would be no need to buy Wii Points anymore.
    • DarkSamus, on 10/29/2007, -1/+4well those of us who wanted to hack the system have already done so and are playing all snes and n64 roms anyway
    • fumar, on 10/29/2007, -0/+0Its not like it takes more than 330mb for a software hack to work on the wii. You sir are a numbskull.
  • Synn, on 10/30/2007, -1/+6No hard drive and/or proper SD card use is inexcusable.
    • ButchersBoy, on 10/29/2007, -0/+1When the console is half of the price, what do you expect?
      • ufee, on 10/31/2007, -0/+1You should still be able to load directly form the SD card.
  • bingobongony, on 10/29/2007, -0/+2A digg is not a no vote. It is nothing more than a digg.
  • amrush4th, on 10/29/2007, -0/+11I love being told what I like. It saves time, up until now I have to decide for myself.
  • GodIsntReal, on 10/29/2007, -2/+1Hahahaha. Nintendowned.
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