Topic: Will Free Multiplayer Network give WiiU a chance?

I used to be a huge Nintendo fan when i was young, then i swapped over to xbox360 when i got older. I just ordered a Wii U and am very excited to get it. I do however have a question. Do you think that if Wii U can score some decent multiplayer games (already going to have Call of Duty Ghost) and the fact that it will now be the only free Online gaming network for next gen consoles (Wii U, PS4, Xbox1), that this may boost the Wii U online gaming community population?

If Nintendo Advertises it enough and the service is comparable (as in Lag and how stable servers are) to other platforms then yes it could be a big plus for Nintendo.

Well Sony doesn't Match Xbox live and it did quite well being free, but now since they believe they should be paid for online play as well maybe this could be the chance Nintendo Network needs to get it's foot through the "Multiplayer Door"

I don't think it matters that Nintendo has free online. Microsoft and Sony fans have already been conditioned to pay for online.

No Xbox Live and PSN are both in places where poeple can feel they can pay for online. I don't want to use the Wii U's online system for free.

Plus Nintendo has no online enabled games to get people wanting. I look at the other two console and see first party examples of multilayer alongside third party ones. Games like Injustice not having friend play doesn't instill confidence in me.

Yes the big difference is that Sony was good enough to be an option where the Wii had terrible online. Nintendo needs to show that the Wii U's online is at least good enough. It doesn't need all the bells and whistles that the others have but you need to be able to play a complete game without any problems. I don't have a game that has online multiplayer so I cannot comment on Wii U's current standing.

I've been burned by Ninty's online lag in Brawl, so I'll wait to see if they can fix that on the new game once it's out. Also waiting to see if hackers start up on the new Mario kart.

Otherwise I'm staying away from buying ninty consoles.

I agree, I do not have experience with Nintendo's Network yet, I mainly ask this question to save myself some money by not multi platforming and buying a PS4 (which will be the outcome if Nintendo cant get their network to be worth while). In my eyes it's ignorance of Nintendo if they don't atleast keep a balanced online network going. The system could really get rolling with some focus on this.

Well I don't feel like wii stood a chance in making it big online anyways, the pathetic specs made it a poor excuse for a competitive gaming console. Nintendo has a habit of doing the bare minimum on their TV consoles when they could really shine if they wanted to. It will probably come down to me buying a ps4, but this debate is still fun haha.

Furthermore playing COD with a Wiimote and Nunchuck is not a very appealing idea in the first place

What if you like pointer controls over dual analogue?

I can say it's gotten better since then on the 3DS at least. I'm sure they've improved since 2008, but I do agree it was awful

I think the majority of online players enjoy the Analogue over pointy and motion, i like the idea of classic controllers with motion built in which would make best of both worlds. Or selling both types of controllers if that's what they really want to do, it just seems like a lot of time and effort. A lot of time and effort that could be put in to working on a better Nintendo Network

Considering that Nintendo doesn't seem to want to take advantage of online multiplayer on its own console with its own games, I don't know. The only games that Nintendo is putting out that I can say with confidence will have online on the Wii U are Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8. Considering multiplayer is a focus with many of their games, it's not comforting to see them not take advantage of it.
Also, most people use online multiplayer to play with their friends. Unless if the 3rd party games have people playing online with their friends, I doubt it'll happen. It isn't helping that Nintendo doesn't have things in the systems infrastructure to support this idea, like game invites. There are some features out there that are necessary to making an online network fluid, and Nintendo doesn't have quite a few of them. They have other things, like Miiverse, but overall the system isn't very online-centric.

I'd love to have more games with multiplayer. One thing that kept me on my PS3 and away from my Wii for a LONG time was multiplayer. I've made so many friends online on PSN that are actually my REAL LIFE friends now..I've had some very good times playing games online. Never had an experience like that on the Wii.

But we all know that Nintendo is the king of local multiplayer and I have like six wii remotes and a bunch of other controllers so not having any good online games yet hasn't bothered me too much.

I heard that on a good day black ops 2 would have around 7 thousand players, is this true? ( i don't enjoy black ops 2, just wondering)
Even though that is not a very large community at all its still better than nothing and atleast good enough to find matches.

It all still comes down to the games people, what's the point of a good online infrastructure if there's no games to even play online. The thing about MS and Sony is they have a S***load of games to play online while the Wii U hardly has any. The other thing is that Sony does some crazy things with their online services like a free game every month, early demo releases, exclusive sneak peaks (you know stuff that Nintendo is known for not doing or at least not doing that often).

I wish that developers gave both options and I don't think implementing this would effect the team in charge of the Nintendo Network. Resident Evil Revelations for example would have been a great game to have pointer controls like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition style.

I really hope Nintendo pushes forward with their free network. PSN had the free online before, but even that is going away.

But moomoo! These games are designed to be played in your living room with friends next to you! So you don't really need the option of online! :3