Topic: Whats with nintendo?

I forget exactly WHERE I read this, but I know it was from a Nintendo higher-up (probably Reggie): Friend codes are for separate games because multiple people use Wii's (and, to a lesser but still noteworthy extent, share DS's), probably playing multiple games. You don't necessarily want the big brother's friends harassing the little sister in Animal Crossing (that's the example the interview gave). Stuff like that. Only problem is, it's a major inconvienience to those of us who DON'T share our Wii's. It should've been an optional parental control thing or something, imo.

I don't play online with the Wii much at all not because of the friend codes so much (I could deal with that if I had to) but because almost no games offer voice chat. Playing with a friend I can't even talk to is barely different from playing a stranger or bot, and not worth my time.

As far as the channels thing goes, I don't really want more. I didn't bother to download some of what's already there, because they don't matter to me.

Ah, that explanation at least makes sense, though I still think it's missing something. If two people play the same game, they should have different save files. There's no reason they couldn't just have a friends check list and check the appropriate friends only on the appropriate files.

Or even simpler, if you get online and see a family members friend you don't want to play with... don't play with him. I don't play Animal Crossing, so that might function differently, but most games you can choose with whom you want to play. If that one game is an exception where any friends can walk into your village, that doesn't mean other games should need individual codes. Conduit apparently works fine without its own special code.

In summary and conclusion: Oh well.

@ stuffgamer

The more convenient solution to that would be to tie friend codes/parental controls to user profiles, so each person still only has one code. Currently there's nothing stopping lil sis from going on her big brother's conduit profile, so it doesn't seem like that makes sense. Plus for SSB, there aren't separate user profiles or friendcodes. If it was wii speak enabled, it would have all of these problems anyway, just with an extra friendcode hassle.

It's also impossible to completely shield kids from the internet. If the kid has crappy friends that are harassing them, that's more of a parental supervision issue imho. Also, 13 year olds can come on Nintendolife or other websites and just exchange all their friendcodes with random people. It seems like it's a pain, but doesn't actually solve any problem. If they're not going to make wii speak enabled games though, even the minimal protection of friendcodes doesn't seem worth it. What problems could really arise by playing with jerk "friends" on Mario Kart Wii...it's no different really from a worldwide match the way it stands now.

Of course, we aren't the ones in charge of nintendo, so it's really all a moot point.

Yeah, in Animal Crossing, if your gate is open to accept friends, anybody on your registered list can come in. I don't know if it has separate lists for separate people in your town or not, though. Probably not. I guess the idea with that example was that the siblings don't play each other's games.

I know it's dangerous territory to say Microsoft had a good idea, but the user profiles on the 360 would be perfect for this sort of thing. I believe they're optionally password-protected, too, but if not, there's no reason Nintendo couldn't make it so if they implemented a feature of this sort in Wii 2.

Nintendo aims for simplicity in layouts. I don't see anything more advanced than what they have now. Just my oppinion.

@Adam: No, you're actually right. The parental controls for online interactivity on the 360 are EXCELLENT! Nintendo would've done just fine to set it up like that.

Regarding updates 4.1 just came out in Japan, though it only seems to be to fix a bug in Wii Sports Resort which was causing the How-To video for Motion Plus to re-run every time the game started. Whether or not they take the opportunity to use it to attack recent system hacks is unknown, but initial reports say that's not the case.

WiiMotionPlus? Soon.

Japan is so lucky. They get great games, channels, and a less strict rating system. Let me see what channels that they have:
A food ordering channel
A TV channel
A music channel
A radioactive channel that gives you superpowers
And a money channel.

Ohh...but the money channel sucks all the money from your house into Nintendo's bank account, so maybe it's just as well we have the channels we have.

If you've played Xbox 360, you'll see just HOW far Wii is behind in online.

Xbox innovations:
Gamertag/gamerscore (now tied to avatars). Imagine if you beat Super Mario 1, 2, 3, World, 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, etc. and you were able to tag those impressive accomplishments to your Mii to show your friends. What if you collected all 120 stars in Galaxy and want to show off? Nintendo invented the virtual avatar for consoles. It seemed so great, but the potential is totally untapped. There's really no excuse for not tagging games together into a gamer's profile of sorts.
Seamless internet/social interaction When I log into my Xbox, I'm alerted to friends who are online, and I can jump in and play with them if I want. Or, I can invite them to chat while they play Football and I play Call of Duty. I understand the protection Nintendo is trying to maintain, but why can't they leave SOME of that up to the consumer? If I log in as my Mii, I should be able to meet other Mii's who have logged in and launch a game of Mario Kart without having to pick up my phone to call them. If I have WiiSpeak, why can't I be-friend someone and talk to them to decide what game to play? WiiSpeak channel? Too cumbersome to deal with IMHO. With the integration of facebook later this year, the social connection will grow even further.

I'm not trying to be an Xbox fanboy or anything. In fact, I JUST bought this Xbox a few months ago and haven't ever owned anything but Nintendo in the past. In fact, I'm still more inclined to grab that Wii remote instead of an Xbox controller because of my Nintendo fandomness. However, once you've experienced what REAL online is like, you'll see just how ignorant Nintendo is being by shutting that crowd out. The lack of online support is far more of a gap in the two platforms than 480p vs 1080p.