When Nintendo's CEO and president is vocally unhappy about something, you know it's going to filter down and action will be taken to try to rectify the problem.
Speaking at the investor's meeting as part of E3 2010, Satoru Iwata professed Nintendo's dissatisfaction with its own online efforts. That was over a year ago, and since then, the company has rolled out a more functional online set-up for the 3DS compared to its predecessor. With the upcoming Wii U, we're still left wondering what Nintendo's plan is as little has been unveiled.
Speaking to Forbes, president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime was asked whether something was missing from Nintendo's online services, resulting in gamers not getting the same experience as they would on other consoles. Fils-Aime replied:
I don’t think it is an issue for us, and here’s why. We’ve seen what our competitors have done, and we’ve acknowledged that we need to do more online, starting with the launch of our eShop on Nintendo 3DS, and we’re going to continue to build our online capability. For Wii U, we’re going to take that one step further, and what we’re doing is creating a much more flexible system that will allow the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear. So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that. We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers.
So it's possible we might have separate "online accounts" for different publishers, not unlike what we already have, but the key thing here is that they will now be able to work on a "more flexible system" provided by Nintendo.
When pushed for more details, Fils-Aime reiterated that the Wii U will have a more robust online presence but any further information will probably have to come from elsewhere:
We’ve said that the Wii U will have an extremely robust online experience. There will be other publishers talking about that as well, and from our perspective, we think it’s much more compelling for that information to come from the publishers than to come from us.
[source blogs.forbes.com]
Comments 42
Separate Online Accounts for different Publishers? Why???
Ok, he literally gave us no information on what Nintendo will be doing to the online infrastructure. They basically just said "We want third parties to do whatever they want," which has been said many times before.
I always find it hilarious when Reggie gives his "Executive Interviews" where he tries to give us information in a way that ends up not being relevant or informative. Gotta love the Reggienator
Fireplacing Online muit-player!
Lol.
Steamworks seconded.
We'll have robust online. I have no idea what that means, but we'll have it. It will look exactly like what we have now, but we'll call it robust.
Yes. Steam! Please! D:
Bruce Lee!
Chuck Norris!
Just to clarify, it's robust by Nintendo's standards, not be real world standards.
Don't expect Live, PSN, Steam or anything. lol
I mean I doubt they'll be sales even, when sales are VERY important for platforms like PSN and Steam.
Sounds like Steam is coming to the Wii U since i read that Valves president was interested in the Wii U
^If Nintendo doesn't even try to match PSN quality they're shooting themselves in the foot.
Hopefully Nintendo will implement a trophy/achievement system. If the graphics are the same, gameplay is pretty much the same, what reason would I have to buy it on my WiiU, if it doesn't include this feature? That's just me though.
Why the hell would it be more compelling for the publishers to tell the public about the Wii U's online capabilities? I think what he means is that no one actually knows the capabilities because they haven't been developed yet.
Stay thirsty my friends...
Hurray, more disappointment for me due to unfriendly relations between my internet and my Wii!!!
NO ACHIEVEMENTS PLEASE! they are just stickers that show what you did
I got an achievement in PilotWings Resort... It was called getting 3 Stars on Platinum
good old reggie; talks more but says less.
Who cares, the wiiu will flop anyway.
This could mean alot of things, but if it means Steam on Wii U I'm good.
I love how Nintendo keep promising a good online service, and then fail to deliver every. single. time.
eShop is not good Nintendo, stop acting like it is. The PSP, a very old console now, has a better online service than you're offering.
different online accounts for different publishers sounds about as stupid as a different friend code for each game. that does not sound like an organized online experience that people want at this point.
Nah, I believe this system is going to be similar to PSN, Live and Steam. I really don't have high expectations (even exaggerated) for stuff like this.
Maybe that's why I don't really complain or at least be bothered with anything. Hm.
Just keep the Nintendo charm- really. That's why I like eShop. The catchy music, the cute shopping bag, and how downloading things are much more interesting than sitting and watching a blue bar fill up on PSP... C'mon, now.
@WaltzElf
I still prefer eShop over PSN. But PSN is leagues better than DSiShop and Wii Shop.
(Please oh please note: It's a preference and personal opinion).
Different accounts for different publishers? Uhmmmm... what exactly is this? This sounds more complicated than Friend Codes...
So basically we'll have a different network and account for each individual publisher? Wtf does not even begin to cover this...
@komic I wasn't just talking about the eShop (though I believe the PSN is still better. Less pretty, mabye, but far easier to browse, and there are full retail games on there. Will never happen with the eShop).
The rest of the 3DS' online blows compared to the PSP. No Skype, no movies, music and comics, and no remote play from the Wii (while it's not great for games, PSP and PlayTV on the PS3 makes for an awesome portable TV player.
Nintendo has, time and time again, failed to realise the point of having a connected console is so people can do stuff with their console. I'm willing to bet my house the WiiU is no different.
"For Wii U, we’re going to take that one step further, and what we’re doing is creating a much more flexible system that will allow the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear. So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that. We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers."
I think what rego(one of my slang names for him) said in his own way, was that they(Nintendo) think it's best to allow 3rd-parties to elaborate (to us) on WiiU online capabilities, as they are used in individual games, so it will seem more progressive/intuitive/whatever for Nintendo's online, rather than Nintendo themselves tell us (upfront) what features their online will have. Also (consider (that) this might have something to do w/ keeping competitors in the dark about the online capabilities of the WiiU.
Valve has already stated their interest in the Wii U, so Steamworks could possibly happen!
lets see this in action
i really hope the wii u blows us out of the water!
Interestingly, not informative.
Again, I am still confused as to what people have against trophies and achievements. I don't understand. It doesn't hurt the game. If you don't want to try to do more than just play and beat a game, then don't worry about it. For those that want more to do once the game is done, you can start collecting. It's for fun. Nothing more.
Ah I hope it won't be on par with PS2, but on par with PS3.
this is crazy like nacho says it
@WaltElf: Sure the playstation does everything. Oh, except play good games. Sorry but consoles are for playing video games, not for movies and Skype. (Seriously dude? Skype?)
@DJ_Triforce: What everybody has against trophies is they are stupid and pointless. You put all this work in and get nothing in return. Lots of games from Nintendo had "acheivemnets" over the years, unlocking cheats in GoldenEye, beating Metroid under a certain time to get a different ending, ect. At least those games gave you something for your efforts. At the very least acheivments take time and money away from development that could be better spent elsewhere.
@TheDarkness I'm gonna have to go and defend WaltElf's opinion. Game systems have transcended being just a gaming machine. If they JUST play games, they are viewed as toys. i.e. The Wii, even though that's not true for the system.
And you're being hypocritical saying consoles are for playing videos games, yet the Wii has a music player, picture viewer, Netflix and a web browser. And the 3DS has some of these features too, or soon will.
Nintendo's online structure has ALWAYS sucked, the 3DS's shop is no different, neither is DSiWare and Wii's shops. I personally have no faith that the Wii Us online will be anything near remotely on par with PSN, Live or Steam.
Being flexible most likely means third parties are on their own. They said the Wii's online system will be flexible and that just meant Nintendo isn't going to do anything to help anyone.
Social and multimedia options on $250+ devices are more important than you think to people.
the wii u is going to be a grate system no matter what.but it would be nice to have good online service.
@TheDarkness. I have 30 PSP games. I don't buy bad games. I have 7 3DS games.
Silly opinion debunked.
And who made you the boss of what a console is and isn't? I like my consoles to do more than games. Games + Entertainment > just Games.
I know it's a standard fanboy response because Nintendo suck at providing additional services (though I like the news feature on the Wii). Of course, none of those fanboys complained when Netflix went on Wii. Funny that.
I still get the impression that if Nintendo doesn't give third party developers the tools they need to make use of Ninendo's network, then Wii-U will end up with a online system similar to the current offline games selection we now have on the Wii: 1st party online Nintendo games will be awesome, and 3rd party online games will either suck or have no online at all.
Besides Mario Kart Wii and Smash Bros Brawl, what other retail (disc) Wii games exist that are worth playing online?
Darth Vader!
Hint to Reggie / Nintendo: Online capabilities mean more than just selling DLC in a comfy way. (No offense intended)
@WaltzElf
How can you "not buy bad games" and have 7 3DS titles? What's the weather like in the future anyway?
It will work like the PC. Each publisher will be reponsible for its own online structure. Nintendo may opt for a centralizing registering server or may even left this to each publisher. It might works nicely.
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