Nintendo Admits Wii's Online Didn't Cut It

[Aardvark Soup]

Yeah, the friend code system is pretty awfull. I wasn't really bothered by it, since I've always preferred local above online multiplayer. I actually do think that they did digital distribution relatively well: despite the 40MB storage limit they imposed on WiiWare developers and the necessity of an SD-card when you buy a lot of games I absolutely love the Virtual Console (I probably spend more time playing VC games than any other kind of console game) and WiiWare has quite some good indie titles (like the BIT.TRIP series and World of Goo).

 

[Dastardly]

Nintendo Admits Wii's Online Didn't Cut It

... "Wii's future could have been different if Nintendo had made better partnerships with outside companies ..."

That's the first time I've heard that sort of honesty from Nintendo. No other qualifiers needed. If they weren't so closed-door about every blasted thing, they'd find themselves have a smoother go of things.

(About the friend code system, though. Inconvenient though it may be, I think it might have been one of those things to protect kids from random encounters with not-kid-friendly gamers. Something similar to what LEGO's MMO uses--you can't chat openly with someone you don't know IRL.

Poorly implemented, ridiculously cumbersome, I agree. But the spirit of it I can agree with. It should just be one of those options that can be turned on if necessary, or left alone for those of us who want more convenience in our gaming.)

 

[-Dragmire-]

"Wii's future could have been different if Nintendo had made better partnerships with outside companies in the field of network services at the early stages of the penetration of Wii."

I cannot believe he used those exact words...

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Sounds like, well, yet another Nintendo quote.

In fact, hasn't Nintendo already said before that their online strategy wasn't good and that they were going to improve it?

Nintendo has been doing this for years now. Everyone's all excited about how Cafe will bring back the hardcore and yet Nintendo's been claiming they've been refocusing on the hardcore ever since the hardcore crowd got more into the PSX games than N64 games. Nintendo's been claiming they will do more to attract 3rd party developers since, well, pretty much the same time.

Nintendo likes to make statements about agreeing their current situation is a poor one and then make promises to fix it. It's what they do. What they don't really seem to do, however, is actually take their statements seriously and make good on their promises.

Concerning your main paragraph...don't you remember the last two generations? They did make good on their promises, but people didn't care, so they said "fuck it" and broadened their demographic.

They broadened their demographic with the Wii.. and then what did they do at E3 last year? They triumphantly exclaimed once again that they were readjusting and moving back to target their disappointed hardcore gaming audience (again), and yet they never really did outside of the DKC reboot. As I said, at this point, everyone should just expect Nintendo to admit their mistakes and promise to do better only to fail then rinse and repeat.

If you want to paint it as no one caring about the "efforts" they have made then that's your call, but I would counter that the reason no one seemed to care was actually because they never actually fixed anything.

I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about the Gamecube. It's obvious who their target demographic was with that console, considering the line-up they released. It sold about as much as the Xbox, which wasn't an incredible amount. I'm old enough to remember press conferences and whatnot from the last two generations, and what I can't really remember is them promising to shift to their established demographic (the established demographic being us to keep things simple) because we weren't being catered to. We had been catered to for some time.

So I'm not really sure what you mean when you say "Nintendo's been saying this for years" as if they've been saying it for three straight generations (which is what it seems like you're implying). This generation is another story.

The thing I agree with however, is that their third party support has been in dire straits ever since the N64 era. This and the online are probably the only two things they're going to try and change (because they need to), if the leaked information is to be believed (the console supposedly being easy to develop for). And since they got every developer under the sun to develop for the 3DS, I can't see support being a problem this time around.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Well. At least they acknowledge what a huge blunder the Wii's online was.

Why is Nintendo always the slowest to adapt to new technology that quickly becomes the norm?

Not that I have anything against Nintendo's lineage but first we had the Nintendo 64 stubbornly sticking to cartridges while every other console jumped to discs and that quickly became the norm. Then we had the Gamecube having zero online component while the other system did and then the set the bar for our current generation to surpass with leaps and bounds.

And now we have the Wii stubbornly clinging to an awkward online system while the other systems use a system that has quickly become the bar for other platforms to follow.

Not that Nintendo is slow to adapt to new tech, the Wii and 3DS took gambles and went new places, but it's always the technological advances that quickly become the default that Nintendo seem to just sort of glance past. It's weird.


....Aaaannndd...this kind of turned into a long ramble.

 

[Sparcrypt]

Just me or was that article written by a major fanboy?