Nintendo Admits Wii's Online Didn't Cut It

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Nintendo Admits Wii's Online Didn't Cut It

Nintendo's insistence on doing the Wii's online itself hurt the console, says CEO Satoru Iwata, but things will be different for its successor.

While last-generation consoles experimented with online play, it wasn't until the current generation that online gaming on consoles became the norm. The Xbox 360 triumphed with (the horrifically immature) Xbox Live, the PS3 had a respectable showing with PSN (aside from one or two little issues [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/tag/psn%20down?from_search=1]), and the Wii ... let people play online. Sort of.

It's no secret to gamers that the Wii's online offerings were by far the weakest of the Big Three consoles, and Nintendo knows it too. In an online Q&A for investors [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/110426qa/02.html], Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata admitted that the Wii's online wasn't up to snuff. The reason, he says, was because the house of Mario insisted on doing the online network its own way rather than contracting experts.

"In the field of networks ... I admit that we cannot do business in pace with the changes in the world and the requests from consumers only within our company and with development companies we have long been in touch with," said Iwata. "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."

It is important for Nintendo, said Iwata, to recognize what the company can do itself and what would be better off if given to external teams with precisely that sort of expertise. However, Iwata also said that it was a problem that he hoped Nintendo had overcome with the 3DS and the successor to the Wii, given a development codename of Project Cafe.

"You may be aware of some features which I am implying now in relation to the future developments of Nintendo 3DS and Wii's successor system that we announced yesterday. I am sorry I cannot say anything more specific today."

One tip, Mr. Iwata, would be to just ditch the Friend Code system Nintendo insists on using. Nobody likes it, and judging by Xbox Live kids are going to be playing online no matter what you guys do.

(Via Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-05-04-nintendo-admits-wii-online-failings])


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Eri

The Light of Dawn
Feb 21, 2009
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Wii's online didn't cut it? WHAT!? Unpossible!
 

Mr. Omega

ANTI-LIFE JUSTIFIES MY HATE!
Jul 1, 2010
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YES! I've been waiting for this. Please take notes, Nintendo, and do a good job with this. Don't screw this up. This is one of the biggest improvements you can make for the new system!
 

Kevlar Eater

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Sep 27, 2009
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They can't do everything themselves. Micro$oft learned this the hard way with the 360 and had to pay out the ass when the consoles were dying left, right and center.
 

v3n0mat3

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Jul 30, 2008
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Now that they've admitted it...

FIX IT

They know what we want, so get to it!
 

Jumwa

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Jun 21, 2010
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Mr. Omega said:
Please take notes, Nintendo, and do a good job with this. Don't screw this up. This is one of the biggest improvements you can make for the new system!
Take notes from themself? You do realize this is the President of Nintendo talking about things they need to improve upon and not some random person off the street, right? Safe to say if their president is saying it to investors, there are notes, plans and meetings already gone ahead.
 

Stammer

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Apr 16, 2008
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That Guy Who Phails said:
....We really are at the end of the Wii's lifespan, aren't we?
Yeah, and it sucks to think that I got this whole console and only own one freaking game for it (Brawl).

Money well wasted.
 

Mr. Omega

ANTI-LIFE JUSTIFIES MY HATE!
Jul 1, 2010
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Jumwa said:
Mr. Omega said:
Please take notes, Nintendo, and do a good job with this. Don't screw this up. This is one of the biggest improvements you can make for the new system!
Take notes from themself? You do realize this is the President of Nintendo talking about things they need to improve upon and not some random person off the street, right? Safe to say if their president is saying it to investors, there are notes, plans and meetings already gone ahead.
Bad phrasing on my part. I meant that I hoped Nintendo learned from the other two online services as well as their past mistakes.
 

hexFrank202

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Mar 21, 2010
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Haha, "penetration of the Wii."

I liked the Wii online. It's like the other consoles are so good at online, that they're boring. Here's my experience with PSN,

" Cool, that was fast! Also fast! Okay, browsing shop, browsing shop... *yawn* okay this game looks cool, maybe I'll buy it some day. Whatever. Man, I'm bored.
<Log out, put in Uncharted 2 and go online> Okay, that took a while. Huh, you know, even in the event that I win, this isn't nearly as fun as playing the story mode. And everybody is such a dick about being better than me. Which would be okay if this were like, a national sport or something, but this is, you know, a video game. Well, this is completely boring too.
<Log out, put in Modnation Racers and go online> WOW THIS GAME IS SO BORING SO FAST! Take it off! RIGHT NOW! Take it off! Everyb--hey where the fart is that sound coming from? Ke-dollar sign-ha? Oh christ, someone is putting a pair of speakers right in front of their microphone!
"

This is probably what the Playstation Network said to fun, right after it accidently killed him:
"All those things I can do. All those powers. And I couldn't even save him."

When you get right down to it, I just don't like competitive online multiplayer. I'm sorry, but low quality voice chat, faggy usernames, pointless profiles to read and an abundance of "friending" doesn't make me feel like I'm really interacting with people any more than Mario Kart online.

In fact, now I want to compare that to Mario Kart. On both the DS and the Wii, all you get to know about your fellow racers is their username--which has to be very short--and their win/lose points. And on the DS, you get to see their avatar--which is a very, very limited 50x50 image--one time, when you first connect with them. I have a lot more fun with that because it makes me feel like I'm, well, playing against players wirelessly from around the world. Which is what it actually is! PSN and XBL try as hard as possible to make you feel like you're in the same room as your enemies. Which you aren't. Which is why it sucks. For me, anyway.

The very, very little that Wii online did, it did awesomely. This is my experience with it,

" Okay... loading... loading... loading... loading... come on... come oooooonn! Okay! It's at the 'connecting, please wait' screen! Yes! It's almost there! Come on, load! Load! Loooaaaaad!
<Wii Shop channel opens up, plays kickass music> YES! OH LAWDY YES! I FUCKING LOVE THE WII SHOP CHANNEL!! YESSS! THIS IS SO FUN!
YESS! I'm loading another page! Woohoo!
Alright, I'm buying the game! Yesssss!"
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
well the wii certainly didnt have the best online but sometimes it worked really well, monster hunter tri had fantastic online play, better then most of what Ive seen on the 360, but I am one of those people that prefers to look for his own server instead of let some crappy program put him with people automatically
 

Ne1butme

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Nov 16, 2009
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Here's the simplest solution - Steam for Cafe.

It has everything that Nintendo needs. A robust market, friends lists, community support, Voice chat.
 

Thunderhorse31

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Apr 22, 2009
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Oh really? The Wii's online sucked?

<youtube=N4vIBijzg4w>

Perhaps next they would like to announce that motion controls are wonky gimmicks that don't add any depth to their games.
 

Ed.

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Jan 14, 2010
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dedicated servers would be an epic win for the console market solves an array of problems.

Ne1butme said:
Here's the simplest solution - Steam for Cafe.

It has everything that Nintendo needs. A robust market, friends lists, community support, Voice chat.
This I might actually buy a console again some day
 

Soxafloppin

Coxa no longer floppin'
Jun 22, 2009
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Yea i agree.

Hey, whats your PSN name? Soxafloppin!

Hey, whats your XBL name? Soxafloppin!

Hey whats your Wii name? 1113324-34234324-234234322
 

DoctorPhil

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Apr 25, 2011
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I still can't believe they actually managed to fuck up the Brawl online mode. It could have been the greatest thing ever! why friendcodes?! WHYYYY?!

Still it's pretty cool of Nintendo to always admit their mistakes. I like that about 'em. Makes me forgive them, but not really.

For some reason Satoru Iwata's faes makes me chuckle.