Nintendo Will Separate Nintendo Network IDs From Hardware

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo Will Separate Nintendo Network IDs From Hardware

Nintendo says it wants its Nintendo Network to be its own platform, separate from hardware, like Steam or PSN.

As digital downloads started to come to the forefront over the last console generation, one of the biggest criticisms towards Nintendo was the fact that it's "Nintendo Network" IDs were tied to a specific piece of hardware, rather than being a unified account. It took steps to remedy this earlier in the year, allowing users to combine IDs across the Wii U and 3DS, but now it looks like it is going to separate Nintendo Network IDs from hardware entirely, giving us something more like Steam or PSN.

Nintendo President Iwata revealed these plans at the same business briefing that unveiled the upcoming QOL platform [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131807-New-Nintendo-Platform-Will-Release-in-2015-16]. He also said that Nintendo would be releasing an official smartphone app, and one of the main reasons for seperating the Nintendo Network from hardware was so it could interact with this new app.

Iwata said that Nintendo must emulate Android and Apple's single architecture across various devices, so that handhelds and portables no longer exist in separate ecosystems, but are like "brother and sister."

Iwata claims that the company's upcoming smartphone services aren't about making money, or bringing Mario to smartphones, but about better communicating with current and potential Nintendo customers. He stated several times during the briefing that Nintendo characters will not be appearing in stand-alone smartphone titles.

Of all the news to come out of this announcement, this is probably the most appealing to hardcore Nintendo fans. In the past, if your Wii U with thousands of dollars worth of Virtual Console games went kaput, you would lose everything unless Nintendo was able to restore your system.

Hopefully, this also finally buries the dreaded "friend code" system.

Source: Nintendo [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/140130/index.html]

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[Something Amyss]

IF they do this, I'll finally start buying VC titles.

 

[Fulbert]

I apologise in advance for bringing this up, but I study English as a second language and therefore am sometimes confused by some things.
My question is, is 'seperate' a real word? I've seen it pop up in texts all over the Interrnet, and yet no dictionaties I consulted recognised it. The word 'seperate' is used almost consistently throughout this article, both as a verb and as an adjective, with only one instance of 'separate' in the third paragraph. I'm wondering if using 'e' instead of other unstressed vowels is a new trend in the modern English.

 

[Roxas1359]

Oh joy, if this comes to be then I'll actually use the VC more, because I hated the fact that the games were locked to the hardware for some asinine reason. Plus if this gets rid of Friend Codes then that's a plus, since it's easier to be able to add friends based off of names instead of a code.

 

[Teoes]

Finally! I would happily buy (more) VC titles thanks to this. Now all they need to do is lower the digital prices so it's not cheaper to buy physical. Come on Nintendo, you're only a few years behind everyone else now - why don't you work on catching up the rest of the way?


..Please?

I apologise in advance for bringing this up, but I study English as a second language and therefore am sometimes confused by some things.
My question is, is 'seperate' a real word? I've seen it pop up in texts all over the Interrnet, and yet no dictionaties I consulted recognised it. The word 'seperate' is used almost consistently throughout this article, both as a verb and as an adjective, with only one instance of 'separate' in the third paragraph. I'm wondering if using 'e' instead of other unstressed vowels is a new trend in the modern English.

No, it's spelling errors. 'Separate' is the correct spelling.

 

[Tanis]

'friend code'

Well, it's about a damn time.

 

[Braedan]

Wow. About damn time, but it seems like Nintendo is actually admitting and trying to fix its problems instead of blaming customers for not getting it, or not embracing the predetermined future. Very refreshing. A long way to go though... Let's hope this is just a start.
On thee other hand though, I'm a little afraid they'll just turn into another Sony or Microsoft, and then we'll start seeing some gritty Mario titles with RPG mechanics and hammer upgrades for the low low price of $3.99.

 

[Steven Bogos]

I apologise in advance for bringing this up, but I study English as a second language and therefore am sometimes confused by some things.
My question is, is 'seperate' a real word? I've seen it pop up in texts all over the Interrnet, and yet no dictionaties I consulted recognised it. The word 'seperate' is used almost consistently throughout this article, both as a verb and as an adjective, with only one instance of 'separate' in the third paragraph. I'm wondering if using 'e' instead of other unstressed vowels is a new trend in the modern English.

Nope! Just me being a n00b and not spell checking enough. Apologies

 

[Fappy]

How Nintendo could be a decade behind everyone else in this regard is beyond me. I miss the days when Nintendo led the charge T^T

 

[RandV80]

There slowly but surely getting there, but I wouldn't be too worried about them turning into another Playstation or Xbox. With their slowness I have to wonder though, has anyone ever put any consideration into how much of it is because of their corporate structure size?

Stay with me for a second on this, but consider the corporate structure of Valve. They basically hand pick the best of the best to work for them, and seem to maintain a lean & mean workforce. The pro's of this is that everything they churn out is gold. The cons is they churn things out at a pretty slow rate. Now they could hire another 200 people devoted to Half Life Development and churn out an episode or new game every year or two, but would that drop the quality of the product. It seems like an easy formula: you have a successful game that made money, hire more people to make more games, make more money, hire even more people for even more games, etc etc etc. No one actually does this though, which means there's a saturation point.

So is this sort of what Nintendo's problem is? They're behind on releasing their major system sellers, and they're behind on developing a good online platform. So are they just at a point where corporate management feels they're company is at an optimum size and this is just the limitations of what their development team can do?

 

[hickwarrior]

There slowly but surely getting there, but I wouldn't be too worried about them turning into another Playstation or Xbox. With their slowness I have to wonder though, has anyone ever put any consideration into how much of it is because of their corporate structure size?

Stay with me for a second on this, but consider the corporate structure of Valve. They basically hand pick the best of the best to work for them, and seem to maintain a lean & mean workforce. The pro's of this is that everything they churn out is gold. The cons is they churn things out at a pretty slow rate. Now they could hire another 200 people devoted to Half Life Development and churn out an episode or new game every year or two, but would that drop the quality of the product. It seems like an easy formula: you have a successful game that made money, hire more people to make more games, make more money, hire even more people for even more games, etc etc etc. No one actually does this though, which means there's a saturation point.

So is this sort of what Nintendo's problem is? They're behind on releasing their major system sellers, and they're behind on developing a good online platform. So are they just at a point where corporate management feels they're company is at an optimum size and this is just the limitations of what their development team can do?

From waht I remember, not sure where I got it from, but the culture there is making the difference. The big companies are depended upon to keep people working. It's seen as a disgrace if you would fire people from your business.

It's why japanese business executives take cuts as opposed to firing people. This keeps them in business in their homeland, and shows you can trust them to not fire you if things aren't going so well.

As for the slowness of all this, maybe it has to do with how the old kind of rule japan, and nintendo isn't special in that regard. Then again, I thank them for actually taking it this slow, since they can keep testing and breaking the system they're building up. I mean, how many times have we seen servers breaking because everyone in the world is trying to access them?

As for OT, I feel like this is what nintendo fusion is. More of a plan to create this service, than a new console. That's my take on it however.

Though I'm definitely elated when this finally gets pushed through.

 

[bluegate]

Awesome

Now my question is, will they finally do away with the asinine way they handle virtual console titles across platforms?
Talking about having to buy a game both for the 3DS and Wii-U if you want to play it on both.

 

[FoolKiller]

Awesome

Now my question is, will they finally do away with the asinine way they handle virtual console titles across platforms?
Talking about having to buy a game both for the 3DS and Wii-U if you want to play it on both.

Yea. Agreed. Especially something like A Link to the Past should be playable on my 3DS as its sequel is a 3DS exclusive.

 

[mechalynx]

The last obstacle preventing me from buying a WiiU is about to be removed? I know what I'm getting for my birthday.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

makes sensemother country, i had to replace my Wii U after a week because it was damaged. could not believe i had to create a new ID