Continuing with tradition , Nintendo still doesn't understand online gaming.

G

Godmachine

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
10,472
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/724881/wii-u-will-continue-to-use-friend-codes/

Nintendo's Friend Codes will continue to be a thing when the Wii U console launches later in 2012, but Nintendo of America bossman Reggie Fils-Aime insists that users will find the new system much easier to work with. While he wouldn't lay out any specific details for the new framework in his E3 2012 chat with Kotaku, he did confirm that the Wii U won't use "the existing friend code system."
Click to expand...

Why? Come on Nintendo , you want us to take you seriously this time around and your still using Friend "Codes"? Why is it that despite obvious hate from nearly everyone and the census that the entire Friend Codes system sucks do you just ignore fans and do it regardless?

How completely and altogether annoying. Get with the times Nintendo , use a Gamer Tag or unique gamer ID. Forcing us to enter in a series of codes and have them on hand if we wish to "friend" someone is quite antiquated.

Site note , Reggie gives Nintendo's reasoning for not going with a multi-touch screen for the Wii-U tablet (Short version : Cost) :

"When we went through the building of this and, given some of the functionality, we thought that single-touch was a more appropriate option, especially when you've got other button configurations," he explained. "Certainly there's a cost to it. Again, we envision this as a controller that you're putting in your hands and you're doing a two-screen experience. The concept of putting it in your lap to do multi-touch for us just feels unwieldy."
Click to expand...

Unwieldy? The whole damn tablet controller is unwieldy but we know the real reason , cost. For me the Wii-U continues to baffle me as to how developers will take advantage of it and what kind of role or audience does it wish to target. It seems like a mess of features without any real cohesion.
 
The friend code thing bugs me, too. Why make finding friends and online groups more difficult than it needs to be? Hopefully their online "codes" really are just User ID's that they're calling codes.
 
No surprise.
They also are leaps behind on everything else, why bother even meeting the bare minimum?

Shit like this makes me wonder why anyone even likes Nintendo anymore.
I like how they try to innovate on stuff people typically don't care about, but anything that other consoles do (HD, broadband, storage), they flat out refuse.
For a company who tries to push the envelope, they fall behind the times everywhere else.
 
I was at E3 again this year and the Wii U tablet while odd and functional wasn't exciting to me in the least. Its definitely not multi touch, and I had to find out the hard way.

Also, Friend codes? LOL
 
I'm a huge fan but I think Nintendo doesn't understand anything. I don't even think they really understand their own franchises and what makes them cool. They make great games but they are really stuck in a rut when it comes to innovation. I mean I am looking a New Super Mario Brothers 2 and I mean this is a whole new console, why can't they update the graphics?? I mean it looks like they just bumped the resolution up to 720. Can't they do something else? Wow.
 
I dont think they much care. They built the wii around playing together in the same room, same as they are doing with the wii u.

IMHO they have severely overestimated the casual market this time. People bought the wii in droves and now that the novelty has wore off, most people dont even use them at all, except for MAYBE when you have friends over or what not.
 
While it's sad to see how far behind they are with online gaming, it's refreshing to not be getting nickel and dimed to death with dlc for mario and zelda games.
 
I can understand the friend code system as a protective layer for online gaming (this way Junior won't be contacted by Uncle Diddler), but why not just leave it as an extra layer of protection that parents can choose to enable or disable.

ie: Everybody has unique IDs that they can contact others, but parents could enable the friend code system as well so that even if the child knows the persons unique ID they would still need that person's console unique friend code and are unable to communicate send/receive friend requests until then. For everyone else, they could disable the friend code feature and are able to send/receive friend requests without needing the friend code.

Majinhoju said:
While it's sad to see how far behind they are with online gaming, it's refreshing to not be getting nickel and dimed to death with dlc for mario and zelda games.
Click to expand...

Mark my words: Nintendo will introduce DLC, but via action figures, bar codes, collectible cards, etc. There's a reason they're incorporating that Skylanders tech into the system.
 
Very frustrating to watch Nintendo continue to be at least a generation behind everyone else and needlessly at that.

I respect Nintendo's "We're going to do it our way come hell or high water and you're either on board or not" but on that same note it's bitten them in the ass a number of times.

I still remember with the GameCube Nintendo reps telling people "HD and the Internet were just 'fads' " and that sort of out of touch thinking has never gone away.

There's a fundamental difference between focusing on "for the kid in everyone" vs "for the kiddies" and for me Nintendo has leaned far too much towards the latter for my personal tastes in recent years.


Yes, they still put out good and even some great games but I'm concerned with the Wii-U going against one of Nintendo's long time edicts: Being about games first and last. All of a sudden I see Netflix and all that other rubbish that's everywhere else and a bunch of social networking and so forth.

How many devices do people need that do the same things? Heck, we have TVs that have that garbage on it, two other game systems that do it, PCs that do it, Tablets, etc. It gets kind of ridiculous after a point, doesn't it?


The best thing Nintendo was doing for themselves was simply concentrating on putting out the best dedicated videogame system for themselves they possibly could.

When you lose half a billion bucks you need to come out swinging better than what I've seen so far at least IMHO.

Personally, and unfortunately, I think the Wii-U is going to be Nintendo's last system. I hope I'm proven wrong.
 
Majinhoju said:
While it's sad to see how far behind they are with online gaming, it's refreshing to not be getting nickel and dimed to death with dlc for mario and zelda games.
Click to expand...

Oh don't worry , Nintendo hasn't been ignoring the mountains of cash other companies are making off DLC. I'm sure without a doubt they will be squeezing it into their first party titles and they've just not talked about it yet.

Q-BZ said:
*Snip*
Click to expand...

I agree with you fully but I don't think it'll be their last system. Maybe the next generation will be but I think this system will end up as another "Gamecube". Nothing to get excited about and ultimately another in a long line of odd choices for Nintendo.

Nintendo needs to stop thinking locally , we all know Japan has its own way. But this isn't the 80's or 90's. The Global Economy is the era we live in , if you don't think about that and take it into consideration when you make a new product that you plan to release globally than you've really missed the point.
 
I'm not even sure why Nintendogs is doing this. but who knows, it will sell like the Wii again :)

I wish SEGA wakes up and build Dreamcast 2. :( If only I have a 1 billion dollar laying around and I'll sponsor them to make Dreamcast 2 :D
 
^^^ I dunno man, I'm a huge old school Sega fan, but they've really tore the guts out of Sonic with all the shitty ones they've released since the Dreamcast's end. The lone franchise they haven't really run into the ground is VF and the lack of sales in the US and the long gap between releases really isn't helping that one out either.

I'd love to see a next gen PDS2 though, or a remake of PDS, PDO or PDZ even. Hell even regular old PD if it's all they'll give me.
Burning Rangers was a grossly unappreciated Saturn game as well that could probably easily be remade or sequeled and shown some love.
 
^^^ Sega just doesnt seem to be quite the company the were.. I could be wrong, i really havent kept up with sega. It just seems like when they built their own console, sega was energetic and creative, but when they went to 3rd party, they lost some of that magic. Didnt they combine alot of the studios and such?
 
I'll never forgive Sega for the Sega CD/32X/Saturn debacle. While I love many of their franchises, they're no better than Nintendo to me.
 
Domingo said:
I'll never forgive Sega for the Sega CD/32X/Saturn debacle. While I love many of their franchises, they're no better than Nintendo to me.
Click to expand...

Which they fixed with Dreamcast.
Too bad noone was listening anymore. Dreamcast should have saved SEGA, the execution....... and extenuating market conditions (Bullshit advertising blitz about PS2 from SONY, NO SUPPORT from EA, etc....), is where they failed.


but......
isn't this a thread about Nintendo?
 
After countless hours enjoying goldeneye on the N64 -- I gave up on nintendo.

No gamecube, no wii, hell I Might turn on my xbox360 once every 6 months.

This social gaming crap is of no interest to me -- I play video games to get AWAY from people, why would I want to invite a bunch of them over to my house to play?
 
Godmachine said:
I agree with you fully but I don't think it'll be their last system. Maybe the next generation will be but I think this system will end up as another "Gamecube". Nothing to get excited about and ultimately another in a long line of odd choices for Nintendo.
Click to expand...

There were a few flaws (mostly hardware-wise) but I don't see why the Gamecube is touted as a bad system. It had a ton of great, memorable games.

I agree that Nintendo needs to get with the times, though. They are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into obsolescence and that can't keep them afloat forever.
 
I enjoyed maybe 2 or 3 games on the Gamecube. It just felt like a "confused" product to me. Nintendo's first leap into optical discs and they are mini discs that don't have the storage size they needed. The controller was also not one of Nintendo's best designs in my opinion. Of course the N64 control was a 3 pronged dildo .
 
LeviathanZERO said:
Which they fixed with Dreamcast.
Too bad noone was listening anymore. Dreamcast should have saved SEGA, the execution....... and extenuating market conditions (Bullshit advertising blitz about PS2 from SONY, NO SUPPORT from EA, etc....), is where they failed.


but......
isn't this a thread about Nintendo?
Click to expand...

People are drawing parallels and analogies from Sega to Nintendo and on very broad terms I can see it.
 
The Gamecube controller was a weird one. For some things I absolutely loved it (Mario Kart, Smash Bros.) but the right analog and d-pad were both awful. It felt like a precursor to the 2-stick world we now have. I still use my Wavebird with Smash and MK Wii, though.

To me the Wii has been the most disappointing console Nintendo has ever released…and no, I’m not counting the Virtual Boy. While not always the fastest system, they’ve always been competitive in prior generations. The Wii was literally a generation behind from day 1, and the fact that HDTV’s were everywhere a few months prior made that even more obvious. I won’t argue with how they marketed it (or the motion capability) but I’ll forever hate the hardware behind all of it. Maybe all of the money they made early on offsets all of the current sales issues, but I’ve never had a system gather dust like this before…not even my ill-fated Jaguar.
To me, Sega's mistake was overselling the next big thing and then killing it off. A good chunk of us refused to buy the Dreamcast because we were afraid it would be the next system they would bail on after a year. The PS2 coming the next year reinforced that even more.
 
I'm calling it now: a multi touch gamepad will be released a year or so after the console is released. Gotta milk the people to fund their "innovations".
 
I believe Nintendo understands plenty honestly. Look at how much money they made off of the Wii alone. It isn't their fault that they're producing products people continue to rip off the shelves lol.
 
MavericK96 said:
There were a few flaws (mostly hardware-wise) but I don't see why the Gamecube is touted as a bad system. It had a ton of great, memorable games.
Click to expand...


Gamecube was awesome! Their last "hardcore" gaming system. Minidisc thing was awful idea though and hampered the capabilities of the system somewhat, but it had great games. I admit the controller looked odd but it worked well for games made for it.


I still have hopes that WiiU is a return to form, as their did advertise a huge 3rd party support in last years E3.


To me the Wii has been the most disappointing console Nintendo has ever released…and no, I’m not counting the Virtual Boy. While not always the fastest system, they’ve always been competitive in prior generations. The Wii was literally a generation behind from day 1, and the fact that HDTV’s were everywhere a few months prior made that even more obvious. I won’t argue with how they marketed it (or the motion capability) but I’ll forever hate the hardware behind all of it.
Click to expand...

No shit. Wii was basically bit polished and tweaked Gamecube inside, nothing more. Nintendo has always been into recycling old tech but Wii was bit too much. It looked like ass on HDTVs right from day 1.
 
Last edited:
MaelstromOC said:
I believe Nintendo understands plenty honestly. Look at how much money they made off of the Wii alone. It isn't their fault that they're producing products people continue to rip off the shelves lol.
Click to expand...

You mean "did" rip off the shelves?

The Wii is in the pits , even in Japan its sales are awful. I don't think the Wii-U has any kind of real innovation , its more a science project that takes concepts from other experiments and was suddenly green lit because Nintendo saw the writing on the wall for the Wii.

But that's not to say Nintendo can't make it work because they certainly can. Nintendo's current transition is a weird one. It will either work really well or become another idea that didn't meet reality head on.
 
If the games are good, I think most of us will forget about its technical capacities.
 
Wii U has destined to fail written all over its face. They can't even make a profit from the success of the Wii and their handheld games are in serious jeopardy with the recent emergence of pads and smart phones, it's almost inevitable they share Sega's fate at this point. The U just doesn't share the same mainstream casual appeal and now Microsoft seems to making inroads with the Kinnect and V2 will be the death blow when casual gamers realize that will be the best overall bargain and with much better graphics and 3rd party support. Wii U is meh in every category and the competition is just too thick this go around. I mean the system can't even support two GamePad controllers at once, because supposedly having two GamePad controllers cuts the frame rate in half due to the extra work it requires synchronizing with more touch screens lol FAIL

It pains me to say it, but all good things come to an end and Nintendo had a good run and holds a special place in my heart for all the childhood memories. Hopefully they become a good third party developer, unlike Sega, if they decide to go that route when the sinking ship they are on slowly gurgles down to the bottom in the next 2 years.
 
450 said:
If the games are good, I think most of us will forget about its technical capacities.
Click to expand...

That's the problem , no one really has any idea what to do with the controller. Nintendo has confused just about everyone with what it expects out of developers .. many of them will end up treating it curiosity than a true extension to the system. I don't expect any of the big 3rd party developers will go out of there way to do lots of retooling in big franchise games just to take advantage of it which means Nintendo will have to demonstrate exactly why this tablet is such a big deal. Until I see a game that really shows me the reasoning behind this controller I'm not even sure exactly what Nintendo is trying to target.

Shit even late night show hosts have no fucking clue what the Wii-U really is : http://kotaku.com/5918946/jimmy-fallon-thought-the-wii-u-was-a-wii-peripheral
 
Betauser said:
I'm not even sure why Nintendogs is doing this. but who knows, it will sell like the Wii again :)
Click to expand...

this time around i don't think you are going to see people buying the Wii U in droves like the old one. the people that bought the Wii are not the people that give a shit about 720p or 1080p nor do their kids care about it either. if they cared about 720p or 1080p they would of just gotten the 360 kinect or ps3 play(or what ever its called) instead.
 
Personally, I don't believe in the theory that good games always outweigh graphical horsepower.
If that were the case, why even bother with the WiiU and just stick to the Wii? Why are we playing the PS3 and 2nd-Gen XBox?
Fun and graphics don't have to be mutually exclusive and in a truly great game, you should have both. Not everything has to look like Uncharted or play like Super Mario 3, but the truly classic games should push the envelope in both areas.
It's why hardcore gamers were the first people to call the Wii out and to stop buying software for it.
Fun will only get you so far and graphics will, too. You have to have both, otherwise you might as well just buy a used NES and 800 games for $20...or a $6,000 water-cooled hex-core PC with 8 monitors.
 
MavericK96 said:
There were a few flaws (mostly hardware-wise) but I don't see why the Gamecube is touted as a bad system. It had a ton of great, memorable games.

I agree that Nintendo needs to get with the times, though. They are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into obsolescence and that can't keep them afloat forever.
Click to expand...

I agree. It was all the hardware that made me play mine less. Non-HD was a big one. The games are great (mostly). Nintendo is still a top notch game developer. Their hardware is just cheap. They want low cost to get into more homes. Personally, I'm an old school gamer and now that I'm older, I'm willing to pay more for a better gaming experience. That's where the Xbox and PS3 come in (although, I only have an Xbox 360). I want superior hardware and software. Both, not just one.

Gaming is about the games, sure. I can still pick up Super Mario and play the shit out of it. But, those games are rare. There are a ton of games out there that are amazing right now. But, put them back 10 years (or 20 - 16 bit era, damn I'm old) with the graphics of that time. Completely different game, and probably not as popular or fun.

BTW: Playing a nice game on a big screen with loud 5.1 surround is a blast. It really brings it home.
 
Domingo said:
Personally, I don't believe in the theory that good games always outweigh graphical horsepower.
If that were the case, why even bother with the WiiU and just stick to the Wii? Why are we playing the PS3 and 2nd-Gen XBox?
Fun and graphics don't have to be mutually exclusive and in a truly great game, you should have both. Not everything has to look like Uncharted or play like Super Mario 3, but the truly classic games should push the envelope in both areas.
It's why hardcore gamers were the first people to call the Wii out and to stop buying software for it.
Fun will only get you so far and graphics will, too. You have to have both, otherwise you might as well just buy a used NES and 800 games for $20...or a $6,000 water-cooled hex-core PC with 8 monitors.
Click to expand...

The games that are that good are very rare. Legendary. Then there are those like Far Cry, Call of Duty, etc. that are what they are because of the experience and the graphics.

Wii has a lot of great games, I'll give it that, but it hits a wall when it comes to graphics and sound. I'm a grown up now, and while I may sound shallow: graphics and sound matter. It matters a lot now, really.
 
Nintendo has Mario and Zelda.......They will be fine.....For ever.


On top of Mario and Zelda they have the handheld market.
 
stevedave said:
Nintendo has Mario and Zelda.......They will be fine.....For ever.


On top of Mario and Zelda they have the handheld market.
Click to expand...

Nintendo has always done very good with their own games, but they need to have third party developers sign on and create good content to make it successful.
 
stevedave said:
On top of Mario and Zelda they have the handheld market.
Click to expand...

For now.

There will come a point where people realize buying portable gaming consoles and paying $40+ for games is really not worth it when they can pull a lot of decent games on their smartphone for free or no more than a buck or two.

Smartphone games are getting better, meanwhile Nintendo's still largely churning out the same portable console drivel that they always have. There's only so many bells and whistles they can try to entice people with before people just get sick of playing the same characters over and over and over and over and over again.

Nintendo doesn't seem to think they're in any danger, just because the Wii sales have been what they were. Anyone with a keen eye will realize that it's very hard for lightning to strike twice especially considering what they're offering with the Wii U vs continuing to use the same Wii all those casual gamers already have (or buying a used Wii dirt cheap), not to mention the cheap cost of a new 360 or Ps3 nowadays with decent libraries to boot on either choice, plus the 1-2 year gap until they release their own new consoles that will surely make Nintendo the holder of the weakest hardware...again, as always. It's clear Nintendo doesn't give a shit about gamers anymore, all they care about is the buck. I'm not saying MS or Sony is not in it to make money, because clearly they are - however they also keep their ears to the ground and largely have given gamers what we've wanted. HD graphics, online play, GOOD online features. They put that stuff in their consoles and in their games. Nintendo meanwhile just cares about putting together the cheapest hardware they can, they don't care whether it meets anyone's "minimum" specifications, so long as those dollars keep coming in. Eventually more people will start to turn on Nintendo unless Nintendo decides to actually do innovating that people care about, instead of pulling out innovative ideas that are neat ideas but not necessarily GOOD GAME IDEAS. Until that day comes (and I doubt it's going to happen anytime soon), I could give less than a shit about Nintendo.
 
Last edited:
they probably keep friend codes so they don't have to worry about policing user name and what not to make it family friendly for the snowflakes. Nintendo has always been about the snowflakes.
 
IMHO, Nintendo needs to just stop with the hardware entirely (outside of the portable realm which they seem to be dominating in for the most part) and make their games for other systems. Enough's enough with this Wii/Wii U crap. I admit I bought a Wii, and it was fun...for about a month. I've barely touched it since, other than to play a little bit of Wii Sports with friends or something. That is not a good investment and it doesn't hold a candle to any other game system, unless you are purely a casual/family gamer.

Nintendo makes awesome first-party IPs and games, but their hardware has been a problem for a long, long time now.

I know they are banking on diehard Nintendo fans to buy the hardware just for the Mario / Zelda / Metroid games, but the number of those people has got to be dwindling. The people who grew up with the originals in that franchise are getting older, and there are so many other games out there that are multi-platform (PC/PS3/360) that it seems silly to buy a $200+ console just for a few games.

For instance, I would really like to play Pikmin 3, but am I going to buy a Wii U for it? I highly doubt it. I've kinda grown up past the point of "OMG NINTENDO GOTTA HAVE IT" and on to "Wow, there are a TON of great games out there that I enjoy, why do I need this one?"
 
MavericK96 said:
IMHO, Nintendo needs to just stop with the hardware entirely (outside of the portable realm which they seem to be dominating in for the most part) and make their games for other systems. Enough's enough with this Wii/Wii U crap. I admit I bought a Wii, and it was fun...for about a month. I've barely touched it since, other than to play a little bit of Wii Sports with friends or something. That is not a good investment and it doesn't hold a candle to any other game system, unless you are purely a casual/family gamer.

Nintendo makes awesome first-party IPs and games, but their hardware has been a problem for a long, long time now.

I know they are banking on diehard Nintendo fans to buy the hardware just for the Mario / Zelda / Metroid games, but the number of those people has got to be dwindling. The people who grew up with the originals in that franchise are getting older, and there are so many other games out there that are multi-platform (PC/PS3/360) that it seems silly to buy a $200+ console just for a few games.

For instance, I would really like to play Pikmin 3, but am I going to buy a Wii U for it? I highly doubt it. I've kinda grown up past the point of "OMG NINTENDO GOTTA HAVE IT" and on to "Wow, there are a TON of great games out there that I enjoy, why do I need this one?"
Click to expand...

Another part of the problem is that I think lots of people ended up in the same boat with the Wii, bought one, used it for a little bit and left it to gather dust. So I suspect a lot of people will just pass on the Wii-U for that reason and the fact that it doesn't seem very well hyped. The Wii was ALL over the place but I don't see shit on the Wii-u anywhere.

i agree with you on the mobile part, Nintendo should stick to that, they have ruled that realm since the Gameboy but they have WAY to much pride to start giving up Mario/Zelda/Etc to the other consoles but I feel they could excel by doing so.

Look at Sega, they dropped hardware for software only but, honestly, it hurt them by not having good IPs, Nintendo has the names and plenty of them.
 
I think because of Nintendo's lack of "ambition", im gonna skip them again this generation.
 
Ticker305 said:
Wii U has destined to fail written all over its face. They can't even make a profit from the success of the Wii and their handheld games are in serious jeopardy with the recent emergence of pads and smart phones, it's almost inevitable they share Sega's fate at this point. The U just doesn't share the same mainstream casual appeal and now Microsoft seems to making inroads with the Kinnect and V2 will be the death blow when casual gamers realize that will be the best overall bargain and with much better graphics and 3rd party support. Wii U is meh in every category and the competition is just too thick this go around. I mean the system can't even support two GamePad controllers at once, because supposedly having two GamePad controllers cuts the frame rate in half due to the extra work it requires synchronizing with more touch screens lol FAIL

It pains me to say it, but all good things come to an end and Nintendo had a good run and holds a special place in my heart for all the childhood memories. Hopefully they become a good third party developer, unlike Sega, if they decide to go that route when the sinking ship they are on slowly gurgles down to the bottom in the next 2 years.
Click to expand...

Kinda balance out some. Sony and MS took a huge profit loss at the beginning couple years of this generation. While nintendo did fine. Im sure they going ot be fine. They made it thru with n64 and gamecube. Though i wonder if the market still isnt big enough for 3 console makers..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top