Nintendo Wii's pitiful online gaming service

[SandEagle]

http://www.slate.com/id/2187562/pagenum/all/#page_start


wow, someone needs to get with the program here:


"
Nintendo's overpolicing even extends to protecting players' self-esteem. In an online interview, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata explained that the Wii's online service doesn't have a leader board because he didn't want less-skilled players to feel bad: "Those in the top five might feel pretty good about themselves, but what happens if you're number 15,398 in the rankings?" My guess: You'd try to move up to 15,397, and you certainly wouldn't unplug your Wii and run away crying.

"

 

[AstroManLuca]

Actually, I agree with him (the author of the article, that is). The Wii's online service is so badly crippled that it's hardly worth mentioning at all. Of course, it doesn't help that most of the article is an ad for Xbox Live, but it only took one game of online Brawl for me to never even attempt it again. It was actually the lag that did it. And that's bad, because apparently Nintendo can't even figure out how to get the basic game mechanics right, much less attempt to let gamers build a community.

I like my Wii but it is strictly an offline console. My PC is where I go for online gaming.

 

[Aikouka]

Run away crying because you're not the best? Wow.... I know I'm a sore loser sometimes, but I just throw my controller instead of crying like a girly man (note that I don't really throw my controller for only going up one ranking).

 

[Queasy]

Yes, I was ready to slit my wrists when I couldn't get in the top 1,000 on the PGR3 leaderboards. :roll:

 

[mugs]

Hah... yeah, I'm nowhere near the top of any leaderboard, but I really don't care. I don't spend nearly as much time playing as a college kid can, and I just don't have the natural abilities that some people have. I'll survive.

Compared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

 

[randomlinh]

Yup, the wii online aspect is a total joke. I love the system, but they dropped the ball again. I really don't understand why they can't get something working right. The whole friend code thing was a ridiculous idea to begin with. I hope the next "wii" and "ds" will bring about something decent and unified, but that is far too optimistic most likely.

And yes, I know it costs money to develop and maintain a system, but they could have had SOMETHING a little better than this friend code insanity.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
And yes, I know it costs money to develop and maintain a system, but they could have had SOMETHING a little better than this friend code insanity.

It's for teh childrens.

The funny thing is, I actually recommended to my sister this weekend that she get her son a Wii for his birthday when she asked about the 360 vs the Wii. For starters, he'll be turning 5. Secondly, they don't own a HDTV and the 360 does not look great on a SDTV. In this case the Wii would be perfect for him.

I'd love for him to get a 360 though so my son would have someone to play with and talk to online.

 

[erwos]

If they had VoIP, or even text chat, it'd be tolerable. But they don't, and that completely kills the social aspect of playing with your friends. Playing Smash in dead silence (voice-wise) is just sad, even against friends and family.

Another thing that bugs me is the lack of "always-on" presence. If I'm playing some SSE, why can't my sister send me an in-game message that she wants to do a network game?

Don't even get me started on the per-game Friend Code insanity. Who the hell came up with that?

 

[Baked]

Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

 

[SandEagle]

I think they should remove this option altogether. If a buddy of mine dropped his connection, I'd like to know...instead of sending text messages to a bot....

"The Wii's With Anyone mode is designed to be so anonymous that if one player's Internet connection fails, the computer will take over and none of the other players will notice. Brawl's official Web site cheerfully describes this as a special feature. If the goal is to play against an army of automatons, why bother having an online mode at all?"

 

[Blayze]

The only game I've even played online with the Wii is Brawl and it was disappointing. I really enjoy the console, and Brawl, but the online mode is pretty bad. It takes forever to connect to a random match, and then you have to deal with the lag.

 

[randay]

One step forwards, two steps back.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: rrahman1
I think they should remove this option altogether. If a buddy of mine dropped his connection, I'd like to know...instead of sending text messages to a bot....

"The Wii's With Anyone mode is designed to be so anonymous that if one player's Internet connection fails, the computer will take over and none of the other players will notice. Brawl's official Web site cheerfully describes this as a special feature. If the goal is to play against an army of automatons, why bother having an online mode at all?"

That actually sounds like a great feature; your issue is really with the lack of voice chat. I'd love it if in team games any player who drops was replaced by a bot of comparable "skill." I hate playing a game of Halo where one or two guys drop off within the first two minutes because they don't like the way the game is going. That seems to happen a lot more in social playlists than ranked lists.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Baked
Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

:thumbsup:

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Baked
Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

:thumbsup:

:laugh:

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: randomlinh
And yes, I know it costs money to develop and maintain a system, but they could have had SOMETHING a little better than this friend code insanity.

It's for teh childrens.

The funny thing is, I actually recommended to my sister this weekend that she get her son a Wii for his birthday when she asked about the 360 vs the Wii. For starters, he'll be turning 5. Secondly, they don't own a HDTV and the 360 does not look great on a SDTV. In this case the Wii would be perfect for him.

I'd love for him to get a 360 though so my son would have someone to play with and talk to online.

They can still accomplish limitations via the damn wii codes. Then do parental supervision controls on a whitelist basis.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: mugsCompared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

Just one? I mean, the only online service that the Wii has a leg up on is XBand.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Baked
Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

Blah blah, stand in your living room waving your arm around like a madman while bowling with a legless caricature or playing your 1,000th mini-game since buying your Wii. Some of us would rather go without a console for a month once every year rather than playing a silent online game with digit friend codes on a rebadged Gamecube while mommy Nintendo protects us from the online Smash predators.

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: mugsCompared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

Just one? I mean, the only online service that the Wii has a leg up on is XBand.

Dreamcast's service was even better - and that was on 56k.

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: Auryg

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: mugsCompared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

Just one? I mean, the only online service that the Wii has a leg up on is XBand.

Dreamcast's service was even better - and that was on 56k.

honest question, i forget, why did dreamcast fail and sega exit the console business?

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: Auryg

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: mugsCompared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

Just one? I mean, the only online service that the Wii has a leg up on is XBand.

Dreamcast's service was even better - and that was on 56k.

honest question, i forget, why did dreamcast fail and sega exit the console business?

no software support I think, at least for mainstream. And terrible advertising. One might also argue the ability to copy games so easily helped too.

 

[bearxor]

Sega had a hard time securing third-party licenses. EA refused to support the machine altogether and threw their weight in with the PS2. Marketing was probably a problem. I don't think Sega knew how to pitch the Dreamcast to audiences in the U.S. and with EA backing the PS2 with all of their big games it was hard for Sega to make any headway once the PS2 was released. You might also argue that the PS2 played DVD's and people saw that as a value-add, similar to the PS3 and Blu-Ray.

It's sad because the DC was a great machine.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: Auryg

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: mugsCompared to Xbox Live, I've been pretty disappointed by the Wii's online features. They're a generation behind on their online stuff.

Just one? I mean, the only online service that the Wii has a leg up on is XBand.

Dreamcast's service was even better - and that was on 56k.

honest question, i forget, why did dreamcast fail and sega exit the console business?

no software support I think, at least for mainstream. And terrible advertising. One might also argue the ability to copy games so easily helped too.

And ultimately, money. Sega was still cash-strapped from their previous console. They didn't have the money to sustain their business, much less advertise. Sega decided to focus on software but was eventually bought by Sammy.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Baked
Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

Blah blah, stand in your living room waving your arm around like a madman while bowling with a legless caricature or playing your 1,000th mini-game since buying your Wii. Some of us would rather go without a console every other month every year rather than playing a silent online game with digit friend codes on a rebadged Gamecube while mommy Nintendo protects us from the online Smash predators.

Fixed.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Baked
Blah blah, just go play Xbox and hope it doesn't break down on you for the 5th time.

Blah blah, stand in your living room waving your arm around like a madman while bowling with a legless caricature or playing your 1,000th mini-game since buying your Wii. Some of us would rather go without a console for a month once every year rather than playing a silent online game with digit friend codes on a rebadged Gamecube while mommy Nintendo protects us from the online Smash predators.

Fixed.

Yet another Nintendo fanboy hopping on the 360-hating bandwagon who does not know jack shit about anything. I often wonder what your kind would peg on the 360 had it not been for hardware problems.