What I don't like about the Nintendo Wii's online functionality

Written by Dan Zuccarelli

Friday, 01 December 2006 04:45

Overall I must say I'm damn happy with the Wii. Wii sports is a good time, Rayman kicks ass, and creating the little Mii characters has been more fun than I should really admit to. On top of all that, the prospect of playing classic games from the NES, SNES, Genesis, TG-16 and more has me more than a little excited. But alot of that excitement came crashing back down to earth after getting some time with the system.

First and foremost, the virtual console. Now lots of us were initially excited about playing some old school classics, but navigating the virtual console is almost enough to get me not to care. It doesn't save my credit card info so I'm re-inputting my card number and billing address each time (and as functional as the Wiimote is, using it to type is not it's strong suit). If you make it difficult for people to give you money, that's a flaw in design. Now once you've converted your dollars into "points" the real headaches start.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the points system is the fact that you can only buy them in blocks of 1000. But the games cost 500, 600, 800 and 1000 points, so you're almost always going to have points left over, but not enough to buy another game. So you're going to have to buy MORE points to use the ones you've already paid for. It's like a store keeping your change for the next time you go shopping.

And speaking of the "points", is 8 dollars really a good deal for a Genesis game? Or 6 for a TG-16 game? Because along with the game you get a nice package of DRM that keeps you from taking the game to your friends house to play it. And you can't lend it out, or trade it in, or sell it later on. It's a one way street. Not to mention the fact that you could get the used genesis cart or TG-16 card for less money more than likely. Or one of those retro discs that has 40 games on it for 20 bucks, like the Midway or Capcom collections.

The virtual console is a solid IDEA, but as of now it's too flawed in it's execution to be worthwhile.

Keep reading, I have more complaints.

Secondly, is there any possible system you could come up with that would make it any harder to find friends online? This has got to be THE worst part of Nintendo's online "strategy." When it's difficult to get it working between 2 people when they're on the phone at the same time, that's a flaw in design. A 12 digit number??? I understand the rationale (child predators are bad) but my god what a horrible system. Hey Nintendo, see Xbox Live for how to do online right

Lastly, where the hell are the Weather and News channels? I actually don't even care about these things, but everytime I boot up my system, they're there. Yet they don't do anything. How can something like that just not be ready. And if it's not ready, why are they displayed? It's an insult to put it there just to say "coming soon". Am I supposed to be excited? Wet with anticipation? It's the weather! There are much easier ways for me to check the weather so I honestly don't care if it ever starts working, but Nintendo obviously cares enough to build it in. So make it work already.

All of these complaints of course are trumped by not being able to get it to connect in the 1st place. Since Nintendo's Wi-Fi usb adaptor doesn't work with Macs and has caused havok with friends PC's that have used it.

Comments (4) Add Comment

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written by jimmycanuck, December 01, 2006

Getting the little white box online can be a nightmare. It took me a good 5 hours of fiddling before I discovered I needed to set my router's channel to 1 before the Wii would recognize it.

I definitely share in most of your gripes. The online is just a mess. Why can't I see what my friends are doing online? Why can't I tell if they are even online to begin with?

I could go on and on, but what it really comes down to is this - Nintendo's online strategy is a broken mess. The selection of VC games is poor and overpriced (so for the love of god - don't buy them! It's the only way the prices will ever go down!) The lack of any online-capable games kind of defeats the whole purpose of having an online service. The inability to deliver on Weather, News and Browser at launch is just mind-boggling.

I LOOOOOOOOVE Xbox Live. I love being able to talk to my friends when I'm in game, being able to see what they're doing - I love the achievements system! To me, achievements are the new standard in online gaming. I can't wait for Live Anywhere to kick in - it'll have me playing more PC games ust ot up my gamerscore! The fact that the other companies haven't copied this formula blows my mind.

Here's what I think needs to happen. Nintendo's online service is a first party created nightmare, and Sony's is a third party created let down - competition be damned, bring Microsoft in and bring Live anywhere to Playstation and Wii.

Never in a million years will it happen, but I can always dream, can't I?

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written by danzuke(NetPhantom), December 01, 2006

How cool would it be to boot up the 360, and see your friend who's playing Wii sports, or that another is watching a blu-ray movie on his PS3. Keep the dream alive, jimmy.

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written by Harpua Scorpio, December 01, 2006

Xbox Live is a wonderful system. As I've told a couple friends who have recently bought a 360 "If you don't have Xbox Live you're missing most of the experience of owning the console". Live even beats out PCs for online goodness. Xfire is trying to be the Live of the PC world but once Anywhere kicks in, it's over.

I, for one, welcome our Xbox Live overlords.

Nintendo is making an effort with the Wii, which is much more than they did with the poor little Cube, but both Sony and Nintendo have a long way to go. Throw the "free" argument at me all you want. I've paid my $50 a year every year since XBL's been around and I plan to keep doing so. You can see where the money goes.

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written by B, December 02, 2006

Jimmy, what's your gamertag? Mines B mizzy. Feel free to add me. Unfortunately, I can't get my Wii to connect. I got it to connect and do the update, but after that it won't connect. PS3's online service is so basic and thin. It makes me wonder if they'll ever update it. And like you said Harpua, the free online doesn't compare to the monolith that is Xbox Live. I don't even use Live that much. I play online only with Greshkov, and I download demos and some tv shows, but the way that it works is so impressive, it only makes sense that Sony and Nintendo would copy it but whatever, Live will continue to own them all.