Wii Wifi to use Friends Codes

[EternalGamer]

From an article (http://revolution.ign.com/articles/707/707865p1.html) on IGN:

IGN Wii: What is your plan for the Wi-Fi Connection and how might it compare to Xbox Live?

Takahashi Tezuka: Well, the Wii Wi-Fi Connection works the same as the Nintendo DS one. It's the three qualities that we emphasize. It's easy, safe and free.

IGN Wii: Will it have a central interface a la Live that all games will interact with, or will it be different on a game-by-game basis?

Tezuka: It'll be just like the DS so the interface will depend on the software.

IGN Wii: Will Wi-Fi Connection on Wii also use a Friends Code system?

Tezuka: Yes.

Well, so it will be a huge pain in the ass, but at least it will be a free pain in the ass...

[Evil Avatar]

Oh good. Now Wii got friends. The return of the Wii friend codes thread!

[NELS]

Damnit....

[Serapth]

Why Nintendo, why??? They want to appeal to casual gamers, but they make linking up in Casual games something that only diehards would do?!??!?!

[EternalGamer]

It's obviously due to their fear of child predators. But I don't know why they just don't make an "adult" setting" that is optional that you can turn on and let you play with anyone. They could easly use some type of age verificiation software for those that didn't want the hassel of exchanging codes.

[jeffbax]

FUCK THAT SHIT.

Way to fuck it up Nintendo.

I have a DS and friend codes suck balls.

[Serapth]

It's obviously due to their fear of child predators. But I don't know why they just don't make an "adult" setting" that is optional that you can turn on and let you play with anyone. They could easly use some type of age verificiation software for those that didn't want the hassel of exchanging codes.

I understand the argument, but in a way, it doesnt work. Adding a double blind makes it easier for child predators. Hiding behind a code, behind a name, behind an internet connection makes it easier for these sick fucks.

[Wedge]

Why Nintendo, why??? They want to appeal to casual gamers, but they make linking up in Casual games something that only diehards would do?!??!?!

It seems as if Nintendo are extremely afraid of random molestors chatting up children on their system, or something like that. That is at least the rationale I heard for the DS's use of friend codes.

If this is the case they could've just added some features to their parental lock system. For example: Nobody exept pre-approved players can contact my child while playing.

Or something.

[jBusy]

Why Nintendo, why??? They want to appeal to casual gamers, but they make linking up in Casual games something that only diehards would do?!??!?!

They are very afraid of a news story showing up saying how a kid met a sexual predator through their service. Looking at this ABC story (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=special_coverage&id=3905371), (which is completelly off the wall) you can tell the media is just waiting for a such a thing to happen.

[EvilBob46]

What they should do:'

Offer Public games using a server browser where chat and custom logos are disabled to keep away child predators.

Enable chatting and logos for Private "Friends" games so people who desire the above features can enjoy them with people they know.

[Phanto]

I really hope that games such as CoD 3 that is coming for Wii and the other 2 consoles, can have a very nice multiplayer interface or should i said communication, well time will tell, I only wish It can be very nice... :)

[mkelehan]

Well, so it will be a huge pain in the ass, but at least it will be a free pain in the ass...I'm happy paying MS my $50/year to not have to deal with that.

[GunnyMo]

C'mon, who plays Nintendo games for multiplayer besides SSB? Seriously. Friend codes do suck, though.

I seriously doubt child predators are what they are afraid of. As an adult I am more afraid of the children playing on Live than anyone else. The Japanese love to take incredibly simple things, like online, and make it insanely complicated. This is another example. In the four/five years of XB Live has there been huge amounts of "predators" taking out children? Nope. That alone should let them know it works. "But more kids play the Nintendo systems, Gunny!" Yeah right Have you been on XB Live lately? Finding a game without irritating little kids takes a lot of doing.

Way to wimp out, Nintendo. However, this is a very small nick in their inpenetrable Wii armor for me. I wasn't planning on buying the system for its online capabilities other than downloading classic games.

[codswallop]

What an awful, awful way to go about it.

They mentioned earlier that each remote has a profile in the console -- if each REMOTE had a friend code, then I can see that working really well. Per game though? Screw that.

[UglyPimp]

Friend codes are one of the stupidest, most arcane online buddy systems I've ever used. They're awful, unintuitive and an absolute pain-in-the-ass to setup. Horrible, horrible idea. Not that it's going to prevent me buying a Wii, but please, it couldn't be worse.

[Bydo_Empire]

You should have one central friends list you can enable or disable for any particular game. Same "protection" less pain in the ass. That would be so much nicer. And while this definitely sucks, it's not really a killer as online gaming isn't why I'm buying a Wii.

[NELS]

They mentioned earlier that each remote has a profile in the console -- if each REMOTE had a friend code, then I can see that working really well.

Ooh, now thats a good idea.

[peeweejd]

can someone explain how these friend codes work? i have no DS. I've seen them, they are like numbers, but you have a different code for each game (hence a different friend list for each game)?

[Abash Alarmist]

The only way to play online is if you had each person's Friend Code. And if they had yours. Thats it. No public area where you can meet people, but instead have to manually type in their friend code to play with the people.

[31 Flavas]

can someone explain how these friend codes work? i have no DS. I've seen them, they are like numbers, but you have a different code for each game (hence a different friend list for each game)?Edit: I should add matchmaking is otherwise done the game. You chose the game play mode and the game finds you opponets. Friend Codes only come in if you want to play one on one against friends.

Friend Codes are the same as Xbox "GamerTags". It's just that Friend Codes are specific to each game. So your Mario Kart has its own FC. Tetris DS has its own FC. And Metroid Hunters has its own friend code.

Nintendo does not allow exchanging of Friend Codes in-game, unlike "GamerTags", and mandates that the two of you person to person exchange the codes instead. (over AIM, email, or whatever)

In Metroid Prime Hunters, VoIP is only enabled for Friends. It can not be enabled for random matchups or 'Rivals'.

[DoubleUranium]

This is barely an improvement over exchanging IP addresses. We love multiplayer, we'll just make it a huge pain in the ass for you to ever use it.

[31 Flavas]

The only way to play online is if you had each person's Friend Code. And if they had yours. Thats it. No public area where you can meet people, but instead have to manually type in their friend code to play with the people.You're right, there is no chatting lobby in any of the games. You don't need one. The video game matches you with opponets on its own. You just choose the mode of game play.

Friend codes only come into play if specific friends want to play togther by themselves.

[[VSK]BadCRC]

Nintendo does not allow exchanging of Friend Codes in-game, unlike "GamerTags", and mandates that the two of you person to person exchange the codes instead. (over AIM, email, or whatever)


Well, if I'm not mistaken, and sadly I have this game but am not 100% positive, but I believe Metroid Prime Hunters has changed that just a little bit. The game allows you to add players that you've just played against (following the match) to your friends/rivals list. So you can quickly and easily add someone to your contact list once you've played against them.

And really, why is this so wildly different from what Microsoft already does on Live? If you look at it, it serves the same function. You can either mix-and-match with random players on a global or national level, which it picks players that are close to your skill. Then if you find a player of interest, or you wish to add one of your real life friends, you can add their friend code.

Now the only downsides, of course, is that when you get a new game, presumeably that Nintendo does not keep a single friends code or identify you based on your own personalized controller, then you have to continually share the additional codes to friends. Without knowing Nintendo's specific plans for Wii, it's hard to say one way or the other.

If it's like the DS in every respect, then this can become frustrating - but I think it's important to note that Nintendo's platform is software controlled, so they can change this contact method. Otherwise if they use the controller or otherwise store a singular friends code on the Wii then this doesn't bother me that much. Presueably on the Wii, we'll have more friends codes slots, so we can continue to add additional people regularly to keep our friends list well stocked and up to date.

[bapenguin]

Hello...welcome to 2006. In 2006 we have friends list. Use them please.

[31 Flavas]

BadCRC']Well, if I'm not mistaken, and sadly I have this game but am not 100% positive, but I believe Metroid Prime Hunters has changed that just a little bit. The game allows you to add players that you've just played against (following the match) to your friends/rivals list. So you can quickly and easily add someone to your contact list once you've played against them.Right, but these are called 'Rivals'. You've mutually agreed that the two of you want to play again, but Nintendo will not allow the relationship between you two to advance any further then that.

"Friends" are people you have physically sawpped codes with. You either already know the other person or have talked with them enough to be ok with them.

Friends and Rivals can play and meet and mingle togther in the games lobby, but only friends have VoIP enabled.

And really, why is this so wildly different from what Microsoft already does on Live?Well information exchange, and all that stuff. Microsoft has no problem with it, because the North American and European/Oceanianic areas have no problem with it. Nintendo has a problem with it because Japanese people have a problem with it. So if anything, blame the Japanese ;)

Presueably on the Wii, we'll have more friends codes slots, so we can continue to add additional people regularly to keep our friends list well stocked and up to date.Maybe, i'm asking the wrong person, but do you know how many friend slots Live! allows?

[Kagger]

Did anyone look over that article? The story is bashing Wifi Connection, and then goes on to talk about Pictochat. That means the man was within 30 feet of her, has nothing do with online. Great freaking journalism.


The bad part of friend codes is you can't meet a new player through the game. If I'm playing with a guy, I can't add him because of friend codes. I have no way to get him mine and vice versa. Other than that it's not a huge problem.

[eeje13]

TECHNICALLY, it doesn't specify if it's one Friend Code per game, or one Friend Code per system, so the possibility exists that instead of a Friend Code for each game, you have one that works for all games.

Also, the Rivals in MPH allows you to add people you just played, but you can't voice chat with them.

[Rirath]

It's screwed up, yes, but as long as I can still play random people without having to have each and every person's friend code, I'm OK with it. And if they disable all VOIP and such on the Wii without codes, it's fine by me. I don't like listening to these fools.

The real and thus only issues for me are simple: Will it have lag, and will the games be stable? -- Live is totally unacceptable as a pay service by my standards. The games I've played like DoA4 have clearly noticeable lag. It's not just me, I see this pointed out quite frequently in reviews, especially of fighting games. I've also seen how unstable some Live games can be.

This also makes me think: With how horribly choked Live Marketplace has been over the last few days, and how slow the demos download... I bet all you Gold users are really seeing the advantage of that $50/yr. Why is it that premium users are every bit as choked as the rest of us? There should at least be fast, Gold only download servers for Marketplace.

[Nessus]

I remember seeing a survey Nintendo put out that asked if a universal friend code across all games might be preferable.

Personally I think if they went that route friend codes would be fine.

[31 Flavas]

Did anyone look over that article? The story is bashing Wifi Connection, and then goes on to talk about Pictochat. That means the man was within 30 feet of her, has nothing do with online. Great freaking journalism.I can't speak for anyone else in the thread, but I read that a long while ago.

The long and short of it was that the reporter had an agenda. The reporter was throughly well informed of all of the safeguards in place. The reporter was told how pico chat works and about its limited range, told about friend codes, and that just 1 friend code will not work, that both sides have to have each others friend code and that that can only be done by physical communication which can not happen though the DS. The article author disregarded all of that information though and wote the article regardless.

The bad part of friend codes is you can't meet a new player through the game. If I'm playing with a guy, I can't add him because of friend codes. I have no way to get him mine and vice versa. Other than that it's not a huge problem.Not to sound like a party pooper, but thats as it should. I mean the whole ABC expose article is written about this ability of Live! to make victims more available to preditors.

[bone_matrix]

DOA4 is bad when it comes to lag. It isn't always crazy lag, but its enough.

COD2 is really good. They fixed up the netcode I think, but it works great. GRAW doesn't have any problems, and UNO kicks ass :)

It may not depend on your connection, but other peoples connections. And let me tell you, they think DSL is fast. Which explains some of the lag. :D

[Kelegacy]

I guess this is okay with me. Not the easiest way to do it, but yes, it's free. It means I will have to go out of my way to snag friend codes with each game, though.

I'll walk three hours in the rain if it will save me a quarter. I'm cheap. People at work think I horde my money. It's true, but I am saving for the Wii 2040 version, so I can play it when I retire comfortably.

[CapnBob]

If they can swing one code per person that is then usable across all titles, then I won't complain about friend codes. Since the games are discs without their own internal memory, I see no reason NOT to do this. One code per game would just be needless hassle.

[dena miscreant]

I saw this coming and it's just as horrible as I expected it to be. I think it's a huge mistake for Nintendo to make the same mistake Sony did with the PS2 and they themselves did worse with the Gamecube (because they already knew Sony messed the Network Adapter up). GameCube should have been online and had a network like LiVE from the start. PS2 should have released such a network with the adapter.

It's a huge mistake for Nintendo to make this mistake again. LiVE is awesome. Nintendo should have something to compete with it. Sony's service, although basically a copycat, is exactly what all the systems need for the best online experience.

I don't have Hunters so it's good to hear that the system is at least slightly improved over other DS games. But isn't that still how PS2 games work? With the exception of FFXI.

Being able to exchange voicemails is great. Being able to see what games your friends are playing is great. Being able to join their games quickly and easily is great. I'm with bap.

[dena miscreant]

DOA4 is bad when it comes to lag...
GRAW doesn't have any problems...

GRAW's problems are few, but major: No look sensitivity option, you can't return to the search screen when you exit a games' lobby that you don't want to play in, and I should be able to invite friends to ranked matches. The search itself also takes FOREVER. I should be able to see all the games being played in a certain region in any mode and list them by speed, name, or amount of players. A simple update could fix all these problems.

[dena miscreant]

C'mon, who plays Nintendo games for multiplayer besides SSB? Seriously. Friend codes do suck, though.

I seriously doubt child predators are what they are afraid of. As an adult I am more afraid of the children playing on Live than anyone else. The Japanese love to take incredibly simple things, like online, and make it insanely complicated. This is another example. In the four/five years of XB Live has there been huge amounts of "predators" taking out children? Nope. That alone should let them know it works. "But more kids play the Nintendo systems, Gunny!" Yeah right Have you been on XB Live lately? Finding a game without irritating little kids takes a lot of doing.

Way to wimp out, Nintendo. However, this is a very small nick in their inpenetrable Wii armor for me. I wasn't planning on buying the system for its online capabilities other than downloading classic games.

Personally, I played multiplayer on GameCube WAY more than my PS2. Mario Kart: DD, Def Jam: Fight for NY, TimeSplitters 2, Mario Party (Oh, god, the drinking games....), NBA Street Vol. 3, Mortal Kombat: Deception, Soul Calibur II, Ikaruga, Extreme G-3, F-Zero: GX, and a few others come to mind...

All of them are excellent on the cube. Mario Party versions are a little to often released and unoriginal, however.

I was hoping there would be age limited Zones on LiVE. Maybe zones dedicated to certain genres or locales. That's a feature I'd like to see on LiVE.

[bone_matrix]

GRAW's problems are few, but major: No look sensitivity option, you can't return to the search screen when you exit a games' lobby that you don't want to play in, and I should be able to invite friends to ranked matches. The search itself also takes FOREVER. I should be able to see all the games being played in a certain region in any mode and list them by speed, name, or amount of players. A simple update could fix all these problems.


I was just talking about lag when I mentioned GRAW. But I do know one thing:

You cant invite friends into ANY ranked games in ANY game on Xbox Live. They don't want people trying to increase their trueskill ranking, like they do with Halo 2 (well, Halo 2 isn't a trueskill ranking, but you get my drift).

You want friends? That is what player match is for.

[dena miscreant]

But it takes soooo long to get people to join games sometimes...

[dena miscreant]

I should be able to invite people of a certain rank.

[Lord Dongkey]

Meh, I'm take it or leave it. Honestly, I'm more concerned that my opponents and I are low ping/lag and roughly evenly matched in skill rather than establishing some giant list of friends I game with.

And yes, I realize it's pimp and all on Live. But that's why I have MMO's. *shrug*

[Feltoar]

I dont get everybodies beef with the friend codes. You swap it the same way you would a friend code. It requires no extra effort over what Live provides. What is missing, at least from the games I own, is cross game abilities (like invites) and online friends list (also cross game). Those are the real problems. Punching in a code both ends is laughably simple.

[[VSK]BadCRC]

It requires no extra effort over what Live provides.

Except everytime you buy a new Live! enabled game you don't have to register that game to your console onto the online service, wait for a friends code (which is different for each game), then re-add all those friends you want/can play with all over again.

[Feltoar]

BadCRC']Except everytime you buy a new Live! enabled game you don't have to register that game to your console onto the online service, wait for a friends code (which is different for each game), then re-add all those friends you want/can play with all over again.

Oops, forgot about that. Consider yourself lucky, in Australia we cant link our DS with WFC at all!

[Sl1pstream]

Meh, this is the reason I don't play much DS online. This system is fine for games like Animal Crossing, where there's a lot of communication and where you want to keep people out of your village. When I want to play a FPS, I don't need this, I want to play people and when I like those people, I'd like to add them to my friendslist. There's no way you're going to meet new people this way and this also means that it's near impossible to implement a decent clan-system.

Meh, Nintendo Connect 24 + Ventrillo/Teamspeak ftw?

[codswallop]

Consider yourself lucky, in Australia we cant link our DS with WFC at all!
You have no idea what you're talking about. I've played Mario Kart DS with people from all over the world and I live in Australia.

[if76]

Thanks nintendo for giving me a controller that can play fps's and rts's the way they're meant to be played and then making it virtually impossible to play them online.

[dena miscreant]

Almost. FPS needs the Gun shell attachment to connect to the nunchaku to enable the wii-mote and two analogs at the same time, easily.

Also, the argument is certainly not about the actual codes... You, yourself, said the reasons, Feltoar.

[31 Flavas]

then making it virtually impossible to play them online.Because its so virtually impossible to tap the "Find Game" button in MPH. You'll have the same find game button in your Wii FPS games.

[Feltoar]

You have no idea what you're talking about. I've played Mario Kart DS with people from all over the world and I live in Australia.

Yea man, clearly I have no idea. Look at www.nintendowifi.com.au, you will notice there is no way to connect your DS to the WFC website.

[peeweejd]

Maybe, i'm asking the wrong person, but do you know how many friend slots Live! allows?

It's at least 100. I have 98 friends on my list.

The friends system on Xbox live is Killer. Here is some more information about friends lists on Live that you may or may not know.

The process for adding someone to your friends list is like this. You send a request to a person. They can either accept, deny or block furhter communications.

If someone remove you from their friends list, they automatically get removed from your friends list. It's a mutual agrement kind of thing.

The friends list in live is the same in every game. People do not have different online names like on PC and PS2.

On the 360 you can access your friends list from inside of any game by hitting the silver guide button on the controller. It automatically pauses your game (if possible) and overlays a little menu on top of the game. When you view your friends list, it shows the following: Online/Offline. If they are Busy, Away or Available. It also shows their "Gamerscore" and what they are doing (what game playing, watching a dvd). You can select a person from your list and get more detailed info.

Plus on the 360 you have a "players" list which shows the last XX players you played with and allows you to send them friend requests and or give them a review for their reputation.

You can view your friends list online from any computer and add/remove gamertags through a web browser. It's great because you don't have to type them in again. You can also send text messages through the website.

It's really slick.

[Chameleo]

hell of a lot better than it was when i used it at the live! launch. i used it for about a year then stopped... wasn't that great. the people i met through games were all shitcocks (see penny-arcade).

[AniAko]

I doubt ANY of you have played Metroid Hunters on the DS.

The game built in the features you guys want. It has a rivals listing, and you can set it to play people of a certain rank, and random people from around the world. (Rumble Pit much?) Although this is nothing close to what Live provides it IS possible the developers just have to make the game utilize those features. What I want is a way to upgrade a "rival" to a friend. Like I can send a request, and the next time he logs on if he agrees we automatically exchange friend codes. That will make life much easier