For those who want an easier way to find friends in Brawl check out SmashBrawlRankings.com
They have their own online leader board and chat room.

PrayerPolice

@Huxle: Meh. Wii is associated with all types of gamers, young or old. You can nay say all you want, it is a great system. The average Wii owner owns another console for their "hardcore gaming needs," but they always come back to the Wii when they have friends over. Why? Because playing almost any game on the system while intoxicated is a better experience with the Wii-mote than with the standard Xbox/Playstation controller.

Nintendo Wii: A drunk's best friend.

Vlox

Strange. I usually incorporate the word "Wii" with "little kids", "super-milked, overrated 1st party games, and "any game not made by Nintendo on this console usually sucks".

Oh yeah "console with the largest amount of the lowest rated games" comes to mind, too.

Huxle

Who actually plays Wii? I've seen people break it out and play it like once and all my friends actively play games. Wii is like a board game, but that is why it is genius. Just like everyone has Monopoly, everyone has Wii.

R.O.

Has Nintendo ever come out with a statement saying "We designed these Friend Codes for the explicit purpose of protecting Wii-playing children from potential internet predators" or is this all the interpretation of analysis, game bloggers and pissed-off "hardcore" gamers? There is a method to this madness, even if angsty teen gamers or pissed-off harcore older gamers can't play Brawl as easily.

The internet DOES have these problems, and while gaming online via Wii, or Live or PSN isn't quite AOL IM or IRC chat rooms, the potential is there for trouble. Otherwise, why would Microsoft employ the Live Police that Kotaku mentioned earlier this week if not to prevent abuse?

This is simply Nintendo company policy. Get over it. Go play Live or PSN, or PC games if you want to engage in ridiculous trashtalking or pick up the phone or get on Skype to coordinate online play. Nintendo has made the calculated risk-management decision to make online play restrictive.

StrikerGold

I think offering a different version of the Wii is a good idea if you think the simplicity of a single SKU has NOTHING to do with it's success. I'm not sure how much it has helped, but it has helped.

KypFox

I remember when everyone thought that the Wii having its own friend code would mean no more game friend codes.

Also, why do we have the option of naming the Wii? Why can't this be used as a username for online?

Ryumeka

Voice chat + children do not go together from most parents experience. I don't care about that, but it would be nice if you could use your Wii browser to click in Friend codes from, say, a message board.

DrFresh

@Kenofthedead:
To make it more confusing some friend codes are game based, like with Battalion Wars where each game has a separate friend code and some codes are console based as with Metroid Prime or Brawl.

M.A.S.

Lets just face the facts that the Japanese hardware manufacturers don't seem to get online play. Sony has not gotten it right either and based on the quotes that we read from Phil Harrison two weeks ago about social and community. He had to drag the the Japanese execs kicking and screaming just to get Sony to the point that it is at today. Microsoft has the advantage of having 20+ years of computer business along with other online properties to help them cultivate the online aspect.

Neither Sony or Nintendo has the previous expertise nor do they operate out of a country that that would apparently benefit heavily from the online aspect of gaming. Just imagine where we might be with online gaming if Microsoft didn't give us Live.

M.A.S.

Aren't Friend Codes more of an online aspect then actual hardware?

Kenofthedead

'Course, multiple consoles would only confuse the consumer and lead to needless chaos. Don't get me wrong, I hate the friend code system too, but there are better solutions than investing more money in a Wii made for adults (Which sounds REALLY wrong, by the by).

Ninja-Z

I think they just need to offer parental controls that lock the system in this way. Thus, instead of to different versions of the console, which would be confusing at retail to say the least, each online game should have a family-friendly online mode and a standard one, which is locked at the system level.

Lokno

Do people really like warm cake that much? I mean, sure it's good with a nice scoop of ice cream and all that, but I wouldn't exactly wake up at 4am to rush out to my local Best Buy for a piece of hot cake. That's just silly. The two are hardly comparable!

Ilchymis

@ServiceMaster: Maybe we could have a usb dongle that could only be bought with ID, and with the dongle the wii wouldn't use friend codes. call it something obvious like "Adult online pass". Parents wouldn't buy that mistakenly. If they did.. Well their kids can probably con them into buying whores for them either, so, no biggie.

Bunn

@snowlock: You would never ever notice whether or not there was lag in Guitar Hero. There probably is horrible lag 99% of the time but it can't possibly affect the gameplay. Ever.

dowingba

Brawl's online sucks. But it's still better than Melee's.

dowingba

@njhardcoreguy:

No, as you're still demonstrating a painfully ignorant view of what "adults" want as what you want.

NeoAkira

I think people underestimate Nintendo here.

I think it's a calculated effort to provide a different type of online environment that a public Xbox-live server type thing.

There are obvious up sides and down sides to it, but I just really don't believe that they are scared of the internet or just don't know what they are doing, really... it's like saying the Wii or DS are just gimmicky...complete underestimation and "not getting it"?

tincow

Instead of getting rid of friend codes completely. Nintendo should replace the 16 digit system code number with a user name that can be used with all online games. Add voice chat with friends only. They can even still make open online games that hide your username unless you are playing with registered friends. This would be a much more functional online system that keeps Nintendo's crappy friend codes and family friendly image.

kirstpo

@TOCATL: and what many upcoming mature titles, name some. In fact name an upcoming title without MARIO IN IT.

Jagzthebest

They're having enough trouble producing enough of hte current model...

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

@Naelok: "The original post is a horrifically dumb idea, but the online system does need some work, mainly in communication."

totally agree with this statement.
just like your post says, the problem is with communicating with wii friends.

not only is another sku of the console a bad idea,
it wouldn't work at all to solve the online issue, as many have pointed out on here.



that being said, smash bros brawl seems laggy less often in friend matches,
but it never completely goes away, and constantly lags with strangers.
if i thought i was hxc, i wouldn't even play online at all because of the lag.

what really sucks is how guitar hero 3 works perfect online, and this game doesn't.
it is harder to find a match in guitar hero, but no lag there.

snowlock

I understand why Nintendo uses them but different ones for every game? I would have been satisfied if the friend codes for the console crossed over to the games. I wouldn't mind trading friend codes with friends and family once, but for every online game?

HavveK

@NeoAkira: Ug. You're right. I'm making an ass of myself. Satisfied?

njhardcoreguy

@SilentPredator: It isn't irrelevant because the Wii SKU without friend codes would be MARKETED towards adults meaning Nintendo would have to modify their marketing campaign. The two topics go hand-in-hand, you are just not making the connection. Videogames are a business, and in this business, Nintendo is taking a different approach than Sony and Microsoft.

I'm tired of this debate.

njhardcoreguy

This may seem like a stupid question, but has anybody submitted/seen a question about the Friend Codes (in essence what crunks proposed, yea or nay) on the Everybody Votes channel? I haven't kept up with looking at it recently, so I may have missed it. If not, we should all submit some variation of that, if it were to win the poll overwhelmingly worldwide (and likely would) there is a marginal change Nintendo might consider it.

Maybe ;)

DaiMacculate

Friend codes are a pain in the ass, they aren't protecting anyone >.> if your not old enough to play online, don't.

-AS

Archaic Stigma

@KamuZ: Thats interesting, what really annoys me is when I get in a game where somebody either doesn't speak english "clearly" or speaks very little it often becomes a target for the racist/ignorant idiots, on either team (I'm thinking of Halo again, ever the scapegoat =P). I find that there is no reason not to be able to play with people who speak other languages, back when it was all text like you said I played with people all over the world with few problems. Its Ironic that now we all have better internet connections, and often it only serves to give the ignorant and bigoted more opportunities to spew their hate and division, driving some off in disgust and others to mute all people anyway, defeating the whole purpose of having the mic in the first place!

Thats why its cool to have places like Kotaku, where such behavior is not tolerated in the slightest. I feel alot more comfortable exchanging friend codes/gamertags/etc with people on here who I read intelligent comments from than I do making friends with XxxPsychoKilla420xxX after a random game of Halo where we were on the same team. Not to say you never meet cool people randomly like that, you do, but its a crapshoot.

DaiMacculate

Why not offer a firmware update that removes it and adds a Steam/Xbox Live esque friend list.

crunks

@Power_Wrist: Why do they have to "step it up"? The Wii is incredibly popular, Nintendo is making a ton of money, and gamers don't seem terribly concerned with the crippled online when deciding to buy. I know I wasn't.

Balius

@njhardcoreguy: You're correct. I did miss the title of the post. I was more concerned with addressing the article the post is about. Whether or not Nintendo makes games for adults is irrelevant to the discussion. The premise here is a Wii SKU that doesn't have friend codes. That's all.

SilentPredator

Basing your entire online approach around protecting children from predators is a horrible idea.

they could get by with crappy online support last gen, but now, they really have to step it up.

too bad Nintendo makes such good games.

Power_Wrist

@DaiMacculate: I totally agree with you. Besides, for example me, i am from Mexico (spanish native for me) so when i play a game where most of the time (99%) people speak english and rely heavily on voice chat (even if there is text chat) i just can't enjoy it as it's difficult for me to speak in english (my fault i guess) or people make fun of you or they just don't understand you. It sucks because my english is not perfect but people can read and understand me better when i type (because of accent). So i really had no problem playing multiplayer games until the voice game era. In fact, now is a problem to play games as you try to look for people in your country or where they speak your language and try to play together to really enjoy the experience. No more random play for me and many other i guess.

KamuZ

@njhardcoreguy:

I think you're making an ass out of yourself with your assumptions.

"If they're going to create a separate SKU without friend codes, they're doing it under the assumption that adults actually want to play Wii."

I know a shitload more adults who would want to play the Wii than the PS3 or 360. The "adults" that choose a PS3 or 360 over the Wii are very much a minority in all the consumers available to purchase a system.

"That means that they need to make and market games for adults too. You can't go after a market without providing them with a reason to buy a product. Simple sales and marketing."

What do you want, more blood, guts and violence? I forgot that those are the defining characteristics of adult games. I suppose it's much like how adults only like classical music and country and no adults like rock or hip-hop. Face it, adults don't all like the same things, like you're implying. Just like how not all teenagers own a 360 and play Halo all day.

And it's just bad marketing to go after a market with false assumptions. Obviously Nintendo knows more about marketing than you, as their "kiddie" system is outselling all the "hardcore" systems by a large margin.

NeoAkira

Nintendo got strung through the ringer because of PICTOCHAT of all things. The claim was that Nintendo failed to protect the chat service, so if a child is in a car, playing in pictochat by themselves, and a potential predator drove up next to the car, also on pictochat, he could join the child's room and begin propositioning the child. It was an absolutely ridiculous claim, but got echoed through the media for a few weeks.

With the Wii, they took no chances. It's the safest of the consoles, and the media can't claim it's putting their children at risk. Nobody can contact children, anonymously or otherwise, on the Wii. In order to exchange friend codes, you either know the person in reality, or are participating in less safe environments like message boards on your own. Even in random games, there's no chance of lewd, profanity filled, or predatory comments getting through. Is the Wii likely a target for online predators? No. Does the media react rationally when confronted with irrational fears? Also no.

The friend code system is NOT designed to protect your children from the horrors online, it's designed to protect Nintendo from the horrors of the daily news and outraged panicky mothers. In the process, it may ACTUALLY protect a handful of children from unwanted contact with the undesirable underbelly of the internet.

I'd love to see a ranking system for competitive online games. Love to be able to friend players in a random match to play again later. I'd love a VOIP when playing with my friends. And I can have them, since Microsoft already provides those services. For people complaining about how the Wii is designed for children and how there are no games or services for adults, I have to wonder why you care? Buy the system that appeals to you.

Balius

@njhardcoreguy: No, I won't disagree that in an ideal world there would be no friend codes, and full voice/text chat instead of the highly limited 4 macros allowed now.

I think the problem is that the word "Nintendo" has become synonymous with video games, replacing "Atari" that people used in the 80s. So if a non-gamer is talking about gaming, he may use words like "Nintendo", "Playstation" etc and not even be talking about the right system. Nintendo probably feels that WHEN a majorly publicized case of children being victimized over an online game occurs, its all they can hope for that, whether its on a Nintendo console or not, that at least that is accurately portrayed. There was a story several months back (I don't recall all the details) where a local news station was trying to claim that pedophiles could randomly contact your children (it was implied that it required no consent) via Pictochat and send them lewd materials.

So yes, I agree its a bit irrational and I wish that Nintendo didn't feel it was necessary, but I also totally understand their rationale.

DaiMacculate

@DaiMacculate: Okay, fair enough. If you don't like to chat it up and use a headset, I understand why. BUT, I think it's lame that because of Nintendo's fear Wii users cannot enjoy voice chat if they choose to. While you may not be one of the aforementioned Brawl fanboys, there are many out there that just settle with the fact that there is no voice chat when they should really make a stink to Nintendo. Enough with protecting the little kids. Isn't that their parent's job?

njhardcoreguy

@intelsilver because my reply comment button isnt coming up

"If Nintendo's only goal is to make money" that is every single companies only goal in the world. If that means listening to customer feedback, then they will, but only if they have to for the companies sake. A company protects nothing else but the company, not the people within it, or the people buying it.

You have good intentions but all capitalist companies are so.

But back to the topic. Ninty will not change a thing. Cos they're like that. More crappy controlled games here we come.

Communist_Gamer

"Clearly, the Wii is selling like hot cakes and Nintendo doesn't need to do anything..."

If Nintendo's only goal is to make money and ignoring consumer feedback, then nobody should support it.

I know I'm failing at expressing my opinion right now, but I trust whoever reads this understands what I mean.

Sigh

IntelSilver

@Roto13: Sounds good to me, also add some blood every now and then and you got yourself a good title

Morphine16

@njhardcoreguy: Funny, I'm the last thing from a "Brawl Fanboy". I like the game, but I never played the N64 version and I rarely played Melee, because I never had anybody to play with previously. I do enjoy this new game, though probably not on the level of some of the more diehard fans ;)

I have, however, been playing games online since Warcraft 2, and I have to say I prefer text chat to voice. Voice works great in team FPS games, and as I said to someone in a post a month or so ago, if they ever put out a Metroid Prime Hunters game for Wii that has team modes and no voice chat that would be more of a problem than not having it in a fighting game.

I have a 360, which did come packed with a headset, and I rarely use it unless I'm playing Halo 3 with a real-life friend I actually want to talk to, separate from the game. Most Halo 3 players either say stupid shit on the Mic or nothing at all. So I don't miss it in Brawl. If you find voice chat so essential to you personally, there are plenty of games for that, nobody forcing you to own/play a Wii ;)

DaiMacculate

@DaiMacculate: I love how all the Brawl fanboys are "fine" with the exclusion of voice chat. They continuously make up reasons (for you, it's because you may get distracted). The truth is that you'd LOVE to have voice chat for Brawl... just admit it. You know if it came packed with a headset you'd think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

njhardcoreguy

@SilentPredator: I didn't miss the point. If they're going to create a separate SKU without friend codes, they're doing it under the assumption that adults actually want to play Wii. That means that they need to make and market games for adults too. You can't go after a market without providing them with a reason to buy a product. Simple sales and marketing.

You must have missed the title of the post.

njhardcoreguy

Is there really that big of a molestation problem over online games that Nintendo feels the need to step up as the guardian of all our anuses?

satchow

Here here.

Benjo

@Candlejack: Well, if we all boycotted Sony and Microsoft, the Wii would get all the developers and thus all the games. Eventually.

But everyone would die from withdrawal.

Evil Tortie's Mom

@seishino: Usernames would rock. Then you could set it so the kiddies would have parental controls but Mom & Dad could still whatever, as opposed to the whole console being allowed access or not.

Also, who's liable to remember random numbers more easily, the kids or the adults? :P

However, we know that people are idiots and don't use parental controls properly (see: the V-chip, which has been in TV sets forever and yet no one seems to notice). So I think opting-in to strangers, violence, bewbs, and swearing is probably a better idea than having people know how to opt-out.

But Nintendo probably isn't interested, since they're printing money as it is, with no hassle for them.

Evil Tortie's Mom

@xgenius:

Zack and Wiki, Trauma Center, Super Paper Mario, SSBB?

No no you're right, since you don't like those game they must be crapware. Troll on friend.

NeoAkira

@Roto13: This is the videogame industry. It is ruled by censors. You will not get sex scenes of level of explicitness.

Your DVD player will play unrated and NC-17 rated discs. Your videogame console will not play unrated or AO rated content. Movie fans have a spine when it comes to telling censors to piss off, gamers don't.

otakucode

@ServiceMaster: An add-on? YOU WHAT?! :D

@Evil Tortie's Mom: We should boycott Sony and Microsoft. Srsly. :> Too bad the Wii has about 5 games I'd like to play :\

Candlejack

It's not worth the trouble. There are only one or two games worth playing on the Wii, the rest is crapware. I just started playing No More Heroes, so that makes a total of 3 good games I've played so far, the other 2 being Galaxy and RE4.

xgenius

@otakucode: I wasn't denying that.

I was saying there was some damn poor phrasing. I quoted literally from the comments. I'm trying to point out that the unclear statements are the kind of stuff the media seizes on. If you want to be taken seriously and maturely, you need to think about what you're writing.

Basically, I'm begging for better writing. I know what people mean, but non-gamers won't, and are liable to read it wrong.

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

Evil Tortie's Mom

@Evil Tortie's Mom: That too. :P

Mikew3st

Why not just block voice and other communication if the console gets locked with a parent code?

For that matter, why not give people the ability to enter their own username instead of some godawfully unrememberable unremarkable series of numbers and digits? That, at least, would make the system possible to use. It seems like arguing whether or not the system is fundamentally broken keeps getting caught up in just how superficially broken it is.

seishino

The original post is a horrifically dumb idea, but the online system does need some work, mainly in communication. I'm all for no chat in random games... I've never felt the need to talk to random people that I'm beating up. But setting up a game with the friend code system is really cumbersome. If you want to play with someone on your f list, there's more or less no way to communicate with them through your Wii. You've gotta either contact them through the phone or MSN or IRC or something along those lines.

What's the point of WiiConnect24 if I can't ping a friend while he's in-game asking if he wants to play a round?

Naelok

@Mikew3st: Why not just make it so anyone who wants the no-holds-barred version HAS to do it that way? You buy your suitable-for-the-family Wii at the store, and then you contact Nintendo online (with secure credit card) and they send the update. Or maybe a grown-up has to phone it in for activation.

Then the stores don't have to try and figure out how many of each version to stock, Soccer Mom doesn't have to worry about random XBL-type chatter at her pwecious, and the college kids get all the online they can stand.

Evil Tortie's Mom

@DaiMacculate: 2007, no 20087. Though I do wonder if my Wii will still work in the year 20087...lacking a laser-7 output as it does ;)

DaiMacculate

@Morphine16: I want more games with mandatory sex scenes that add nothing at all to the story or gameplay. Because I'm an adult.

Roto13

@Evil Tortie's Mom: Some people with families have raised their kids to deal with living in an online world instead of keeping them in a bubble to protect them from dangers that don't exist.

otakucode

@AverageJoes: The thing is, you act like the media created the Wii. I don't remember a single ad or Wii related story coming out until the end of November, and that was just the same holiday new Toy buzz that was the 360s a year earlier, and would have been the PS3's had it come in just a bit cheaper. We didn't start seeing random positive Wii Press until January-February 20087 at the earliest, and that was after the ongoing shortage went from annoying to ridiculous.

So you can say all you want, and possibly be correct, about Nintendo manipulating things to make the Wii succeed, but I just don't think its fair to give the media credit.

Particularly when the "hardcore" game media, who would presumably be the core of the "Wii Slurping", are consistently the hardest on the system. Its not that they aren't always fair, but they view it with a critical eye. You have to face that its consumers above and beyond the normal gamer that have generated the Buzz, no single conspiratorial force or industry is capable of the creating the level of mindshare the Wii has grabbed among them so far.

Finally, have you configured your Wii with a Static IP on the Wireless and told your router to make that IP address that DMZ/Default Host? That should help a ton with your online issues in smash, if everybody did what I just said there wouldn't be any lag not caused by crappy/shared connections/just shitty routers. I went from not being able to connect to only getting dropped one out of every 10 games or so, a rate comparable to my experience with games like Halo 3 on XBL.

DaiMacculate

So to sum up the comments above:

- people with families are not normal or grown up.

- people who don't care about online, trash talk, or blood 'n guts games aren't adults, regardless of actual age.

And then you wonder why the media thinks gamers are immature losers?

@Lezard: @Candlejack: I'm with you.
NO MORE SKU's!!!!! Enough already!

Evil Tortie's Mom

What I think they should do, but wont is release two SKU's the main difference being the software.

One SKU could be geared towards the 18+ crowd and it could have an Xbox Live type system and friends codes too.

The second one could be geared towards kids and it would be up to the parent to buy it or not and it would just have the current Friend Codes system.

Now if there was a shortage of some kind with only one SKU available (let's say the Kiddy one), you could go online and register with nintendo and a software update would be sent to your system with the other SKU's abilities available to you.

Mikew3st

I don't see how releasing a new Wii model would fix anything with their terrible online.

The online system is built into the games themselves. Nothing can be done about that.

The only hope for a decent online system from Nintendo is hope that they get it right for their successors to Wii and DS.

BPM X: Soul Eraser

@ServiceMaster: i see what you did there you said candlejack and whe....

Raziel3333

@Morphine16: Like NO MORE HEROES and many upcoming titles?...

TOCATL

@Candlejack: I completely agree! Now an add-on, however, I think that would--

ServiceMaster

give up! no point in asking, the closest to decent online play from nintendo is on you ds

ban_hammer

Yeah, because we've heard SO MANY terrible stories about kids getting kidnapped and getting their brains raped out over Xbox Live and PSN.

Stop validating these idiots that are turning our kids into mental midgets by treating them like fragile retards and acting like the entire world wants to get into their pants.

And you can't have a system that wholeheartedly embraces infantilization and censorship (the videogame industry) make anything "for adults".

otakucode

Nintendo may have lucked out with the Wii, but sticking to obsolete strategies in the face of quality competition nearly destroyed the company. If the Wii hadn;t been slurped by every media outlet on the planet, we might be seeing it's death throes right now.

Rehashing Zelda, Smash Bros., Mario, etc. isn't going to get it done forever. And no matter what the crazed fanboys tell you, the Wii's limited hardware IS stunting the possibility of games.

I nearly got rid of my Wii for $600 because I wasn't impressed by Twilight Princess (it's a GCN game with tacked on waggle) and none of the shovelware appealed to me.

Luckily Smash Bros. is really fun. But forcing me to use GameFaqs for friends is stupid. And I don't know anybody who can get get a random game going with more than 1 person. And even then, it's ridiculously laggy.

AverageJoes

@Kyle81: i bet half of them don't even have online or don't even know about it hence why games update the system.

Raziel3333

@njhardcoreguy: Who do you mean by "adults"? I imagine all the senior citizens would be hurt that Wii Sports and all these other mini-game compilations they enjoy playing on the Wii somehow revokes their status on adults. Not to mention those of us in the 25+ age range who also love their Wii. No More Heroes is the least of the reasons, but it certainly isn't a game for kids.

I would buy a new version of the Wii if it had 8x or more of the internal storage capacity, whether just a better flash drive, a mini-hd, etc. If it had the other improvement of making the online more adult-friendly, and if they made a big push in their marketing so that parents would not buy their kids the adult model (limiting the number of immature kids online like we have problems with on Xbox Live), then I would welcome that as well but it would not sell me on the system.

I Brawl just fine without talking, personally, perhaps better since I can't be distracted by chatter or lose focus while I think aloud about something ;)

DaiMacculate

*applauds*

Makoto

Nintendo is so 'family-friendly' and protective of children that I don't see this happening. Imagine the scenario of parents not knowing anything about the Wii and accidently picks up the 'adult' version for their kid, then down the line a cyber predator sends the kid some explicit content. Nintendo would do everything in it's power to prevent any such scenarios from happening.

PaulHunter

As long as people accept the half assed online by buying everything up Wii, Nintendo will have no incentive to make any changes.

Kyle81

@njhardcoreguy: You must have missed the point. The separate SKU would do away with the friend codes that everyone complains about. The purpose of friend codes are to prevent someone's kid being verbally assailed by some random douchebag. Those that are fine dealing with douchebags or just don't want to deal with friend codes could get the separate SKU that would allow them to do that.

SilentPredator

No. No. NO. NO MORE SKUS!

I truly hate it this generation 'round. Console revisions are fine, but SKUs are easily the worst thing to ever be implemented in console wars.

"Hey I bought a PS3"
"What spec? 65nm? 80GB? PS2 BC? Card readers? Chrome finish? Falcon chipset? HDMI? USB? HDD? Memory card? Rumble? Wireless? Sex?"
"Um.....I don't know..."
"O RLY"

:P

Candlejack

In an age where the market is already over saturated with multiple SKUs of the PS3 and 360, the last thing I want to see is Nintendo joining in and offering multiple flavors of the Wii.

I mean, no. Just, no.

Lezard

:shrug:

I haven't had any problems with random matches outside the first time I tried to go online. Other than that day it's been smooth sailing for me, so I guess I'm lucky. But I don't really mind the friend codes that much; I mean if I'm gonna add someone to my friend's list I will already have their phone number and such anyways so it's not really a hassle to exchange friend codes.

A lobby system and some sort of rating system, however, would have been much appreciated for Brawl.

NeoAkira

This could be resolved with a little firmware update.
Also that would allow the parents to check if they want their kids to roam free on the net looking or been looked by strangers or not.
Nintendo has the technology to make the pest known as friend codes to go away, but since is clearly enough and pointed out several times, Nintendo is more concern about the sales on the family type that on normal, grown up gamers.

Final tough: Nintendo should do a Firmware update, so you can select if you want to get ride of the Friend codes or not, leaving the choice to us the buyers, the customers, the gamers.

Dumad

@Morphine16: Hit the nail on the head.

How could a separate SKU for adults work when the system has few games that adults actually want to play.

njhardcoreguy

I desire, therefore it will never happen.

If Nintendo ever reverses this policy, you know the world has come to an end.

Krytha

Nintendo cannot do online. Its like someone allergic to wheat making us all wheat-free bread for us all - to them its the bees knees, to us its just crappy and we want a real thing.

Communist_Gamer

they should just have some sort of interface when u first load a game online that asks you how old you are, and go from there, of course if i was 12 i would say 18 so...

Vash21

I'm super cynical, so I'd like to propose that Nintendo should shell out some of the money they're printing for hardware and bandwidth to handle a match list.

God damn stingy bastards.

Dorphat the Insomniac

god it would be awesome to have a good online system. but nintendo are tottally oblvious to that and just all dooody doody do. i've all but given up on trying to do online brawl.

Raziel3333

While they are at it, can they also make more mature games?

Morphine16