Way too many source but here is the first search from google: Joystiq

NoA president Reggie Fils-Aime has this to said about the Wii-U's online architect: "For Wii-U we're going to take that one step further, and what we're doing is creating a much more flexible system that will allow the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear. So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we're going to welcome that. We're going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the third party publishers."

The lack of unified online service is one of the big criticism of the original Wii, it is very suprising to see Nintendo continue to defer something that not only has a lot of potential to generate revenue but is also something that both fans and industry experts were probably expecting. How extensive is Nintendo's 'hand off' approach is also still not fully explained.

What do you think guys? Doom or no big deal?

I should have made this into a poll :(

Can't you edit one in? I can almost swear I've seen people add polls to existing threads.

How the hell do I do that D:

E-Blowjob incoming.

I think this may not be a big deal.

You don't have to have a forced unified system to have a unified log-in and shared awards/boards.

Its very possible Nintendo is making the interface that will then accept the online solution/server connections any 3rd party wants to implement.

All the 3rd parties will need to do is accept the login credentials and any game related metadata for leader-boards and some award system. (probably coin or star related)

I think its way too early with far too little info to make a judgement at this time.

No biggy IMO. We know so very little about it that I'm willing to wait and see what Nintendo can do...

I'll wait for the leaks on the new dev kits. Probably will come with some kind of info on on-line.

All I want is a sytem where all I have to do is log on once I turn the system on. I don't want to have to deal with separate friend lists or logging in multiple times.