Nintendo on Wii U Online: "There won't be a centralized approach"

[Joelcool7]

I don't think he really confirmed or denied much. In what he said when he talked centralized he specifically said not cookie cutter one size fits all. I think he was refering to the likes of Live where all games use the same code and all the developers have to conform to Microsoft's standards and use Microsofts system.

He said Nintendo would work with developers to customize the experiance with each game (At least thats what I got). I don't think this is all that new when it comes to Nintendo. Heck their was very little universal network on Wii or DS. Each game featured different unique online capabilities. Even Nintendo's own titles were each unique. Some used friend codes only to play, others used a global networking system to match you with an opponent. Some had their own trophy like system while other did not.

All he really confirmed to me is that Nintendo isn't going to hold back developers. Nintendo is going to give developers full freedom to do as they wish online. I think this could be good for the developers and publishers they can run online any way they want. For those who wanted an X-Box Live experiance this is bad, your probably not going to have trophies and achievments in every game, you might not have a universal friend system where you add friends to your console and can play them in any and every game found on the system. Heck some games might even charge for their online.

So this is both good and bad news, depending on what you as a consumer want. If you wanted a centralized Live experiance your probably out of luck. If you wanted a unique robust experiance with each game then hellz yah your gonna be impressed.

Also I think a huge part of this is Nintendo trying to appeal to third parties. Giving for example EA the ability to build their online network the way they want and run it how they feel, that will earn major bonus points and drive EA to develop alot more content for WiiU. Also Nintendo knows third parties have been frustrated with how Live and PSN are run they will be really happy to do as they wish.