Nintendo has been very hesitant to discuss online details for their new console, Wii U. Ubisoft shared some fairly interesting online details for Ghost Recon Online a couple of days ago, but wouldn’t say if the functions that were mentioned, such as a flexible friends list, would be available for all titles on the platform. Well, it looks like we have our answer now.

Charlie Scibetta, Senior Director for Nintendo of America Corporate Communications, revealed in an interview that the system won’t “have a centralized, one size fits all type of online gaming approach.” Instead, Nintendo will be working with third-parties to bring their ideas to the Wii U.

Said Scibetta:

“Online gaming is very important to us. We’ve heard the demands really of the veteran gamers that want that. So we’re going to be very flexible with gaming this time when it comes to online. We’re going to work with third-party partners. We’re not going to have a centralized, one size fits all type of online gaming approach. It’s going to be more of the publishers figuring out what they want to do and then we’ll try to work to bring that to life and make sure our platform can support that vision.”

http://nintendoeverything.com/67141/

So what does this mean for Wii U online? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I dont even understand with that means.. I guess there trying to say Nintendo wont a PSN/XBL counterpart, but developers create there own network setup for there games?

I dont even understand with that means.. I guess there trying to say Nintendo wont a PSN/XBL counterpart, but developers create there own network setup for there games?

I want to say this sounds like a bad thing. If they're just going to stop providing third parties with a central resource, third parties will likely just quit putting in even the token online Wii got, and what would that mean for Nintendo's games anyway?

Or it could be a good thing in that they'll be more flexible than, say, XBL, which has had countless issues with third parties doing server-based stuff, in that Nintendo might let third parties do that, but then that's what they do already, and provide them the endless joy that is WiFi Connection if they won't shift for themselves (which is most everyone, except for Capcom in Monster Hunter and EA in everything)

Which could in turn explain EA's presence at the conference. Not that they're partnering with Nintendo, but Nintendo will let them continue to do their own thing as far as EA online on Nintendo home consoles is concerned, but that's really no change from what's going on at present.

Yep. I think it's them saying, "we don't know or don't have the capabilities to build a huge online system from the ground up, so we are going to ask our third party partners who have more experience to come up with their own, and Nintendo will help implement them."

While not as pretty or simple as PSN/XBL, it'll probably end up being better for us gamers than Nintendo trying to do their own, because it has obviously never been a strength of theirs.

Bad.

This means you'll likely have a id for each publisher (like PC gaming) and have no unified boards/points/trophies/cross game/publisher connections, etc.

This is Nintendo being cheap. Same reason no bluray or other media player is that Nintendo won't spend the extra money to build this stuff. Instead it will be up to the publishers which is bad as it adds an unnecessary obstacle to their development on WiiU platform.

Now, instead of hooks into an existing base, they will require servers and their own framework. Also, means limited support as these types of servers don't live forever.

I'll still buy WiiU as I like the IPs, but I am no longer under the idea that Nintendo learned what was wrong in Wii's online.

As i think about this, the bigger question this raises is about the system's basic online connectivity features, but i mean they can't possibly make it worse than 3DS, and 3DS you can see (even while playing a game, correct?) when your friends are on and what they're playing. Toss some sort of home-menu messaging system on top of that and i'd be fine with an otherwise decentralized system

I like the potential of this idea, although there are risks to it. I guess we'll see how it works.

A new online experience!

I suspect what this means is that Nintendo is going to create an API for the functionality that publishers and developers desire, and they are not going to force them to use it if they don't want to; for example, Nintendo might have a centralized friend list but developers might not be required to use this friend list within their game ...

For those that don't remember, EA (originally) didn't want to use XBox Live because they had been building their own free online community and services and Microsoft required all online gaming to be done through XBox Live; and they mandated that certain functionality had to be implemented in order to release an XBox Live enabled game. While this approach ensures consistency between games for gamers, and many developers probably prefer this approach, other developers may want features or functionality that isn't available through XBox Live and this approach ends up restricting them.

As an example, while many games have been released for the PS3, PC and XBox 360 the rules surrounding these online services strictly forbid these games from playing online against people who own other devices. Hypothetically speaking, Nintendo's approach could potentially allow a PC gamer to play with his friend who owned a Wii U if the developer/publisher was willing to create the necessary functionality to make that happen.