yeah... i play magic online and in general people are nice. but if i'm not into magic i won't keep playing it--my interest in it is above whatever the amount of abuse i take from time to time. or maybe because magic is a game you can only play with others and i don't have much of a choice, and i hate having to phyically sort cards.

i'm guessing nintendo thinks (arghh...) that unlike work or school, you can't really avoid those people, but in gaming, they want to minimize that, or else people would just do something else.

VOIP: probably someday they'll have it. Pokemon DS is coming out with VOIP, is that right? we'll see how the friends code work for Pokemon, probably very much like how it's gonna work on the Wii. first major data point!

Most games still have random matchups without needing friend codes, you just can't talk to anyone.  It's not like you are prevented from playing at all.  Though Pokemon DS at least is an exception to this, I know MarioKart, Metriod Prime Hunters, and Star Fox allow random battles.

Am I the only one who doesn't hate friendcodes. Really, they aren't that bad. They work. If Nintendo did universal codes and allowed for larger list then I'm fine. Most of the game on Wifi are actually really fun. 

Errgh... I would last, like 10seconds playing with twats like that. At the very least, I would kill sound/voice chat.

I think Nintendo have it 'half' right. Games with personal communication (voice chat) don't make sense for strangers - especially for kids. Imagine mummy setting little Timmy to play some online Animal Crossing, only to hear this sort of crap coming out from the game.

What Nintendo just need to do it make it EASIER to exchange friend/Wii codes (i.e. feature on the browser), or even start up a forum/friends Wii channel (so you can meet/search for people, then automate adding of codes). Im sure they will get around to improving the system once a few BIG online games hit.

And Im not sure what the purpose of having GAME SPECIFIC codes is - I agree fully on that one. Having to add a friend more than once is completely inexcusable. 

I'm a bit of an anti-social ba*st*rd and quite frankly I have no time whatsoever for most of the 'community' who I encounter on Live. The main advantage of online gaming for me is that the AI is infinitely better that what can be coded. Having to speak to these people is a drag though, I don't chat randomly to people I meet on the street and I sure as hell don't want to chat to some random 16 year old, foul mouthed half-wit. The only reason I turn on the mic is so I don't get instantly kicked from certain games.

Yes, I'm a miserable sod. Will we have to make small talk with strangers on Wii? I certainly hope not.

good old xbots.

I dont understand why you cant 'mute' people or 'ignore' them on x-box live. The PS3... at least if you have a headset synchronized with it... Set the voice to go to the headset, turn the headset off/un-plug it. And play the game, and you hear... ZERO voices! :D (nice trick)

However it is more fun to leave the voice on so when you ram someone off the track and make them loose 10 seconds you can hear them screaming at the top of their lungs. "YOU LITTLE MOTHER ******** I'M GONNA TAKE YOU OUT! YOU WILL SUFFER!!! blahblahblah"

When I ram you off the track, and totally screw up your race... and you do that. That just tells me, I did something right. Hey. I'm not twisted in the head. It's a motor storm! It's supposed to be a carnage fest... I get get a little... agressive at ramming people off the track sometimes... :D