You will be able to play random people.  Thank goodness.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/super-mario-strikers/first-look-at-mario-strikers-charged-online-play-254670.php

That was one of my favorite gamecube games so I'm very excited about this.  You can played Ranked games with random people, either 1 on 1 or 2 on 2, but the 2 on 2 has to be a "guest" on the same Wii you are playing on.  In other words, only 2 Wiis will connect to each other on the internet.  That's disappointing and no doubt will be changed like next year with a new version (ugh).   4 human players against the computer was the most fun mode in the first game.

Another problem is team games only count for one Mii per team, so if you want to keep track of your stats as a Guest you'll have to share a new Mii specifically for your team.   I'd rather have one Mii and maybe seperate stats for team games if anything.

But, hey, ranked games online are cool.  Online games at all on a Nintendo system is overdue.

Friend codes will allow you to play quickly with people you add to your friends list, which unfortunately is unique to every game and seperate from your Wii friends list.   These games will be unranked, so every ranked game is random.

There is a "Striker of the Day" every single day and whoever has the most points that day is shown to everyone upon starting the game or something.  That's kinda cool, and I can imagine people trying to play at midnight in order to become the striker of the day for at least a little bit.

They added more characters, of course, and doubled the size of the sidekicks who can now be mixed on the same team and have individual abilities (as do the captains).  You can find out some specifics on the video linked above, but the only announced new captain is Bowser (previously messed up the game, heh).  4 new captains in all.  Oh, the maps are crazier and have special effects and change the ball speed and stuff.  Anyway, watch the video.

I'd like to revise my hate of the friend codes:  1.  Need a universal name, not a code, that can be used for every game, not just individual ones, like Live and PSN already do.   2.  I think #1 just about would solve all of my complaints.  Having a seperate code for every game that is also seperate from your normal friends list for the Wii is not cool.

Oh, the game doesn't look much better than the gamecube version, but I hope it is even more fun.  And, like I said, online gaming will be nice, finally. 

from the interview, the guy repeatedly says:

"Hitting is a big part of game... it puts a smile on people's face..."

you'd think it's the NHL

(which is one game i'm eagerly anticipating) 

ps. it does look more like a hockey game than a soccer game... with all those one timers and stuff...

I thought about that, and Im glad they don't. Any "user" generated text can be trouble - and a random text string is 100x worse than a number. Why is it a problem? Here are some (potential) "sample" user names that would be sent/visible to every user...

 - suckmyhairycock

 - fuckyouttwat

 - fukurmum

 - arsecrack

 - terrorrules 

...etc... you get the point :) 

Plus it makes language issues (i.e. Japanese vrs English) more tricky. Numbers are a pain - but they work, and are 100% "safe". 

A must have game for me, so thanks for the information.

@shams:

good point you got there - never thought of it that way. Now I can understand Nintendo's rationale behind those credit-card-type codes

Except, like every other game, Live, and PSN that allow you to create your own username, there is a filter usually. Also, I could care less about being safe. Those words do not hurt me.

There's a reason everyone else does it another way and no one ever complained about it. The worst complaints you get is a game like EQ when people tried to get around the filter. Most people had decent names anyway, and if anything people were annoyed by the filter. I'm windbane on this forum, most other forums, and the PSN. It's also my e-mail on some services. That's the way it should be to me.

But you gotta think about more than just "me". People have to step out of their own worlds for a second. Nintendo just is NOT gonna allow their reputation to be stained as making it easier for children to run into questionable content through their services. It's one thing to buy the game but another thing to deal with online vulgarity and harrassment. It's simply going to be the drawback to Nintendo's service. But hey it's free. Beggars can't be choosers. If you want the old way there's XBox Live to consider. You'll pay but you'll get the type of service you desire.

Nintendo's approach will hurt them less than you think.

Filters would be a good idea. Maybe if you feel so strongly about it maybe you can share your concerns with Nintendo. A censoring module that prevents certain types of content from reaching the impressionable.

And yes I'm saying this without having any kids. I stepped out of my own world. Vulgar jackasses online are only an annoyance to me to inspire muting or blocking but I'm looking outside of that and thinking about how thse types of scenarios would affect different individuals. Nintendo is trying to lessen as much of the liability to their service as possible. You know how people like to sue for every little thing–legit or not.

John Lucas 

Well, I believe my viewpoint is that of most online gamers except you guys that excuse everything Nintendo does and assume it's for the best just because they are doing it. I understand that some parents are paranoid about what their children experience and probably don't pay enough attention to what they are doing to begin with. I feel sorry for Jack Thompson's son because I doubt he gets to play video games at all.

I don't think the reputations of PC developers have been tarnished all of these years because they don't hinder the ability to CREATE YOUR OWN USERNAME. Give me a break. The names are no more offensive than any in this forum. A filter is not a new idea and has been used for many games.

Xbox live is not the only option. I will not pay $50 a year to play online games. I have the PSN and it has 40-player voice chat in Resistance. I've played PC games for years and those are free. Counter-strike, believe it or not, has the ability to change your name even while you are playing. Oh, and voice chat.

Contrary to popular belief on this thread, the games are not littered with vulgarity and you always have the option to turn off voice chat if the occasional idiot annoys you.

I think trying to protect this reputation for protecting the kiddies is overdone and unneccesary. It seems a step backward, not progression. Kids play online games all the time. I learned to type in chatrooms for Diablo 1. If Nintendo is that concerned, just put parental controls in the game or Wii itself, put some filters in, and let people create their own freaking user name. Why is that so much to ask? It's a standard feature. Different is not always better.

 I second that.  Maybe I'm easily annoyed, or maybe I just want a good time when playing games, but I would much prefer the uniformity of just Friend Codes as opposed to user names where even 1 objectionable name would just throw somebody off.  (I don't imagine there can be objectionable Miis )

 Okay, that somebody is probably just me.  But a parent who sees an objectionable name would be a lot more concerned with his/her kid playing with strangers.  A good reputation goes a long way.

 Don't think it'll hurt gamers.  Gamers have a high tolerence threshold, surely they can handle this minor annoyance of adding Friend Codes.

 We'll find out soon just how much parenting Nintendo has plans for!

I don't really care about FC either way. I played alot of PC games online and all I do 95% of the time is play random matches.

Nintendo hate on thier online plans is a bit over the top when the core of the system looks like it would work really well.