That is not Nintendo's decisino, that is Ubisofts. The only time Nintendo ever restricted online was for the first year on the Wii. There is no restriction anymore. Any oversight in online is on the devs.

Where did you get such good comebacks from? Clearly the guy whom you got that sentence from must be an intelligent human being. We can't all be perfect. (I can)

I feel like we're going to constantly have these little things that are going to be blown out of proportion within days and weeks before the launch of the Wii U because there will always be people who want to discredit the system. Voice chat, guys? Why is it such a big deal? How many people are going to use this system religiously? Not as many as it seems.

Nothing but bull about microphone noise. Seriously the article compares it to laptops as proof? The PS Vita is much more similar to the gamepad than a laptop and it doesn't suffer from these issues. Case closed.

Thank you. I'm taken aback by all the angry posts about cross-game chat. I understand wanting to talk to a teammate as you storm an enemy stronghold or taunt a friend as you steal a string of coins out from under him. But why is it so important to chat with your buddies while you're both busy playing different games? To be honest, I want as few distractions as possible while I'm playing a video game.

Our generation has a million different ways to stay in touch with one another. If Wii U supports some of the best games of all time, who cares if you have to pick up a phone or send an email instead of conversing over a console?

What I do not understand is the "if I don't want it, then NO ONE ELSE should" logic. I don't care about cross-game chat, either, but I know that a lot of other people do like it. I cannot argue against what other people like, it makes no sense. If they like it, then they like it, period.

Simply put, it seems like it would be a pretty easy to install feature for next gen hardware. I can think of absolutely no reason why it should be excluded. Perhaps they'll add it later, perhaps there are workaround methods, but that's something Nintendo should clear up themselves.

As for the issues the article addresses, they're pretty minor--although it is a bit annoying for someone to say, oh, hey, you can just go out and buy a new wireless headset for a lot of money, problem solved.

What I like about Cross-Game-Chats (especially XBox Live-Parties) is the possibility to go online, see if a friend is online, too, and discuss/plan what we could play together. Sometimes I/they just want to kill some hours by playing various arcade titles. We would then just mention some games we are in the mood of playing and then play something that would comfort both of us. Sure, you could just exchange messages, but I actually like talking to my friends. Should I mention that I know the people I play with in person but can not see them as they live hundreds of kilometres away? With XBox-Live-Parties its like having them sitting next to you.

Furthermore it depends on what you play; I don't like talking when there are cutscenes running or I don't like a third person disturbing me e.g. when I solve problems in Portal 2 with a coop-partner. But playing a Racing Game or a Multiplayershooter, I really enjoy talking to my friends.

In the end it is not a dealbreaker that the WiiU missed the opportunity and I have hopes that they deliver Cross-Game-Chat with a firmware-update.

Agree with NightDragon, there´s no reason a game like NSMBU is lacking an online mode.Sometimes they fuck up the simplest of things.

Pfft, like that's ever going to happen. Nintendo is the industry's favourite punching bag, has been for over a decade now. Remember when actual devs were saying the Wii U was more powerful than current gen, yet it was some anonymous nobody claiming at it was  weaker than the PS3/360 that got all the press attention?

I don't think that logic is pervasive here. I imagine most people come to these forums because they have opinions about games, and they want to share them, or at the very least listen to those of others. I just think each side of this debate is making a case for this particular feature being either important or unimportant. I think it is unimportant, and I'm genuinely confused as to why its absence caused so much of a stir.

I for one am glad so many people disagree with me, because otherwise it wouldn't be very exciting here.