As the new set of HD twins get ready to launch somewhere around November on this year, the 8th generation will soon be in full swing. Once this new race is officially started, Nintendo’s Wii U will be the only 8th gen console offering free online gaming.

My question to you guys is should Ninty’s marketing focus on that fact? On the one hand it could sway the occasional gamer (i.e. the non forum nerd like us) toward the Wii U because paying for online makes no sense gaming is not your main hobby but on the other hand it would invite Sony and Microsoft’s marketing teams to draw attention to the vast difference in quality between their services and Nintendo’s (which we all know isn’t the most favorable of comparisons).

My personal opinion is that they should go for it. The dedicated gamer already knows what he wants in a console and he’s gonna buy his console (or consoles) according to his gaming taste so marketing lines won’t affect him much. The people who do respond to marketing pushes are the less informed gamers, those who aren’t sure if they want to step in the new console gen, the parents looking to buy a present for their kids and I do think advertising the free online could be a deciding factor for a lot of them.

What do you guys think?

do they still use friend codes?

nope, they have the account system now

They should play every goddam card they have right now:

-We're a white console and white/grey consoles always win (when available)
-Low power consumption
-Free online
-Low price
-Backwards compatibility
-Tastes like bacon
-Draw 4, Draw 2, Skip, AND Reverse

If they can think of it, now is the time to play it!

It would help Nintendo out if they kept online play free as that could be a pro advantage compared to the other options. Their online is better compared to the Wii/DS/3DS (no friend codes and whatnot) but still needs alot of work to get up to the competition's features.

But...if it remains free all that shouldn't really matter.

Yes, Nintendo should give the "free online" angle some advertising coverage.

How do they achieve it? By doing a deal with Activision - they include in the Wii U version of CoD all of the online game features found in the PS4/XBO versions (including a guarantee of same-day or better DLC), and give Nintendo appropriate permissions to use the game in their advertising, and Nintendo advertises the Wii U version of the game heavily, and includes it in a special bundle.

They could do a similar deal with Ubisoft for Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

Then, when advertising the games, they could make "All online play completely free" a major selling point, alongside Wii U specific features (gamepad stuff, pointer controls, etc). Proper Miiverse integration would add yet another bonus.

This could be just one part of a marketing blitz running through the holiday season.

Yeah and it should be held to the same standards as the PC cuz they are on the same level now

It really won't matter. If someone loves third party games, the Wii U won't be getting the X1 and PS4 versions. Now if it was as powerful, then it's a different story.

Free online didn't help the PS3 against the 360. Don't think it's going to help the Wii U.

It kinda did, though.