Hmmm... well maybe, just maybe a superior online experience would increase the value and demand of some games. Perhaps that could lead to better sales. Lets be honest, 3rd party sales aren't doing great on the Wii. Maybe a superior online experience could give that a boost.

I don't even understand what we're debating anymore. I'm basically just saying personalized user accounts that work on all online games would be much better than this friend code crap. I don't expect the Wii's online services to have the depth of Live and PSN. Why is that so crazy to you?

Wii is my party system where i play with family & friends all together in a room so any online for the Wii isnt needed for my usage.

Looking at the million sellers list alone tells me you have no clue in regards to Wii third party sales. In addition Guitar Hero 5 implements online in the exact manner you describe. Your ignorance is showing.

I have never said anything in regards to the specific implementation of online. I have said it might not be cost effective given the number of gamers not interested in online.

@Avinash
For MS, I don't think they are wasting money specifically, they have a lot of software engineers, and server infrastructure in their business already, those guys will probably lead in online service, maybe forever lol. But one can dream of a better online experience for Ninty, its way too sparse now. As for Sony and also MS, a lot of their players want online, just look at MW2.

@Gnizmo
Yea the point is not about million sellers per se, but for Ninty to get even more games on the system, I don't think anyone wants Nintendo to go broke trying to beat XBL. No, they could actually put marketing money into it, just like the Nintendo Channel, the infrastructure is probably there, just a matter of scale.

If you look at WiiConnect24, it lets people talk to each other directly, Wii to Wii. What if I don't want to keep my Wii online all the time? This is why I think better online would be great.



In conclusion, better online actually requires higher resolution, in 480p/i, text has to be huge to look clear, so theres too little screen real estate for anything complex, what we get is lots and lots of scrolling.

Even though I would like better online, I can't help but think Ninty will not give us any substantially new online features next gen, like what you guys keep saying, they are already making a boatload now like this. Further more, they can simply make first party games that DON'T require online play, so the demand will continue to be almost non existent. I'll have to buy 2 consoles then, pout :/

He mentioned sales of 3rd party games. That is directly relevant to million sellers list. He made absolutely no reference to any game or games that may not have been put on the platform.

ah ok, hehe i didn't read everything sowee

I would like to point out that(and many Database engineers will agree with me) all accounts come with 2 main account identifications. The Key(which defines any singular data of a table) and a name. So Live uses both a numerical system and String(text) to track a user profile. Heck everything you sign up to uses a numerical and String based system.

a Friend Code can essentially be used as a replacement to a Key and Nintendos system devalues the name check. So I want to make is clear that the FC itself has the same value as the Key in a Live/PSN database. By removing the string check and account checking with the Key(FC) instead players can use any name they want. Theoriticly.

So in essense Live and PSN do use the same system as NWC. They just use a singular Key rather than the multi key design. What does this mean. Multi Key idea blows and we should get to use the Wii Code. That would make everyones life so much easier. Then any developer could set up anykind of service.

So why does the FC is multi Key. It's DS legacy. NWC uses a system where friends are stored locally. This is actually a much better implementation since it lightens the load on the servers. The problem was that the DS had no local storage. Which was pretty common for handhelds until the PSP came around. So while the FC was annoying on the DS it offered far more flexibility on a limited device. sigh, then Nintendo decided not to change NWC infrastructure and pretty uses the DS NWC. sigh.

Would I love to use a single FC yes. It would make life much easier. Do I need a robust PSN/Live system, not really. Anygame could offer options if they could communicate to each other, but they can't.

Well I know the 3rd party sales of the Wii are lower than the 360 and just above the PS3. Courtesy of the bargain bin I'm sure. Not very impressive considering its almost 50% of the market.

How do you know how many people are geninuely interested in online gaming on the Wii? Perhaps if the online experience wasn't so piss poor on the Wii interest would go up. You think Live and PSN would be as successful if they offered the same crap service as the Wii?

I'm trying to say how the experience can be better and appeal to a larger audience. You seem to think offering a better service you will bankrupt Nintendo.

The number of consoles going online is a very commonly reported statistic. It always hovers around 50% regardless of console. PSN and XBLA is no better at getting a higher percentage of people online by percentage, and worse be raw number.

How do you know the third party sales are lower on the Wii? What evidence do you offer to back your assertion?

I imagine the amount of consoles online differs greatly from the amount of people playing games online.

The only evidence I have comes from this site. Subtract the amount of 1st party games sold from the total software sold. I have a thread somewhere on this forum, "1st party vs 3rd part sales." That shows the numbers I came up with.