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Nintendo Confirms Free Online Play For Wii
Via Gamasutra, an interview in USA Today with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime confirms that the Wii's online component will be free to play. The outspoken Nintendo advocate says "We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs."
This seals the deal for me! I wans't quite sure I wanted to buy a next-gen console, but this, the wi-mote, the 27-game lineup, the non-evil practices, I'm sold!
What games are they planning to have online capabilities? From what I've read, most don't have any anyway. This isn't to troll, I simply don't know of any (at least not scheduled for launch).
I like not having to pay for my DS to use Wifi, but the friend code system makes me pull my hair out. There are so many little checks and safeguards thrown in to prevent you from being able to easily and effectively add people to your friends list. I would rather pay a subscription fee like I do for XBox Live and be able to enjoy seamless integration of friends, messages, etc. throughout all my games.
"It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
...officially sold. I like online games, in fact love them, but refuse to pay subscription fees. I would have paid when I was young and could game when I wanted to, but I'm older and busier now so I might only get to play a game once in awhile or every night, i don't know, therefore can not justify paying a fee for an amount of time that I may or may not use.
Wow wii!
For me, the Xbox was much more fun online than the PS2 due to the fact that they actively maintained the network. While I could play SOCOM and deal with the abundance of hacks and online Pro Action Replay users, it just wasn't fun compared to any time I'd sit and play Rainbow Six 3 or even Halo2. And while I credit MS for not regarding its online game system as something that could police itself, I also understand that they wouldn't have done so if it weren't for the monthly fee.
On the end-user side, the presence of a monthly fee also helps cut down on people who would not otherwise regard their online gaming as a privilege. Sure, you have brats and cheaters, but not near the amount that were on the free PS2 connection.
Here's to hoping that the improvements in the online capability of the DS (compare Mario Kart DS to Metroid Prime Hunters) will carry on to the Wii, and continue to get better.
::fingers crossed:: And maybe my dream will come true. What are the chances of Nintendo buying all companies responsible for creating Pro Action Replay and like devices, and only releasing them for competing systems? I would love to see that =)
Between Sony garroting themselves in public, pricing their console way out of what I consider a sane price range, and foisting Blu-Ray at a significant cost to their customers, I think the Wii will get my vote for the console I'll buy this generation.
The example networked title Nintendo referred to at their E3 press gig was Animal Crossing, which was kind of interesting given that no AC title has been announced for the Wii to my knowledge. Whatever executive it was used AC as an example of how persistent, "even when you're not playing it" connectivity would open new possibilities. The idea was to visit other people's towns in AC at any time and so on.
The DS version of Animal Crossing would be an interesting precedent. The graphics are very close to the ones on the old GameCube title, which really looked more like an N64 game truth be told. Game play is very unconventional -- no real goals except as you choose, just puttering around, and, big finish, very much intended for and marketing to a different set of gamers. Does this sound like the general approach being taken with Wii?
(My kids have the DS version, "Wide World," and have successfully gotten several different adults to try it out. Their grandma enjoyed it.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Virtual console will be like a walk down memory lane, but (un)fortunately, most of the people I shared that lane with have all gone in different geographical directions(I'm in Europe and they are all in the US) Will I be able to play virtual console games across the internet like the person was sitting across the room? Furthermore, will I actually be able to use the Wii microphone to converse with the person? The "same room" experience can never be completely recreated, I think that game companies should try to replicate it as much as possible. I was was unimpressed by the DS online play for Mario Kart. If you are playing against a friend you cannot communicate with them in-game, really all you do is do a post-game aim conversation..bleh. And playing against strangers was pretty much like playing against the computer but only more frustrating as the computer never dropped out of the race when it was losing.
It is possible to play old games across the internet, zsnes for example does it but I couldn't get their system to work the one time I tried and it still doesn't solve the problem of convenient in-game communication.
Monstar L
I guess I missed the point of Live during my free month. In what way is it not "just a random PC-like matchmaking service"? Obviously it also has the features of an IM client, but that's nothing new and I have no doubts that the wii and ps3 online services will offer it.
Nintendo is really trying to emphasize the ease with which one can do just about everything with a Wii: input is intuitive, online play is free and wifi is automatically enabled, etc.
However, all this ease of use can be a bad thing if it limits how we can use the system. The DS' online play, for example, was designed to be easy and straightforward, but in doing so it severely restricts the experience. In-game chat is nonexistant, friend codes are a pain in actual practice and it doesn't support WPA encryption. I see the same problems potentially popping up for the Wii. What if I don't want my box connected to the Internet when I'm not playing games? What if I want to be able to play online with random people, and not have to use a site for swapping friend codes? What if I want to use something stronger than WEP encryption?
Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the Wii, because I trust Nintendo to deliver straightforward, fun games that Just Work. They have a good track record on that. What they don't have is a good record on online gaming.
I just hope they don't go so far in trying to make online gaming cheap, easy, and safe that it ends up being a royal pain to play. Then again, I suppose there are far worse things to be afraid of.
I've played tons of online RTS (etc) games with my friends and I was often the one being the server. Yes, I pay for bandwidth, but I'd pay for it anyway (I like to work from home, and remote working likes bandwidth).
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I really, really hope the Wii doesn't only support WEP like the DS does. It's bad enough having to run my wireless network in degraded security mode. Maybe they will go with WPA2 and somehow upgrade the DS in the future?
Just because the ability to go online may be free doesn't mean the actual content will be.
And read this statement carefully: "We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for."
What that implies to me is that any game with online-support will allow a gamer to play online without being charged. That's essentially the same model for every PC game with online play excluding MMOs.
That statement says nothing about whether or not downloadable games will be free and certainly doesn't mention anything about subscription-based games like MMOs.
I don't think Nintendo is doing anything wrong here; I just think people are reading too much into the statement.
Well, yes, PCs had IM for years, but on the DS for example Nintendo intentionally didn't provide any online chatting, so all you get is random match making and nothing else, which is really kind of annoying. There are also tons of DS games around that have multiplayer, but aren't online enabled. So while the online support for DS is better then nothing, its still very basic. If Wii doesn't do better I don't think that XBoxLive has to fear anything. On the other side Wii will have as far as I have heard a build in Opera browser, so there is some hope that Wii's Online will go bejoint what DS currently provides.
"I doubt Nintendo will offer an IM service to players."
When last I heard, they were calling it "!!M" ("Wii" upside-down).