Slashdot Mirror
Wii Games Go Online, Lose Happy Clouds
Ars Technica has the news of some comments made by Reggie Fils-Aime on the SpikeTV show GameHead about Wii's online multiplayer future. Essentially, there aren't any games in the near future to look forward to, online. The Japanese launch saw the inclusion of Pokemon Battle Revolution, a with a solid online mode. The first batch of online games is slated for sometime around March or April. From the article: "Many games still in development for the Wii are designed around playing with people who are physically present: a recent preview of a new anime-themed golf game for the Wii on Electric Playground revealed that the developers had not included online multiplayer modes. Fils-Aime also indicated that new multiplayer channels were on their way for the Wii's online service, but declined to give any details about what new features might be enabled on them." In somewhat related news, it seems that the Bob Ross game may not end up happening after all. The loss of happy little clouds will be felt by every Wii owner.
You heard me say it here and now folks. If the new Smash Brothers is online-capable, and they do it right...holy shit.
Living With a Nerd
Don't they know all the world needs is a little Prussian Blue?
"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success" -em
Based off of the DS' implementation of friend codes, you can play with random people (and in the case of Clubhouse Games it removes the drawing/chat and instead just lets you pick standard questions/comments as well). The only thing friend codes are for is for playing with your friends, not making it so you cannot play with anyone else.
Of course, you can select to play with only those who you are friends with, but that does not prohibit you from being randomly matched up with an opponent who you have not exchanged codes with.
The only game that I know of that you had to have a friend code for was Animal Crossing, and that merely because the average person wouldn't want random visitors trashing their towns.
Games that allow random play:
Mario Kart
Tetris
Clubhouse Games
Metroid Prime Hunters
I'm sure I'm forgetting a few more, but those are the ones I have.
I'm really sad that my Mii Parade is always empty. None of my friends can afford a Wii, so I never get to interact with others online. Why the heck isn't there an option to do something like enter your zip code and obtain Mii's from people within a certain radius from you or something?
Morphing Software
Since the wiimote doesn't try determine the size of your screen at all, just increasing the sensitivity would be enough to make a painting game as precise as they want. Almost every game menu uses the remote as a pointer anyway, so the resolution is definitely there.