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Jul 23 / Ozymandias

Nintendo Wii Online Service to use Friend Codes?

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It sounds like some enterprising folks found a few unreleased pages on Nintendo’s website last week. They were quickly pulled, but according to this post from Kotaku (and many others), the WiFi pages stated that Wii would use Friend Codes (likely just as the Nintendo DS does).

To quote Wikipedia:

“Friend codes are “addresses” assigned to every player that uses Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The codes are usually assigned one per player, per game; the codes allow a player to store a list of friends with the same game and play with them when both parties are online. The codes come in different formats for different games. For example, the codes of Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS are six digits followed by another row of six digits, while Animal Crossing: Wild World’s codes comprise three groups of four digits separated by hyphens. Friend codes in Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land allow the player to search for opponents that are in their friend list and are also searching for a match against “friends” with the same game. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, friend codes are absolutely required to visit another’s town via the Wi-Fi connection, perhaps due to Nintendo’s privacy concerns or the potential in-game vandalism that could occur from unauthorized visitors to the player’s town. Adding a friend can also allow text and/or voice chat, as in the case of Metroid Prime: Hunters and Animal Crossing: Wild World. In “Animal Crossing Wild World”, every Wi-Fi users codes of which you obtain, are stored in your “Friend Roster” so you can keep a record of whose town you visit.”

I’m mildly disappointed by the news because the Friend Code concept doesn’t do much to build community. Unless the implementation is changed, you’re basically restricted to playing with only people you know who you have exchanged codes with. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the majority of time I choose to play with my friends anyway – I just don’t have as much time to play as I might like, and when I do I usually try to spend time with them. So for me (and maybe many others), this may not be a big deal. But with Friend Codes you seem to lose out on the opportunity to meet new random people online (which I also admit may be a benefit at times!) Probably worse in my mind is that I’ll miss the ability to personalize myself online. I’m “Ozymandias”, not a string of digits. <sigh>

All that said, I also understand why Nintendo is going in this direction. The company has always had a strong history of being family-friendly, and concepts like Friend Codes fit right in this vein. It also makes building an online network a lot simplier, especially one which they want to provide to consumers without additional charge. So while I might personally prefer a more robust online service like Xbox Live, I think this is a great first step for Nintendo as they dip their toe into the online waters for the first time with a home console. However, I also wouldn’t be surprised if something like “nicknames” comes along in the near future to allow you to better personalize your online presence. Let the landrush begin! Smile

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  • iiii Link iiii

    hey ozy, nice to see your posting stuff on other consoles ;)

    THis is good and bad news… although I’m glad to see ‘friends’ on the wii, I’m abit concerned abot the lack of random friends. As I’m prob the only one of my real friends to buy this wheb this comes out… ill be kinda lonely. lol no worries, ill send you a friend request (if that’s what they’re called)

  • Ranger7722

    To tell you the truth, I am deeply in love with everything that Xbox Live has set up.  The friends list system works great.  It’s easy to see the people who you just played with, what games they have, if they are any good at them (achievements), and then send them a friend request from there!  The system works great for building community and having an awesome time online.

    However, I also see where Nintendo is coming from.  Since most Nintendo products are oreinted towards a younger audience, it makes sense to have them only play with their friends and such.  Nintendo is headed in the right direction, but they still have a long ways to go.

  • Pappy

    Perhaps it will be like Toontown (which I work on)?  By default you have to use friend codes, but a parent can enter a password allowing free chat and friend-making.  

    Hopefully you can make this change on a global scale in the Wii Dashboard.

  • http://www.jasoncross.org JasonC

    I don’t find friend codes to be any better than the standard login stuff that every other game uses. In fact, it’s worse, because your friend code is something obtuse instead of a name you make up for yourself.

    The friend code is different for every game, so you still have that totally annoying thing where everytime you and your circle of friends get a new game, you have to go "oh what’s your friend code?"

  • Ozymandias

    JasonC actually has a great point I meant to mention – it currently appears Friend Codes are unique to each game, and not systemwide. Again, makes sense for Nintendo because they don’t have to invest into a lot of online infrastructure, make sure it scales over time as more games come online, etc. But it does make the community a lot more fragmented.

  • SpeedyG

    I havnt used the DS online yet, but this seems like areal annoying way to go about things. There seems to be no community what so ever. Do you have to write down all ur codes…or what? And i’ll take it no game has quick match either. That kinda sux. I’m a little disapointed in Nintendo.

  • ExTester

    Ozymandias.. About the community being fragmented..

    Well in someways that could be a good thing. I mean I have a Xbox Live account, and I think XBL is the next best thing since sliced bread. Its an outstanding online network. But there are some problems that Nintendo could address instantly by having a fragmented online community.

    The way I see it working for Nintendo is that the gamers would only have the friend codes of people that they know. Which automatically gets rid of random people, who in my case I have had a good percentage use harsh language, and say racial slurs even when asked not to. To some degree this does help cut out a lot of that, and it makes it easier for parents to let their kids play online knowing that they are only playing with friends that they know of.

    So there are up sides to it. I just hope that they have a friends list that will store the different id codes to the user name on the console end. Kinda like a contact book but just with friend and their friend codes.

  • http://www.xbox.com HOVA uk

    Kinda shows Nintendo are a bit lazy, with this system[if it does take place] Playing Online will be freindly and fun and that’s what Nintendo are aiming at but not everyone that buys Wii are kids..

    It will definetly get annoying quick if it’s the same as the Freind Code system DS uses. For once, I reckon Nintendo should take tips from Microsoft.

  • http://club.ign.com/b/about?username=daviddoel&which=boards daviddoel

    I have a DS and though I can’t stand the friend’s code system, it still fits in well with a handheld platform. But when it comes to console gaming, I want a central friends list, the ability to create my unique nickname, and voice chat as a must. I think that this is a huge negative towards Nintendo, and I think its going to be the #1 complaint with the Wii.

    I mean, asuming this news is true, there is absolutly no way that I’ll be buying my multi-console online titles for the Wii. And that is exactly what Nintendo doesn’t want happening. Sure the controller will give me a unique experience, but if it comes at the sacrafice of losing well implimented online play, then I’ll be picking up the 360 or PS3 version.

  • Ozymandias

    From ExTester: "I just hope that they have a friends list that will store the different id codes to the user name on the console end. Kinda like a contact book but just with friend and their friend codes."

    I agree – this would be a good way to streamline the Friend Code interface, and help mitagate having multiple codes across different games.

    From HovaUK:

    "Kinda shows Nintendo are a bit lazy, with this system[if it does take place] Playing Online will be freindly and fun and that’s what Nintendo are aiming at but not everyone that buys Wii are kids.."

    I agree with the latter, but I don’t think Nintendo is being lazy here. Building an online service is really hard and this is a good first step. Give them some time and I suspect you’ll see the service continue to evolve. That’s the nice thing about competition (no matter who you are competing with).

  • maynard

    At least with the Wii you’ll have some idea of what you’re getting.  How will friends be connected on the PS3?

    It’s going to take Nintendo quite some time to build a netword like Live!, but they’ll get something good going.  You have to remember, too, that Nintendo doesn’t have the gazillions of dollars to spend that MS does.  They can’t just say, "ok, you thousand guys build us an online network in a month" and make it happen.

  • Ozymandias

    Had a thought – interesting follow-up question for you all. Is this sort of thinking/article of interest to you, or not? If it isn’t (ie, you don’t get anything from it), be good for me to know… as would the converse.

    Thoughts?

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  • http://ozymandias.com/archive/2006/09/24/Nintendo-Wii-at-_2400_249-Good_2E002E002E00_.aspx Ozymandias

    RE: Nintendo Wii Online Service to use Friend Codes?

    … at least for Nintendo. Yes, I&#39;m still in Peru (Arequipa, to be exact) on vacation, but we&#39;re