Topic: Wii U Screenshots by Friends Will Be Spoiler-Free

[Kikori]

How will Nintendo minimize risk in online communication? 

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/30408

In today's Nintendo Direct Pre-E3 presentation, Satoru Iwata revealed Miiverse, a new online communication system for Wii U gamers. The system enables players to communicate with each other in various ways, including Twitter-like text messages, video chat, Swapnote-like drawings, through posted screenshots, and other forms.

The expansion of built-in inter-player communication functionality will enrich gamimg experience; however, it will carry various risks, one of which is obviously spoilers. As for screenshot posting, Iwata said they are preparing a countermeasure against spoilers, though it is still unclear how such protection will be implemented. Perhaps each screenshot has information (such as where in the game it was taken), and according to the information, screens containing potential spoilers (such as those taken in a game's later parts, or those taken by others in a part you have not seen) are filtered out, which would be smart.

There will be further potential risks in Miiverse. Considering that few Nintendo games support voice chat, it was surprising that Wii U will also enable us to video chat with Wii U friends, many of whom players might never have never seen offline. Like many existing video chat services, there's always the strong possibility that your fellow interlocutor could show up naked, which would be the last thing Nintendo want to see. I look forward to seeing how Nintendo tries to avoid such risks.

[DarthBrady]

Nintendo isn't really ignorant to the risk here. Xbox Live is just one example of an online service that has dealt with that sort of thing for years now. I applaud Nintendo for being bold here in one way: the new ability to draw a tweet-like note to friends. There's a whole can of new possibility of "risk" in that feature, but I dont care,   

I am excited about it anyway as I believe it will add a new experience that may come in handy. he ability to draw notes/tips to help in games is going to be. We'll be able to do cool stuff like draw maps, puzzle tips, etc.

[broodwars]

Really?     Spoiler images are really something Nintendo's going to waste time and resources dealing with?  Welcome to the internet! Here there be spoilers!

As for the video chat issue, yeah that's something Nintendo's going to have to deal with...somehow, probably by not allowing video chat between people who aren't Friends.

[Shaymin]

Really?     Spoiler images are really something Nintendo's going to waste time and resources dealing with?  Welcome to the internet! Here there be spoilers!

If it has a negative impact on someone's enjoyment of the game, it has to go. I know I'd have been mad if I was playing FF7 and a screenshot came up on the PS1 of AERISDIEDLOL because some anonymous guy I added on the Playstation World Report forums decided to be a dick.

They're going to have to have filters in place anyway for genitalia, so why not put a progress block on things?

[MegaByte]

I would not be surprised if games had the ability to outright block screenshots in certain portions of the game.

[broodwars]

If it has a negative impact on someone's enjoyment of the game, it has to go. I know I'd have been mad if I was playing FF7 and a screenshot came up on the PS1 of AERISDIEDLOL because some anonymous guy I added on the Playstation World Report forums decided to be a dick.

Then you remove said person you added from the PWR forums from your friends list.  This just reeks of pointlessness.  People are going to be dicks to each other on the internet almost no matter what you do, and there are more important aspects of it to deal with than spoiler images.

[StrawHousePig]

So let's just not do anything since one thing or other will be more important than something else. *ho-hum* 

[broodwars]

So let's just not do anything since one thing or other will be more important than something else. *ho-hum* 

No, it means taking responsibility for your own online experience. If you don't want spoilers, don't click on images from other people.

[C-Olimar]

If it has a negative impact on someone's enjoyment of the game, it has to go. I know I'd have been mad if I was playing FF7 and a screenshot came up on the PS1 of AERISDIEDLOL because some anonymous guy I added on the Playstation World Report forums decided to be a dick.

Then you remove said person you added from the PWR forums from your friends list.  This just reeks of pointlessness.  People are going to be dicks to each other on the internet almost no matter what you do, and there are more important aspects of it to deal with than spoiler images.

Which won't delete your memory. When you go onto your Miiverseā„¢ Plaza, you could be greeted with messages and screenshots such as 'OMG X Dies' or 'Y turns out to be a bad guy!' or an image of Y killing X. I would prefer to avoid that.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I would not be surprised if games had the ability to outright block screenshots in certain portions of the game.

I wouldn't either, but I like Kikori's idea of a time stamped data encoded image that would put up a potential spoiler warning if you don't own or haven't progressed that far in a specific game. i.e.
"This image may contain a spoiler from Resident Evil 6 - *click here to view*"

This way Nintendo did their part to preserve your enjoyment of the game, but still allow you the option of spoiling yourself.

[MegaByte]

I agree that they'll have something like that. Some of their patent applications talk about similar stuff (e.g. the Kid Icarus weapons), so I'm sure they've thought about it a lot. Especially considering that dev 3DSes, for instance, have screenshot taking built-in, I figure they were just waiting for the right implementation.

[Ian Sane]

You know what I want?  The ability to turn this off.  Then I'll just turn it off and never, ever turn it on again.  I can't see any way that I personally would enjoy this stuff so if I just turn it off, I'll never have to worry about it.  Not everyone has the same idea of what a spoiler is and I sure don't trust Nintendo to make that call.  Seriously just having someone say "man the lava boss is hard" is a spoiler to me.  I don't even go into official game threads on this forum when I'm playing a game just to avoid little stuff like that.  And this forum is completely optional.  I CHOOSE to be here.  When I'm playing a game I want to be alone in the videogame world and don't want a bunch of comments from strangers in my face.

The video had a shot of Mario with each level in the map having little comments.  I don't want that!  Even if there aren't any spoilers that is huge immersion breaker!  It isn't so bad in Mario but it Zelda that would completely kill the mood.  If we can just turn it off, then it's fine and the idiots who want spoilers and drawings of dongs in their face can have it.

[Stogi]

But you play New Super Mario Bros. Mii with your Mii. So having Mii's in there talking isn't a break in immersion, it's taking it to the next level.