Nintendo's online strategy is often derided by its critics as being user-unfriendly. 2007 saw the Wii test out the online waters and not much changed. However, there were a few games that really stood out for their online modes.

Wii - Best Online

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

The Wii debut of Guitar Hero may be one of the first third-party games to use Wii's online features, but Neversoft and Activision deserve special recognition for matching and in many cases exceeding Nintendo's own online efforts. Guitar Hero III features online leaderboards, seamless head-to-head play in several modes, indicators showing when your friends are online, and excellent integration with the official game website. It's not a killer app for Wii's online features (and it can't escape the problem of Friend Codes), but it's an impressive offering for a system not yet renowned for its online capabilities. Because of this it earns our award for Best Online Gameplay for a Wii Title.

Runner-up: Battalion Wars II

The Wii's online offerings haven't exactly blown us all away. However, this year's best online offerings were very close. Battalion Wars 2 is a fully-featured online offering with multiple modes including co-op, all of which compliment a fairly fluid system of connecting with friends. BWii's online component did what a good online systems should do: offer a solid compliment to an already quality game.