Here is the message I sent Nintendo about Wii Friend Codes. I actually got a form letter back saying they would send it to the appropriate department, but truthfully I know it will probably never be read...but it made me feel better. I tried to be very professional and convincing, just in case it is read by anyone with any real power to bring it up to the managers and decision makers.
Posted To: Nintendo <
nintendo@noa.nintendo.com>
Subject: Webform: Wii > General Questions / Feedback
Nintendo, thank you for a great product in the Wii. I have really enjoyed playing the Wii.
But, I have a few concerns. In a recent interview with Gamasutra you talked about Wii friend codes and online play. First let me say, I agree that friend codes are important because you do need to provide a way to connect with just your friends and a means to protect younger players from the trash that can occur with online gaming.
I don't think friend codes are the problem, but entering them for each game is a hassle and counter-intuitive to the Wii philosophy of being simple, fun for everyone. Right now you have a Wii System friend code that would perfectly allow users to easily and quickly edit and revise their friend list for all games. This seems to be the easiest and best way to implement friend codes. It is better for the gamers and better for the parents. If parents have a means to watch one single friends list and only allow it to be edited after entering parent codes, then they can easily monitor the games their children are playing and with whom. But if they have to monitor 5 different games, then it becomes more difficult...and what if the parent finds a friend communicating inappropriately, then they have to edit that friend out of each game, instead of once with the Wii system friend list.
Also in the same interview you spoke about the virtual console and the limited space on the Wii to store games. I understand the philosophy about being able to re-download games that you already purchased, so you don't have to physically keep them on your Wii, but in practice it isn't practical for many. I have bought over 20 virtual console games, and I can't fit them onto my Wii. But if I take my Wii to a friends house I want to make sure I have access to those games. I have carefully, taken them and saved all virtual console games to the SD card, which I can swap back and forth. The problem is this is a pretty tedious and long process. Even just moving one game over and then deleting takes a lot of time.
If you can make firmware that can allow us to access the SD card with like an SD channel and play VC games right off the SD card that could help. Or give us a firmware update that supports 3rd party USB hard drives, and allow the players to decide how to store the files. I know you are nervous about hackers...but surely there is a good compromise that can be made.
Finally, I do not know if this is possible, but is there a way to use the Wii to emulate the Gamecube mode...even access the Gamecube components so we can play Gamecubes within the Wii menu, and potentially with the Virtual Console controller. As it is right now it is quite hard to find new Gamecube controllers, and I want to be getting Wii controllers instead of buying Gamecube. It just seems if it is at all possible it would be a good idea.
Thank you for listening to my concerns. I am writing you this because I am very satisfied with the Wii and continue to hope the best for your games and company. But, I also want my voice heard, to help your marketing make decisions about the future of your products.
Thank you,
Topic: Wii love friend codes (Read 4564 times)
