Tagged with: Online

Near the end of last month, Nintendo performed maintenance on some of their online features on various platforms. Nintendo has the same thing planned this month, on February 26th. It’s being called “Emergency Maintenance” in North America while Europe is calling it a more tame, “Temporary Maintenance.” I don’t personally see the reasoning behind the use of the word “emergency” since I doubt this is anything like the Playstation Network having been hacked but for Nintendo, so I’m just calling it regular online maintenance.

You can find all information about the maintenance below:

From Monday, February 25, 2013 11:00 PM – Tuesday, February 26, 2013 5:00 PM Pacific Time

(From (approx.) Tuesday, 26 February 2013 07:00 to Wednesday, 27 February 2013 01:00 UK time.)

Affected Services:
Nintendo DS
Network Services
Pokémon Black Version
Pokémon White Version
Pokémon Black Version 2
Pokémon White Version 2

From Monday, February 25, 2013 4:00 PM – Monday, February 25, 2013 5:00 PM Pacific Time

(From (approx.) Tuesday, 26 February 2013 00:00 to Tuesday, 26 February 2013 01:00 UK time.)

Affected Services:
Wii U
Match Making, Ranking, etc.
NINJA GAIDEN™ 3: Razor’s Edge
WARRIORS OROCHI® 3 Hyper

*During the emergency maintenance, parts of the affected services may be intermittently unavailable.

When asked about connecting with friends via the Wii U, Reggie Fils-Aime said:

We’ve heard the community feedback on friend codes and we’re making it dramatically easier for you to connect with your friends.

But I wish they’d just copy Xbox Live. An account system with gamer-tags has been working well for the past few years. “Dramatically easier” could mean something in that vein, but Reggie’s inability to share anything too specific has me wondering if we’re in for another console cycle of lacklustre online experiences.

(via kotaku.com)

There are friend codes in the Wii U, so the online system won’t be a ridiculously huge departure from what Nintendo has done in the past. But they do sound like they’re making enough changes for it to be a pleasant experience. One of those changes is the addition of “a strong account system”, according to Reggie Fils-Aime. He explained that:

With Wii U, we’re going to have an account system. This means you’re going to create a Mii, as will all the other members of your family, and the behaviour for each Mii is going to be captured in an account. For example, if you’ve achieved a certain level in a game, that information will be unique to your Mii. Parental settings will be specific to each Mii.

This, in turn, means things likes “messaging and achievements and other key online functionality is tailored to you”. And yes, there will be some form of achievements within the Wii U. But Reggie has also confirmed that game-specific achievements are developer-driven. This means they’re not required like they are when a game comes to the Xbox 360.

In an interview, Reggie Fils-Aime has explained the account system and online experience of the Wii U as “almost like having a third platform”. But what does he mean by that?

This network will be applied on every future platform. Why is that important? Once I build a relationship with you through an account system, all of those behaviours and experiences are going to be there for you to go back to. If you buy a piece of digital content, it will be there for you, even in future systems.

And that’s exactly what an online experience should be like. It’s the most pleasant part about Xbox Live, or having an account with Apple, or using Steam. No matter what, the “identity” that I form via these platforms sticks with me. It provides a pleasant user experience and the businesses have an easier time retaining me as a customer. So basically, everybody wins.

When speaking with Kotaku about the Wii U, Reggie Fils-Aime said that, while “there are friend codes”, “it’s not the existing friend code system”, and:

…you will be able to identify people as friends and have a certain level of interaction vs. a different level of interaction for the more general population. The method by which you identify someone as a friend is a lot simpler than what’s happening today with Friend Codes.

Or, in other words, he’s staying relatively tight-lipped for the time being. But I will remain optimistic.