Many Wii online functions not ready for launch [update 1]

@ 43 "Even at $250, it's not worth it if there's no online play for a year, the VC has a poor launch selection and no online play, and even basic online functionality is missing."


Its not a year its a few months, look at a calendar, we are in mid november. If I recall correctly the 360 had a lousy arcade lineup at launch and for months to come while Nintendo is touting weekly updated to VC and an already strong launch lineup of new games. As far as online functionality goes, well thats why I have my computer, I never heard anyone making a big deal over the 360 not having a browser. Nitendo promised online functionality in the next few months, its not like it was cancelled altogether.

"Microsoft can steal a lot of market share if its only competition is a couple of consoles that are feature-crippled at launch."

Overheating consoles, red light of doom, lousy backwards compatibility. Microsoft has had more time in the market but they ran into some hitches in the beggining aswell, lets not forget about that.

@43

"Even at $250, it's not worth it if there's no online play for a year"

Last I checked from the second half of November to January was less than two months, not a year. But maybe I'm mistaken.

@46

Heh, that wasn't there when I posted my comment.

fanboys start defending, now its gonna be we dont need online the only thing left for nintendo is to say is it doesnt play games you just wave the controller round for excercise then the fanboys will say oh we dont need it to play games! then think and say err oh yes we do

they didnt say for a year, they said until next year. as in "jan 17" for the news and dec 20th of this year for the weather. if it were a full year this might be a big deal, but a couple weeks? come on.

Nobody ever said online wasnt important, its just not a big deal if its not there right off the bat, you say it like Nintendo is cancelling online functionality altogether and thus it turns into an orgument of "OMG THE WII SUCKS NO ONLINE EVARZ!!!11!ONE" whereas the truth is that its only a few months at most. The original Xbox didnt have live for the longest time, and the ps2 had a crappy system. I realize that comparing it to prior generations will perpetuate the argument of some nintendo haters that the Wii is an overhauled Gamecube, but I use it as a reference point because its the first time Nintendo releases an online service for their major console market. I believe it is better to wait a few months to have a system that works instead of having a crappy and flawed service right off the bat. I for one im happy Nintendo is atleast releasing this information to the public as opposed to surprising us on launch day...

@ 49, great minds think alike my friend :P

What you should realize is that Nintendo will push anything back to make sure it's perfect. I am not going to worry.

Fine with me.

And yet another reason to just wait for the next generation to get up and running before buying, even if you have already made your decision as to which one (or two, or all of them) you are going to buy.

For ANY console, online play on launch really won't be that spectacular, considering there won't be that many players yet. This goes triple for the PS3 and their mere 200,000 units in North America. As for the lack of those online features, yes, that is a tad bit disappointing, but at least it's not like saying "oh! online play will NOT be available for months!" after we thought it would be. No online play is old news anyways.

An honest question: How many people out there have Media PC's? As in computers you have hooked up to your television to watch videos and music through? I have one but I have had a hard time getting MythTV to work correctly. I would love Wii software that made playing music and video off of network streams (or an FTP server on the lan if smb is too comlicated) an easy Point-And-Click affair. It wouldn't be difficult...

I do understand and even agree that the Wii is first and formost a Game Console, but it's also a computer, and it's hooked up to the TV. This makes it a natural place to run certain software that doesn't have to be games.

this is a big dissapointment for me. few could be any more excited about the wii than me and of course i've got my pre-order waiting, but...

does anyone else find it appalling that they were going to launch the wii at $200 until the big chain stores complained that they wouldn't make a big enough profit and that it would be bad for "total cart value"? i'm on a budget, and i find it unbelievable that nintendo is basically adding $50 to the price just so that target and walmart and kmart can stick an extra $50 into their pockets. they make a few cents on other items which take up the same floor space, such as a 12 pack of toilet paper, or items that weigh even more such as a large container of juice. and that's the standard profit margin. but for some reason they feel they 'deserve' $50 profit for every wii they scan at the checkout counter? and for leverage, they told nintendo that they would hype the unit a little more if nintendo let them have that $50 a pop. it bothers me that nintendo gave into this. this is almost as bad as price fixing and it surprises me that they admit this, since it seems really disrespectful of consumers.

i was really looking forward to the news channel, and it would have been fun to play with the forecast channel. i'm not sure why it's so hard for them to have this up and running as they had been saying all along. and what's with opera suddenly not being available, 2 days before launch? from the demo videos, they've clearly had prototypes of the news channel up and running for a while. how hard can it be to get the cnn rss feed set up? we're not talking rocket science here. no one has to re-invent the wheel or write a new graphics library. if there are a few last minute kinks to work out, why not put a programmer on it and get it fixed in the next couple days? how can they need two months to set up an rs feed? and as for the weather channel, how long does it take to get some database calls working, since demos showed the graphics elements already working? a lot of people are so excited about the new games that they are saying they don't care about these things not being available, but i was looking forward to them. i don't have tons of money to buy a lot of games right away, so i was looking forward to having these features to enjoy in the mean time.

as for online game play, they've never said online game play would be available at launch - so that's no surprise and not a disappointment. we knew this would be delayed.

i was REALLY excited about the browser functionality. yes, i can use my computer. but i was looking forward to this new experience and when it IS available i will use it ALOT, since i like to check news on cnn throughout the day. but now i'll be able to do it while watching tv or reading without getting up to go to the computer. it's not that i'm lazy, but it will just really enhance that experience. in the same way that i love to read books but can't stand to read on the computer screen, it will be great to check cnn stories all the time without having to sit at my desk on the computer. why did they wait until the last minute to announce that this doesn't even HAVE a release date. it feels like nintendo is either really dropping the ball or else disappointing us simply to try and milk the PR cycle. that would be their perogative, but not two days before launch. that's just wrong. if there's some serious new problemt hat has come up, why not be honest about it. it's easier to be disappointed about something when you have a believable, reasonable excuse.

what's with releasing DVD functionality as a whole new unit? since when do you announce an upgraded console before you've even released the original? why would it be so hard to release this as a software add on instead of a whole new unit? and how is it that they need to raise the price again to do this? how much can it be costing them to add this feature? a few bucks for a new chip and another couple bucks per unit to license the software? and yet they feel that, even though they are already just giving the retailers $50 a unit, they need to raise the price even more? this is really a rip off. it's bad enough that they want people to re-purchase the unit or do without the new features, but it's even worse since these are things which cost them almost nothing and yet they want to make tons more money off of it by gouging consumers. there's a difference between smart business (a fair profit based on value) vs. gouging.

remember when nintendo used to say that they gave up fast-loading cartridges because cartridge technology was so expensive to manufacture? and that printing cd's and dvd's was dirt cheap, such that they could lower prices? then why is it that we pay the same for disc based software titles, even though they cost next to nothing to manufacture? this isn't just nintendo - it's all the game companies.

so - nintendo has been acting like most of the channels would be available at launch. i think they should be willing to put an extra programmer on task to get these up and running, instead of last minute announcements that they need crazy amounts of time (2 months - or no date in the case of opera) to get them working. i've always relied on nintendo to be more honest than sony, but these last minute delays with no real explanation feels like dishonest and manipulative behavior.

"disappointed",

Where did Nintendo say that that the price was going to be $200 if not for retailer concerns? Pretty much every mention about price was that it wouldn't exceed $250, which was the case. Granted, I wished it launched at $200 too, but it's conceivable that the new motion sensing technology and the pack-in of Wii Sports warranted a price raise. Again, I'd really like to know about all these dealings Nintendo had with retailers.

As for the forecast and news channels, I was actually looking forward to them too, as with the lack of online game play, the Wii would have some online functionality outside the store at launch, but nevertheless, if I know Nintendo, it's because they feel that they can improve things, so I'll trust them.

For DVD functionality, they've been relatively inexpensive for years now, so it really seems unnecessary to put one in a console, if it'll add costs. However, they're giving you the option of buying the console with DVD playback, but if you want to buy it, don't.

My main concern, or desire, is that Virtual consoles get online functionality added, like through a firmware update with WiiConnect24. One, it would make up for the lack of online play in original names for the rest of this year, but would also make the somewhat high prices for VC titles a bit more worth it. Plus, Nintendo wouldn't have to host the games on their own servers(with so many multiplayer games it'd be really fragmented), players could host games themselves, whenever they want to play.

WTF does this mean you can't download VC's at launch? Because you have to use online for that. But I have no doubt it will work out for the best. I have made the decision to NEVER doubt Nintendo again. Trust me they will pull it out their a$$es.

Read the source, not Joystiq's angle on it and see if you're still "bothered" or find it "funny".

"actual online game play -- still won't be available until next year" being in the same report as talking about an offical quote is VERY misleading, it won't be available because no games will be using it, the network is there, hence mails, wii shop, etc. And personally given the choice of sitting on my own playing super monkey ball with other people or sat with friends in the house, with wine, food and four of us playing it having a blast I know which I'd go for.

The Wii and other "next gen consoles" though for me are competing for different markets, I like games but PS3 and 360 are of no interest, I've nothing against them but they to me offer nothing the PC doesn't already (hey and I already own one of those). The Wii to me is about fun, with friends (and on your own ... Zelda is mine !!! all mine I tell you), the sooner the "Gaming press" learn that the better.

I'm mad about it, yeah I already got a browser, but with this I could watch Youtube in bed after a long night of Zelda. Hope they launch the browser soon.