While most of us were sound asleep on Thursday night dreaming of touch screens and 3D, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata was making a pretty exciting announcement about Nintendo Network, the online system for the Wii U and 3DS.
The first thing that I like about Nintendo Network is that it's being called a 'platform'. As a geek, I get excited about the use of that particular word! In this case, what really excites me is that the 3DS and Wii U are both going to be on the same online platform.
I'm lso intrigued by Iwata's description of some of Nintendo Network's core functions. He said that Nintendo Network will enable you to download additional content for games, download games (including full retail games), and communicate with other users.
I wonder if the Nintendo Network is going to amalgamate the services like the Friend List, eShop and Nintendo Letter Box on the 3DS? If so, I'd hope that those sorts of services will be making an appearance on the Wii U too.
What's really exciting though is the potential that such a platform can offer. Imagine a more expansive form of the Friends List, maybe a bit like a social network, where you can see peoples' ratings for games, their favourite games and what they've been playing recently, along with their Mii and maybe game stats?
Allowing all the information to go through one place would be really efficient, and if it's designed well it could be extremely sleek.
I'm sure someone else has noticed this as well, but if there's a cross-platform between the 3DS and Wii U, this opens up the possibility of multiplayer between the two. And I would hazard a guess that this is exactly the sort of thing that's being planned for the Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS games, which we know will work together.
But what if this was expanded to more games? Perhaps there could be multiplayer races on Mario Kart, with some playing on 3DS and some on Wii U. Or with Pokemon, you could have battles or trades between a potential 3DS game and Wii game!
I think the potential for the Nintendo Network is huge if it's implemented correctly, and includes all the other features that work well on other systems, such as achievements. But what would you like to see from Nintendo Network? Let me know below!
I'd like to see free online worlds similar to Playstation home where you can play little,free games and watch trailers for films coming out and other stuff.
hopefully they could make it like a free xbox live where you could download moviesand microgames whilst playing other games.
oh and make it more freind freindly with pop ups saying "freind... is online" a voice chat party and instant game joining. this would than rival ps vita easily
id like to see more of nintendo's "accomplishments"
its going to be like the playstation store and xbox marketplace, but you know, nicer. and more exclusive content. and just nicer. xbox and ps3 can share their cod map packs, we can get an extra 3 zelda dungeons!
now that is a good idea. downloading full price games also seems like a good idea also, but not unless they are cheaper - like shadow of the colossus and ico collection on ps store, rather than driver san fransico on ps store (£20 and £55 respectively. also known as reasonable buy and rip off)
if nintendo make dlc, i think it will probably be cheaper, because, lets face it, people would spend £50 on map packs for cod, heck they did when mw3 came out (joking obviously, dont take the mickey) and nintendo are just nicer than sony and microsoft. have you ever heard the customer support for microsoft? it might as well punch you in the face.
we shall see. what i would like is the ability for me in a cafe on my 3ds to set up a download for my wii u to get me a dlc, downloading it while i am out, and ready to play when i get home. i would never use that feature in practical life, but it would be so awesome i would just do it on my 3ds to buy for my wii u anyway, even if i am at home.
I like that idea, it would be useful to choose what to download onto your Wii U even when you're not at home. However, I am not of fan of extra downloadable content for games, or at least not in the way it has been handled so far. Games developers have managed for years to make full games with plenty of depth and content without you having to pay extra to get the full potential. It just seems odd to me that so many gamers get excited by the possibility of spending more money on their games without much improvement over previous games. It seems that a lot of developers view this simply as a way of making a bit more money. Remember Tiger Woods 2010 (I think it was 2010) and how the Wii version had all the content of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions without the added cost and inconvenience of having to download all the content? It just goes to show that for the most part, downloadable content is an unnecessary extra expense for gamers when developers could simply put all the content on the disk.
Having said that, I trust that Nintendo will handle downloaded content in a way that is fair and effective. Because I do like the idea of developers being able to add extra content to a game after it has been released without having to release a sequel, like how Mario Kart Wii allowed you do download extra challenges and Professor Layton games have extra puzzles to download, or of course the quests in Dragon Quest IX. The thing is with all of those examples is that they are all free. Hopefully Nintendo consoles will have extra content available that is free. Of course this may not be possible for bigger expansions, but those shouldn't cost much either.
As for the full downloadable titles, I have high hopes for this. Nintendo will have learnt from their mistakes with WiiWare, most notably the limit on game size, meaning that some very good games could see a release through this service. Because the Wii U is such an innovative platform, the games could be very inventive and experimental and be developed by smaller developers, much like what WiiWare promised (and somewhat delivered).
The connectivity of the Wii U is a very exciting prospect and I look forward to seeing more of it soon.
all of this stuff is good and all, but all I want to know is will Wii U be able to play DVDs?
all of this has been done before on other consoles. nothing new to the table. no sympathy here
sounds awesome. i agree with chris and all the comments.
(He said just what I thought)
If you install homebrew on the Wii, you can watch DVD's. There will probably be a similar setup for the Wii U.
I agree with Chris Rooke on the possible new features of the Wii U and 3ds online platforms, but cross compatibility of games between Wii U and 3ds (playing Mario Kart online between the 2 systems) sounds like wishfull thinking, and I honestly don't think Nintendo have the motavation or desire to let this happen.
Sounds awesome!
What's quite intriguing though is the retail downloads. It seems as if they are trying to be forward thinking with the Wii U, but also that the development size limit will be alot bigger, meaning developers shouldn't have the same struggle with lack of space that they had with Wii Ware 
so are they going to make a pokemon game where you can transfer pokemon from your ds games or maybe even pokemon rumble for the wii u ?
If it has the capacity to download full size retail games then getting GC games on VC might actually happen
Also a shared eshop between WiiU and 3DS would be good, so if I download Mario Land 2 to my 3DS it will also be downloaded to my WiiU. Even better if save files for such game had a copy sent to the cloud when you finished playing, then the most up-to-date saves would be received by the next console you play the game on, be it WiiU or 3DS. So you could be playing a game on your WiiU until you need to leave to catch a bus, then once your on the bus whip out your 3DS and literally continue your game.
well, nobody can tell that yet. But it would be a nice idea. Personally, I don't think it'd be very likely; how would you hook up a wii u to a wii like that? But through ds download play, I guess it's possible to transfer from the ds titles.
dlc in this sense is reminiscent of the post-super mario galaxy launch, when nintendo got together, realised all the cool stuff that they had missed and so decided to make a sequel. if the wii was capable of downloading extra content, then they wouldn't have had to make a whole new game: they could've just put in yoshi and a whole bunch of other cool stuff in a dlc pack. This is the point of "modern" dlc
Love the social networking idea!
I'd love it if you could have like a chat room so you can have real time chats, with the ability to post pics and that as well as writing or typing.
That'd be great! And more demos would certainly be a good thing.
Pokemon Battle Revolution, Mario Party and Smash Bros. will all benefit from the Wii U/3DS networking, and a social networky thing would be cool.
Nintendo Network would be epic!
will be, my friend, it will be.
or i will go to nintendo japan and scream
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?
and get thrown out.
I just noticed that in Mario Kart 7 when you disconnect from the online multiplayer service, it says "disconnecting from Nintendo Network."
Wow, this sounds like it has the potential to rival Steam effectively. Some kind of social networking/chat/general multiplayer thing would probably be the absolute minimum to expect, otherwise the choice of name would make little if any sense.
Whatever happens, it will be very interesting...
Generally the idea of being able to download games instead of having to worry about looking for places where they're in stock and in good condition is one of the things I like the most about Steam.
It has huge potential,but I have a feeling,and I hope I'm wrong,that the potential wont be used
Hopefully, more routers will be added with Nintendo Network because my router isn't compatible with the 3DS or the Wii so I'm really hoping Nintendo Network will add more
Having the Wii U and 3DS linked could mean that owners of both can have a 'Street Pass' for Wii U. The Wii U could transfer game data to your 3DS, and then send it back when you've passed somebody. This should be something very simple for Nintendo to introduce, and would open up more interesting game twists - e.g. a massive Street Pass Quest Wii U?