Do you love Nintendo? Even if you don't, you can at least see how phenomenal a success the Wii has become and respect the fact that their innovative approach to gaming has brought in thousands, if not millions of new players to the hobby. Their mascots are recognized the world over, by young and old alike. That's why Super Smash Brothers: Brawl - released just last month - is such a seminal title. It is meant to showcase the Wii's capabilities and provide a glimpse at Nintendo's future possibilities.

In the run-up to the console's launch there was much vitriol leveled at Nintendo for their new "Blue Ocean" approach. Nintendo was chided for reaching out to new audiences while there was a worried perception that their core players would be left behind. While it's true that carnival games and virtual puppies have gone on to sell magnificently, these have been complemented by fresh offerings in the Zelda, Metroid, and Mario franchises.


Can you guess which three stars have already appeared in their own original titles on the Wii?
It's rather remarkable, in a way, that within the first two years of the console's lifespan Nintendo's three largest franchises have all been updated. Normally these new iterations are introduced once developers have had a chance to learn the hardware and are able to exploit it more effectively. The latest of the powerhouse franchises to receive a sequel, the aforementioned Brawl, is a true appeal to the hardcore crowd. Daily updates on the Dojo stoked the fires of hype for the game. Rumors were rampant about what characters, stages, and options were to be included. The Brawl to End Them All is already a million-seller and universally lauded for its balance, design, and sheer breadth of content.

In the game itself, there is little to criticize. The core gameplay is as exciting, deep, and fun as every other installment in the franchise. The assist trophies are wonderfully referential, and the new stages make for wonderful new strategies. (Incidentally, I have reduced more than one grown man to tears through the liberal use of Dedede's Final Smash.) But the true criticism of Smash Brothers is not of the game itself. More specifically, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl highlights the most egregious shortcoming of Nintendo in this generation of consoles, which is not tied to any specific game.

I'm speaking of Nintendo's failure to grasp one of the most dynamic components of modern gaming: online capability.

Now, to say "Nintendo doesn't do online well" is a very broad generalization. Online gaming is complex and multifaceted. There are many different ways of using the Internet for gaming and while Nintendo has capitalized on some of the basic ideas, other areas that have cried out for implementation have fallen by the wayside.

Playing online is the most basic implementation of online capability with games. The ability to connect to other players and play with them, one-on-one, is the foundation and the building block of online gaming. It's almost second nature in many games today, ever since the idea was popularized with DOOM. This simple exchange of information and real-time interaction with others that are not in the same room with the player is a staple of most games today.

Nintendo, however, has only recently begun to implement this in their games. The first game to offer this interaction was Mario Kart DS. To their credit, this was a relatively seamless implementation. Smash Brothers Brawl also allows players to go online. The lag time experienced by a large number of Brawl competitors can all but destroy the online game environment. I'm less inclined to hold that against Nintendo, as I'm sure their servers are stretched thin by the game's popularity. After all, the same problem was a plague on World of Warcraft for the first year or so of its existence.

But the failing of Nintendo in this area is not in what it offers, but instead in what it does not. This refers to probably Nintendo's largest blunder in the online sphere - the Friend Code. Friend Codes, I imagine, sound quite good on paper. A string of numbers distinguishing each Wii, and yet another unique code for each game. Nintendo likely saw this system as a surefire way to identify friends and limit the potential harm that could come through as a result. However, the Friend Code system is needlessly restrictive. While there is an option to play anonymously, there is no way to make friends out of players that you meet online, as their identity is masked far too effectively. There is no opportunity to build community within the game itself. No opportunity to meet like-minded players who play at your level. This mode of interaction is part of the defining experience of playing online, and its absence is keenly felt.


Smash Bros. Brawl is far from the first online title to suffer from lag issues at its launch, but…
The lack of a text/voice chat system is also a key oversight in Nintendo's online strategy. This aids in the community building that is stunted through Friend Codes, to be sure, but the main loss comes from having communication augment the gaming experience. And I'm not talking exclusively about co-op communication on teams. As a friend of mine so eloquently puts it, "Smash Brothers isn't as much fun if you can't berate the other players for their shortcomings." I'm not referring to the "hooting *********" mentality that a large chunk of Xbox Live members seem to fall into, but general ribbing that comes from getting seven Smash Balls in a row in one match. (Yes, it happened.) That kind of interaction goes a long way toward adding another level of enjoyment to a game if players aren't all in the same place. It has the potential for abuse, to be sure, but not even having the option is an oversight.


Why aren't Wii gamers worthy of a similar solution?
Perhaps the largest oversight that Nintendo has made has been with regard to downloadable content. Now, you may say that Nintendo does offer downloadable content. What's the Virtual Console and the forthcoming WiiWare if not a way to cheaply add new games to your collection? While this is correct, and I own a great many Virtual Console titles myself, Nintendo's oversight is twofold: Nintendo failed to take the initiative to make this system more robust, and more importantly failed to implement an adequate memory solution for both large consumers of downloadable content and for larger downloadable offerings.

The Wii games that have been offered so far by and large do not offer any opportunity to add content. This is a grave oversight in a time when games such as Rock Band and Mass Effect are seeing tremendous profit from (relatively) inexpensive add-on content. Not only would it help Nintendo financially, but it would also be a tremendous incentive to third parties who want to get even greater returns on their investment. Nintendo would also be able to give a tremendous service to their core gamer. Imagine being able to download a Brawl stage based on the next Zelda installment or even add more characters to the roster through a simple transaction.

As much as this scenario is appealing, it abuts the other prong of Nintendo's disregard for downloadable content. There is simply not enough space on the Wii for things like this. Game saves, Virtual Console games, and soon WiiWare will all have to share a space that is barely half a gigabyte. Due to Nintendo's stringent anti-piracy stance, game data (outside of screenshots and the like) is not transferrable to external media such as SD cards, flash drives, or memory cards. With WiiWare just around the corner, it's almost unthinkable for Nintendo to not offer a storage solution for those who will inevitably fill up that space with all that will be offered.


It's all too easy for hardcore gamers to fill their Wii's internal memory to the brim.
Nintendo's first tentative steps into online gaming are a start, but much more is needed if the device is to live up to its full potential. An alternate system to the Friend Code and the implementation of a storage solution are absolutely essential, and should be put in place as soon as possible. Online gaming is definitely one of the new frontiers for gaming, and while Nintendo is finding a route into the Blue Ocean, they should definitely keep an eye on how other aspects of gaming are evolving. To focus too much on their fantastic innovation is to lose sight of the whole picture of gaming as it exists today and what it will be in the future.