3rd Party Wii games could be missing Wifi until 2007

This is probably something to file under the category of pinch of salt, but since Activision announced that Call of Duty 3 for Wii wont have online play as incorrectly reported by US magazine Game Informer, IGN has reported that Tony Hawks Downhill Jam along with every other launch game may not have any form of online play until 2007. Read more inside! While Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam will include four player split screen multiplayer, apparently an online mode hasnt been planned, even though the DS version will. According to IGN, Nintendo is not releasing any WiFi connection libraries (the code that allows Wii consoles to talk to each-other) to third parties until early 2007. This would mean no third party launch titles have online (or possible WiiConnect24) functionality.

This is certainly not good news for those expecting to take their Wii online this year and its an issue Nintendo need to address, especially with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 featuring online play directly out of the box. All is not lost though as Mario Strikers Charged and BWii will have online modes, though it will be 2007 before either of these games are released. Well report back as soon as we know more.