Nintendo says online support for Wii could be better

Satoru Iwata has acknowledged that the online experience for Wii isnt as good as it could be

Iwata, the head of Nintendo in Japan, met with investors whilst in LA for E3 last week to discuss Nintendos current position and their plans for moving forward. He discussed why online functionality was not included in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, citing that the Wiis limited capability for online play would not have ensured a positive gaming experience. "I think that his (Miyamotos) decision on whether or not to include online functionality with New Super Mario Bros. Wii was based on the idea that the true value of that product was going to be determined not by online functionality, but on how compelling and unique the experience would be for two, three or four people to be able to play that game together in the same room."

Iwata then acknowledged the gaming communitys sentiments towards the Wiis online functionality. "I have heard commentary that people feel that Nintendos online functionality is behind the others or is lacking in some ways." The good news here of course is that Nintendo recognises poor online on the Wii as something that can be fixed. "I can say that we are not currently satisfied with the online efforts that we have made so far, and we are working at ways to improve those," said Iwata.

The compromise here is that we may not see the same level of support for improved online accessibility for all games on the Wii and future platforms. Nintendo has stated that developing a high standard of online coding for a game is taxing on resources and that not every game is worthy of such attention. With a strong line-up of multiplayer-centric titles such as Mario Kart and Smash Bros., however, the hardcore faithful may be comforted that their multiplayer franchise of choice may indeed benefit from improved online support from Nintendo in future.

Source: Kotaku