Pokemon Battle Revolution is the first Japanese title to truly be "multi-player" and reports from IGN and other media folks in Japan are saying it has it's own 12-digit friends code. Console owners know that their hardware has its own "friends code" that's unique to the user. However, games are coming with the too?
Is there no lessons to be learned from Xbox Live's design? Both Sony and Nintendo have put out a network infrastructure that isn't nearly the design of XBL yet XBL has been out for over a year in its current 360 format.
We've seen companies steal ideas that were similar in nature (i.e. SixAxis controller over the Wii remote) yet something as fundamental as networking could not be duplicated or improved upon? It seems so foreign that a company doesn't yet grasp the nature of networking.
We here at 2old2play do not exactly understand why Nintendo would create a more complex system, requiring the use of 12-digit numbers. Two examples that come to mind that contradict the numeric system:
- Domain Name Resolution (DNS): The designers and implementers of DNS realized people don't want to remember numbers like 216.239.51.104 but can remember "www.google.com" without a problem. Both are the same, but one is something we commit to memory.
- Letter Phone Numbers: What motivates a company to use a number like 1-800-YOUPWNS when they can commit the full numeric number to memory? It's easier and we're lazy!
Two historically fundamental ways we communicate in the world via phone and Internet both have methods of using letters over a long string of numbers. This does not even consider the vast amount of XBL gamertags we can remember in our head because the names are either humorous or simply easy to recall. For instance, MajorNelson is a gamertag some people recognize and can commit to memory without too much trouble. Would they also be able to remember 8547-5378-3205 without retyping it over and over? It also loses some of the personal appeal; isn't the Wii about personality?
In order for a console to be taken seriously on the networking aspects they must make it easy to use, easy to remember, and clear for expansion. If more games arrive with yet more friends codes how long will it be before we're all investing in Microsoft Excel in order to organize all of our friends?
It is almost as if Nintendo is moving backwards in technology, not forwards...
source:
joystiq.com
uk.wii.ign.com
