No online Wii games until next year?

[corruptrelic]

According to Shacknews late night consoling for anyone who missed it (taken from IGN) there won't be any third party online games for the Wii until next year.

Gamers hoping for an online component, however, are in for bad news, because one isn't planned. Activision would not say why, but IGN has separately learned from multiple development sources that Nintendo will not release Wii Wi-Fi Connection libraries to third parties until early 2007, which means that no third party launch title will have an online mode.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/728/728041p1.html

[Misguided]

Perhaps the libraries won't be finalized in time? Hopefully once the libraries are available we'll be able to download patches for various games to enable online play.

[stiffler]

Hopefully once the libraries are available we'll be able to download patches for various games to enable online play.

Dream on.

Don't worry, I'm sure they will be happy to sell you an online-enabled sequel a few months later.

[JCC]

Online multiplayer is of little imprtance to me. I just want there to be a healthy library of classics available online at launch. Especially SUPER METROID~!

The article doesn't say that Nintendo's stuff won't be online, but then again, I know Metroid isn't going to have multi-player, and I doubt Zelda will. Are there any other 1st party games at launch? 

[denoginizer]

I read that none of the 1st party launch games will be online either.  If that is true personally won't be buying a Wii at launch.  No HD and no online multiplayer would kill it for me.

[Hrothgar]

Not this E3 but the last one didn't Nintendo promise that Smash Brothers would be a launch title and that it would be playable online?   Oh well, I guess Nintendo's no different than the other two.

[JCC]

At E3 2005 I think they did say that Smash would be a launch title. At E3 2006 they announced it would not be a launch title. I think they do still claim it will have online multiplayer.

[stuntgibbon]

I got the idea Smash Bros. wasn't going to be ready 'til march or april.  (but that it would have online)

I think right at launch, the online stuff will be limited to VC downloads and maybe some of those more subtle WiiConnect24 features.  (the overnight download for first party)

[EngineNo9]

I haven't been paying much attention to the Wii online stuff, but how exactly is their Virtual Console thing going to work without a hard drive?  Are users going to have to be online and download the game to RAM every time they want to play it?  Does this mean that they will be limiting the size of games to those which are very quickly downloadable and can be held wholely in memory?

[Kevin Grey]

I haven't been paying much attention to the Wii online stuff, but how exactly is their Virtual Console thing going to work without a hard drive?  Are users going to have to be online and download the game to RAM every time they want to play it?  Does this mean that they will be limiting the size of games to those which are very quickly downloadable and can be held wholely in memory?

IIRC, the Wii comes with 512 MB of flash memory

[stuntgibbon]

Same way it works on your cell phone, really.   You pay for the rights to the game, so if you need to clear to make room it's pretty easy. (then redownload when you want to play, these old games are super small) Can also expand with SD cards.

[Destructor]

Same way it works on your cell phone, really.   You pay for the rights to the game, so if you need to clear to make room it's pretty easy. (then redownload when you want to play, these old games are super small) Can also expand with SD cards.

It would make the most sense if it worked this way (like how Live works now).

Random thought - the biggest SNES game that I can find info on was 4MB (or 16Mb), although I thought there were a few 32Mb (or 8MB) games released. You can fit quite a few SNES titles onto that 512MB storage. Heck - your average NES game was 128k.

[JCC]

I don't know if Nintendo has specifically addressed this yet. In theory, being able to redownload stuff would be nice. There is defintiely an SD card slot for memory expansion. There are also 2 USB ports, but I am not sure if we know how those can be used yet. (hard drive maybe?)

[stuntgibbon]

Same way it works on your cell phone, really.   You pay for the rights to the game, so if you need to clear to make room it's pretty easy. (then redownload when you want to play, these old games are super small) Can also expand with SD cards.

It would make the most sense if it worked this way (like how Live works now).

Random thought - the biggest SNES game that I can find info on was 4MB (or 16Mb), although I thought there were a few 32Mb (or 8MB) games released. You can fit quite a few SNES titles onto that 512MB storage. Heck - your average NES game was 128k.

Correct, those old games were super small.  You're probably more likely to fill your 512 up with downloads and saves for your newer games.  I predict Nintendo will release a transfer system to let you save/play your bought VC content on your DS.   Buy an old Zelda or Bonk or something, and run off with it.

[EddieA]

I believe the SNES games were 4, 6, etc. megabits, rather than megabytes.  I think even N64 games would probably only take 10 MB or less.

[metallicorphan]

I believe the SNES games were 4, 6, etc. megabits, rather than megabytes.  I think even N64 games would probably only take 10 MB or less.

well here we got a free zelda disc with the gamecube,on the disc it had the first 2 zeldas from nes era and then ocarina of time and majoras mask that originally came out for the N64,those two games were and still are massive...even the DS version of mario 64(with extras) is now on the tiniest little game cartridge,lol...goes to show how far it has all come

[stiffler]

I believe the SNES games were 4, 6, etc. megabits, rather than megabytes.  I think even N64 games would probably only take 10 MB or less.

From what I could find...

NES
Legend of Zelda 131 kb
Adventures of Link 245 kb

Gameboy Color
Zelda DX 1 MB
Oracle of Ages 1 MB
Oracle of Seasons 1 MB

Super NES
A Link to the Past 1 MB

Gameboy Advance
Four Swords 8.3 MB
Minish Cap 16.7 MB

N64
Ocarina of Time 33.5 MB
Majora's Mask 33.5 MB

[Wolves]

Back to the original topic, I'm fine with no online in the beginning.
I normally don't play online anyway, and when I do, it's when I'm otherwise bored with the game.....however....not having it for Call of Duty 3 ever(since it's a 3rd party launch title) will indeed suck ass. Throw in a decent LAN set-up and I'll be happy though.