Wii U Achievements aren’t guaranteed and Friend Codes kind of return
When Nintendo stated they were entering the “hardcore” market, there were certain expectations many gamers had. Like the inclusion of achievements, accessibility of friends, and a stronger online community. It seems that they received the same memo, but just can’t quite get all their ducks in a row. The long and short of this post is achievements are optional and Friend Codes are back.
Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that the Wii U will not have a consistent “achievement” system across the platform, opting instead for “game-specific [Achievements] that's developer driven". Crap. Ok, no big deal. So what’s up with the whole Friend Code thing? It will return, but "you will be able to identify people as friends and have a certain level of interaction versus a different level of interaction for the more general population. The method by which you identify someone as a friend is a lot simpler than what's happening today with Friend Codes".
OK. I guess that is better than before, when not having a Friend Code means no interaction at all. There still aren’t a lot of details behind this stuff though and frankly I am concerned. How is it that we are months away from this console presumably launching and we still don’t know much about it? I have so many questions about resolutions, WiFi technology, release date, & price!
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
Virtanen
It isconfirmed stuff we already knew about. 3DS to Wii U connectivity will be possible, and Super Smash Bros. will show some clever stuff using both systems. He also reiterated the fact that the Wii U only contains a very small amount of internal flash memory, but that users could upgrade this via external HDD and SD cards. habitualfitness
Virtanen
The next issue that popped up was one dealing with using the GamePad for play while someone else is on the TV. Reggie said officially this functionality is called Off-TV Play and if a game supports it, it will be featured on the game box. judithbuysdentistry
TomPreston
I hate when articles like this make it to the frontpage because it doesn't confirm or deny anything. It's just rumor and speculation. And worse, it gets used in HARD NEWS as a legitimate news story.
Nintendo has already said that their new online system will work with usernames and nothing else. It will likely work similar to the 3DS system's way of operating, whereas both players confirm it and then you're friends for ALL games that you own, which works fine in my books. He never said "friend codes are back" but rather "it'll be easier to see who's your friend online than how our current system of Friend Codes works."
Sorry, Just had to vent.
Ryan Conway
It isn't rumor and speculation when Reggie directly says "There are friend codes": http://kotaku.com/5917363/better-friend-codes-achievements-and-more-nint...
OrangeGuy
well guilty to mention I am a whore for achievements but if its a trophy or achievement that takes to long or I don't have time to do for any reason then I won't bother.
The game lineup for the Wii U and the altered versions of batman arkham city and assasins creed 3 plus more has got me hooked onto the system so the lack of achievements won't bother me one bit.
Backfire
Achievements never really mattered to me all that much, and beating my favorite Nintendo games are fine without achievements. Beating the game is an achievement itself. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but: Friend Codes acting as a second level of security? I hate to say it, but that's pretty smart. If you just randomly become friends with someone online, they can't see your personal information until you exchange friend codes.
Psymon
I do like the idea of achievements.
Sol-Raith
I hate achievements anyways, no problem there. I hope they do the online similar to Steam, like having an account name, and then a user name. A friend code as your account, and a user name to identify you as a friend. (Public see's only your user name with maybe some other information to help identify it as you, like icon, bio, etc.) This also means, a user name can be used by more than one person.
Shoggoth8852
That sounds about how Achievements should be done to me. Hopefully this means games on the system will support cheat codes without the game seeming to resent you for using them. As for online...it sounds better than it currently is which is fine. Online features don't really apply or, appeal to me in the first place though since I'll likely be playing my U offline for the most part anyway.
alondite345
Yea no achievements kinda sucks, but is it really that necessary? For example, not all PS3 games have achievements/trophies, but it didn't really need'em. Does a game/console really need achievements in order to target the "hardcore" audience?