A Wii Successor Wishlist

To-do list

This list comes to us courtesy of Conflicting Gamers. What they wish to see in the Wii’s successor probably isn’t anything new you don’t already know you want, but they’re great suggestions nonetheless. Here’s my summary of their points.

HD graphics

This one should go without saying at this point. Nintendo already ignored HD for the seventh generation, when the format’s market penetration had already reached fairly respectable levels. They’ve been ridiculed for it quite a bit, too, and I personally know several gamers who chose not to buy the Wii because it lacked it. The Wii’s low price kept it selling despite its technical inferiority, but with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 now having gotten much closer to it in cost, it would be nothing short of downright silly if Nintendo chose to forego high definition a second time.

Better online

Friend codes, friend codes, friend codes, ARGH!!

The second someone utters “Nintendo” and “online” in the same breath, the dreaded 12-digit numbers come to mind. Not only are they a bit of a pain to register, but each game carries with it its own friend code and buddy list, meaning you’ll need to register your friend over and over again for every game you want to play with him. If there’s one thing Nintendo can fix about their online multiplayer systems, it’s removing friend codes and replacing them with a central, console-wide system of some kind.

Better account management

Nintendo’s current digital distribution model ties all your purchases to the system they were made on rather than a user him- or herself. The problem with this is that there’s no way to transfer your downloads to a new system, like the black or red Wiis, or the DSi XL (or another colour of the DSi, for that matter), should you choose to buy one. This is doing nothing but limiting Nintendo’s potential hardware sales, as this draconian restriction screams at prospective customers, “You’ve spent a hundred dollars on downloading WiiWare and Virtual Console games? Awesome! Now, go spend a hundred more to get it all back if you want to celebrate Mario’s 25th anniversary!”

And believe me, I do want that red Wii, but Nintendo is just stomping on my face here for having supported them since the day it launched by releasing a special edition of it later that I simply cannot afford to rebuy all my downloads on. Nintendo can easily solve this problem by simply allowing you to redownload any game registered to your Club Nintendo at no cost on any system the account is linked to. To prevent piracy, they could set a limit on how many systems you can link to the account – one or two simultaneously should suffice for most people, as long as there’s a way to de-link it. If you have a CN account, each and every one of your downloads gets registered to it, anyway, so I can’t imagine it would be all that difficult to implement this functionality.

Hard drive

Speaking of downloads, if you’re like me and appreciate the explosion of creativity on WiiWare (and enjoy reliving the old times with Virtual Console), you’ve probably run into the Wii’s internal memory limit by now. Nintendo addressed this problem by enabling games to be played directly off of SD cards (okay, it’s not technically direct, but it creates the illusion that it is, and it works very well). However, this is still relying on the end-user to go out and buy themselves an SD card unless they are willing to spend time deleting and re-downloading their purchased titles. Why not fix this problem by simply including more internal memory – preferably in the form of a nice, big hard drive – in the console from the get-go? This is another problem Nintendo will surely address, as the 3DS already comes stock with four times the internal memory of the Wii, and I’m sure Nintendo wouldn’t want their handheld to eclipse their home console in specs for too long…


Now, it’s your turn. What do you want to see in the Wii’s successor? It can be anything, no matter how small or big.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. I’m sure the Wii doesn’t need an HDD; SD cards can already hold 128 GB, more than their HDD counterparts, and about the size of a fingernail. (Thumb fingernail, that is.) I do see the necessity of HD, but online and account management can be fixed both in one swipe; instead of removing FC codes altogether and eliminating the safety it provides, simply make it one FC for the entire console, and this works for all the games. Likewise, this main account would serve as a hub for all those downloaded games you bought off the Wii Shop channel, and would keep track of what games you downloaded and how many Wiis you own have it on. I think 2 would be a good number. It’s like a back-up if you lose all your games or saves. Speaking of saves, they should go a step further and have save files in the account thing. It could be cloud based, but still saved on your Wii; this is all a precaution if you break your Wii with no available recovery option. All-in-all, I think Nintendo recognizes these problems and will (hopefully!) fix them. And I hate it when people think the Wii isn’t hardcore. I had a kid at school who bought the Wii CoD BO instead of his 360/PS3, and everyone was like “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”. I for one will not be getting it and instead have my sight set on Goldeneye 007. I want to know what all the fuss is about. Sorry long response, but a topic this awesome needs an awesome (I hope this is awesome) response.

    • F0

      I have a 1500 GB HDD in my gaming computer. Good luck finding an SD card that will top that…at least for the next couple of years (I heard about SDXC cards, that will supposedly go up to 2 TB).

      I’ve thought of simply using a system-wide friend code, too; when I first got my Wii way back in ’06 and eagerly dug into its menus and whatnot, I thought that’s what the 16-digit Wii Number was for. But alas, it was in reality just a friend code for the Wii Message Board. Oddly enough, some games still used your message board’s buddy list, like SSBB for exchanging screenshots and custom stages, which tells me it would’ve been possible to implement it as a universal buddy system, but even those games had separate codes and friend lists for their multiplayer modes, for no apparent reason! The logistics behind it all make me go nothing but “WTF, Nintendo?!?!”

      I really like your idea of cloud-based saves; it’s something I haven’t heard before. Along with that, I think Nintendo should remove the ridiculous limitation some game saves have with being tied to a single Wii. You can’t transfer your SSBB, MKW, or AC (Animal Crossing) save data to another Wii, for instance, whereas it was always possible with the GCN equivalents of the games, to transfer the data to a new memory card. If I want to cheat in Animal Crossing, so be it! I’m still wasting about ten minutes of my life every time I quit out to delete my data, copy my old data, and reboot the game – that’s enough punishment as it is, if cheating is all they want to avoid.

      And I fully support you in the fact (yes, FACT, not opinion!) that the Wii is hardcore. If not for any other reason, it’s because it offers a much greater variety of genres to explore than the other consoles. Of course, definitions of “hardcore” vary, but mine sure as heck isn’t “shooter, shooter, shooter, action-RPG with guns, shooter, shooter, shooter, ooooh open-ended adventure, shooter, shooter, shooter-” you get my point. The Wii has more than enough good shooters to satisfy those who bother to look for them (Conduit, several well-done CoD ports, Metroid Prime 3, GoldenEye 007, just to name a few), but it also offers a huge variety of other genres that the other systems only dip a toe into from time to time.

      …is it just me, or are you the one other person on the Internet who never understood what was so great about CoD? *pounds it* Yes, GoldenEye 007 looks far more interesting to me, too, and I’m definitely hoping to get my hands on it soon.

      Your response wasn’t too long, no worries. I actually really appreciate it when readers take the time to leave comments that span more than two or three lines, as they are also the most interesting for me to read and reply to. Your comment was nothing short of awesome, either; it feels great to have a dedicated reader like you on board when the site still averages daily view counts in the double digits. 😉 I hope you stick around for the months to come!

    • Brett

      1.) Transfer of DLC
      2.) Visually more appealing. Not that I care, I would just like haters who believe that the visual presentation of a game is all that matters see the excellent titles that they are missing out on.
      3.) Wii mote support! I would hate to have to think that I will have to repurchase all my controllers and accessories. Ex: 2 wii motes, classic controller, classic controller pro, wii motion plus, Gamecube controller, wii fit. All of these need to be supported.
      4.) The thing I love most about my wii is that between DLC, and the system itself I have a NES, SNES, N64, GC, and wii support. These must ALL be included! GC DLC would be nice, but too many of us still own GC games in a physical format to remove that feature.GC was the first Nintendo system I passed on, and over half the games I bought to play on my Wii are GC games.

    • F0

      Thanks for the comment, Brett. Those are some great suggestions, and I’ll include them in a wishlist of my own (that I’m planning to write in a couple of weeks or so), with credit to you.

      I agree with all four of your points. Nintendo would be making a huge mistake not to include any of those, particularly the Wii Remote support. Seriously, those remotes are expensive, and I’d hate for them to become obsolete just as much as you do.

      I really hope they don’t drop the GCN compatibility, either, but that may be wishful thinking if you look at it from a corporate point of view. If a new console uses the same controllers and software from one two generations ago, it may only be jeopardizing the sales of the new console’s own controller. With the discontinuing of GCN games and controllers (at least outside of Japan; they still make them there), it’s more than likely they’ll induct the system into the Virtual Console (which absolutely MUST return). However, if the new system still uses discs, there actually isn’t a reason for them to drop compatibility with physical GCN games – perhaps they could just offer downloadable versions as an alternative option. I wouldn’t count on controller support, though…

  2. wiiboy101

    the day nontendo puts 1950s tech in a console is the same day im on youtubes in clear 1080p eating dog poo and drinking dog wee whilst going yummy at the camera filming me….harddrives have nothing to do with gaming and nor does giant storage ,high speed flash drive and a sd card slot yes harddrive NEVER GUNA HAPPEN nintendo will not use a heavy/slow/hot/unreliable/moving parts/50’s tech harddrive

    they will use fast solid state drives and cards and or holograph drives/cards nintendo do not work in a pc way,there a games company not a pc company and nintendo embraced flash before almost everyone else (there n64 save carts were flash based 1st company to do that ever even tho flash at that time had issues corrupting data)

    nintendo also have invested in a holograph storage company,and nintendo LIKE REAL GAMERS (cough ps3 x360)hate load-times and any form of un-required waiting harddrives are slow standard disc drives are slow its not the nintendo way…..

    what happened to the powerpc article have ibm ordered a take down or something

  3. wiiboy101

    heres my pennys worth of wii 2 wants…
    high speed loading no matter how big and powerful the game a cart system or custom disc that streams at amassing speed both removing loadtimes and helping push the console hard

    cross platform multi-player with 3ds plus game share and a totally unified 3ds/wii2 comunity off line and online MAYBE EVEN A HYBRID CONSOLE/HANDHELD a 3ds xl-wii HD kind of unit or as above with 2 seperate devices maintaining true handheld/console traditions

    a totally open and fun mii comunity if a 3ds owner walks past my house my wii2 gets a greeting message from that guys 3ds and mii a expantion of crosspass on 3DS ,miis walking onto ur tv screen tapping the glass saying hi i click on him/her and make a new friend or delete a true mii plaza interactive wii2/3ds comunity thats very easy to use and loads of fun (cough xbox boring like a pc live)

    game share and multi play 1 cart share cross platform wii2/3ds from 1 disc/cart

    download demos again cross platform

    inproved web brousing and loads of point and play wii channels like bbc iplayer hd/3d netflix 3d lovefilm 3d,3d movies built for wii2 just like 3ds

    use ur imagination think like nintendo do the last thing we want is another xbox pc clone that innovates sweet nothing…..
    agumented reality games like 3ds,psp but using a tv screen and muli-player versions were 3ds players and wii2 players interact and play around the house as familys COME ON GUYS THINK LIKE GAMERS NOT HARDLYCORES USE UR IMAGINATIONS

  4. Hey, it’s me Mark.
    I pretty much agree with this. The point I most agree with is the fact that Nintendo needs to include a 100GB (at least) drive with the Wii2. Also Nintendo needs to increase the WiiWare limit to 1GB. Great article 🙂

  5. Wolvesgod

    I agree with some people, Nintendo, isn’t about, follow the leader, they learned their lesson in the GC era.

    for internet: Like a few people said, have a one for all FC, and for the cloud save data, why not use something equivalent to, the pokemon black and white games, where you can log into your account on the computer and have, a family profile. They all ready have the Nintendo club, why not allow people to log in and attach their systems, to their profile and adjust their saved data from there.

    For storage: They could have on board memory as much as they could go with it, but if they had, an HDD they will/could heat up, and damage the system. The best way to go, on that is, with sd cards, and be able to load directly from, that memory card like they do now but maybe upgraded to be more, user friendly. (ex: being able to read the memory card, to tell you, if you already have the game safed/downloaded onto it (wii shop channel).)

    For media disk/cartridge: why use Blu-Ray, when 360 doesn’t use Blu-Ray, and their games look just like it. my point is, you can see HD on a SD, and hell, even on a LD. (watch a newer episode of Family guy’, on both HD and SD. they look exactly the same) The only thing that needs to be done, is to make sure, it’s big enough to be able to HOLD the date. Bigger media, DOES NOT make it look better, it’s the codeing.

    For controller input: continue use of the infrared, but still with an upgraded system (like a fusion of both) it’s hard to imagine a way to do that, without just adding more censors to it. 🙁 but with the 1:1 still in tact and (primary) standard, period with a control pad (secondary but a choice not just one or the other).

    For shape: Make it more… appealing, it’s too… boxy like (since last gen) it’s poring with just a block.

    • Internet: The Xbox and PS3 are way ahead of the Wii in this regard. The Wii has about the worst Internet experience of all the consoles, even if you include PC gaming.

      Storage: The Wii 2 should use a 128 GB SSD. ‘Nuff said.

      Disk/Cartridge: I personally have to disagree with your entire statement here. While there may not be a huge difference between 480 and 720 on the 360, the PS3 are the best looking games I have ever seen. The Blu-Ray drive has advanced the quality of games on the PS3 so much, it’s almost impossible to imagine it not being there. It not only allows for better graphics, it also allows for a much more expansive gameplay environment. Think about Super Mario Galaxy. What if we had that with HD resolution and even MORE levels? A space upgrade can be uses for many things, not just graphics. I’d like a Zelda with a environment the size of Texas. That game would be just AWESOME.

      Controller input: Give me some motion games, and then let me use a wireless CC Pro for hardcore games. I don’t care about the WiiMote as much.

      Design: I don’t care. This thing is going in your already messy media center/living room. Who cares what the thing looks like? Your attention will be on the screen anyways. This is a lot different than the 3DS.

  6. F0

    I definitely agree with your point about online play, but I’ve got a few thoughts on your other opinions.

    First of all, a 128 SSD sounds awesome (don’t get me wrong; SSD’s are the future of data storage), but I doubt that it will be a financially viable medium, even in 2012. A 120 GB hard drive costs around $50-$60 – roughly a quarter of a 128 GB SSD. It’s money that’s probably better spent on the graphics hardware, which is becoming increasingly more important this generation.

    Now, about game media, very few Wii games have actually come close to the limits of a Wii disc (just two, to be exact). Super Mario Galaxy 2 clocks in at right around 1.3 GB. Zelda: Twilight Princess is considered to be one of the largest Zelda games in the series, and fits comfortably on a 1.4 GB GameCube disc. Mostly games with loads of pre-rendered cutscenes need the extra space, and even then, they usually fit on 4.7 GB single-layer discs.

    On the other hand…if the Wii 2 has enough power to display significantly better graphics, developers will need more space to store the more detailed assets. I know that there are some Xbox 360 games that don’t fit on single discs so…this is actually probably something Nintendo should look into for the sake of future-proofing the console, even if it is not necessary for current games quite yet. However, I highly doubt Nintendo would use Blu-ray, since Sony practically invented the format. I see Nintendo taking HD-DVD instead (which has the same advantages of Blu-ray, but is an abandoned, and therefore probably cheaper option), and building a custom format off of it (just like what they did with the GameCube/Wii discs and the DVD).

    Controller: I think the more options, the better. If Nintendo want to retain backwards compatibility with Wii games (most likely, they will; it’s just what Nintendo does), that already includes the Wii Remote and every attachment that plugs into it. However, after the surge of popularity the GameCube controller experienced with games like SSBB and Mario Kart Wii, I don’t think they’ll be abandoning non-motion control anytime soon, either. However, they might finally drop the GameCube controller and completely replace it with the Classic Controller (Pro), or maybe even an entirely new controller altogether.

    Design: Personally, I don’t care much for design, either, but it’s far more important to Nintendo than to either of us because too many potential buyers will judge a console primarily by its looks. Something sleek and distinctive will do – a simple evolution of the Wii’s design will probably do.

    Hoo, that was a long comment. Sorry if it was a lot to read; I just enjoy discussing things like this. 😛