MULTI-PLAYER MAKE FOR HOT KITCHEN ACTION

One of the biggest things missing from the Wii is the ability to play online. It's one of the biggest advantages of computer games (Exhibit A: WoW). With Microsoft Xbox Live service, they have even made online play with consoles commonplace (and fun, at least so I hear).

Nintendo's approach is different. To become friends, you have to pass a 16 digit number to your friend AND they have to pass their 16 digit code to you. Then you BOTH have to enter it into your machines and approve of the friend. A pain in the ass. I think it's to protect children from predators. I suppose that's a good thing, but what really annoys me is that Nintendo hasn't really emphasized online play, because they haven't allowed any 3rd party developers access to the Wii's online capabilites. I think Nintendo really dropped the ball here. But then again, Nintendo emphasizes the experience of having your friends in the same room and playing alongside each other. I suppose I'm just greedy.

But just this week, Nintendo announced that they have partnered with GameSpy to provide the online experience. They will begin work on this, and eventually 3rd parties will have the capability to build online play into games. I expect it'll take at least a year from before we see online play from 3rd parties :( That means there's no online play for Cooking Mama. Looks like I'll have to be content with Iron Chefing with people in the same room, because, as everyone + this video knows, "MULTI-PLAYER MAKE FOR HOT KITCHEN ACTION."

I've decided to include the video with the post, for your convenient viewing pleasure:


PS You knew it was only a matter of time before I started blogging about the Wii. I did make it through a stretch where I didn't blog about it at all...consider yourself lucky!