I recently bought a Wii after not having a gaming console for years, and am a little confused as to how the online system works. With the Xbox/PS3 you have your own account for online use, usually with a username. With the Wii, there doesn't seem to be an online username or account. The only account I signed up for was Club Nintendo, but I'm assuming that's a different thing. With the Wii shop channel, they just need your credit card, no account... I have yet to play a game online with someone, so maybe it walks you through something at that point...but I just wanted some sort of explanation...thanks.
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Help me understand the Wii's online system
- Thread starter applefan289
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The Wii uses "Friend Codes"
Friend codes work individually from the system. Some games, like Mario Kart Wii and Pokemon Battle Revolution offer random matchup & Friend Codes, while other games like Animal Crossing City Folk only offer Friend Codes.
Each game with Friend Codes have individual friend lists. When you log on to the game's servers, your system is assigned a Friend Code. In order to play a game with a friend, you will have to add each other's friend codes. Friend Codes are completely different per game. Your Mario Kart Wii friend code could be 3532-2931-1098 but your Super Smash Brothers Brawl friend code could be 4398-9028-9108.
It's designed to be a safer way to play online, but I think it's a bad and annoying system and I hope they fix it with the Wii-U.
Thanks for the response. So I assume that if I buy something through the Shop channel with a credit card, it will not be tied to any account, so if I get a new Wii I would not be able to re-download it, right?
At least it's free.
You can also buy Wii points and redeem those in lieu of using a credit card.
I know you can save data from your Wii to an SD card, but I don't know if that goes for downloaded games.
At least it's free.
Playstation Network is free.
XBL costs because unlike Playstation Network, it's not as bare bones. Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Full Facebook Browsing, Zune Marketplace, Live TV, A cheaper store, gets DLC first, VASTLY better servers, Full Twitter integration. PSN only has 2 of those things. Plus, most people can afford 50/year.
Unfortunately not. It doesn't work that way. The content you download is tied to that particular console.