Now that Nintendo WFC is defunct, it's only good for, what, web browsing? The Wii Shop?Originally Posted by Leo_A
Now that Nintendo WFC is defunct, it's only good for, what, web browsing? The Wii Shop?
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
Doubt the web browser sees much use. Was primitive and stunk back in 2006 and time surely hasn't done it any favors as websites have become even more bloated since then. But it still technically works.
Now that 1st party multiplayer has joined WiiConnect24 and the Nintendo Channel in being shut down, it's only good for the browser and Wii Shop as you said, a very small selection of online multiplayer enabled 3rd party releases like some of the Call of Duty titles, and the video streaming apps like YouTube and Netflix.
Other than the loss of some big titles like Mario Kart Wii, most of the actual useful functionality still is active actually. It's mostly just trivial stuff like Mii migration that is discontinued and 3rd party games that usually were ghost towns anyways.
Last edited by Leo_A; 08-27-2015 at 12:56 AM.
hell I've forgotten about the wii considered it dead since 2013 really
Hah, I think the ONLY time I ever used the Wii Browser was to play a game of Legend of the Green Dragon. Just because I could.
I used it a bunch for Fortune Street with my brother and sister. On snowy winter nights, my wife and I would start a fire in the fireplace, make some popcorn, and call my brother and sister for some late evening games from our homes. We got about 3 good years in there, so it was a bummer when the servers went down. That was easily what my Wii was used for the most.
Efforts to restore WFC functionality appear to have met with some success.
http://wiki.tockdom.com/wiki/Wiimmfi_Project
Looks like you have to install a softmod on your Wii, but that's trivial.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
For me, when Nintendo officially cut the service for wi-fi that was the end of the systems life. This occurred after the Wii U was released yet between November 2012 and May 2014 I don't think much happened. Then again I don't follow or care for the system either. Restoring wifi service would be a nice addition.
Interesting that this Rodea game on Wii U (as a preorder) will get the Wii version. Any idea on DLC or physical disc for that?
Whaddya mean invalid parameters?!
9,000 gigs of ram and it still can't answer a simple question!
All they cut was their own 1st party multiplayer. Certain 3rd party titles remain online enabled to this day.
And unless Rodea is a very small title, it's not even a choice for digital distribution in its Wii form. The WiiWare limit was 40 MB's which all but guarantees that this will be a disc bonus rather than a download code.
I still want to get a blue wii, with accessories. Missed the boat on the retail release.
I was surprised to see 4 new Wii Mini systems today at a store I walked into for a moment, wanted $120, didn't know they retailed for that as I thought it was $100.
They're supposed to be $99.99.
No. Online play for all games on Wii relied on the Wi-Fi Connection by Nintendo's decree, and with WFC dead by Nintendo ending its contract with GameSpy (Which subsequently saw GameSpy end all online activity for all games it previously supported across all platforms including PC - methinks this was due to the end of the money from the Nintendo contract ensuring that it just wasn't profitable enough to keep the rest going.), there just is no going online with any games for multiplayer or online communications of any sort other than buying DLC, buying/downloading software through the Wii Shop Channel, watching online videos, or browsing the Web.
Perhaps one or two games' online capabilities slipped through the cracks and didn't rely on WFC?
Rodea was confirmed quite some time ago to be on a separate Wii disc in addition to the Wii U version on its own Wii U disc. (I believe it is a double-disc case.)
Size-wise, it is much too large for a Wii download. The game has lots of cutscenes, and I believe some of these are video-based.
Nope, there was no such mandate.
Nintendo's GameSpy contract for online multiplayer only extended to Nintendo's own titles. That's why for instance the list of titles posted for online discontinuance only included Nintendo published content.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Wii...tly-64205.html
3rd party multiplayer was completely independent of this. Just as it was on the PS2, each publisher was responsible for arranging their own matchmaking (And hosting if the title utilized dedicated servers instead of P2P hosting). Nintendo had nothing to do with 3rd party online multiplayer and as far as I'm aware, most publishers didn't contract with GameSpy for these services like Nintendo did.
I played two of the Activision titles (Goldeneye and Black Ops) months after the shutdown, back around the 1st of this year. Unless I missed the news, those and likely several others remain online to this day.
Last edited by Leo_A; 09-14-2015 at 03:08 AM.
This was the setup:
Games <-> Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection <-> 1st or 3rd party hosting servers
Without the "bridge" which was the WFC, none of these games' online features can function. Nintendo used GameSpy for WFC, for hosting Nintendo's games' servers, and for maintenance and support of those servers. And yes, Nintendo insisted on being the middleman for online in order to control and oversee things.
From your own linked article:
andThe full list of Nintendo-published games affected by the shutdown is below.
So regarding your anecdote,You can find a list of every affected game, regardless of publisher, at Nintendo's website.
Why are Call of Duty: Black Ops and Goldeneye 007 listed on Nintendo's own support site as having their online services discontinued?
I can certainly vouch for Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10, and Bomberman Blitz being offline as I've tried them myself.
Here's the full list of online-disabled games to which your article linked:
Last edited by Nz17; 09-14-2015 at 04:07 PM. Reason: added more info
What Nintendo now lists isn't what Nintendo originally had listed. Heck, some of that stuff went offline years earlier like Medal of Honor: Heroes 2.
And Nintendo did not have a unified online multiplayer setup nor did they mandate that publishers contract with GameSpy for their services. WFC was just their branding for the Wii's online component. Online multiplayer was very much title specific and the responsibilities were left up to each publisher/developer to arrange their own game specific infrastructure and online setup.
That looks to be every online enabled release, not just the titles affected by Nintendo's online shutdown. Go fire up a popular Activision fps that's semi recent and see for yourself. I can't guarantee they're still active, but since Activision never sent out news of a shutdown, I bet they are. I'm not checking myself since I just had my wisdom teeth out, my Wii U is on its way to Nintendo for repairs, and I do not feel like setting up my Wii.
Either way, some online multiplayer lasted well past this date and I can vouch for that thanks to taking advantage of it myself. Why, how, and whatever, I don't know and don't much care just now.
Last edited by Leo_A; 09-14-2015 at 07:51 PM.
Wait. Did I miss the boat on being able to buy mega man 9? Damn. Haven't fired up the Wii in a while. Is everything on the shop down?
got a new wii release the other day in shipments.
Skylanders SuperChargers, not out yet though
Can someone check and confirm that something unexpected isn't happening here? I actually haven't sent my Wii U out and will be doing so tomorrow, but if the Wii Shop did suddenly vanish, I won't be sending it out for repair of a minor technical issue.
I have too many Wii downloads that I'd lose if I did that and couldn't redownload them.
Not too concerned though since there doesn't seem to be any comments about such a shutdown. And while I didn't perform that exhaustive of a search just now, surely Nintendo would send out a discontinuance notice in advance.
Last edited by Leo_A; 09-15-2015 at 03:38 PM.
I might write more later, but for now *doodley-doo, doodley-doo, doodley-doo, doodley-doo*
Time warp takes us back to April 26th, 2014: https://web.archive.org/web/20140426...games-wifi.jsp
@calgon
The Wii Shop Channel is still online and available. Buying and downloading of software and DLC is still functional. Mega Man 9 & Mega Man 10 are both still available.
Well that's not what they sent out to the media then, since I well remember a list that was exclusively composed of Nintendo published Wii & DS content.
Either way, as I said, some 3rd party online multiplayer survived well past that date and unless something has happened very recently, remnants remain supported to this very day.
http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/2...e-multiplayer/
http://www.gamnesia.com/news/wii-own...y-games-online
In addition to these, I can personally confirm that Goldeneye lasted past this date (And likely still works). Some of the Rockband games did too apparently, with one just being shut down recently for instance (The Beatles release, although RB3 still works according to a friend). Some EA Sports titles outlived this too, and Just Dance 2015 from Ubisoft apparently still has online multiplayer and even launched after Nintendo's discontinuation date.
There was no such GameSpy mandate and some 3rd party online multiplayer remained past this date where Nintendo officially dropped their own online multiplayer services.
Last edited by Leo_A; 09-15-2015 at 11:42 PM.
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