I finally got my hands on Mario Kart Wii the other day. Apart from the game itself, which I really like (and a lot more than I expected to), I'm impressed with the new online features it sports. That said, they're still a little rough around the edges.
A quick summary of the additions for those just tuning in:
Net wins all around, to be sure. And yet, actually using the system is still a little bothersome, due mostly to polish issues.
The biggest annoyance is with the Mario Kart Channel itself, and I think it could have been completely avoided—it's not something that should have required any real work to fix. When you start up the Channel, you have to sit through the wrist strap warning, and the ESRB disclaimer. Both are small, but nonetheless substantially annoying. The most inexplicable part of this is that no other Wii Channel released thus far—including ones with online components—have had such starting screens. You just start the channel, it loads for a second, and you're there. Didn't the Mario Kart team have access to anyone inside Nintendo who understood why the Wii Menu works as efficiently as it does? If these screens must be showed, put the ESRB warning on the Wii Menu splash screen, and flash the wrist strap warning before gameplay actually begins.
The other key problem is in part a holdover from the way the Wi-Fi Connection works, and that's the plethora of question marks you'll be left staring at in your Friend Roster if WFC hasn't been able to exchange player data between you and your friend. It's not made any easier by the fact that there isn't any indication on any of the icons when they were added (so you could housekeep ones that never fill in with Miis), nor who they are (since names and possibly Miis are already in the WiiConnect24 invites, this information does exist for some friends—and for the rest, a name could be asked for.) A little extra work here could go a long way.
Finally, there is, for friend rooms, a little bit of between-race communication in the form of selecting premade messages—something that's been done before. This isn't really an acceptable communication method for friends. It's long past high time Wii online games got themselves a headset. I'd be perfectly happy with (and would only expect) friend-only communication, much like we got with several DS games. But, really, Nintendo, it's time to stop and realize that there is no good general communication method that doesn't require extra hardware.
Mario Kart Wii's new features are indeed a welcome improvement over the previous generation of Wi-Fi Connection titles, but it's clear—not unlike it was with WFC's debut Mario Kart DS—that there are still some issues to work out on Nintendo's part. I'm a little afraid, too, of what might happen when we're staring down a half-dozen per-game channels that have to be checked if you're in a mood to play "anything". These are baby steps. I look forward to the day Nintendo's learned how to walk.
A quick summary of the additions for those just tuning in:
- You can use your Wii's Address Book to send invitations to your friends to Kart with you, building up your Friend Roster without actually exchanging Friend Codes. (The Friend-Code-based system is still there, though—it's used behind-the-scenes and it's still available if you'd like to friend people you don't have in your Address Book.) Though I doubt Hideki Konno reads our little site here, I smiled when I heard about this; I'd suggested such a system last year.
- You can install the Mario Kart Channel right onto your Wii Menu, which lets you manage friends, accept invitations, exchange ghosts, and check into tournaments all without inserting the disc. Of course, when you want to actually race, you'll need the disc, but it sure beats booting the game and going through all the requisite steps only to find out nobody's actually online to play with.
- Even if you're playing random matches, friends can join up with you and play right alongside you and the strangers you're connected to. Much like in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, people can drop in and out between races; but being able to mix randoms and friends means that your chances of actually meeting up with friends is much higher, just because you'll actually be available more often.
Net wins all around, to be sure. And yet, actually using the system is still a little bothersome, due mostly to polish issues.
The biggest annoyance is with the Mario Kart Channel itself, and I think it could have been completely avoided—it's not something that should have required any real work to fix. When you start up the Channel, you have to sit through the wrist strap warning, and the ESRB disclaimer. Both are small, but nonetheless substantially annoying. The most inexplicable part of this is that no other Wii Channel released thus far—including ones with online components—have had such starting screens. You just start the channel, it loads for a second, and you're there. Didn't the Mario Kart team have access to anyone inside Nintendo who understood why the Wii Menu works as efficiently as it does? If these screens must be showed, put the ESRB warning on the Wii Menu splash screen, and flash the wrist strap warning before gameplay actually begins.
The other key problem is in part a holdover from the way the Wi-Fi Connection works, and that's the plethora of question marks you'll be left staring at in your Friend Roster if WFC hasn't been able to exchange player data between you and your friend. It's not made any easier by the fact that there isn't any indication on any of the icons when they were added (so you could housekeep ones that never fill in with Miis), nor who they are (since names and possibly Miis are already in the WiiConnect24 invites, this information does exist for some friends—and for the rest, a name could be asked for.) A little extra work here could go a long way.
Finally, there is, for friend rooms, a little bit of between-race communication in the form of selecting premade messages—something that's been done before. This isn't really an acceptable communication method for friends. It's long past high time Wii online games got themselves a headset. I'd be perfectly happy with (and would only expect) friend-only communication, much like we got with several DS games. But, really, Nintendo, it's time to stop and realize that there is no good general communication method that doesn't require extra hardware.
Mario Kart Wii's new features are indeed a welcome improvement over the previous generation of Wi-Fi Connection titles, but it's clear—not unlike it was with WFC's debut Mario Kart DS—that there are still some issues to work out on Nintendo's part. I'm a little afraid, too, of what might happen when we're staring down a half-dozen per-game channels that have to be checked if you're in a mood to play "anything". These are baby steps. I look forward to the day Nintendo's learned how to walk.