Hyawatta

The Community feature from Mario 3D Kart should be included for all online games for all of Nintendo’s systems by being implemented at the system level within the firmware of the 3DS and Wii U. The Communities feature should be just as ingrained into the Nintendo Network online experience as the MiiVerse. The benefits that the Communities feature provide are deceptively significant.

There are several web sites that host online communities through blogs, forums, podcasts, and other communication methods. When members of these communities want to play games together, they usually have to post their Friend Codes up on the site using these methods of communication. Then, they must enter all of those posted codes into their systems. Next, they may schedule when they will be playing so they can actively look for each other and connect their games.

With Mario 3D Kart’s Communities feature, that process is vastly improved. When members of these communities want to pay Mario 3D Kart together, each community posts its single Community Code. Multiple codes are only necessary if the communities want to host various modes or rule sets for play. Then, the members enter the Community Code and are able to simply join into the community play without having to enter many Friend Codes from many players. They may still schedule when they will be playing, but now it will be possible to just jump into the session at any time regardless of how many others are in play.

The Communities feature also allows the players within these communities to play with each other without having to divulge their individual Friend Codes on the Internet. This benefit should not be undervalued. It is reasonable to feel protective of one’s Friend Code. Many more players will likely join in the community games when they no longer need to put their personal Friend Code out there. The less intrusive Community Codes should help to grow Nintendo’s online population.

The Communities feature works spectacularly well for Mario 3D Kart. It is, frankly, shocking to not be hearing about its inclusion as a standard feature of the Nintendo Network and MiiVerse. Its integration into the 3DS and Wii U at the system level should be a given, common sense feature that is only a matter of time. Nintendo thought about including the Communities feature in the 3DS’s firmware, but they did not have the time to implement it before launch. So, they put it in Mario 3D Kart instead. The Communities feature should be integrated into the 3DS’s firmware through a system update, and it should be included within the Wii U’s firmware from day one. Hopefully, this will come to pass when Wii U launches, and the Nintendo Network account system is set up to work with both the Wii U and the 3DS.

This was sent to Dojo-Show-Go! Episode 141, and then part 2 was added in Episode 150. Feel free to finish the story and send it in to the show.


Hey, the name’s Ash Williams, I fight the Evil Dead, and I’m darn good at it. I’ve been kick’n their butts from the present to the past and back again. But, they just don’t seem to know when to quit, you know, maybe cause they’re dead. Well now it seems that they’ve gotten smart enough to realize that they keep gett’n their butts handed to ‘em; cause I just found out that they got some kinda cockamamie, evilly, deadly scheme to Resurrect Hitler! Somehow, they think that all they need to beat me is a new commander to lead them to victory. Well, I don’t know why they think Hitler has anything to do with victory, but they sure got the cockamamie and evil parts right. I don’t care how cockamamie they are; if it’s evil and it’s dead I will kick its butt. That’s what I do, that’s who I am.

Well, first let me tell you how I became privy to this information. You see, just because something’s dead doesn’t mean it can’t feel pain, especially if being dead doesn’t stop it from trying to kill you. The thing is, being dead makes it even easier to be tortured. There’s a lot you can do to put the pain on something when you don’t have to worry about killing it. Now, about this resurrection.

In order to resurrect Hitler, they need to do some hocus pocus type of ritual. It’s basically an Evil Dead Rock Band Concert. I figure, if I can crash the party, they won’t be able to resurrect squat. I kinda don’t wanna miss out kick’n Hitler’s butt, but I guess that can still be plan B.

Here’s the plan. As much as I’d like to run right in and shoot everything in the face, I have to be smart about it, for now. I know where this thing is gonna take place. They’re getting it all set up, you know, all the instruments and stuff. The key here is that they have to get a high enough score to make this whole resurrection thing happen. So, all I’ve gotta do it beat whatever their high score is. Cause it won’t work if someone who’s alive gets the high score! I’ll sneak in and set up my guitar to play a Battle of the Bands. If I win, sweet, all I have to do is get back out of there alive. No prob. But if I lose, I guess I’ll get my chance to kick Hitler’s butt personally. Of course it’d be a lot easier if there weren’t gonna be so many deadites around. If I can’t stop Hitler then and there, he’ll just get more powerful as he builds up his army. Yea. Winning the battle of the bands it definitely my best option. So what am I wasting my time here talk’n to you for? I need to get going before they start the concert!

If you look up the specs for any next-generation game engine you will see that there is at least one thing they all have in common, Direct X 11/Open GL 4.2 support. The only other major commonality seems to be a focus on multiprocessor (around 20 processors) support. Rallying support for an equivalent of Direct X 11/Open GL 4.2 functionality is likely much more feasible than asking Nintendo to add a 20-core processor to the Wii U.

If the Wii U releases without support for an equivalent of DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2, then it would be in a similar situation as the 3DS releasing without a second slide pad. Except I don't think an expansion would be able to fix it.

It seems fairly obvious that the next generation development efforts are based around DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 functionality (Feel free to include any engines that I may have left out):

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4
id Software's id Tech 6
Crytek's CryENGINE 4
DICE's Frostbite 3
Techland's Chrome Engine 6
CD Projekt's RED Engine 2
Capcom's MT Framework 3
Square-Enix's Luminous Engine
Valve's Source Engine

I can’t emphasize enough how critical this is. As long as the Wii U can support DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 level functionality and features, it should be able to compete with the new systems that Microsoft and Sony will eventually release. Of course the Wii U can run ports of games developed for the PS3 and 360, but the Wii U's ability to run the next-gen engines will secure its position as a viable console for developers to release their future multiplatform games onto during the upcoming generation of consoles.

If the Wii U can handle the next-gen game engines that require a DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 level of functionality and features, then it will enjoy the multiplatform support that the PS3 and 360 had. If the Wii U cannot run the next-gen engines, then it will suffer from having a similar level of multiplatform support that the Wii had.

I grew up playing Nintendo. I don't have enough time to play as much as I used to anymore, but that does not seem to have stopped me from keeping up with the news. I hope that Nintendo employees read through these forums to help get an idea of what the consumers want from the Wii U. There are some critical issues that, if we can address them now, may save Nintendo some trouble down the line. Imagine if the 3DS forums made a big deal about adding a second circle pad, and then the system actually released with them at launch because of the points made on the forums. Let's do this for Direct X 11/Open GL 4.2 support for the Wii U. A man can dream can't he.