Wii U online system will be “flexible” for publishers

Nintendo is adopting “a much more flexible” online system for Wii U that will allow “the best approaches by independent publishers to come to bear”.

That's according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who told Forbes the upcoming console will offer “an extremely robust online experience”.

“So instead of a situation where a publisher has their own network and wants that to be the predominant platform, and having arguments with platform holders, we’re going to welcome that,” he said. “We’re going to welcome that from the best and the brightest of the thirdparty publishers.

“There will be other publishers talking about that as well,” Fils-Aime added, “and from our perspective, we think it’s much more compelling for that information to come from the publishers than to come from us.”

Confirmed details about Wii U's online capabilities are few and far between, but speaking to investors following the console’s E3 reveal last month, global president Satoru Iwata said Nintendo is modernising its approach to online networks.

"... What I have come to feel lately is that the idea of saying, 'we are going to create this style of online structure and that we would like you, the developers, to fit into the online structure that we are creating' is perhaps already out-of-date,” he said.

“I think that once you hear what we'll have to say, you'll feel that Nintendo has a policy of adapting itself to changes in the network environment in a flexible fashion rather than the one of sticking to a rigid mechanism, or perhaps you'll notice that we have found ways to take advantage of these types of features like VoIP and social networking, where our systems have been seen as being weak in the past."

Source: Forbes