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Square Enix hates Nintendo's prehistoric online friend code system too

3:11 PM on 02.01.2007, World Famous 33 comments

Square Enix hates Nintendo's prehistoric online friend code system too photo
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Looks like another developer has stepped forward and grumbled about Nintendo's gimped online service, more specifically its moronic friend code system. Square Enix doesn't want it, and guess what, neither do most of us, if not all. From Cubed via GameLife:

Square Enix vice president Hiromichi Tanaka talked to Euro website Cubed3, and in a (highly paraphrased) transcript of the chat, he revealed that although there are no plans to bring Final Fantasy XI Online (above) to the Wii, they are working on trying to get Nintendo to ease up on the whole stupid Friend Codes thing. Great. Ostensibly, Friend Codes keep kids safe from child predators; in reality they just make me not want to use my Wii.

In other Squenix news, the Mana series is lookin' like the Titanic:

As for seeing Chrono Trigger return in any form, it would come down to working out copyright details between the various members of the original team (most of which are no longer staff at Square Enix) ... Despite previously working on Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3 for the SNES due to his desire to work on a game with a more real-time approach ... Koichi Ishii [is] taking the series down a different path for the World of Mana project ... Tanaka-san does not believe either SNES game will see a remake / port in the near future.


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Justice's Avatar
Justice at 02/01/2007 15:22
Sqaure enix?
Justice's Avatar
Justice at 02/01/2007 15:22
Summa CODE RED!
dorock's Avatar
dorock at 02/01/2007 15:23
Good, I'm glad to see someone else bitching about the damn codes.

No! Secret of Mana is such a great game, it would be awesome to have it on the DS with mutliplayer Wifiplay. Oh well guess I'll have to wait for Dragon Warrior,ahem excuse me Dragon Quest to get my multiplayer dungeon crawling fix.

I'd love to see another Chrono game. However Chrono Cross left a bitter taste in my mouth, while it was good just felt like a side quest for the original.

Serpentish's Avatar
Serpentish at 02/01/2007 15:29
For some reason this came to mind.
BahamutZero's Avatar
BahamutZero at 02/01/2007 15:40
god I love that picture
Rockvillian's Avatar
Rockvillian at 02/01/2007 15:51
Nintendo, all it takes is a parental lock for online play. Once you're in, anything bad that happens is completely the negligent parent's fault.

It's just. That. Simple.
falsoman's Avatar
falsoman at 02/01/2007 16:34
Yup, it should be more open. I understand their concern with the kiddies, but they already have parental controls on that thing... So i they should consider leaving the firend codes only for E games and for T to M leaving it to the developer's choice.
mdvalenz's Avatar
mdvalenz at 02/01/2007 16:55
I know. Their online codes system is horrible and will be a catastrophe once an online game comes out. I really hope they abandon it for something similar to XBL. We don't need anything great, just a meeting place for each game where the system will group players of similar skill levels together automatically.
If you are so worried about kids, have the system controlled through the parental controls so you can set if the system uses the friend codes or the meeting place.
Ballistic90's Avatar
Ballistic90 at 02/01/2007 17:07
I think friend codes should be tied into parental controls. There should be an option to turn them off and I think that would fix EVERYBODY'S problems.
Oni's Avatar
Oni at 02/01/2007 17:30
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 02/01/2007 17:34
No FFXI for the Wii? Wow, I'm crushed that boring MMO won't be coming to yet another system.

And yup. Friend codes are teh suck. But that hasn't stopped people from playing DS games online (although they probably would get a LOT more wifi users by eliminating it completely).

I'd love to see a Chrono Trigger port to GBA/DS, hopefully that can get worked out eventually.
Topher Cantler's Avatar
Topher Cantler at 02/01/2007 17:42
I bet they deliberately make it a pain in the ass in hopes that fewer people will take it online and discover just how horribly broken the whole service really is.
Ignignokt01's Avatar
Ignignokt01 at 02/01/2007 18:21
Fuck Nintendo, I LOVE MY WII BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?!

STOP KIDDING YOURSELVES, YOUR ONLINE BLOWS
CaffeinePowered's Avatar
CaffeinePowered at 02/01/2007 18:47
Since when did square enix care what online system a console used, the only online game they've ever done was FFXI, which, while not a huge success, was a dower for RPG fans that would have rather seen them work on a real FF game.
subnet6's Avatar
subnet6 at 02/01/2007 19:05
I love Nintendo.

I hate friend codes.

Any questions?
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 02/01/2007 19:07
You people keep saying you understand why Nintendo has the ridiculous Friend Codes (to protect the kiddies?), but if you think about it, it doesn't do anything except make things a pain in the ass. How exactly does a string of numbers differ from an online handle? Are online predators going to be randomly putting in 13yr0ldboi94 in hopes of finding somebody with that Gamertag? And then when they do, what are they going to do with him? Play video games? OH THE HUMANITY.

As far as I'm concerned, XBox Live is just as safe for kids. Somebody sends your kid a friend request on there, and you tell him to decline it unless he knows the person. Is he too young to be hearing the swear words that older kids are using on the game? There have to be parental controls for that kind of thing. If not in the software, there's the parental control where you don't pay for your kid to get online.

Nintendo: I love you, but you suck at online. Do better.
subnet6's Avatar
subnet6 at 02/01/2007 19:18
@dexter345

Word.

Also, speaking of friend codes, you're in my friends list on my Wii. Your name is one of a few that has remained gray forever!(remember the forumlist?)

Shit or get off the pot dude. Add me or let me know to pull you from my list please.
brad drac's Avatar
brad drac at 02/01/2007 20:13
I personally love the friend code system. In all my time using nintendo products online, I have NEVER ONCE been child molested. Obvious proof that they are doing something right there, by my reckoning. Keep up the good work nintendo!
the2cheat's Avatar
the2cheat at 02/01/2007 21:00
Ban togeather brithers, and make your voices heard! http://www.petitiononline.com/frndcode/petition.html
perri's Avatar
perri at 02/01/2007 21:53
Hey cheat, I signed that petition. A big 8 sigs total...don't think that'll sway things, but hopefully pressure from 3rd parties like this will.

Necros's Avatar
Necros at 02/01/2007 21:55
Hey, instead of talking about new versions of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana, how about the simple idea of putting them on the Virtual Console where they belong? You know, for the people like me who missed out on playing them and have to hear about how great they are any time the SNES is brought up?

I mean, it'd fit in line with Square-Enix's I-Like-Your-Fanboy-Money business model.
Bluefusion's Avatar
Bluefusion at 02/01/2007 22:15
I'm glad the developers actually care enough to complain to Nintendo rather than just say "meh" and take their business elsewhere.

At least it shows that developers are interested in making awesome games for the Wii, if perhaps *gasp* in spite of Nintendo.
Bluefusion's Avatar
Bluefusion at 02/01/2007 22:15
I'm glad the developers actually care enough to complain to Nintendo rather than just say "meh" and take their business elsewhere.

At least it shows that developers are interested in making awesome games for the Wii, if perhaps *gasp* in spite of Nintendo.
questworld's Avatar
questworld at 02/02/2007 04:06
Strange, I seem to recall somebody at S-E said they liked what Nintendo was trying to do with their online system (at least prior to Wii release). Anyway, yeah, needs work. I do appreciate the concept of why Friend Codes exist. Too bad too many people online are such foul mouthed individuals or perverts with lude conducts when given a keyboard and a webcam. Kinda like people who make viruses to infect other computers, thanks for ruining it for the rest of us guys.
questworld's Avatar
questworld at 02/02/2007 04:09
Incidentally, I don't really care for MMORPGs. What I want from S-E are those main FF games, DQ, KH, etc. Y'know, the good stuff, even if they're single player offline games that last 80 hours or so due to the depth of their game design and story.
Aequitas's Avatar
Aequitas at 02/02/2007 04:18
Final Fantasy XI is old now, but still a decent alternative for die-hard FF fans to get their MMO on. Personally, I'm more interested in the possibility of Front Mission Online being brought over. Delicious Front Mission.
liwii's Avatar
liwii at 02/02/2007 07:12
Friend codes may be annoying, but there are so many sites with Wii Number lists like mapwii.com, wiiloaded.com, among dozens of others, that make the wii number process is no big deal.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 02/02/2007 07:47
LOL @ Brad Drac :)
PetiePalo's Avatar
PetiePalo at 02/02/2007 10:14
I really don't understand the need for these codes.

Nintendo has a HUGE chance to take the market, user age not withstanding. They're effectively voiding that opportunity due to these friend codes.

Playing with my friend should be as easy as adding a name, not a serial #.
garamis's Avatar
garamis at 02/02/2007 12:40
I know people seem to think 'friends codes' are crap. And from one perspective they are. You each have to have each others Wii numbers. However I see one main advantage that in my opinion out shines any downfall of this system. Seeing as the Wii can recieve mail from an email account, only if it's registered, it prevents me from starting up my Wii and their being hundreds of messages, all Spam.
Seether2141's Avatar
Seether2141 at 04/13/2007 23:08
Why can't nintendo make it a parental setting so parents can set it for children and adults can shut off the friends code?
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