Nintendo have a different approach to the likes of Microsoft and Sony when it comes to online play. The style Nintendo will use for Wii will be the friend's code system, identical to that of the DS.

There will be no Xbox live style interface and the connection will work on a title-by-title basis. The fact that you'll need to connect to another player by entering their unique 16 character code sounds unappealing, but Entertainment Analysis and Development's general manager, Takahashi Tezuka, has said that it 'easy, safe, and free'.

The main annoyance with the friend's code idea, which has already been proven on the DS, is that your code is not universal. You have a different code for each Wi-Fi enabled game. Only once both parties have submitted each other's codes will you see them online.The idea of friend's codes seems limiting in the world of online gaming - seems like Wii isn't all about bringing people together after all.

The friend's code system has been chosen by Nintendo for security reasons, but many Nintendo fans aren't happy with the current problems it causes on the DS. One Nintendo forum member sentiments are being echoed across many forums,he said "Adding friend codes that force you to remember numbers and stuff, and having to find them out from your friends, is a plain terrible idea."

Although Wii will use the apparently 'flawed' Friend's code system, we're sure that there will be plenty of tweaks that will make online gaming more user friendly than that on the DS.