No more Wi-Fi Connection website, so why not a Wii Channel?

Finally, there's some snow on the ground... I think that alone helped clear my mind a bit.


Sometime last month, Nintendo removed the American and Canadian versions of the Wi-Fi Connection website, with the URL now redirecting us to a stripped-down version of the former website. Of course, it's not as if the website had updated any time recently, with the latest news bulletin being from mid-2007. Still, though, we now have no access to any sort of stats tracking or leaderboards. Personally, I found the website to be a little clunky and disconnected from the games, but I'm still a little miffed at the fact that we don't have anything at all now.

Where does that leave us? Now we have nowhere to go for our stats or anything unless such features are built into the game. All of these problems could be solved quite easily with the addition of a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Channel. Imagine all the stats-tracking and leaderboards from the former website at our fingertips, waiting for us on the Wii Menu. The Wi-Fi Connection Channel would instantly log all records of Wii games being played online, unlike the sometimes day-long delay the old website gave us. Leaderboards would now be available for games that didn't have them previously, and those that did would have the stats mirrored on the new channel.

As for DS, players would be able to link their systems to the new hub much like before. Players would change the DS nickname to the series of letters and numbers the Wi-Fi Channel gives them, then connect to register the system. Then, just like with the Wii, leaderboards and stats tracking would be available for every online DS game.

When it comes to the DSi, the Wi-Fi Connection Channel could become available on the DSi Shop, removing the need to register the system with a Wii. Of course, since the DSi is portable, chances are it won't have access to the internet 24/7 like the Wii. Thus, when the DSi is unable to connect to the main server, the data would be saved to the internal memory and uploaded at the next opportunity.

Now, what would this channel cost? Personally, I believe such a service should be available for free. After all, the Wi-Fi Connection itself is free, and so should be the Wi-Fi Connection Channel! Also, if it weren't free, people would have to pay twice if they wanted it on both their Wii and DSi, and that's just not right.

Of course, I'm not exactly expecting such a channel to ever come to be. Nintendo just doesn't seem to ever make services like this available. Heck, I was surprised they even gave that clunky old website to us! Of course, you never can tell for sure with Nintendo, so we'll just have to wait and see... And pray like hell!

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