Wii U Online Network Will Have Xbox Live Features, Solo Connectivity

Wii U will have a network similar to Xbox Live in many ways, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says, but the company is also including features geared towards gamers who play solo in an effort not to isolate them.

“If you look at gaming services, for example if you look at Xbox LIVE, one of the more traditionally or generally accepted features of the gaming service is the ability to play with folks at different locations at the same time,” Iwata told Kotaku.

“On the other hand, you’re not always going to be available at the same time to play with each other. And of course we’re going to have that service of head-to-head [multiplayer, when you are] on at the same time playing games against each other, but what we really want to do is create a place where folks who are playing by themselves will not feel like they are playing by themselves. They’ll be able to share those experiences and have that empathy that we mentioned earlier.”

A good move, I believe. If you’re the multiplayer type, Wii U will be for you, if not, and you’d rather just game alone, Wii U will also be for you. Win-win.