Nintendo has been critisized for a long time for not "getting" online. It seems they are always a step behind the other guys. They barely included online capabilities in the GameCube. The DS now has a popular Wi-Fi service, but it was months before we saw it used and then by not many games. The assumption with the Wii is that it would have online games from the start. And it will...but not from third party developers.
When interviewing Activision about Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, IGN learned a disappointing tidbit about its multiplayer--it won't be online. Activision wouldn't say why, but IGN says it has heard from multiple sources that Nintendo will not release the Wii Wi-Fi Connection libraries to third parties until early 2007.
That means no third party launch titles will have an online mode. Further, it means no launch window titles will either and "early 2007" is vague enough that we may not see third party online Wii games until as late as Summer 2007.
Nintendo's success with the Wii is dependent on convincing publishers that having Nintendo first party games as their biggest competitor is not bad enough to keep them from putting their games on the console. That makes this decision, if IGN's reporting is correct, a major step in the wrong direction.
Nintendo just made a big mistake by not releasing it earlier.
