Are Wii friend codes safe? + Wii Social Networking
May 12th, 2008 by Andy Merchant
So I finally got MarioKart on the Wii and was desperate to test the online gameplay, which I must say is pretty impressive. I was also keen to try out playing online against my friends - the only problem being that I have two friends with the game and they never seem to be online to play…how boring!
So how do I make new friends to play against? The social networking aspect, it appears, hasn’t been as well thought through by Nintendo as I’d expected.
To register friends on the Wii and to play against them online you need their friend code.
This is what Nintendo says about friend codes in its MarioKart Wii instruction manual: “Do not share you friend code with people you do not know, as you may receive tampered data or offensive messages without your consent.”
If you do a Google search for Wii friend codes you come across loads of friend code swapping forum sites and lists. The most impressive being a site called Mapwii, which is a large Google map that can be used to locate friend codes in your area.
But if Nintendo says these site might not be safe, but I want new friends to play against, what’s a gamer to do?
I was thinking about asking my Twitter followers if they had MarioKart and tweeting my friend code over the web - is that safe?
One alternative is MiiSpace, the idea of which is outlined here, and another is a Facebook application found here, (not officially licensed by Nintendo)
So what about making new friends with the same interests? Surely Nintendo has something in the pipeline?
At the moment you can create a Mii and have a friend code but you can not interact socially, usless you want to risk a forum.
Note for Nintendo to make it easier for people to connect socially!
Tags: friend code, mario kart, nintendo, wii