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No unified Wii friends list

Even though it could be done.

Those of you hoping that Nintendo would implement a unified friends list for Wii online titles might want to suck on your cheeks for a bit: Wii friends lists will need to be set up for every game you play.

That's according to a GameSpy representative responding to questions about the online matchmaking technology they will be supplying for Nintendo. "The Wii friend lists are game-specific," the spokesperson told a Nintendo Wii blogger who also works as games editor for a German television station.

Disappointment is likely to be amplified, too, by the PR's revelation that "GameSpy's technology does allow for features that could span multiple games". It's just that Nintendo Wii won't be using them that way.

We asked Nintendo UK whether we were missing something; whether there was some obvious reason for going down this route rather than adopting the unified approach that has become a console gaming standard, but were simply told, "Nintendo has taken this step as we believe it's the right thing to do."