Nintendo finally made constant fanboy speculation cease today, with the announcement of Wi-Fi Battles in Smash Bros. Brawl. While message board posters cried in joy, there were also tears of sadness within the details.

First off, it should come to no surprise, but still disappointment, that friend codes will be required to unlock the full features of the online mode. Rankings, basic text communications, and even players names! will be unavailable if you don't have someone's 12 digit code. While I sort of understand Nintendo's position, it still seems gamers are getting the bad end of the stick. Why not give us the choice?

The Wii already has system codes, why Nintendo demands that we exchange new codes for each game we purchase is beyond me. It's a waste of time. Lack of rankings and communication really disables any reason to go online in the first place, even the very first Nintendo Wi-Fi game (Mario Kart DS) had rankings and names for "non-friend" gamers. What does fighting a random player really add to the experience if you don't even know their name? Just a greater challenge over CPU opponents I assume.

It should be interesting to see how this works out. Even though the games creator seems to be a little nervous of lag with the following statement:

But because this form of communication is greatly affected by the distance between you and your opponent, your brawls may not run smoothly if you’re really far apart—like, for instance, if you’re connecting between Japan and America.

The more distant you are, the worse your connection becomes, and the slower it feels. I apologize, but I hope you understand.

This doesn't seem to re-assuring at all. On the brighter side the update mentioned "other modes" involving the WI-Fi connection. One can only hope for some sort of Co-Op mode.

Despite the drawbacks, having Nintendo's #1 (only) fighter online is BIG news. Sure it may pale in comparison to Xbox Live, but of course you aren't paying Nintendo anything for these services. Beggars can't be choosers, but we can still whine a whole bunch.