Miiverse and Wii U web services ending in November

[nocturnal YL]

Today's biggest news is that North Korea has launched a missile over Hokkaido.


Now that I've ruined your mood, today's biggest game-related news is that Nintendo TVii (JP), Wii U Chat and Miiverse (both 3DS and Wii U) are coming to an end, effective 8 November. Given the official notice that details what will happen to the services after they end, it is unlikely that they will update the system menus to remove them from the UI. I don't think they will have a replacement service for saving screenshots either.

Starting from today, users with a Nintendo Account can request to have their posts (excluding replies), drawings and screenshots sent to their email accounts. No words on what formats will they be in, and I doubt they will make 3DS screenshots available as 3D images (.mpo).

miiverse.nintendo.net/settings/download_request

[Nester the Lark]

RIP Miiverse (2012-2017)

I knew the day would come, but I'm still sad. It was so linked with the Wii U that I wonder if the system had been a success, would Nintendo also hang on to Miiverse?

Anyway, I actually haven't posted on Miiverse since April. But I think my last post might have been featured on WaraWara Plaza or the web version, because it continued to get occasional Yeahs for weeks.

And I think this might have been my only attempt at drawing a cartoon (unless I'm forgetting something in Splatoon).

I suppose I should post something new just for old times' sake.

[nocturnal YL]

Remember Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection? That didn't last long either, at least for Wii. On the DS, it had an incredible 8.5-year lifespan.

Nintendo WFC start date: 14 November, 2005

Mario Kart Wii release: 10 April, 2008 (JP) / 27 April, 2008 (NA)

Nintendo WFC end date: 20 May, 2014

Mario Kart 8 release: 30 May, 2014

Smash Wii U release: 13 Sept, 2014 (JP) / 3 Oct, 2014 (NA, EU)

Nintendo Network itself is still running, and it remains to be seen whether that will have a shorter lifespan than Nintendo WFC. But I think it will last long enough for the games on it to get sequels — wait, Mario Kart and Splatoon already did.

EDIT — I took a look at this article, and realised that losing Miiverse means losing most of the sharing features and even the ability to upload videos. While online play itself is unaffected, closing Miiverse still has a bigger effect than I initially thought. And apparently they didn't inform other developers about this.

Also, I'll miss the ability to take screenshots. I care about that more than Miiverse itself. I can use my capture device for Wii U games (or any home console), but it won't work for most 3DS games I have (except Project mirai DX which has an in-game screen capture function; I don't have Smash 3DS, which also supports this in-battle).

[Nester the Lark]

I'll miss the screenshot capability, also. It was very convenient at times.

Also, it seems that the SplatNet service for the original Splatoon is going offline on September 30. (Although the game can still be played online.)

Man, talk about pulling the plug on the Wii U. So much of it is going to seem so empty and depressing.

[Da Robot]

Well I'm saddened by this announcement, a lot of games are going to lose that bit of "life" they had to them. Something new to see everytime you played the game. Turning off the Miiverse features in Splatoon (in the Option menu) makes the plaza look really sterile without the Miiverse graffti art. Even the text posts will be gone.
While games like Mario vs DK: Tipping Stars won't even be able to fully unlock every level design object or share levels because of the shut down, while Super Mario Maker will get patched to still be able to level share without Miiverse.

Nintendo has stated the reason they are ending Miiverse as follow's, We decided to end the service at this time because, among other reasons, many users are shifting to social networking services. which I don't really believe. Miiverse isn't perfect but it is a really unique and weird, quick access social network/forum that every Wii U and the majority of 3DS games had a page/thread for. Could someone replicate that with an internet forum format? Probably, but since it wouldn't be connected to the hardware/software or have the Wii U/3DS install base (and people willing to write posts/draw art because they show up in game) it wouldn't get used.
en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27329

EDIT:A web developer has started an archive process for Miiverse to preserve every picture and text post. He has gotten over 30,000 drawings from the Japanese Splatoon page alone.

Aug 30, 2017 13:47:35 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

Remember Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection? That didn't last long either, at least for Wii. On the DS, it had an incredible 8.5-year lifespan.

Remember Gamespy being shut down was the reason for the WFC ending, not Nintendo.

Don't know why your using Mario Kart Wii as a reference point, but the Wii's first Wi-Fi connected game was in Japan in December 2006 (NA in June 2007) with Pokemon Battle Revolution and outside of Japan was Mario Striker Charged in May 2007.

[nocturnal YL]

I mentioned Mario Kart Wii because it saw the widespread use of Nintendo WFC. A game as popular as that could see its online service shut down in 6 years, which is a short time by online game standard. That said, online wasn't the focus of most Wii games that aren't Dragon Quest X, and most Wii games are just fine offline.

My point is that generally speaking, Nintendo feels okay to shut down their online services in just a few years (or, in the case of Devil's Third, less than one year, but that game's so poorly received that this isn't unexpected). Justified in that rebuilding Nintendo WFC isn't the best course of action (and the online experience is ruined by hackers anyway), but it shows that long-term availability of Nintendo online services should never be expected.



On the topic of Miiverse, while I'm going to miss it after it closes, I do like how screenshot sharing is handled with the Switch. It saves the screenshot first and leaves the optional sharing part for later, eliminating interruptions and long wait times during gameplay. If they'd add a regular browser and have the images uploadable to any website, that'd be great.

[Nester the Lark]

I think it's fairly normal for any online service to shut down after a few years when the number of players using it dwindles. It's just a matter of cost and resources.

It's really unfortunate for online-focused games, but I also wonder what happens to downloadable game updates, patches and DLC. A lot of people gravitate towards physical copies of games because they think it means that they'll always have access to the game, itself, even if it's not available digitally anymore. But that doesn't mean much if the game was patched and updated a lot. Think of all the things that were added and fixed in games like Super Smash Bros for Wii U and Hyrule Warriors (not to mention Splatoon). You really couldn't get the optimal (or even preferred) experience out of those games now just playing them out of the box.

I think it's encouraging that the original Wii Shop Channel is still online over a decade later, so people can still re-download digital games they've purchased. It shows Nintendo does have some dedication to their digital products.

But the question is, what happens when it goes offline?

[nocturnal YL]

What's happened to the Satellaview games that were never dumped? Lost forever!

But I don't think we have much to worry for modern games. People care about game archival now. And emulation, especially Nintendo emulation, is catching up really fast.

In other words, official ways to play the game will die out, and the void will be filled with fan attempts to preserve them. Fans make custom servers too, but it's difficult for the lay person to mess with their router settings to redirect their systems to those custom servers.

Seeing the online services end so quickly reminds me of Nintendo's old Famicom Disk System disk / Nintendo Power ROM cartridge writing services. Those lasted for a long time. But then again, they probably don't get such requests very often, as opposed to the online servers that require active maintenance.

[Da Robot]

If anyone's interested, Nintendo has launched a new worldwide Miiverse community called the Everybody's Message Community on Miiverse, where users can post hand written comments about Miiverse. This community will close on October 11th. Some of the messages will be used to make a collage shared at a later date.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's my humble contribution to the Everybody's Message community. I might do another one, tho.

The end of Miiverse has gotten me reminiscing about Nintendo's previous online communities, and how they all ended up with limited lifespans.

The first one, oddly enough, was Nintendo Power Source on AOL, which launched in 1995. That was when the internet was just beginning to take off and become a household thing, so it's interesting that Nintendo jumped into it so early. I didn't get home internet access until 1997, so I only caught the very end of it.

Then Nintendo moved to the web and had a community called The Loudhouse in reference to the slogan "Play it Loud." A year later, it changed to Nsider to coincide with a new slogan, "Get N or Get Out." I hung around on there quite a bit, but by the end of the '90s, I realized that the cynicism I was being exposed to was starting to affect me, so I gave up on message boards and chat rooms for a good while.

I believe the Nsider forums were eventually revamped and stayed online until about 2008, but I never really bothered with them again (although I think I registered a new account on there anyway, so I may have posted once or twice).

Then there was the obscure Luminoth Temple, as I mentioned in another thread, but it didn't last too long.

They also still have a tech support forum, so there's that, but it's not really a social community.

Miiverse has probably been the most interesting because it was tied directly to Nintendo's platforms, and was modeled more like modern social media.  It's really a big part of the experience of the Wii U, and the console will really feel like it's missing something without it.

Of course, we have our good ol' NinDB forum here, and it has outlasted all of them. 

[Da Robot]

Remember to do your download request for Miiverse posts before Miiverse ends, everyone.

Oct 4, 2017 22:42:50 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

Miiverse has probably been the most interesting because it was tied directly to Nintendo's platforms, and was modeled more like modern social media.  It's really a big part of the experience of the Wii U, and the console will really feel like it's missing something without it.

One of the recurring things I noticed about Miiverse is that people like it because it a social network but not tied to your actual social network. You can spam dumb/funny posts of pictures/drawings about games for laughs and the people viewing it will be mostly that intended game audience. And with the application of the Greater Internet Fuckward Theory (GIFT) you get people also posting slightly more offensive funny stuff to see if it can get past Nintendo filters. As well as people also using Miiverse because they need help (which is much smaller and less visible depending on how popular a game is).
While Nintendo wants people now to just send Switch game pictures to their Facebook pages who probably aren't going to be that interested and possibly annoyed or confused? Would "why can't Metroid crawl?" have been the same if it was posted on FB? While making drawings for certain Splatfest topics would just be awkward.

Now on the topic of popular Miiverse game pages, they can get so many posts per hour most play journals are gone quickly (like Splatoon or Zelda), it also effects the Everybody's Message Channel you can make a post and it's gone very quickly under all the new ones. It gonna be interesting how the filter through all those drawings at the end.

[Nester the Lark]

It's the final day for the Everybody's Message community. Some Nintendo staff are now posting messages and drawings.

Here's Shigeru Miyamoto's post:


Eiji Aonuma:


Takashi Tezuka:


Aya Kyogoku (Animal Crossing):


Takaya Imamura (Steel Diver: Sub Wars):


Akira Otani (Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam):


Yoshihito Ikebata (Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon):


Goro Abe (Game & Wario):


Shinya Hirataki (Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker):


Yurie Hattori (Wii Karaoke U):


Kenta Motokura (Super Mario 3D World):

[Nester the Lark]

Here's the collage made out of posts from the Everybody's Message community.

I don't think my post made it in, but let me know if you stumble across it.

[Da Robot]

Oct 11, 2017 10:44:33 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

It's the final day for the Everybody's Message community. Some Nintendo staff are now posting messages and drawings.

Oct 25, 2017 21:53:53 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

Here's the collage made out of posts from the Everybody's Message community.

I don't think my post made it in, but let me know if you stumble across it.

Good to see the developer goodbye posts, very nice, as there hasn't really been any other acknowledgement from NoJ about Miiverse's closure. While that college is just staggering in it's size, I can't see any of my drawing standing out from an initial glance.

Remember it's the last day to go to the browser version of Miiverse, open you profile and perform the download request for the email attachment of all you profile photo/drawings you made on Miiverse. At the same time you may want to make you final posts in game or play some of the games with Miiverse features for the last time.

EDIT: Just noticed there's a News headline feature on the front of NinDB, good to see Miiverse's closure date being mentioned in it.

[Nester the Lark]

Can't believe tomorrow is the last day. As I said, I don't post a lot on Miiverse, but it was fun to browse, and it was just part of the whole Wii U experience. Playing Wii U games, even those that aren't heavily integrated with Miiverse, is going to seem lonelier without it. Even Wara Wara Plaza is going to feel like an old abandoned park or something.

Don't really know what else to say, tho. It'll be gone, and that'll be that. I can't think of any great last words to post on it, but maybe I'll make one or two final posts today anyway.

Nov 6, 2017 9:17:55 GMT -5 Da Robot said:

EDIT: Just noticed there's a News headline feature on the front of NinDB, good to see Miiverse's closure date being mentioned in it.

I was wondering if anyone noticed that I've been updating the forum news feed.