Nintendo's Wii Tracks Player Usage

Yeah, I don't see this as anything but a positive. I feel it strikes a nice balance between flat-out prevention (based on ratings) and good parenting tools. As it says, now you'll know if your kid sneaks downstairs to game. And even if he does, he won't be able to fire up your copy of Resident Evil 5.

I can see how "I played for xx hours" could possibly be a bragging thing, but when I was kid, it wasn't how long you played - it was how far into the game you were that was important.

"I've been playing Best Game Ever for 100 hours!"
'How far into the game are you?'
"Level 2..."
'noob'

Speed was also big, as it could also be judged to be a measure of skill (and gain bragging rights). Play time would be too easy to "cheat" with. For example, if my PS2 tracked time, you'd think I'd been obsessed with Gran Turismo 4 this week. In fact, I last played it on Sunday and then left the PS2 on til today.

Hmmm. It doesn't sound too bad as a parenting tool (though the kids will likely hate it), even if I think it undermines the mutual trust that is also an important part of the parent-child relationship.

But what happens if someone figures out a way to tap into the Play History for a significant part of the Wii user base for market research purposes?

Also, Konrad, that's something that will be an optional feature. Once a year or so, the gameplay history of games can be uploaded to developers(on an opt-in basis) to show not just which games are selling best, but which ones have real replayability, and among which groups(will probably be linked to profiles, through the remote and Mii features).

Reminds me of a Mad magaizine article about the 100 worst things about gaming.

"Consoles that tell your parents how many hours you've spent gaming instead of on your studies."

The Usage Tracker is interesting, but really nothing new when it comes to gamers. Most games keep track of total playtime already, which can be taken as either as a sign that the game has lasting value (RPGs like Dragon Quest VIII ) or that you're moving too slow (trying to beat old ones like Super Metroid and Resident Evil under 3 hours).

I say it's more useful for parents, provided they actually give a damn about what their kids are doing in the first place.

@kurisu7885, or anyone else who's critical of this because they don't this it will work -

If something is easily accessible and aggressively marketed, it will be used. I suggest that, for something as simple and non-invasive as this, we give it our full support as a gaming community.

The gaming industry right now is trying to prove that it can effectively regulate itself without legislation. Would you prefer that they (the gaming industry) do nothing, so that there's absolutely no evidence that they're trying to solve the problem on their own? If you're honestly going to complain and put down efforts that will help their self-regulation argument, then please propose to me a better solution.

And, we keep in mind, saying "parents should just do their job and parent" isn't going to solve our current situation.

I think this is a great Idea. It forces parents to be involved in thier kids gaming habits. Thus pay closer attention to the games they play and how long they play them. So that parents can teach healthy gaming habits. And the kids don't become so absorbed in them that the rest of their school and social lives don't suffer. Not to mention this is the first I've heard of Parental controls based on ESRB ratings. Moves like this is what the industry needs to place a little bit more of a focus on if they wanna be left alone about things like GTA.

Foton
PixelEnigma.com Webmaster

One important question remains: Are the chainsaws soaked in blood, or the succubi? Because that sort of detail will really affect the fanfiction. If you don't clarify, then there'll be wars splitting the fandom into LiveJournal communities []bloodychainsaws and []moist_succubi_fic. There'll be usericons and everything.

Ok, I just thought of a way to be sarcastic about this that makes a little more sense than my original post.

Headline: "Wii feature not enough" says local parents group

Story: Despite efforts made by long-time videogame creators, Nintendo Co., to add parental control and advisory features to it's latest home console, the Nintendo Wii, many parent and game activists have argued that this measure is simply not enough.

The feature in question is a timesheet of sorts that is meant to log the time a child will play a given game for. Nintendo proposed that parents will be able to utilize this time sheet in order to determine if their child spends too much time playing with this toy rather than using time constructively, such as studying or engaging in physical activities outddoors.

However, many have pointed out that this feature is incomplete, and therefore useless. The Unfit Parents Association (UPS) recently combined efforts with the Family Entertainment Design and Creation Service (FedAcs) in order to send a proposal to Nintendo of America, Inc. The proposal demands that the time printout not only log how long their child has played the system, but to also identify how much time is too much time as well as what the proper punishment would be.

The Department of Human Law (DHL) has also raised an issue of enforcement of such regulatory behavior, saying "There just aren't enough law enforcement personnel available to keep up a constant check on the videogame playing habits of kids in our nation." The spokesman for DHL admitted that either graduation restrictions of police acadmies across the country will need to be eased or "We'll just have to take these consoles away in order to avoid any other possible time law infractions."

John Thompson, a videogame expert and recent cohort of the Useless Smut and Pornography Stoppers (USPS), has come out attacking Nintendo's recent technology pointing out that which we've all feared. "In order for the machine to even alert parent's that their child is playing these disgusting things too long, the violent and pornographic message will have already seeped into their frontal lobes". Thompson added, "Until this usurpous action by Rockstar and TakeTwo is rectified and a true parental control system is passed into law, parent's the world over are in extreme danger when it comes time to tell little Billy that game time is over."

A spokesperson from Nintendo was reached for comment on this recent uprising, however, due to him speaking Japanese, we assume that it was nothing but gibberish. One researcher from the American Psychological Association was asked how they feel regarding this recent attempt by United States videogame publishers to ignore the law of the ESRB. The unnamed researcher responded "My god, people! It was one freakin' study!"

"Uh oh, while this will work for many, does anyone not see that there will be many others who will use this as a ’stat’ and game longer and harder than before. Something tells me this can lead to the same type of deaths we’ve been reading about with MMO’s."

Most games already keep track of time played, so I don't think this will change anything.

Okay, I should read all the comments before I post next time...

@xwaix

haha. You got me laughin on that one.

well the play history will defently give parents more power over what children playand it will get them active, but Jack thompson will make elmo's adventure playable (sarcasticly) that game is even conterverial too it makes physco paths out of children. ps I can heardly read the fourms the print is so tiny

Well I agree with KN when it comes to that Succubi thing. This seems really easy and an intelligent thing to do, which is why I think David Walsh and others will be very critical (+2 crits at least) and accuse Nintendo of faking it to placate parents while sticking to the agenda of making grotesque ultra violence accessable to children.

I would have done the parents bitching about having to be parents, but it's been done to death here....thinking out loud....

"How dare Nintendo allow parents to know what their children are doing and when and how much! How the hell can I continue to practice law and eliminate every trace of personal responsibility with these whackos doing what they're doing? I'm going to sue Nintendo for this attack on my proffession!" -Jack Thompson

Yeah, I think I mentioned this quite early in GP's life- parents aren't going to pay attention to it, then accuse it of 'not working', or if they do, they'll go down the give-an-inch-and-take-a-mile route and once it's put the idea of looking at the time spent playing games complain that it doesn't do enough, so that next generation we get worse controls and so on, down that old slippery slope.

While I'm up for the industry working with The Concerned, I think this all-format, hands-off surveilanceware is a little too much of a bend-over concession.

/b

@ beemoh

Yes, the willfull ignorance. Parents apparently expect parental controls to work on their own, activate on their own, and like, magically sendm essages to their cellphone so they'll know what ahppened in stead of puttign down the phoen and interupting their call.

Well actuly my parents do it took a lot of begging before they brought me halo for the pc.

@AE

I can just see the sequel now. NAKED Blood-Soaked Chainsaw Succubi From Hell! It focuses on a niche market, but I think it'll do well.

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of that Succubi game? :P

Seriously, right on for Nintendo. It's already been established as the console of choice for younger players, and having a feature like this just encourages their parents to actually get involved in their child's gaming habits, instead of ignoring the problem or overreacting and banning games entirely.

There's nothing wrong with what Nintendo is doing, if the users are provided adequate tools for controlling access to that data.

I doubt that's gonna happen though. It never does.

i laugh at the prospect of gaming destroying social life because that would be assuming they have a social life to begin with. Social life is so overrated that I'd rather have my kid sitting at home all day gaming when he isnt doing his hw.

If anyone else here detests the parental control time limiting crap, and your mom or dad get to it first, just always leave your Wii and the game on. They'll never know if you're playing or not :)