N +

Online gaming will undoubtedly become a necessity for the next gen, the majority of us believe it already is, deny it if you will, you're fooling no one but yourself. Now we all know what Wii Connect24 does; Stays online constantly to provide your console with updates for your existing games including those submitted both by your friends and your games' developers. So with that, what does it still lack to trump its rivals Xbox Live and Sony's PNP services?

A few features this enthusiast feels necessary include;

Relevant profile info
I couldn't care less what game some randomer has played the most this week, I wanna know where they're from, what age they are and what their disconnection rate is.

Regularly Organised Tournaments
Oh the joy of knowing you'll come home from work with the prospect of joining in on a Smash Brothers / Call of Duty / Metty Prime* tournament. Whether prizes vary from a free NES download to a Wiimote, this is something Ninty should take full advantage of.

Chat
Both text and voice communication is a must for finding new people. If Ninty have found the time to implement Weather and News channels they can certainly afford to host a chat facility for us to find new people to play alongside and sometimes, having a few recognisable faces makes all the difference in connecting. Whatever form of Chat we get, it should be easy to Host and Join channels and proceed to view profiles and add as friends [read : none of that friend code bullsh*t!]

Instant Game Joining/Inviting
I consider it absolutely essential that you can invite or join your friends in a game currently taking place, it should be as simple as checking a list of your friends currently playing games and choosing to join. Anything more is just complicated.

Counterstrike
We need a Killer App to demonstrate the console's capability of competing in the online sector. Think of how many people enjoy sitting 3 feet from their monitor at their desktop playing games like CS and then imagine how they'd feel sitting on their couch in a low-lit room playing the same games on their wide screen TV.

This is more of a rough introduction than naything elses, just to get everyone thinking on what would make Nintendo's online service really something else, so please take it upon yourselves to discuss on our forums, exactly what you guys want to see this Christmas.

* I'm fully aware these games don't necessarily contain online features, they are for exemplary purposes