Friend codes suck. There’s no denying it. If you have a Wii, and you’ve ever tried to play any game online with your buddies, you know the drill: enter in a 12-digit code for each friend and wait for them to do the same so that you can finally play some Smash Bros. together. Then when you want to visit their towns in Animal Crossing, you have to do the same thing all over again. It’s a drag, and no one likes it (other than Nintendo, apparently). However, there may be a way to get around using them, as there is a rumor floating around the internets that a major 2009 release wouldn’t require friend codes, which originated on the IGN Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast.

I did a quick glance at the list of upcoming Wii games, and these are the ones that stand out as being “major” to me (keep in mind that this is the Wii, so I might be stretching a bit):

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
Rygar: The Battle of Argus
Tenchu: Shadow Assassin
House of the Dead: OVERKILL
Major League Baseball 2K9
Pikmin
Mario Power Tennis
MadWorld
Sonic and the Black Knight
Don King Boxing
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
The Conduit
Ghostbusters
Madden NFL 2010

I only listed games that have tentative release dates, and didn’t take into account whether or not the game would feature multiplayer aspects. I would probably rule out any first-party games, but beyond that, I have no idea. Again, this is just a rumor, but I’m hoping that it not only turns out to be true, but that other developers follow suit in the future. Seriously, it’s time to ditch those stupid friend codes once and for all.

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