Speaking to Ubisoft producer Adrian Blunt, the MTV Multiplayer blog has confirmed that the Wii U’s online network will launch with the ability to create unique usernames, very similar to PSN or Xbox Live handles:

“The first is the ability for individuals to make accounts. Rather than a machine having an account, each individual user has an account.”

[MTV Multiplayer asked]: “Equivalent to a gamertag on Xbox Live?”

“Yeah, exactly,” he said.

Blunt would go on to say that Friend Codes are a thing of the past and that the complicated codes will no longer be needed to find your friends on the Nintendo network. Instead, a unified Friend List will take its place:

“Also the ability to easily find friends. Rather than using friend codes, which we’ve had in the past, we’re able to connect players in a much easier way, which allows us to have a community that’s playing together in the game.”

HD graphics, no more Friend Codes, third party support… Nintendo may challenge Sony and Microsoft’s dominance for hardcore gamers yet.

I’m not sure I like the sound of this. A Nintendo representative at E3 has told CVG that the Wii U’s tablet-like controller will not be sold separately from the console. “Both the controller and the console will be sold as one unit. You won’t be able to buy the controller alone,” the spokesman said.

If true, this raises some interesting questions, including what are gamers supposed to do if their Wii U controller breaks, and does this mean that only one Wii U controller can be synced to the console at a time? During the system’s debut at their press conference, Nintendo never showed more than one Wii U controller in operation at a time, and the five-player multiplayer demo Chase Mii was controlled using a single Wii U controller and four Wii Remotes.