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Joystiq reports that hidden at the bottom of an IGN preview for Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam are some terrible news for the Wii launch line-up. Apparently Nintendo doesn’t plan on releasing the software libraries necessary for 3rd parties to include online functionality into their games. The IGN article said:

Gamers hoping for an online component, however, are in for bad news, because one isn’t planned. Activision would not say why, but IGN has separately learned from multiple development sources that Nintendo will not release Wii Wi-Fi Connection libraries to third parties until early 2007, which means that no third party launch title will have an online mode.

That really comes as a shock, not as big as the PS3 not being in production yet, but still quite a surprise. The online component for the Wii is without a doubt one of its major assets. I’m reluctant to believe that Nintendo has not released said libraries to anyone, perhaps a special deal with some developers? I hope so, otherwise this is a kick in the gut to the 3rd party launch line-up

[Joystiq]