Nintendos stupid friend code requirements for online play. Grown men can’t play pick-up games online without knowing other people with a Wii AND the same game. There may be one or two games that circumvent this, but I haven’t seen any.
Nintendo, fix your online vision and make it adult friendly please.
Especially since it should/could be an option that’s directly tied to parental controls, rather than the default.
With the Wii still outselling both other systems combined, I expect a massive firmware update at some point that fixes this, esp. as we see franchises like Grand Theft Auto jump ship in favor of the system.
My one complaint, which could be easily fixed in an update, is that WiiConnect24 causes the system to power up and connect to the internet about once every three minutes, 24/7. This makes the system get incredibly hot after a while, which worries me, so I turn the function off. But then I don’t get new Miis showing up, and can’t use the news or votes channel. You should be able to easily set this to check once a day or so, rather than the ridiculously frequent every couple of minutes.
Have they found a way to do voice chat yet? I couldn’t believe it when I saw that we could trade Mii’s but couldn’t actually play our friends online with them. Then what’s the point?
I think you’re confused about how Friend Codes work.
Anyone can play online and jump into a pick-up game with anyone, but you can’t save who you’re playing against to your Friends List and the only way to add a person to your Friends List is to know their Friend Code ahead of time and punch it into the game.
At least, this is how the system works on my DS and I’ve told the Wii will work exactly the same.
Second, the only game that’s currently online is Pokemon Battle Revolution, how much of a grown man can you claim to be? 
Then either something is wrong with your system, or it’s in a poorly ventilated area. It should get “warm,” maybe even really warm, but not “incredibly hot.”
Is your Wii on the carpet? If so, take it off and put it on a level surface. I also suggest putting it vertical, which allows more air to run across the console.
If you’re putting it vertically, use the stand, since if you just put it on its side you’ll cover a fan intake.
Nintendo’s insistence on using Friend Codes is part of their corporate policy of being “safe for all players to play.” Getting a Friend Code requires that you are able to meet with your opponent somewhere outside of the Wi-Fi connection - that you have some idea of who you’re talking with. Some DS games allow you to add a Friend Code to your list by playing a regular wireless game, but you can’t just add Random Someguy to your list because you played them once.
Huh huh, heh heh, he said “big beef” and “Wii”.