Now that the Nintendo 3DS has been released and gamers are picking up their systems, many of us have been calling our friends, posting on forums, and even taking to Twitter to exchange friend codes with people we know. The 3DS has gotten rid of the per-game friend codes that were so annoying in previous Nintendo offerings, so the single code for your system will allow you to play your friends in online games across your entire library.

The problem is that Nintendo has done next to nothing with the functionality, and it's one of the largest missed opportunities on the 3DS. Let's take a look.

What can you do?

To become friends with another player, you must exchange your 12-digit friend codes and type them into the system once you open the friend list application. You can view a sort of card for each friend that shows an image of their Mii, their favorite game, their code, and a short phrase. If you're both online at the same time, you can see what the other person is playing. And... well, that's it.

Being able to link up with friends in games that use the friend codes is nice, but it's striking how little you can do with your friends without a game inside the system. There is no way to send anyone a message, for instance. It would be fun to be able to compare notes on how far you are on your games with your friends, but that won't happen. Heck, if you'd like their Mii on your system or in your Mii Plaza you must scan in their QR code. Why not just include their Mii as a part of the friend code? You're saying we can see an image of the Mii in our friend list, but it's too hard to include the character in the other places where Miis are used?

I find myself flush with coins gained by walking around with the system, and since I'm not very interested in the minigames that use them it would be fun if I could give them to my friends. But that's not supported.

It's nice to be able to see what games people are playing, but why not allow a list that shows every game someone owns, along with the ability to rate them? Gamers are talking about the launch titles a lot, but the conversation is taking place outside of Nintendo's multiple social media platforms. Why not take those questions and the people providing the answers and internalize them to keep gamers using their 3DS systems instead of forcing them to go elsewhere to talk about their games?

Where the 360 excels

The 360, and Xbox Live, is the exemplar of how to engage gamers and keep them inside the ecosystem to talk about content. You can message your friends even when you're playing different games. You can rate games and content. I can dig through my friends' lists of games to see what they're playing and how far they've made it through a particular game. You can watch movies together, you can chat, you can do just about anything you want. It's all part of Microsoft's strategy to lock you into its platform.

Nintendo, on the other hand, seems to be willing to give you the absolute bare minimum of social interaction in the game system. It was funny to watch people exchange friend codes on Sunday, only to note there was nothing they could actually do with their friends. Why do all my buddies have a virtual home on my system when there's no furniture?

A walled garden only works when there is an actual garden within the walls. It's frustrating to see all my friends locked into their tiny cards with their tiny public statements being the only way we can communicate. Yes, the 360 is a console while the 3DS is a portable, but Nintendo needs to wake up and realize how many of us want to spend time with our friends, or at least speak to them via text or voice through our systems. Heck, we all have 3DSes; why not set up a service where we can share our 3D images?

The 3DS is going to see multiple software updates in the next few months, and this is an area that needs to be fixed. Social networking on portable systems is a growing force, and Nintendo can't afford to be passed by in a world where my iPhone plays excellent $2 games and gives me multiple ways to spread the word about the games I'm playing. I don't need my friends list to do everything, but I would like it to do something.