Waitaminit! AOL ain’t an ISP! :)
AOL it’s newbalicious!
– Xaroc
Out of curiosity, which of the (currently announced) upcoming GC games actually feature online support? I remember that Phantasy Star Card Battle game, but that’s it.
Hmmm, I hope this means that Nintendo is taking steps to offer third parties a better online deal on the Gamecube. Perhaps they need not develop a network themselves, but instead put money toward attracting and helping online games appear on the console. At the very least, make sure that multiplatform games are online on the Gamecube as well. Ideally, they would offer their own network for third parties to use and accompany third party networks, so they could offer either the PS2 way or the Xbox Live way, so fans of both parties could prosper on the Cube. In any event, it would be nice to see Nintendo solicit third party online games in the same manner it has Namco, Sega, Capcom and Konami to collaborate on games with them and create a strong online lineup that way.
I fully support Nintendo’s decision not to make any online-specific games themselves and think they could just do with trying for a strong third-party program. The reason why is that I am not interested in online gaming at all, after bad experiences with Starcraft, FFXI and Counterstrike, and as a general dislike of being so disconnected from others while I play, I feel sticky and like a concrete brick when I try to play online, so that’s why. My only interests remain in being able to play people from all over the world in a fighter and some of Capcom’s upcoming online games, since they seem so very different than what’s been offered so far. Since Capcom’s stuff isn’t coming for a while and Sony has a really retarded plan for getting online over here, and to put on top of that, its simply impossible to create a satisfying online experience for any good fighter right now, so meh, for me. Its not something I like for in a console yet. So I get more singleplayer or regular multiplayer games from N, which is A-OK my book.
Though, to a certain extent, I wonder how hard it would be to simply offer online options in some of their multiplayer titles. Smash Bros. is a little unfeasible. Oh well, perhaps F-Zero as well. But Kirby, Mario Golf and Tennis and Kart seem like good candidates, not to mention Pokemon Colosseum. I know it isn’t profitable and Nintendo doesn’t see it as viable until they can find a way in which it is, but I think this is one of those things you just have to swallow your stomach and do. The world outside Japan likes online games, Sony and Microsoft have had some good success there. It ain’t as mainstream as soda pop and platformers, but I don’t think that’s the point. Concentrating so much on the killer apps to bring in gamers is a mistake in my view. Nintendo has Smash Bros. which has done more than enough of its job of enticing a huge amount of players to buy a Gamecube, they’ve had other games that attract different players. In my mind, a killer app is just there to draw attention to the platform, to say “Here I am!” and who doesn’t pay attention to Nintendo?
The real thing, if you ask me, is support every kind of player and its the real reason why neither Microsoft nor Nintendo reached Sony with their consoles or really gave them a run for their money like the Saturn in Japan and the N64 in the US did at first. Have games for people who just want to play sound novels, games for people who want really cheap budget games, card games and mahjong and pachinko games, games for hardcore shmup or fighter players or 2D oldschool, offer every different subgenre of RPG, flight-based realistic shooting games, sims and novelty games and so on and so forth. Online games are one part of that. Sony just dwarfs the other two in variety and so everyone from the joe who just wants pachinko to the hardcore MMORPG player to the NBA freak to the gore-lover to the bright and colorful child-like connoiseur buys one. I don’t think its so much GTA3 and Vice City and FFX and GT3, as it is those games that get people’s attention and then the “Holy shit! I might like THAT too and THIS, oh whoa, it has one of THESE?” I really think that’s how the majority of more casual people get hooked in. They may not buy as many games and that’s precisely why you have to make some sacrifices to satisfy every kind of gamer, because your killer app game of the year money-sucker may be three kinds of wonderful, but in the end a lot of people still won’t be interested (more’s the pity). FFVII may have been a breakthrough but there’s still a lot of people who don’t like RPGs.
Its hard to evaluate a company, because they are made of people, who can each be individually good or bad. Sega is a perfect example: management - bad, development - good. But I think better of companies who have clearly taken risks and put themselves out there at the cost of profit to better satisfy the consumer. Nintendo will always have my respect, their almost peerless track record is never going to fade with me, even I didn’t much like the N64 as a whole or was pissed over their super-high SFC prices. If you want somebody who thinks they’ve gone downhill, you should ask somebody else. But I think avoiding online is selfish of them, so let’s hope this is a sign they plan on pleasing some gamer’s demands well.
BTW, Capcom’s releasing the Mark of Kri over here in October! Finally! I get to play this game! Screw GTA, I want the Mark of Kri! Woo! CAPCOM! (Where’s MrAngryFace when you need him?)
And it seems the new Gamecube Made in Wario game will only be 3800 yen! BONUS! All three come out around the same time as Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, which is gonna rock! FUN IN OCTOBER! Nintendo and Sony celebrate the red, red leaves of autumn! ^_^
-Kitsune
Going to have to disagree Kitsune. I can’t wait for more online console games. For the most part there’s less cheating and people are on a level playing field hardware wise. I have had a boat load of fun with MM3 on Live.
You should have tried PSO for the Gamecube, Kitsune. It was great fun.