Nintendo's at it again: no online multi in MP3: Corruption

[steamboat26]

Nintendo has this gen in the bag, if they get online multiplayer, they can't lose.
But if they don't, then the 360 is going to lead in sales...

 

[apfhex]

Nintendo does need to get their act together with online gaming. No more friend codes! Urg.

The Metroid series is not where they should start. I couldn't give a **** about multiplayer in a Metroid game (Hunters was baad) — it's all about the awesome single player.

SSBB is the game that needs kickass online play.

 

[0098386]

Everyone forgetting about Mario Football? Online works very well there.

 

[bluebomberman]

Aren't some of the EA sports games going to allow online play?

That, plus Mario Strikers Charged should make the Wii a pretty decent online machine. Not great, but decent.

Agreed that multiplayer Metroid doesn't matter much, but will be disappointed if Smash Bros doesn't get it.

 

[Ja Di ksw]

I disagree with some of the posts here. Metroid is about single player, yes, but that doesn't mean they can't add in a (good) multiplayer. Doing so would take less time than an entire game that was based around being multiplayer b/c you already have characters, weapons, *maybe* some levels, etc. A good single player game doesn't rule out a good multiplayer game.

The reason why people are upset is b/c they want a FPS that's online on the Wii. The Wii was suppose to have *great* FPS, and people usually like FPS to be online. With Metroid being hailed as having amazing FPS controls, it was thought it would be perfect for it to be online, especially with the delay they gave.

Does that mean Metroid will suck now? No, but we can still be disappointed that it doesn't have online capabilities.

Also, Nintendo talked about how great the Wii was going to be with online stuff, and (at least in the US), we have barely seen anything. I think you can trade levels in Elebits or something, and that's as far as the games go. We want online games in America!

And yes, I am still eagerly anticipating BWii and Mario Strikers. They both look great. But considering how long ago the Wii was introduced, it's been far too long for online games, and to lose one that sounded great does hurt.

Bottom line:
Metroid will still be good.
It does suck that Metroid won't offer an online portion (that could have been good!)
The Wii is still fun, but they really need to step up their online games, WiiConnect24, etc.

 

[0098386]

It does suck that Metroid won't offer an online portion (that could have been good!)

It does have an online portion. It's just not an online multiplayer.

 

[Ja Di ksw]

😛, you know I meant an online multiplayer 🙂

 

[seenew]

Never! Metroid should never ever have multiplayer. The **** they offered up in MP2 was AWFUL. It's just a bad idea. You don't have multiplayer Zelda, do you (Four Swords aside, and it's still not the same)?

I don't understand this complaint. Complain when Mario Kart Wii doesn't have online multiplayer-- that's a valid complaint.
But leave Metroid alone. It's a beautiful single player experience.


(plus Retro developed it, not Nintendo, anyway)

 

[zero2dash]

Think about this then and how this could be the beginning of disaster or wasted potential; take your pick.

-Nintendo is behind the WiFi architecture (apparently).

-3rd parties come to Nintendo to gain access to the architecture.

-Nintendo doesn't implement the WiFi into their own titles, so their education on the matter is nil.

-3rd parties therefore have no basis or ground with which to work on, therefore no 3rd party titles have WiFi either.

Think about it.
Now, I'm not trying to say "the sky is falling", but let's remind ourselves that the SNK rep months ago said (I believe) that Nintendo wasn't exactly handing out "how-to's" on WiFi implementation, and Ed Boon (behind MK) said they wanted to put WiFi into the game but Nintendo couldn't tell them how to do it or how the servers worked.

Set aside the fact that Nintendo doesn't implement the WiFi into a game or two here.

The fact is - going off what we know and what we've been told by 3rd parties - Nintendo is bottlenecking WiFi period on their system.

My point - if the Wii has little to no WiFi support, you can send your hate mail directly to Nintendo. 🙄 🙁
If Nintendo has no expertise (when they should), how are any 3rd party companies going to use the network either?

Nintendo whats the deal here man....will this machine give me online play or what?

QFT...100% true.
If Nintendo hadn't said squat about WiFi, I wouldn't care at this point.
But don't get me all hot and bothered by mentioning WiFi and throwing out ideas and plans, and then decide to sweep it under the rug and act like it was never there or talked about to begin with.

That's my problem.

 

[0098386]

I'll say again because it sounds like you don't know about online Wii games-

Mario Strikers: Charged Football has online play. It works very well. It gives you a ping rating and asks if you want to "accept or deny" that game. Then shows you who the player is and their ranking. Game loads, game starts. Most of the time (if you're me), you lose.
Game ends. Scores are uploaded. You can view the various league tables in 7 different ways.

I even believe Eledees has online portions too.

This doesn't sound like the actions of a company shunning online play. It sounds like the actions of a company being very slow to take off with online play. No sweeping under any rugs at all. Just a lazy sod who said he'd clean the house and spent too long playing video games.

 

[pcypert]

They have some stuff for Big Brain and I've heard they're ramping up support and play in Madden 08 so there's definite signs it's coming...maybe not as quickly and as expansive as I'd like. I'd really like to see a Wii Sports 2 with online really soon though...that would truly be Nintendo supporting online and getting everyone into it...

Paul

 

[e²Studios]

I'll say again because it sounds like you don't know about online Wii games-

I don't think you read his message, or you are just ignoring the point he is trying to make from your blinders not letting you see anything Nintendo does wrong. The issue he has is with Nintendo making a fuss over WiFi and then not giving the goods in order to use it and quite simply just not using it at all. Multiple 3rd party companies have complained about this, i would bet EA's sports games won't have Wifi, why? Its because Nintendo doesn't seem to know how to even implement it in to their games, however they are too happy to just port GCN games to the Wii for a quick and sloppy profit and not make innovative strides in the direction that their hardware was built on.. (and please don't give me any waggle crap excuses, waggle is FAR from innovative.)

I even believe Eledees has online portions too.

If this is elebits in the US it had level sharing.. i would hardly call that online portions.

The biggest mistake Nintendo made was releasing wii sports without wifi online funtionality, yes it plays fine without it, but like most games it would be Better with it.

Ed

 

[applekid]

I think this thread has gone way off course.

Although, the sheer lack of Nintendo WiFi games on the Wii currently and complaints by other developers are all not reassuring, this summer is when Nintendo truly kicks off Nintendo WiFi Connection with the first real game being Mario Super Strikers/Football (depending on which part of globe you're on). So, it took about 8 months, but at least it's here. Nintendo is last to the game, but what would you expect from the company that didn't believe online play would take off and took a year to get Mario Kart DS online? EA seemed optimistic about the online play for their sports titles coming this fall. It sounds like it's going to be just like the online play on the PS3 or Xbox 360 minus voice-chatting.

All of this nay-saying would've been more appropriate a couple of months ago. Mario Super Strikers will be the first important game to go online (Pokemon and Elebits don't count). Other games will follow thereafter.

 

[Antares]

Metroid Prime 3 does not need multiplayer, much less online multiplayer. Period. Half-Life didn't have multiplayer. And the Prime series isn't even a FPS. They're FPAs. Now, for whatever Metroid game comes after the Prime series ends, then yes...yes the next Metroid game can be designed to include multiplayer elements. The Prime series is designed as a solo adventure. The MP2 tacked on multiplayer battles were pretty mediocre...simply due to the fact that Prime was not designed with multiplaying in mind (proof in point that you can't just easily add multiplayer gaming without spending a lot of time on that to make it good). I'd rather have a great single player game than simply a good single player game (that could have been great but resources were spent to add good multiplayer).

However, I do agree with the comments about the slow online gaming progress that Nintendo is making. I wish Mortal Kombat was online along with other games that "should" have been online. I want online games as I can't easily have friends over to play like in college or high school. But I'm not about to use Metroid Prime 3 as a scapegoat or example of Nintendo's lack of online multiplayer support.....multiplayer is simply not appropriate for MP3.

 

[Ja Di ksw]

Can someone please explain the idea to me that Metroid couldn't/shouldn't have multiplayer? I really don't understand what makes it a game where multiplayer would be bad.

 

[e²Studios]

Can someone please explain the idea to me that Metroid couldn't/shouldn't have multiplayer? I really don't understand what makes it a game where multiplayer would be bad.

Having metroid online would enhance the game, the Nintendo crowd here likes to find new excuses to back up the shoddy planning of the company they love.

It's like saying Resistance, GeOW, or Rainbow Six would be bad online. They all have decent single player stories, but the online abilities enhance the game. Online wouldnt hurt Metroid, it would only add to it and make it a better game. Nintendo messed up, but then again they never quite "got" online, nor do they get it with the lame codes and all.

Ed

 

[seenew]

Having metroid online would enhance the game, the Nintendo crowd here likes to find new excuses to back up the shoddy planning of the company they love.

It's like saying Resistance, GeOW, or Rainbow Six would be bad online. They all have decent single player stories, but the online abilities enhance the game. Online wouldnt hurt Metroid, it would only add to it and make it a better game. Nintendo messed up, but then again they never quite "got" online, nor do they get it with the lame codes and all.

Ed

RETRO RETRO RETRO

RETRO developed Prime. NOT NINTENDO. It was THEIR call to make. As they said before, if you actually read about it-- they didn't have the resources and felt the game would be better off if they put everything they had into the single player mode.

There's a whole slough of reasons why Prime shouldn't be multiplayer, so I won't get into that, I'll just refer you to MP2's multiplayer mode.

 

[e²Studios]

RETRO RETRO RETRO

RETRO developed Prime. NOT NINTENDO. It was THEIR call to make. As they said before, if you actually read about it-- they didn't have the resources and felt the game would be better off if they put everything they had into the single player mode.

There's a whole slough of reasons why Prime shouldn't be multiplayer, so I won't get into that, I'll just refer you to MP2's multiplayer mode.

More excuses? SWEET! 🙄

 

[Antares]

Can someone please explain the idea to me that Metroid couldn't/shouldn't have multiplayer? I really don't understand what makes it a game where multiplayer would be bad.

Having multiplayer wouldn't make it bad. In fact, it's true that including it would enhance the game....though, only if it's good. But as Prime 2 showed, you can't just tack it on. The multiplayer in Prime 2 added nothing to the game and wasn't really fun after a few goes. Retro would have to spend a lot of time making it great and not simply derivative junk. Prime has game mechanics (like auto-lock among other things) that don't lend themselves well to multiplayer fragging. I would be more upset if Retro removed resources from the main game to add multiplayer support. Plus, a bad/poorly implemented multiplayer game could actually bring the overall game down. The problem is, the Prime Series was never developed with multiplayer in mind. MP3 (I believe, don't quote me) is basically using the same engine as the first two games.

That said, the next Metroid game could be developed, from the ground up, with a multiplayer design element in mind. Then, we can have a Metroid game with a great single player game and a good multiplayer game (with online matches). There's plenty of characters there to mine. One problem is that lack of interchangable weapons.

 

[seenew]

More excuses? SWEET! 🙄

What excuses? Metroid Prime was an awesome game, no one can deny that. However, many felt that Metroid Prime 2 was a lot less "awesome," despite still being really good. I would argue that having allocated precious time and resources into an unneeded multiplayer mode caused the single-player mode to suffer. If this is the case, then it's great that MP3 is single player only.

You really haven't played MP2's multiplayer, have you?

 

[Ja Di ksw]

What's to stop them from getting rid of things like auto-lock in multiplayer, but keeping it in single player? Or from adding interchangeable weapons to multiplayer? Throw in some levels you make for it . . . etc. I'm not saying it wouldn't take more work, and I agree that if they took away time/resources from the single player it could hurt it, but I don't see how adding a multiplayer to a single player game makes the single player game bad if you leave it unchanged. You could just alter the multiplayer to make it better.

Ah well, all I know is I would have liked a good FPS (the Wii was said to be great at them!) that I can play online with friends.

 

[pcypert]

If it's 40+ hours then I won't be disappointed.

The original Half Life did have multiplayer online. Or are you talking about a console version? I played quite a bit of Half Life Online back in college. I hated not having a grapple (having just come off of Quake/Quake II guilds)...but it was really fun, but quickly was forgotten due to other games.

I think the confusion and differing opinions come from different expectations. Some want Metroid to be Nintendo's GeOW or something and others just want it to be an epic adventure game. Those that want the epic game don't see it as a FPS...the FPS folks are wandering where their needs will be met...kind of like the RPG players, folks that like Hockey/Soccer games, real racing sims...well almost all the genres at this point 🙂 . But I'm still quite happy with my Wii regardless...

Paul

 

[zero2dash]

I'll say again because it sounds like you don't know about online Wii games-

Mario Strikers: Charged Football has online play

...and Pokemon is said to include online play.

Two games thus far where there are a few dozen games that could've had online play implemented, should've had online play, and would've benefitted from online play. Yet...

This doesn't sound like the actions of a company shunning online play. It sounds like the actions of a company being very slow to take off with online play.

Rubbish.

They've already met their quota for online games if the Gamecube is any indication. 2 online games, both PSO titles. I bought a broadband adapter for nothing.

If they release more than a handful of WiFi games this year for the Wii, I'll be surprised. Hell, 6-8 would be a pleasant surprise. In the grand scheme of things: they're still a lackluster third place in this area. 🙄

If they put online play into Smash Brothers, it's not the second coming- it'll be a third title with WiFi play. I'll start saying "attaboy" when we're seeing a couple dozen games which is not out of the realm of expectation. How many 360 games have some sort of online features? I'd easily say 9/10. 90% of all 360 titles have online. Sony's still getting their network operational, but once Home launches, I think they'll be up there in that percentage as well. Where will Nintendo fall by that time? Less than 10%...1/10. Guaranteed.

The issue he has is with Nintendo making a fuss over WiFi and then not giving the goods in order to use it and quite simply just not using it at all. Multiple 3rd party companies have complained about this, i would bet EA's sports games won't have Wifi, why? Its because Nintendo doesn't seem to know how to even implement it in to their games, however they are too happy to just port GCN games to the Wii for a quick and sloppy profit and not make innovative strides in the direction that their hardware was built on.. (and please don't give me any waggle crap excuses, waggle is FAR from innovative.)



If this is elebits in the US it had level sharing.. i would hardly call that online portions.

The biggest mistake Nintendo made was releasing wii sports without wifi online funtionality, yes it plays fine without it, but like most games it would be Better with it.

Ed

Absolutely the points I was trying to make.

People keep supporting Nintendo and their halfassed features; I'm bowing out after this round. No more Nintendo consoles for me until they start delivering on their promises. The Wii has built in WiFi, let's see some stronger support of it. It's like they have a quota to appease their diehard fans...throw a few bones here and there, a few titles with online - that'll keep the fanbase from throwing too huge of a fit. Well I'm stepping back and saying "wait a minute, this ain't right".

Half-Life didn't have multiplayer.

Half-Life had tons of multiplayer on the PC; the console versions didn't. I probably spent a good year combined online playing TFC.

Having metroid online would enhance the game

It's like saying Resistance, GeOW, or Rainbow Six would be bad online. They all have decent single player stories, but the online abilities enhance the game. Online wouldnt hurt Metroid, it would only add to it and make it a better game. Nintendo messed up, but then again they never quite "got" online, nor do they get it with the lame codes and all.

Ed

Agreed again.

RETRO RETRO RETRO

RETRO developed Prime. NOT NINTENDO. It was THEIR call to make.

Retro is damn near in-house Nintendo., they are Nintendo only. That'd be like saying blame Bungie not Microsoft for Halo not having Live play.

Again - if Nintendo doesn't hand out the WiFi schematics when asked, it's their fault. How can they hand those plans out when they don't have much in the way of plans to begin with?

They're already one console generation behind on the online experience, so they've already got catching up to do; and they're doing a piss poor job of catching up with their lack of online games and ridiculous "protect the kids!" semantics with the friend codes and no voice chat.

 

[Antares]

The original Half Life did have multiplayer online. Or are you talking about a console version?
Paul

Yeah, sorry I did mean the console version. And it's a poor comparison anyway as multiplayer was developed but excluded.

Anyway, I want a good multiplayer online FPS on the Wii. I just don't think it could easily happen with Prime on the Wii (without a redesign of some core elements of the game). It would be totally cool to battle Dark Samus and Space Pirates, online against friends (or strangers), in a space station, rocky canyon or swampy forrest, etc.. And I think we'll get this with the next Metroid game.

What I'm really hoping for is a port of Crysis on the Wii. I would love to play that with the Wii remote. But I think I'm just dreaming...

 

[seenew]

Retro is damn near in-house Nintendo., they are Nintendo only. That'd be like saying blame Bungie not Microsoft for Halo not having Live play.

Are you dense? Of course I would blame Bungie if there was no Live play for Halo 3! Why would I blame Microsoft? They make the consoles, not the games. 😕