Quote:Disconnected: Online Gaming with Nintendo
Feb 1 2007
By: TSA
For some Nintendo gamers, they've had it with how Nintendo's WiFi on DS is so bad, that is apparently has declined dramatically since the days of Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World. Sure, Nintendo won't admit it, but since the pinnacle of Nintendo's online gaming, which was during Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World's release back in late 2005, the activity levels on all of Nintendo's online enabled products has fallen off. How do we know this? Nintendo loves to play the numbers game, and would be boasting if the number of players connecting to play their titles via their online service were anywhere near a respectable amount. However, they haven't, and it doesn't take a genius sitting with their copy of Star Fox Command or Metroid Prime: Hunters waiting for up to over an hour for a match to initiate to figure it out.
The primary reason for the faults in Nintendo's online service has nothing to do with the games themselves. Quite the contrary, almost all of the titles that have featured some form of online play have been pretty well received and appeared to have serious online potential. No, the issue at hand is how Nintendo handles its online service; how they regulate it through the bane that is Friend Codes. We all know very well by know the PR spin as to why Nintendo does it; they make the online environment safer for everyone, especially younger audiences and casual gamers, or even non-gamers.
Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with this system. Sure, it requires a bit more work to register a friend, but just the act of having to input a code rather than clicking a button to add a friend to your online list isn't that big of a hassle or that detrimental to online play.
One of the big issues with Friend Codes is the fact there is no true way to communicate with a player online in Nintendo's online service (yes, some games have featured communication options during online gameplay, but it is at nowhere near the right level it should be at to be conducive to productive online networking in-game), forcing every single gamer to resort to finding a person's Friend Code through various other means.
Sure, in the age of the Internet, this should be easy, right? Just have a bunch of sites with a bunch of codes from people and start adding them, right? Nintendo didn't even stop there. Not only do you have to find a Friend Code, but your friend must also input yours as well before the two of you can become "friends" online. So a player has gone from simply inputting a code to now having to track down the code without a viable way in-game to discern it, and then they have to find a way to get that potential "friend" to input their code as well!
All of this to make Nintendo's online service safer, much more fun, and presumably more reliable. Sure, you can just sign on and play random people, but most online games involve some form of a "faction" system, whether it is a guild, a clan or a party in which you play with online friends in whatever way you see fit. Nintendo's system works against this mentality, making it painstakingly difficult to achieve this goal. Yet, this isn't even the entire equation as to why Nintendo's online service isn't that great. In fact, it's actually how insecure and broken the system is that prevents the other half of the gaming world from playing.
Most casual gamers will be turned off by the complex nature of Friend Codes. Even though Nintendo tried to make it easy to get online through WiFi hubs in mainstream restaurants and shops and an easy plug and play USB device that allows any computer hooked up to the internet to connect your DS or Wii to Nintendo's online service, most I've spoken with (parents, colleagues and students) find the system just too much to handle for whatever reasons. Most people who stick it out, dealing with Nintendo's stringent requirements are actually of the more hardcore nature; those who want to play online games more seriously and competitively. Yet, Nintendo isn't even doing this right.
This would be providing a reliable, secure online experience. We all know just how horrible a free server can get for an online game. Overcrowding. Annoying people who don't really belong there playing the game in the first place. But most of all, the cheaters. People who use in-game exploits and use third party tools to bypass the system. In the realm of other online services, you are bound by a EULA that says if you do anything the company deems wrong, your rear end is banned from the service. Nintendo DS did not include any such thing when you go online to play. Wii showed us a hint of this with the Wii Shop channel and WiiConnect24, but it remains to be seen if there is a specific EULA for actual online gameplay.
Just how bad is this cheating? For starters, anyone can simply "interrupt" their WiFi connection and the match ends in a draw. Most users started off by "powering off" their Nintendo DS units when they knew they would lose or got fed up, but that still incurred a loss in your record. Clever players, including myself who had to see if it worked because I like to try to break a program (I was a speedrunner afterall), discovered you could "unplug" your USB device, your Ethernet cable, your DSL line or standard phone chord, and the game would end without you incurring a loss.
It gets better. Hackers, or should I say third party tool users, found ways to break the actual online system so that they could manually change anything they wanted. Some changed the leader board rankings of various titles. Some have made it so their characters are invincible in Metroid Prime: Hunters. But perhaps the best hack I saw was a player who was able to bypass the Mario Kart DS course select option so that every time the race began, the opponents were on one course, but he was always on the course he manually selected - the shortest course available. To the players online, he appeared to be going all over the place, but in the system, it was registering him on the other course and he's always win with ease.
Thus, gamers looking for a really good online experience in terms of fair competition and obtaining some level of achievement are royally screwed over by the system. Once I saw how players could exploit these games, or how they disconnected from matches, I didn't even bother with online gaming anymore with titles such as Metroid Prime: Hunters or Star Fox Command.
Ironically, the hackers claim they've tried to contact Nintendo of America, Inc. several times in order to explain how they could fix the security holes, which they claim are very simple actions. Nintendo's dismissed all of their communications and counters that these "cheaters" shouldn't have been tinkering with the system to begin with. Probably just another customer service PFR they give each concerned gamer, and sadly, ignoring this one aspect is costing Nintendo dearly.
Combine this now with the Friend Code system, and you have one of the most flawed online gaming services yet. Simply put, Nintendo's online service isn't helping their "Blue Ocean" mentality. It's more like throwing a gamer in the hold. It really isn't conducive to the whole "playing online together" mentality that I thought Wii was all about, according to Perrin Kaplan. With Nintendo, it's still all about multiplayer, just offline multiplayer apparently.
Yet, all is not lost. Nintendo already has a system in place to solve this right now, at least for Wii. Currently on the Wii, there exists the WiiConnect24 system, which has built in capabilities to patch software through online updates, and it has a billing system tied to your MyNintendo account when you purchase Virtual Console titles. These two key ingredients - a means to bill customers and provide new content - are two steps in the right direction for Nintendo.
Still, what Nintendo needs to do now is "Change the System" just a bit more. Continue to allow your "Free to Play" model, which Nintendo likes because it costs very little the end user, maintians the illusion of a quick, easy way to get online, and is very easy to market. Continue to use Friend Codes for that "Free to Play" service, which will provide the safety net for children who can access Nintendo's online gameplay easily.
What needs to change, however, is for Nintendo to implement a "Pay to Play" model in addition to this "Free to Play". There's several ways to do this, with the easiest and most common strategy being a monthly flat rate fee that enables gamers to play on more secure servers. These servers could also offer support for various means of online communication like a keyboard, the DS stylus or voice chat. Additionally, make it so it is very easy to add players to a friend list and setup new matches or team events.
Heck, Nintendo could even bundle this monthly service together with some Wii Points for your Virtual Console. For $19.99 a month, get 1000 Wii Points and access to premium servers. If you want to go overboard, Nintendo could just go the microtransaction route all the way, making players pay for Wii Points, which they can not only spend on Virtual Console titles, but on monthly subscription packages to online services like the "Pay to Play" servers for games. Maybe you could even find a way to put up more content (online issues of Nintendo Power, other downloadbles like desktops for your Wii or game soundtracks from titles like Twilight Princess of Super Smash Bros. Brawl) on there to charge for.
Perhaps this is what Nintendo has had planned all along for Wii. Maybe at this year's GDC 2007 keynote or at their media briefing in July, Nintendo will reveal more details of its online plan. But as it stands right now, based on the Nintendo DS' history, the online gaming model for Nintendo is faulty and broken. Pokemon Battle Revolution in Japan has shown it hasn't gotten any better on the Wii so far. It's not too late to abandon all hope, at least for the Wii, and the structure is in place for a successful online strategy. Let's hope that Nintendo can do what it did for its home console image with the Wii for it's perception as an online platform with WiiConnect24. Let's also hope Nintendo rethinks the whole online model for Nintendo DS. Show us "Playing Online = Believing".
I agree with everything until he starts talking about wanting monthly fees... that isn't the right way to go. They simply need a good, secure, high-quality online gaming network, like Battle.net, not a monthly-fee system.
Of course they're not going to do either, but that doesn't mean the complaints aren't just as valid.
Seriously. It's like if Grand Theft Auto merged with Robocop, but instead of being bulky and slow, Robocop was really fast and you could jump a hundred feet into the air. It's that awesome.
Basically, you're a Super-Cop that can do whatever he wants in the fight against viscious gangs. You can kill guys by kicking them in the head. You can jump from rooftops to rooftops like Batman on steriods. You can drive fast cars. It's like everything that Grand Theft Auto did right multipled by AWESOME and WIN. This game is the greatest thing ever. I mean that.
The rumor looks plausible, and if true it would be so incredibly awesome... X-Com is an amazing game, and Irrational is one of the best developers there is.
Quote:Irrational Games Developing X-COM Title? [02:23 pm]
112 Comments - Chris Remo
Irrational Games, developer of System Shock 2 as well as the upcoming BioShock (X360, PC), may be working on a successor to Microprose's PC tactical sci-fi classic X-COM: UFO Defense. Evidence suggesting the new game's existence comes by way of a resume found on the official website of law firm Fierst, Pucci & Kane, LLP. It was listed in the CV of firm partner Frederick U. Fierst, which states that among Fierst's clients are "Ken Levine and Jonathan Chey, founders of Irrational Games LLC." The current version of the document has had the pertinent reference removed, but a cached version of the document lists the following games as being credited to the Boston, Massachusetts- and Canberra, Australia-based developer (emphasis added):
System Shock 2, Tribes 3, SWAT, X-Com, BioShock, Freedom Force
Fierst, Pucci & Kane is no stranger to the video games industry, with clients including Shiny founder Dave Perry, The Behemoth, High Voltage Software, The Tetris Company, Paradox Interactive, and everybody's favorite copyright protection service, StarForce.
X-COM has spawned several sequels since the original game's release in late 1993, though the franchise has not seen a new entry since 2001's action spinoff X-COM: Enforcer. Studio head Ken Levine is known to be a diehard fan of X-COM. He has referred to the game as "sort of like my first love," and frequently mentions it as an example of strong design that stands the test of time. He has cited X-COM as the single greatest influence on Irrational's Freedom Force series as well as a more minor influence on the upcoming BioShock. Developer MicroProse was acquired in 1998 by Hasbro, and the development studio was closed soon after; in 2001, Atari (then Infogrames) acquired Hasbro. Coincidentally, original Microprose co-founder Sid Meier now heads up design at Firaxis Games, which is owned by Irrational Games parent 2K Games (in turn a label of Take-Two Interactive).
Levine declined to comment on Irrational's potential developments when contacted by Shacknews. At the moment this can be taken only as a rumor. Further inquiries have been send to 2K Games and Irrational Games.
Update: Shacker baron calamity points out that Take-Two Interactive acquired the X-Com property in full from Atari in 2005, just a few months before Irrational Games was acquired by the publisher.
Alright, that's it, I'm not shopping there any more. First they pester me, then they sell me opened games as "new" (which is great, except they readily admit this is to lower sell-back price as they won't take opened games as new, but they will SELL them as new? Hypocracy!), then there's the uppity "ya should have preordered" attitude if they are sold out of some game (which usually I find at Wal-Mart or Best Buy anyway). About the only reason I still go there is it is close. No longer, I'll go the extra mile!
It would seem that Nintendo of America is at least "open" to the possibility of releasing those Japan only games in our VC selection, if they can get them translated. I'd be happy muddling through a Japanese game and a .txt translation on my laptop :D. That would, potentially, get us every Fire Emblem game save for the first GBA one.
