Wireless GBA...

[A Black Falcon]

No, not the thing from the guys who made the Afterburner, this is Nintendo's one.

And it seems to only work with games specifically made to support it...

Which right now is Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen.

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/451/451683p1.html

:bang:

[Dark Jaguar]

Nintendo is a bunch of idiots /Leela

Seriously, some 3rd party company is making one that works for every game that uses link cables, but Nintendo is only designing this for use with games that are designed for it? That's like releasing the Wavebird and saying "only for use with Wavebird compatible games". It's EXACTLY like that! I mean, an easy solution would be like the Triton Labs solution, in that there's a dial (or switch or whatever he decides on) to decide what player number you are and you just get that all switched up before turning it all on. Of course, that would leave out a player compaired to this add-on, but how many games will be having the odd-numbered player max of 5 anyway?

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, if this thing actually doesn't work with all the games it'd be an incredibly stupid decision... not because it wouldn't sell, since because the game is Pokemon (sure its a remake of the original Pokemon, but Pokemon fans have an incredible tendincy to buy many copies of the same game already...) it will, but because its blowing a great chance to add a huge feature to the GBA! It'd be much more likely to be common if Nintendo makes it than if Triton Labs does, after all...

Oh yeah, and five players is a quite strange number.

[OB1]

My favorite part about all of this? From IGN:

He once more stressed the pitfalls of online gaming and the problems of subscription networks, and then pointed to new Pokemon games for the GBA as alternatives to Internet play. He said that the new Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red will ship with a wireless adapter which will enable players to overcome the technical hurdles of linking up.

I wish I was at that meeting when they came up with this device....




Nintendo Guy #1: So listen fellas... people seem to really want this online thing to happen. They say that they would do just about anything to play Mario Kart or Pokemon Online.

Nintendo Guy #2: Hmm, yes. But nobody likes online games. They're just lying to us, and the good, steady sales of X-Box Live are misleading. People are buying it for the headset and Tetris Worlds!

Nintendo Guy #3: I agree, people are not ready for online games yet! There's no market for it. How about instead of offering online gaming we give people a wireless link adapter for their Gameboy Advances?

Nintendo Guy #2: Fantastic idea! And to one-up that idea, how about if we made the adapter not work for all GBA linkable games, but just for Pokemon!

Nintendo Guy #4: Alright, but when is Recycled Pokemon Game #3,459 coming out again?

Nintendo Guy #1: This year.

Nintendo Guy #4: Good, good. But since we have no realistic plans of making this adapter compatible with any other games, let's hurry it out by the time Pokemon Rainbow Leaf or whatever comes out and just say that "future games will be compatible with it".

Nintendo Guy #3: Haha, good thinking! Just like with what we did with that stupid e-reader gimmick!

Nintendo Guy #4: Alright, great thinking everyone!

Nintendo Guy #1: Next order of business: Which upcoming SNES GBA port should we fill with extra levels and then make people spend $70 on an e-reader and cards to unlock them, even though they're already on the cart?

[A Black Falcon]

Good story OB1... except for one big detail.

Go to IGN Pocket. Read the latest preview of Super Mario Bros. 3 for GBA...

Guess what -- that stuff actually ISN'T on the cart. The E-Cards actually contain the levels and items... the preview says that the cart can hold up to 32 levels in memory (it builds them from the tiles the game uses...).

The rest of that sounds accurate though... just what ARE they thinking? All this denial that internet gaming works and can make (or at least not lose) money when done right... it makes Nintendo sound like they have no clue about the real world and just live in happy-land where everyone gets their stuff unquestioningly and their stupid excuses for why they don't do things are believed... idiots...

Its like they WANT to be crushed in the console wars!

I know... they rely on the stupidity of people to buy Recycled Pokemon Game #3,459 through #3,475 (hey, the more versions of it the better, right?)... but it is bad for those of us with common sense...

[OB1]

Huh. One of the EGM reviewers stated that the stuff was already on the cart. Guess they were wrong.

But still, you're going to have to spend more money for Mario 3, an E-Reader, and enough cards to get all of the extra levels and suits than you would on a brand new Gamecube. That sucks ass. There's no way I'm gonna spend an extra $70 or so just for some extra levels in Mario 3.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, it is a problem that you need two GBAs (any of the three types would work though) and the E-Reader, so it is costly... but for anyone with those things, its a great extra.

[OB1]

You also have to buy the card packs. $3 a pop.

[A Black Falcon]

True... but for people who already have the rest of the hardware, that's not so bad...

[A Black Falcon]

Ah, there we go. Link to IGN's preview of Mario 3's E-Card linkup. :)

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/451/451854p1.html

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, that's stupid that it only works with games that support it. But, it does give a good indicatioin that the next GB will have this technology already built in.

[A Black Falcon]

Given that the PSP has that feature, I bet that it will have built-in wireless... though I expect it'll have a port too, or at least an adapter or something, if the console also supports older GB games.

[Dark Jaguar]

It would be better if the next one not only had wireless built in, but ALSO allowed old games when played on it to use the wireless so they wouldn't even have to include a link port. Well, ALMOST better. You'd still have to find someone else playing those old games on the new system for that link to work...

[A Black Falcon]

Exactly... so it needs a port too.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah, that was me thinking out loud there :D.

[A Black Falcon]

Ah... :)

Now all we can do is desperately hope that Nintendo can finally wisen up and not make as many stupid moves in the future. Doesn't look especially likely, though... :(

[OB1]

Now do you see why I'm not so optimistic about Nintendo making the right choices in the future to combat the PSP?

[Great Rumbler]

At least they are doing something with wireless multiplayer.

[OB1]

That something is not very much.

[A Black Falcon]

The PSP will probably have wireless multiplayer, and the next GB probably will... so it won't hurt hugely in the long run, its just annoying.