Is to be E3 time NOOOOOWWWW?! Yes now!! MP3, SSBB, SMG, confirmed for 2007!!!!

[A Black Falcon]

If Brawl is not online, there will be a reason. Not "if it turns out to be hard they'll just drop it without trying at all because they really don't care". That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say. And I've been here a long time .

Why would this be true when every single bit of evidence I've ever seen from Nintendo says that they still don't care one bit about online gaming? They entered the online gaming world grudgingly and very late and haven't given up on their long-held dislike. Oh, they're happy enough to use the internet for digital game distribution (Wii VC) because that makes money, but an online network? Something that might not make money and is done for the gamers? That most console gamers don't care much about? And Japanese gamers care about even less? No, they really don't care. If SSBB was being developed by an American studio things might be different, but coming from Japan... and Nintendo...

Well, just look at their record. "Spotty" would be quite understating things.

Doesn't look to me like it's hurting Nintendo's sales much...

And that is exactly why they don't care: because the casual or nongamer markets they are aiming at don't care about online gamers because they haven't played them, and the hardcore Nintendo fanbase doesn't care much about online games either because Nintendo has never provided them, and Nintendo's other big market, kids, mostly don't play online games, and online gaming is still far less popular in Japan than here (much less South Korea where online multiplayer games are the dominant form of gaming)... What reason do they have to care? To attract longtime Western gamers, when their whole strategy pretty much ignores them, core Nintendo fans aside?

Mario Soccer... yeah, I don't know why that is online. It's clearly a Europe-first title, if that means anything, though...

I've played Mario Kart DS, StarFox Assault, and Tetris DS online and have fully enjoyed all of them. Your logic is so flawed it's laughable. You refuse to play these games online because you feel they're too restrictive. It's like saying you don't want an ice cream sundae because there are no nuts on it.

Well, as far as online DS games go I only have two (of 10 games), Castlevania Portrait of Ruin and Metroid Prime Hunters... and most of the time I don't have access to a wireless router and am not going to spend $40 for that stupid dongle thing so I can use it via my PC so I can't always play them online. But it's so limited that even if I could I doubt I would... I could if I wanted to, but I don't. That wouldn't change if I got Mario Kart or something.

As for the rest of that, I've explained in great length before exactly why the DS (and now Wii) online networks are horribly broken and, compared to those facts, saying that it's like "you don't want an ice cream sundae because there are no nuts on it" is stupid and ridiculous. It's more like not wanting an ice cream sundae because all they're selling is plain vanilla cones. With no cone unless you personally know the clerk. :)

Seriously, Nintendo's online service is incredibly insulting to its fans and defending it is really stupid. People who actually play online games expect more.

Oh yes, on the issue of "progress". Is there any? I don't see it. I see no signs that the Wii will allow you to add people you meet in random games to your friends list. Or use usernames instead of idiotic friends codes for that purpose. Or allow chat between the people (text or voice, whatever) playing the game. Or have lobby systems allowing more customization and socialization (and community-forming; as it is there is no way to form a game community, really). Etc. No, they're sticking with what they already have... or worse. I mean, Wii doesn't even have voice chat (much less text chat) like a couple of DS games have, even just for friends-list people!