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The Wii is Online but something is missing...


Hero-of-Time

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Ok, so I thought I would give Flinkys suggestion a try and start a topic which will hopefully get some good responses.

 

So, in June Nintendo gave us Mario Strikers which was the first online game for our Wii consoles. At first I was very pleased with it all as it was great to play against some of you guys.

 

The tournament created by Shadow was fun for me and it was great reading everyones little stories about victory and defeat but something was missing from these little conversations. After thinking about it it was clear that despite being online the game didnt feel like an online game at all. Let me explain....

 

Having been an owner of the original Xbox and a current owner of the 360 I can tell you what online gaming should be like IMO. Its about meeting up with new people and friends and sharing experiences, whether it is playing a co-op game or shooting someone point blank range in the face with a shotgun. You can do this on Mario Strikers you say, well the fact is you really cant.

 

Sure at the end of the matches you can go on the internet and discuss your games and how you played but what about doing it while in the match itself? Without this feature the game kind of feels lifeless despite playing against other people, you might as well be facing the A.I.

 

What makes the 360 experience a great one is the fact that you can interact with the people you are playing with and as such it adds to the experience of the game itself. You can really see the difference in conversations in the 360 thread compared to the Mario Strikers one. Sure both topics have their funny moments but the 360 topic usually hits on a personal level with many jokes and phrases used in the topic that were said while playing with each other.

 

Nintendo has got the multiplayer gaming down to an art when it comes to playing with close friends and family in the same room but they are still a mile away when trying to allow you to play online games.

 

Im really hoping that they sort the talking issue out in their games. I really dont want to think about playing Brawl without a headset as half the fun in these games, especially when playing with friends, is trash talking while playing.

 

Do you think that Nintendo have got it right in terms of the social element of the Wii or are they focused too much on the people in the same room as you?

 

End of my rant, your thoughts peeps.

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I don't give that much value to online gaming. I know, maybe I'm a dinosaur.

I mean, I played Counter Strike online for years and I think it's extremely awesome, but it's that kind of game. Counter Strike is the perfect online game for me.

But I have greater pleasure playing long winded single player games like Metroid and Zelda and even something simpler like Mario (the platformer, not the thousands of spin-offs) than any online game. In this day and age, I still prefer single player games.

 

I understand, though, that online gaming is a very big system seller when I see people even wanting Metroid Prime 3 online and others going further and saying that they won't even buy the game if it doesn't have online! That truly puzzles me.

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I certainly agree with you on this HoT , the lack of communication is on the whole what makes the online experience feel lifeless

 

BUT

 

They have been more than enough instances already on Strikers where I have been grateful to the fact that I can't communicate with my opponents. To counter that though there have also been plenty off times where I would have liked to congratulate my opponent so maybe having that option would be preferable.

 

I also wonder if the amount of DCers would be reduced if voice chat was present as there does feel like an even greater feeling of anonymity with the online state at present , although I feel that could be most likely due to the friend code/mii name system.

 

Perhaps my opinions are slightly less valid as I am not a fan of online gaming in general. Some of my recent experiences on Strikers have reminded me why I ditched my XBL.

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I myself prefer a system with as little communication as possible. I'm awful at communicating using my voice, and way too shy for that sort of things.

 

Same here, and with being hearing impaired I would probably be having difficulties understanding people. But I know others really want this feature so I hope Nintendo still adds this in the future. If it gets added I'll try it as well, but I don't expect to really use it a lot.

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I myself prefer a system with as little communication as possible. I'm awful at communicating using my voice, and way too shy for that sort of things.

 

I think most people are when they first start out but once you get going and start to feel more comfortable then it really brings a whole new aspect to online gaming.

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End of the day, 360 / Xbox sucks to the Socom community for PS2 :P.

 

Wii needs to build a community... My sig has a link to a site trying to help do that. Mario Strikers isn't exactly the right game to do that though, I mean, it's a 1v1 football game at heart. Battalion Wars 2 will hopefully be where it all takes off.

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End of the day, 360 / Xbox sucks to the Socom community for PS2 :P.

 

Wii needs to build a community... My sig has a link to a site trying to help do that. Mario Strikers isn't exactly the right game to do that though, I mean, it's a 1v1 football game at heart. Battalion Wars 2 will hopefully be where it all takes off.

 

Yeah I think if Battalion Wars 2 does noty have a headset bundle their missing a great oppotunity. Can you imagine how competitive it would get on here? I mean look how ultra competivie Mario Strikers is. If we had headset support for BWii then I could tell my opponents to choke on my crumbs! (mario strikers tournament joke there - if you don't get it tough):laughing:

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The Wii is Online but something is missing...

 

er... more online games? I think Nintendo is right doing it for free, but they need to encourage third parties to include online play.

 

 

- EA Sports Range

- Japanese 3rd Party Fishing game

- Pachinco Wii

 

3rd Party online games will get more common.

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Well I definately agree, lately games arent about sitting in your room on your own anymore. Social gaming definately doesnt rely on when your mates are gonna come over

 

Its the problem of the Wii and the headset problematic PS3

 

Im certainly not gonna play JoJo Blogges from Timbuktu and have to get his MSN addy to set up matches or gloat, it should be out of the box.

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I think that it's unreasonable to ask them to have something as good as XBL this early on and for free on top of that. It's a bit on the demanding side dont ya think?

 

Its not really asking much as Microsoft were doing Xbox Live LAST generation, fair enough not for free but it should still be a hell of alot better than it is especially in this day and age.

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Yeah but how long did it take to get in that state? Plus MS have resources FAR beyond that of Nintendo in that field. They already had a huge stockpile of employees who make up some of the most knowledgeable people on networking and internet protocol in the world.

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All nintendo need to do is team up with yahoo or google or ICQ and integrate their IM software into the Wii. That would mean that the Wii would get friends lists, messaging and online presence for free and the IM software vendor would get increased membership (good for their ad revenue sales).

Add a link to the friends list in the home menu and you're all set, with minimum cost to Nintendo as they're using an already established network.

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