Nintendo Doesn't Care About "Winning Online"

[Folksoul]

Online communities are great for getting indie games out to the masses and it's a little disappointing that Nintendo might be throwing away a phenomenal way to get some new titles into their oeuvre. As for the whole online multiplayer thing....

As a person who despises modern multiplayer as a concept and want's to murder the person who decreed that all AAA games must come with a big shooting sandbox instead of focusing on a better single player campaign, I say good for Nintendo.

Design an interesting game mechanic or an engaging story to increase it's replay value. DO NOT pit your players against each other to create a time sink.* Valve seems to be the only ones capable of delivering a multi-player experience that does not amount to an HD Goldeneye clone**. L4D and Portal 2 at least had their players play together with a clear in game objective that actually required the extra players.

If I play a game with friends. I want to play WITH them not against them and preferably IN THE SAME ROOM. That's what consoles are for, right?



*Fighting games exempt as that is the entire point of the genre.
**Name one shooter that had better multiplayer than Goldeneye. You can't. It doesn't exist.

 

[ImprovizoR]

They don't care - because they know they can't win. With such attitude of course they can't.

 

[wooty]

Good for you nintendo, I still think ill never understand the world. People moan about there often being too much focus on multiplayer, then they moan about there not being much of a multiplayer.

To be honest, its good games that should make up the expeience, not showing off your guns decal or your 1337 pr0 snipa skillzzz.......lololrofl.

 

[Scrustle]

Meh no big deal. Most of the Ninty games I play are single player. I'm not bothered about having all-night online sessions of Mario Kart. I have Forza for that. I think most of the best Ninty MP games are best suited to local play anyway, like Smash Bros. and WarioWare. But I do get the feeling that after E3 Nintendo seem to have been releasing a lot of small and slightly disappointing details about the WiiU. First you can only use 1 of the special controllers at a time, then we're warned that the graphics aren't going to be that great, now we're being warned that the online play won't be the best either... kind of a downer.

Well no matter I don't care, I just want an HD Zelda!!!

 

[Akisa]

I don't know what's worst, Nintendo wants an inadequate mutiplayer, or they think Xbox live is good. Yes I hate Match Maker server, games should primary be dedicated servers.

 

[Woodsey]

This is potentially the worst product launch I've ever seen.

Most people can't tell what the fucking thing actually is, and all we've been told is the controller's not as good as an actual tablet, the specs won't astound anyone, and now that the online will be worse than its competitors.

 

[Arehexes]

Good for you nintendo, I still think ill never understand the world. People moan about there often being too much focus on multiplayer, then they moan about there not being much of a multiplayer.

To be honest, its good games that should make up the expeience, not showing off your guns decal or your 1337 pr0 snipa skillzzz.......lololrofl.

Most people moan about multiplayer when the single player is pretty much just a 5 hour crap fest, with multiplayer the big feature. But people still want the option, it's better to have it and not need it then to not have it at all. Games that did single and multiplayer right, left4dead, portal 2, borderlands, and unreal torniment.

 

[NoeL]

Update: Nintendo new console to be called WiiU.
Update: Nintendo stocks plummet.
Update: WiiU to not include DVD/Blu-ray options.
Update: WiiU consoles to be limited to one touchscreen controller.
Update: Nintendo not interesting in "Winning Online"
...
...
Update: Nintendo develops the 'stick it up your ass' controller. Limit 1 per console.
...
...
Update: Nintendo WiiU released.
Update: Nintendo WiiU sells millions.
Update: Miyamoto found burning tonnes of 'extra' cash in bonfire.
...
...
Update: Nintendo WiiU&Me announced.

Fanboys: They make the world go round. And round and round.

Must really burn you up, huh XD

 

[diggy140892]

I'm not a huge online gamer but I still think this is not a good attitude for Nintendo to have. Even if they don't want to "win" the online battle that doesn't mean they shouldn't bother with it, especially with they want to win back the core gamers with this system. Nintendo have some of the best multiplayer games out there so why don't they focus on giving these great multiplayer games decent online as well. This could seriously hurt WiiU sales because a lot of gamers want great online experiences now. Also won't this impact 3rd party support because games like Battlefield 3 are meant to be online focused so no ones going to want to play that on a system with poor online. The WiiU has just really failed to impress me so far.

 

[V8 Ninja]

"We don't intend to do it proper"? Nice sales pitch there Nintendo, seriously now, get you shit together.

You do realize that "Being The Best" and "Doing It Properly" aren't the same thing, right? Because they aren't.

OT: Meh, I never cared about multiplayer experiences as much as single-player experiences. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but I've mostly been a play-for-myself kind of gamer.

 

[Twilight.falls]

"We don't intend to do it proper"? Nice sales pitch there Nintendo, seriously now, get you shit together.

You do realize that "Being The Best" and "Doing It Properly" aren't the same thing, right? Because they aren't.

OT: Meh, I never cared about multiplayer experiences as much as single-player experiences. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but I've mostly been a play-for-myself kind of gamer.

Agreed, I've preferred solo play to multiplayer play for a very long time now.

Really, this news doesn't bother me. Nintendo will still sell tons of WiiUs, and I'll still be playing great games.

In other words, everybody wins.

 

[Xanthious]

Wow, another news story about what the WiiU wont be doing, color me shocked. The more I hear about this thing the more it becomes obvious it's nothing more than a very slightly beefed up Wii. Welcome to six years ago Nintendo!

At least this will likely thrust Nintendo back to the rear of the pack once again. The more that Nintendo talks the more hardcore gamers decide to not even look at the thing and I still don't see any reason that casuals will want to get it either as they already have a Wii.

 

[WanderingFool]

I dont mind this thinking, just sometimes he sounds more defeated than non-competitive.

I blame the Wii. Its because of the Wii wild success, while not being a HD console like the PS360, that made Nintendo realise they didnt need to compete with the other comapnies on their terms (such as HD, largely multimedia capable, Online and some others). And really, I cant fault them with that, the success of the Wii proved that they made a good desician... unlike Sony and 599 US dollers.

What I do see as a problem, however, is that Nintendo thinks it can do this again and get the same results. I just dont see it happening, at least at the same level of success as the Wii.

 

[Towowo2]

Yet another article with comments where Nintendo gets unwarranted hatred due to lack of basic reading comprehension. I don't see anywhere in the article that said they didn't give a shit about making functional online.

I only see that they said they didn't care to compete with them on it, that being said. I expect something as functional as PSN at the very least.

 

[Sudenak]

Good. Keeps users in a less-hackable position.

It's also worth noting that their big games aren't about multiplayer, much less needing E-peen scoreboards and voice chat to make their few multiplayer games oh-so-fun online.

I said this in another WiiU related topic, and I'll say it again: Nintendo knows what it's doing, all the doomsayers don't. When Nintendo actually bombs hardcore on a system, let me know.

...Yeah. Y'know. Just let them do their thing. They know that they're doing.

 

[Dexiro]

I don't much care for online games but I think Nintendo could atleast try. While it won't affect my purchase I'm sure it'll affect many others.

 

[Shameless]

I've long since stopped caring about Nintendo, they used to be great in the past, but now they seems like and unable to truly compete with the other big two.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

While it's sure to be a financial success, I've never seen a company be so damn apologetic about a product that has yet to come out. Nintendo needs to step up its game or the Wii may have been it's definitive shark jumping moment.

 

[Zukhramm]

I'm not going to say anything yet, I want to see more of it. Some of what they said in this areas sounds quite good. A better store is the most important thing for me in terms of online.

 

[Sudenak]

When Nintendo actually bombs hardcore on a system, let me know.

Is this where I mention the 3ds?

"NPD Group, which tracks U.S. video game sales, said while the Nintendo 3DS sold about 100,000 fewer units that the Nintendo DS did when it debuted in November 2004, the 3DS did not have the benefit of a holiday sales boost and costs $100 more than the DS."

It's a bomb in the sense that it was released at a bad time, and without a strong set of release titles. Give it a year, we'll see. (plus, Ocarina of Time 3D is number one in sales across all platforms in Japan and the US)