Online gaming and other fun things.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Kick Your Perception in the Groin

Hands up if you think Nintendo should be doing more to gets its games online. Everyone should be waving their hands – at least according to nearly every gaming publication out there.

Just because it was the source that got me thinking about this I’ll use it as an example. To quote Senior Editor, Chris Hoffman of Play Magazine (February 2004), Nintendo “[fails] to give gamers what they want – namely online play…” Maybe the quote is taken out of context, but his quote comes from his Personal Top Ten game picks of 2003. Presumably, as he works for a game magazine, Hoffman is a gamer but if you examined his Top Ten you’d be tempted to shout, “Baloney!” if you work with his definition. (Note: see Chris' clarification at the end of this editorial.)

If gamers want online play, why don’t any of his chosen titles feature nods to downloadable content or online play? Just for the record, Hoffman chose Mario Kart: Double Dash!, WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, Ratchet & Clank Going Commando, Mega Man & Bass, Viewtiful Joe, Final Fantasy X-2, Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. You can infer a bunch of information from his choices, but I start asking questions (putting aside baseless speculation at the moment). To call yourself a gamer, do you need to play online games? If you own a GameCube does that automatically mean you want online play? Should we all enjoy online games rather than play games off-line?

Focusing just on Hoffman’s quote isn’t fair. Not only because this view is shared by a lot of other professional game reviewers, but also because Hoffman isn’t here to state his case fully.

Advertisement

Open any game magazine and there’s some gripe from an editor that Nintendo doesn’t have enough online applications and because Nintendo is not throwing its publishing weight behind an online initiative the company is on a quick road to non-existence. What was Play’s overall Game of the Year? The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker – 100% free of online play. But the road to non-existence is paved by sales. How strong are software and hardware

Advertisement

sales for Nintendo? I won’t even pretend to have looked at the statistics because that’s dangerously close to doing math so it’s fortunate that Play also features a Database section, which quotes the NPD/TRSTS figures (i.e. software sales) for November 2003 (part of the vital 4^th Quarter).

The number one selling game of November 2003 according to the stats was Mario Kart: Double Dash!, a GameCube exclusive. The only other game from Nintendo in the top ten was Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Brothers 3 for the GBA (at #9). There’s one Xbox title on the list, Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (#4). The remainder of the titles are Playstation 2 games (although not all exclusives). Of those seven titles, four of them are online capable. Now let’s take a look at those online titles.

Need for Speed Underground (from EA), SOCOM II (from Sony and exclusive to the PS2), Tony Hawk’s Underground (from Activision) and Madden NFL 2004 (from EA) all feature online play, but only SOCOM II has been built with an eye to really exploit online play. The other titles can be found on both GameCube and Xbox but without online support. (Even though Microsoft has done a good job creating awareness of its Live functionality they still haven’t convinced EA or Activision to come onboard.) If the online portion of these games were removed would it completely kneecap the experience? Would Tony Hawk’s Underground be less great if there was no online play? I can understand multi-console owners grabbing the PS2 version if that’s their preference, but would the online portion be missed? Seriously consider that question and you might just realize the answer is, “No.”

Does this mean that online games are a passing fad? I’m not that thick. Online games are here to stay. But are they completely necessary at this point? This is probably the question Nintendo is asking itself.

Does a Zelda game suffer from a lack of multiplayer? Did Metroid Prime not live up to expectations because there wasn’t the opportunity for online deatchmatches? There aren’t too many titles from Nintendo that would benefit from online play and it’s a rare event for Nintendo to publisher a sports title – the genre that benefits most from an online component (although it will never replace having friends over to play).

But back to the original “what gamers want” position. What gamers want are good games, online or off no matter the platform. A quick poll of random gamers at my local games retailer netted some pretty telling responses.

Asked whether gamers wanted games with crap control, no story, horrendous in-game camera and sub-par audio and graphics, without exception they said, “No.” Do they want good games? Yes. Does that necessarily mean online play be included? No.

Does Nintendo’s reluctance to really push an online agenda mean they’re digging their own grave? If you read the major websites and gaming mags, you might think so. With the 2003 4^th Quarter, Nintendo sold a bunch of GameCubes thanks to another price drop. It still remains to be seen if this results in stronger 3^rd party support and 1^st party software sales, which will act to quell the rumblings of gaming editors.

I know that my little rant could be taken as a defense of Nintendo but Nintendo hires PR and marketing folks to do that kind of thing. I’m just a little tired of the perception (and repetition) that Nintendo is heading toward obsolescence and a becoming a relic of the past. Admittedly, anything can happen but I wouldn’t count Nintendo out until they turn out the lights in the office and board up the windows.

- Omni

comments@armchairempire.com

Chris Hoffman of Play Magazine clarifies what he meant:

"...my remark about Nintendo was not based on my personal desire to play online games; I made it from what I hope is an objective standpoint as a gaming journalist. As you noticed from my list, it's not my favorite gameplay component. Do all gamers need to play online? No. Is single-player still important? Of course. The day it's not is probably the day I'll change to a career in goat farming. But like it or not, online gameplay and a console online strategy is becoming increasingly important in the gaming world. Nintendo is still struggling in last place (or second depending on who you believe) in the U.S., and I have to think some of that is due to their online strategy. I wouldn't say they're "digging their own grave," but it's not helping their position. A lot of players game online (50 percent of Play readers); I'd wager fewer are interested in GBA connectivity. The reason for my remark--the reason for wanting to see Nintendo embrace online--is in hopes of seeing them compete better in the marketplace and receive a better perception (as you noted, a lot of this IS about perception) from the game-playing public. Tighter competition between hardware manufacturers can only be a good thing. Oh yeah, and proper online in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! would have been awesome."

(March 25, 2004)