Not Just Lag: How Nintendo Fumbled Online Play

Here's my second and last for this night. This is a good read and perfectly reflects my opinions about why my copy of Brawl is almost to the point of collecting dust at home. (The Halo 3 MLG Playlist did just come out after all, and if there's one thing that will get me playing Halo again, it's MLG gametypes.)

From Digg-There’s at least one area of gaming Nintendo just doesn’t get, and it’s online play. We analyze how Nintendo has failed in taking its games online in this critical editorial.

read more | digg story

Previously on "Pudge"

Hey again,

My first day I double post, I think the planets are aligning.

Anyway, while I was at Slave Port Square getting my wages, I thought I should catch the Internet up on my doings in the past year and three months. Kinda an update on my first post, when I posted about what I like and don't like (wow, I was a horrible writer back then... I'll try to get my points across better this time around). Here's a year of events in the life of Pudge!

• First off, about a week after my last post before today, I fell asleep at the wheel of my first car, which was called the PudgeMobile. I was coming back from a Zion Lock-In with a couple of my buddies, I didn't get enough sleep, and an SUV got in my path at 35MPH. Luckily, all I got was a fat lip, but my 400lb buddy Jdsnut was pretty badly hurt. I try not to think about it as I really liked that car, but my insurance rates are through the roof. I AM a better driver now, and my second car, the PudgeWagon, should hold out through college (cross your fingers). I'm pretty sure that's the reason I first stopped posting in the first place, although the reason why this caused it is lost to time...
  
• I've lost interest in Magic: The Gathering, not because of lack of good stuff coming out of WoTC (the cards in the Time Spiral block were inspired, I wish I would've bought more of them as they came out) but due to moving from one high school to another because of the aforementioned accident. Only a few people play it at my new school, and their decks are a little on the cheap side (SLIVERS). I still have my decks, and hope that someone in college shares a passion for this TCG and it will rekindle my interest.
  
• I've also sadly lost interest of Saturday morning cartoons, which really saddened me. However, it was required because the shows they are pushing on Kids WB and 4Kids are ridiculous in their attempts to entertain. It sickens me to even think that the time that used to give us gems like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, the first seasons of Pokemon, Tiny Toons, and Freakazoid now has crap like Loonatics, Johnny Test, Xiaolin Showdown, and Mucha Lucha.
  
• I now have an Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. I actually waited out 19 hours for my Wii, and I still believe that was one of the funnest days of my life. 10 player wireless Mario Kart DS and the chicken from the Wal-Mart Deli. Good times.
• I still play on XBL all the time. My current multiplayer games I play often are Shadowrun, Halo 2 (gotta get some kind of Halo before the 25th), and sometimes Gears. I've actually been focusing on the single player recently though, with BioShock and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam. I'll try to put the gamercard on the blog as soon as I'm done typing this post, which should be easy as I'm taking an HTML class at school now.
• Zion has fluctuated, with many Zionites moving on to higher learning, leaving me at one of the top spots. I still annoy most of the old school folks that have stayed local, but it's mostly people I've recruited or befriended now, and we still rape at Halo 1. M6D Pistol forever!
• I've been sucked into the world of Pro Wrestling, with old ECW PPVs acquired from various sources becoming a weekly source of entertainment. I also watch all current forms of WWE and TNA (even Heat...). Some of you might be wondering what a older teen like me is doing watching this. Well, my father disapproves of it, so I never got to see it as a kid, and I guess I'm making up for lost time. My favorite "Superstars" are Adam "Edge" Copeland, The Bogeyman, The Dudleys (Currently Team 3D on TNA), and Mr. Kennedy.
• Otherwise, I feel like I've matured since you last heard from me. I'm less cynical, I've come to terms with my religious beliefs (as in, I'm an Agnostic, religion's version of not caring), and I have more friends for it.

Well, that's all I can think of. BTW, the name of my work is actually South Port Square, which is a retirement home where I'm a waiter, but Slave Port sounds much better to me. It at least explains why I'm doing some of the things I have to do there for people who have no idea where they are anyway.

23 Days till we Finish the Fight!
-Pudge
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Listening to: Three Days Grace - Riot
via FoxyTunes

I'm gonna go play with my Wii

Welcome to a new age of gaming. An age where you can use magic wands to control plumbers and bounty hunters. An age where game companies make movies about old Jappanese folk tales (Google it, it's true). An age where urine jokes are all the rage.

Welcome to Nintendo Wii




Serriously, I'm sad for NOA (Nintendo of America). This is obviously more for the Jappanese markets than American markets, but why not have two different names? The NES was the Famicom over there, its been done. The Revolution sounds SO much better, cooler, everything. It sounds like a gaming machine, not yellow liquid.

And I was just starting to look forward to buying a Revolution on my birthday...
-Pudge

And you thought the Boomerang was bad, or Nintendo's Revolution Revealed

Hey

Nintendo has done it again. They've screwed themselves. Royally. What you are looking at is the new controller for the Nintendo Revolution. The "Revolution" is a TV remote. A friggin' TV REMOTE. Ok, to be fair, it's a very special TV remote. One that can be used as a kind of mouse. It can move up and down, left and right, and back and forth. But still, it's a TV Remote.

Now, all sorts of questions come to mind. One of the first for me is how the hell will this play Mario Kart 64 and Legend of Zelda, since one of the best features for the Revolution was supposed to be backwards compatibility? Answer? Meet the Wavebird 2.0.

Now, this is only a mockup of what will be most likely the most used accessory for the wand (as I like to call it) This is a controller shell for the wand that will let you play Gamecube, N64, SNES, and even Revolution games in a more standard way. Notice I didn't mention NES, because the remote can just be turned sideways and work just like an NES controller.

After you get over that, your next question is, how will this affect Nintendo's new games for the next-gen. How will Mario 128 and SSBM Online work when there are only 4 buttons on the controller (A, X, Y [a and b in the mock up] and a hidden B button just like Z on the N64 controller) and a D-Pad. Especially when you can only press X and Y by holding the controller a certain way. Well, this is where it gets a little scary. SSBM is particular has been known for it's precise controls, but with all aiming controlled by waving a wand in the air, you can kiss your dreams of the perfect Smash Bros. game online goodbye.

There are good things for this controller though. If nothing else, I can finally play Metroid Prime instead of struggling with the archaic structure of the Gamecube version. Speaking of FPS games-

This device is the Revolution Joystick add-on. It has two trigger buttons and will make FPS a good play on Nintendo's console. But, Nintendo doesn't make FPS games. They've made two in their entire existence. Either Geist is getting a sequel, or Metroid is the only game that will benefit from this cool design. The Joystick is going to be bundled with the system and will probably work with every game that doesn't have another accessory instead.

Which brings me to the next good thing about it, we will see some unique add-ons for this controller. The big N has already said that DK Bongos and a new Zapper light-gun is in the works, with more to come. We will probably see a microphone, steering wheel, or maybe even a revival of the Power Glove! Seriously though, that is the one thing that gets me excited about the wand.

Now that I've thought about it, I don't really think it's a bad idea. Just not as a main controller. Why couldn't it be an accessory to a more standard controller. I know it will work great with FPS games, RTS games, some sports games like baseball. But what about a new Mario game? I can say right now that it will definitely be awkward controlling the Italian plumber with just a wand and a joystick.

I'm afraid that Nintendo will go too far and design games for the wand, and not games that use the wand. Let me explain. I'm sure you've played WarioWare: Touched for DS? That game is designed just for the touch screen, every mini-game uses the stylus. When I first played it, I was kinda disappointed that they didn't have at least one category of games that were controlled like the GBA original. Now, think of a game like Four Swords Adventures. It used the GBA as a feature of a larger experience, instead of running with the gimmick. And that's what I don't want to happen, for this new controller to become a gimmick. If it does, then I don't think that Nintendo will last past the current generation.

May I be proven wrong and have to eat my words

-Pudge