Gamertell

Nintendo doesn’t know what it’s doing with multiplayer online gameplay.  It’s just that simple.

As an admitted Nintendo fanboy, this is distressing to me on a number of levels.  When Nintendo sets its mind to a multiplayer experience, it often succeeds admirably.  I’ve thirsted for the ability to play games against my friends who don’t happen to be in the same city and, for the most part, we’ve had to slake our collective thirst through the PC, XBox, 360, and PS3.

Modern gamers still remember when Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata infamously said, “Customers do not want online games.“  It was a mantra that former CEO Yamauchi believed with all his heart. Nintendo clearly didn’t care about making online-compatible (or even LAN-compatible) games during the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube eras.

However, until the Wii launched, I defended Nintendo with all my heart.  Nintendo tried online games and online gaming long before Sony or Microsoft even dreamed about releasing a console.  The Famicom and the Super Famicom, and the Nintendo 64 had online peripherals which were never a wide enough success to release in the US market.  Nintendo tried and, it decided, nobody cared.. Then the online gaming market exploded and Nintendo was simply too far ahead of its time.

Yamauchi was a truly bullheaded man and failed to see past the company’s failures.  Thus, we had lackluster online support for years.  It’s no excuse, and it’s indicative of why Nintendo struggled in last place for an entire decade.  It is, at least, an explanation.

Then, the DS and the Wii came along and Nintendo promised wireless internet connectivity right out of the box.  It’s mostly succeeded in that respect, providing us with lots of interesting online content in the form of the Virtual Console, Everybody Votes, and the Nintendo WiFi Connection.  But Nintendo has left us sour in the one aspect that it has always claimed deserves the most attention:  The games.

Knowing Nintendo is a family-friendly company, I don’t overly mind the friend codes required to play with people I know online.  However, they really could have and should have centralized the feature on the Wii.  A WiFi Channel could have provided plenty of options and opportunities for setting up friends and privacy, using the parental controls feature to restrict access.  That they did not is indicative of bad planning on their part.

Tetris DS filled me with hope. The ability to play worldwide with little lag (heck, it’s Tetris so lag doesn’t matter) and even a leaderboard on Nintendo’s WiFi website.

It’s most recent games?  Pathetic.  Planet Puzzle League (one of my favorite puzzle games of all time) allows you to rank yourself against people with the same birthday as you?  What’s the point of restricting players like that?  Pokemon Battle Revolution?  No rankings at all.  3D battling against random people is basically the only reason to purchase the title.  And shouldn’t Tetris‘ leaderboards be in the game itself?  For once, Nintendo, please copy Microsoft.

For me Smash Bros Brawl is Nintendo’s last chance to satisfy with an online mode.  It was the game Iwata originally announced as the first Wii WiFi title.  However, Brawl Director Sakurai hasn’t put high priority on the WiFi aspects.

Nintendo, we know you are expanding your market right now but you still need to pay attention to we gamers who kept you in business before the DS hit its stride.

Read [Joystiq] Also Read [IGN]

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