:drool:

CNN.com recently had an article about Nintendo with an interview with Miyamoto and someone else (the president of NOJ I believe) and online gaming was brought up.

They said they felt it was still a generation or two before it would be profitable (which I agree with) so it's highly unlikely will see any first party online games from Nintendo on the gamecube.

Gaming-Age.com has some high-res pictures up from the game. You can make out some of the details in the game, such as Luigi's Mansion being in one of the backgrounds. :cool:

I know that online gaming is just not profitable, unless you use some kind of subscription system that will turn off a lot of users used to getting things for free. But I'm still not going to buy a 30 dollar network adaptor just to play games on a lan.

One of the benefits of online gaming is that you have the whole screen to yourself (or split less ways, at least). It's much harder having one fourth of the screen. So to have an effective LAN, you'll need a house with two gamecubes (which are admittedly very portable), two games, and two huge TVs either next to each other, or within LAN distance (no way you can play four players on those little portable screens, or even on a 13 inch tv)

Although I always wanted to try the original playstation iLink, I never did, because I never had a setup like that...

Oh, I know there are benefits to online gaming. I was just saying that I understand why Nintendo is staying away from it for now. They don't have deep pockets like Microsoft and thus have no reason or capacity to start up an online gaming infrastructure that is going to lose money.

I won't buy the adapter either, because I'd never do the Lan thing anyway. Too much trouble for one, and two I don't know 8 peole that are that into video games anyway.

Also, I actually prefer the split screen for Mario Kart games and FPS's. In mario kart you can see when someone is coming up behind you and know when to drop a banana peel, shoot a shell backwards, hold a shell behind you to block an attack, etc. In FPS's it keeps people from being able to hide and snipe people. A lot of people like that type of gameplay in deathmatches, but I don't play a lot and I'm not into having to memorize the levels. The split screen gives FPS deathmatches a pick up and play party game feel, which is the only kind of multiplayer games I'm into.

That's just PR. It ranks right up there with the revolutionary GBA-GCN link features to my ears.

I hope this game turns out well. Mario Kart has long been my favorite multiplayer series, but I've been disappointed by every Nintendo game thus far on Cube save Pikmin.

Well I used to use the Playstation iLink to play some games of Red Alert (love that game) back in the day. It was cool as hell for the time, but it was WAY more trouble than it's worth. I know a lot of people have used the Xbox LAN system for Halo at conventions and stuff, but I don't see it being reasonable on a normal basis. It's just not a good idea.

Where's Toad?? I just realized that Toad is missing from the lineup. He was one of the best characters.

The only time LAN gaming makes any sense to me is in a dorm using ethernet. I know a buddy who plays Halo with some neighbors of his(4 people per xbox) using the ethernet jacks in their dorms. Otherwise it's just a pain.

Toad might be one of the unlockable characters. Daisy isn't on the list of main characters, but she's clearly visible in some of the screenshots.

Groucho, yeah...but are you SURE that's Daisy? Maybe they have different color schemes if two players choose the same charcter...
Anywho, I wish we get Toad, as well as the Wizard from the Japanese Mario Kart for SNES.

In picture 5, it also looks like the Delfino Island town from Super Mario Sunshine. :)

Very good stuff. This will be a must have when it comes out.

I feel really good about owning a GameCube right about now. Nintendo is bringing it, I forgot all about my xbox.

Nintendo also thought carts were better than CDs.

Jeremy

This time their right though. MS will lose millions on X-box live this generation. Online gaming just isn't profitable yet. MS just wants to have the best online plan (which they do) right now to get more people to buy their console and gain market share for next generation. I'm sure Nintendo would love to do the same thing, but they can't afford to take the losses.

They WERE better than CDs..

The Playstaiton One had load times that could choke an elephant, and the extra storage capacity was only used to include stupid ass CG movies that took more away from the games than adding to them. The only thing first gen CD based games had over carts was price. That is the ONLY thing. Nintendo moved to optical media at the right time, I can't think of ONE Gamecube game I own that I have every had to wait for something to load, other than the initial boot, and even that is minimal. It does make me wonder though, why every single PS2 game still has bad load time and the Xbox is only a few steps above that..

However, they ARE dropping the bomb on this online thing. It may not be profitable in Japan, I mean they're so afraid of social interaction they made an OFFLINE online RPG. :lol: Let them keep thier lonely-boy anime RPGs and dating sims.. the online gaming market in America is exploding, and the very least Nintendo could do is test the water. Mario Kart would be the perfect title to test out. What was the point of creating a modem and broadband adapter for the machine if they aren't going to use it? From everything I have heard, both Microsoft and Sony's online games are selling WAY better than expected..

I really don't understand. How much would it cost to set up a server for the Nintendo First party games? I wouldn't think they would have to charge. Especially if they could use the same server for some awesome 1st party online games ie Mario Cart, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, F-Zero.

I hope he wasn't permanently moved to the referee.

The point is that MS is taking a conscious loss now for future gains. I'd be surprised if MS loses money in the long run on this venture, they seem to be proactive in the market and addressing demand well. As online gaming gets bigger, Nintendo will be completely irrelevant.

There is no reason Nintendo can't take a more hands-off approach like Sony. It wouldn't cost that much to have even a modicum of support and let people set up their own network of servers. Even a bare bones P2P service and let us use our own bandwidth for hosting would be better than nothing. Nintendo has somewhere around $5 billion in cash reserves right now and they aren't even trying.

This is exactly why Nintendo has been further marginalized with each successive generation.

*sniffle* this is good news :)

That's just not true. As this thread has demonstrated people want to play Nintendo's games online. That's not gonna change. When Nintendo decides they want to get into the online market people will be there to pay and play. I honestly don't see what great advantage MS has gained for their billions of dollars spent (and lost) on XBL.

I hope someone figures out a way to let those 2 GC modems talk to each other, like how xbconnect works for halo. Then there would be this whole new underground movement of non approved online gaming. This could be FUN!

:hscratch:

Haven't played much gc have we? Rouge Leader? Resident Evil? eternal Darkness?
And if this is directed at Nintendo in general what about:

Metroid? Zelda? Smash Bros? Pikmin? Luigi was pretty original. Short, but original.
The only ones that dropped the ball was Mario: Sunshine and Waverace. Mediocre sequels.

what about the upcoming: Mario Golf, Pikmin 2, RL3, F-Zero and down the road another Metroid, Mario and Zelda(possibly)?

this is amazing. I need a gamecube now. Seriously, this is like being 12 years old again.

I've played all of them actually.

I didn't think a single one of the updates was better than the game(s) which preceded it. The Metroid, Mario and Zelda trifecta was especially disappointing to me.

Mario Party 4, Smash Bros, Rogue Leader et al. were just the same old game with a fresh coat of paint, IMO.

I hope the new Mario Kart changes this.