The DS owns the interweb.

[Kitsune]

After a bit of a shaky start (like the criminal omission of network play from Advance Wars), Nintendo has leapt admirably into the future of gaming, allowing internet play on just about all of its upcoming multiplayer titles on the DS.  As everyone knows, ad-hoc play is mostly for losers; only in some bizarro nerd world (or a Nintendo store, or a sci-fi convention) is anyone likely to encounter someone else in the street who just happens to also be carrying the game system and looking to play.  It winds up being relegated to playing with one's friends, and a cable was always more than adequate for that.

No, the real gem of the new generation of handhelds is wifi internet play.  The PSP has largely squandered this power to date on the various Madden '0X sports titles, a case of pearls before swine if ever there was one, with only a handful of good games possessing the feature, and a few really dropping the ball.

Nintendo's late bloom gave them times to do things in style, like a central website for their internet games to keep track of rankings and activity, a universal mechanic in their network games for finding and playing with friends, and a deal with McDonalds that doesn't actually mean much of anything, as PSPs can just as easily use the wi-fi access points, but still looks nice on paper.  Metroid Prime: Hunters took it a step further with built-in voice chat, and there's already a headset available for the DS, albiet no models with stereo headphones just yet.  And the thing that's really, really going to knock the ball out of the park is one of the humblest games for the system, Clubhouse Games.  (The IGN article is incorrect about it not having wifi, and given that their own screenshot of the box shows the wifi logo, that's just sad.)

I don't know if any of you are as ancient as I am, but the online gaming thing first hit me with one of Sierra On-Line's products before Vivendi butchered the good ideas out of the company.  It was called ImagiNation, and it was nothing but a bundle of games that people around the country could play against each other.  Clubhouse Games captures most of that, except for the unfortunate omission of Shadow of Yserbius, which was friggin' sweet, putting a great big pile of well-known games into peoples' hands with an uncomplicated interface and easy access to other players.  All of a sudden, the DS becomes a potential gift for my mother, who has never touched a console controller in her life, and everyone else out there like her.  All it needs is voice chat for bullshitting over the poker table and they're set.  (There's some sort of chat in the program, but I don't know whether it allows VoIP or is just text.)

That kind of slick presentation, along with things like being able to download the game into the console of players who don't have it for a multiplayer match, downloadable demos in video game stores, including a GBA slot for backwards compatibility, that's what's going to win Nintendo the console wars someday.  While Sony just keeps tacking extra graphical power onto its systems, and Microsoft tries to make people pay for its networking features, Nintendo's quietly packing their consoles with everything but the kitchen sink, thoughtful features that benefit the players and are free.

That and the fact that internet multiplayer Pokemon is going to pull every single Pokemon player in the world (and there are still a surprising number of them) onto the DS in no time flat.

[HaemishM]

Good strategy. I jumped on Imagination for Red Baron, does Clubhouse have that? :)

But yes, with this and the Wii, Nintendo is squarely aiming to make game machines for all those billions of people who aren't us.

[Yegolev]

Good write-up.  I also don't really care about online Pokemon (I almost posted it in the PS-Wii-Sixty thread) but as you say, it's going to sell a shit-ton of DS units.

[schild]

Pokemon has online voice chat. I think that might actually hurt it rather than help it. I know I can't wait to tell 7 years olds I'm going to fuck their pikachus and squirtles in the ass. I'm sure their mothers can't either. As for the DS, ehhhhh. PSP games typically sell more than any DS game in America and it's the reverse in Japan. I've the online stuff on the DS and I don't care for it, none of the games really scream, HEY GET ONLINE OK? And I can't think of any that would, except a portable smash brothers.

Edit: And yes, my blizzard thread challenges this thread in a fight to the death.

[sarius]

Pokemon has online voice chat. I think that might actually hurt it rather than help it. I know I can't wait to tell 7 years olds I'm going to fuck their pikachus and squirtles in the ass. I'm sure their mothers can't either. As for the DS, ehhhhh. PSP games typically sell more than any DS game in America and it's the reverse in Japan. I've the online stuff on the DS and I don't care for it, none of the games really scream, HEY GET ONLINE OK? And I can't think of any that would, except a portable smash brothers.

Edit: And yes, my blizzard thread challenges this thread in a fight to the death.

Definitely rated M. 

[dusematic]

I just got Mario Kart and the little USB Dongle that  let's you connect onto WFC if you don't have a router.  It's so slick.  The setup was completely retard proof, and within minutes I was getting the crap kicked out of me by Japanese people.  Awesome.

[Kitsune]

Odds are good that any voice chat in Pokemon will be under the same restrictions as in Metroid (only between people who have shared friend codes) to hamper creepy pedos who would dirty-talk at little kids.  So, as long as you're playing against people you know, you can lovingly describe all sorts of sodomies upon their pokemon, but when playing against strangers you'll not be tempted, as the feature won't be available.  As for spiffy online things, here's the upcomings that were shown at E3:

Panzer Tactics - WW2 Turn based Strategy.
DS Air - Poorly-named fighter sim.
Star Fox - Less-poorly-named fighter sim... in space.
Mechassault - Cool, but not as cool as Battletech turn based strategy would be.
Custom Robo - Um.  Fighting robots.
Donkey Kong vs. Mario - I have no idea how this could work with more than two players.
Clubhouse Games - Massively multiplayer texas holdem, yee haw.
Pokemon - Humiliating children when your level 100 Mewtwo rapes their Caterpie to death while they stand by, helpless to do anything but cry.

And remember, this is one hundred percent free internet gaming.  Walk into a local McDonalds and you can play for free all day, or until they kick you out.  No paying a monthly fee for the privilege of network play.

[schild]

I will be all over myspace and gaia online taking childrens friends codes then. THERE'S NOWHERE THEY CAN HIDE.

Edit: Netplay on the DS still sucks though. I hate the implementation.

[Kitsune]

I will be all over myspace and gaia online taking childrens friends codes then. THERE'S NOWHERE THEY CAN HIDE.

Well, everyone needs a hobby.  I certainly can't argue against that.

Edit: Netplay on the DS still sucks though. I hate the implementation.

What is there to hate?  Tap the multiplayer button, tap the wifi button, tap the configure button if you're using a weird access point, otherwise select the kind of game you want to play and shoom, off it goes in search of opponents.  It's a little more fiddly when connecting to people you know, what with having to enter friend codes, but the whole friend code thing is an important legal ass-covering for Nintendo, or else the first time some idiot kid gets kidnapped and killed with a DS in their pocket the headlines will be 'NINTENDO IMPORTANT TOOL FOR CHILD-MURDERERS'.  And once the code is in, it's hassle-free from that point on.

[dusematic]

I will be all over myspace and gaia online taking childrens friends codes then. THERE'S NOWHERE THEY CAN HIDE.

Edit: Netplay on the DS still sucks though. I hate the implementation.

Uh.  Yeah.  I'm going to have to just strongly disagree with you.  I usually bow in deference to your gaming superiority, but after having used the service, and finding it incredibly easy and fun, I'd really like to know how you can just say it sucks.

[Strazos]

He can't use it to play Diablo 2 and hear the ring-drop sound.

[Xanthippe]

Nintendo needs to fix their wifi thing so that it doesn't rely upon friend codes.  It was a huge mistake with Animal Crossing.  Instead of being a nice feature, it's a gigantic pain in the ass.  In order to play, you have to be online at the same time as your friend, and then open the gate to your town, or he has to open his.  It begs for outside communication while playing, which is just stupid.

Too bad Nintendo didn't steal the chat interface from Toontown, with premade phrases and whatnot, and then allow more unrestricted WiFi access.

The whole VOIP thing?  Big huge mistake for children.  No way am I getting that for my kids.  As Schild so illuminately illustrates above (like you'd think he has practice or something!), it's too open for abuse.

Mario Kart DS is fine.  Open, unrestricted chat between "friends" is not.

(For children, I mean - from one parent's perspective anyway).

[schild]

Uh.  Yeah.  I'm going to have to just strongly disagree with you.  I usually bow in deference to your gaming superiority, but after having used the service, and finding it incredibly easy and fun, I'd really like to know how you can just say it sucks.

1. Friend Codes Succccccccccccck. Almost as lame as the FFXI Worldpass stuff.
2. There's not a single game on the system that makes me want to play against strangers. I probably should have modified the statement with - Netplay may be great but the support for it sucks.

The Nintendo DS is largely a single player affair for me.

[bhodi]

1. Friend Codes Succccccccccccck. Almost as lame as the FFXI Worldpass stuff.

What was bad about the worldpass stuff? I thought it was a pretty convienient way of getting a group of friends together. I wish they had it in WoW.

[schild]

You mean being able to immediately pick your server and race in WoW isn't enough? Durka huh?

[bhodi]

You mean being able to immediately pick your server and race in WoW isn't enough? Durka huh?

I was thinking more of the "Oh, you play this game too? What server are you ... oh, different one well crap. I guess I'll .. I guess I'll see you later then."

That happened in FFXI, and they just said oh no problem, here's this number, put it in the website and you'll be moved to my server. I did and all was bliss.
That happened in WoW, and we went our separate ways becuase we had both invested too much time to re-create a character on the new server. I was sad.

[Hoax]

/agree+.5

Post launch world pass was great.

At launch world pass was the most insane cockblock OF ALL TIME!@!!  It was a pre-game cockblock.  When combined with the 85 cd installation process and 3 separate l/p before you get to the create a character phase I was almost in tears by the time I actually saw my character in game it was so frustrating.

First of all, none of the NA players could afford the fucking thing as newbs, secondly you ended up with people creating characters over and over and over to get the right server.  Finally it was just stupid.

While I respect what they tried to do, in a non pvp-centric game the world pass system would have eventually balanced itself out.  Population imbalances between servers are not an issue to concern yourself with overly at launch.



P.S.  newbs not in spellcheck?  unpossible (<-- better be in it too).

[dusematic]

I don't mind the friend code stuff.  I mean cmon, a 12 digit code?  That's not exactly one of the trials of Hercules.  For me, it's just another excuse to use the stylus, which  brings me near sexual gratification. 

You just call up your friend, say "hay, gimme code", you type it in, then say "bai."  I mean, you'd have to make the same fucking call to ask him what his screen name or whatever was to be able to find him if there were, say, a search function in lieu of a friend code system.

But I respect your right to be bitter about trivial matters.  And Mario Kart is so sweet online it makes me sing.

[schild]

Why did it have to be a friend code though? Why couldn't we all tie a username to our DS's? And then change it online through a portal or whatever. It's great that Nintendo is implementing all this shit, but I dunno, it feels half assed. Also, Mario Kart WOULD be great online if I could yell at people through the DS mic.

[dusematic]

Actually that is true.  I was racing my friend who lives in DC and we were on the Luigi's Mansion track  (great track btw) and I was winning the whole time and then at the end he sleazed by me with a blue shell, narrowly winning.  And I stress the word narrowly.

I just wanted to scream obscenities at him.  But then, there are problems with that kind of behavior on a large scale as well.  Which is why I think it's a happy medium.  There is voice chat in Hunters.  Kumbaya.

[schild]

And there will be in Pokemon. When that comes out and I can chat and challenge random people, THEN I'll call it awesome. :P

[Oban]

...but can it pull porn from thin air?

http://digg.com/gaming/Portable_Porn

[WayAbvPar]

...but can it pull porn from thin air?

http://digg.com/gaming/Portable_Porn

Does it have Kleenex and lotion dispenser attachments?

[Numtini]

I hate friend codes. I just want to wander around to different Animal Crossing towns and have people visit mine. It was a huge opportunity lost on the game.

They should probably have a parental thing on it, not the friends codes.

[Kitsune]

AC couid become a grief fest if you could just wander into random peoples' towns and mess around with their crap.  Thanks to lawsuit-happy parenting and jackasses like ol' Jack Thompson, the first time some idiot used a shovel to spell out 'FUCK' in some kid's town Nintendo would be sued for a million zillion dollars.  Same with cursing over voice chat.

Friend codes are a necessity.  What would have been better, though, would be for the friend code to be attached to the DS instead of the game.  That way you'd only need to keep track of a single number for a person.

[dusematic]

Yeah I agree. 

[Yegolev]

Friend codes are a necessity.  What would have been better, though, would be for the friend code to be attached to the DS instead of the game.  That way you'd only need to keep track of a single number for a person.

This is what Schild was saying, I think, and would be the way to go as long as you could password-lock your DS.