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http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp? subsectionid=160&articleid=65198&pagetype=2
Seems they also have concerns about the lacking number of quality titles on the machine, which I feel is a valid point.
Thoughts/opinions?
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Gamecube online gaming is years away... at best
[17/04/2003: 15:28]
Straight from the horses mouth we get the news that comes as no surprise whatsoever
Promises, failed hopes, unrealised dates and titles, it seems if you're a Nintendo fan (as we most definitely are), you just get used to these usual suspects after the new console hits town. And now online gaming has finally been given the thumbs down for quite some time by Nintendo.
Unsurprising news, granted, seeing as Ninty's online gaming plans has been an enigma since they first mentioned it. Well, now we have the official word on the matter, as spoken by George Harrison (senior vice president of marketing in America) in an interview with CNN.
In short, Ninty online gaming is "probably a few years away. It really depends on the success of the GameCube and whether people think it's worth the investment."
Nintendo are wary of online gaming and it's likely success, and if you couple that with the disappointing sales of Gamecube plus the comment above, do you really think online gaming on your Cube is likely to happen - ever?
Of course, if quality Gamecube titles are coming at you left, right and centre, you won't care too much. Further, Nintendo may be right in waiting, console online gaming is an untested market and might fall well short of expectations.
The problem for Ninty is that quality titles are few and far between and Gamecube lost the current number two console slot to Xbox in fairly quick fashion. Wrap all this up with the fact they're shunning online gaming (which many consider to be the future of games) and Nintendo starts to look less and less a main player in the games industry.
Hopefully, time will prove that thought very wrong...
> Of course it's the best option, but it isn't the only one.
> It's also an option unavaliable to 70% of the UK.
Which is what Microsoft have failed on, drasticcly. They've brought out a an excellent online gaming package thats not actually accessable to everyone in this country. Only 30% of gamers get to use the service, which is a real shame.
I think Microsoft only had America on the brain when they thought of Xbox live.
But its not all MS's fault, BT/NTL/Telewest are to blame aswell, Britain needs broadband everywhere, these companys need to modernisde the UK and fast!
It's also an option unavaliable to 70% of the UK.
Games nowadays are extrememly techniccly advanced, requring your console to do vast loads of mathmatical calculations and processes to make it work. Now imagine sending this information down a 56k telephone line, and recieving others back, simultaneously.
It just would'nt work properly, there'd be vast amounts of lag, Broadband is the best option in my opinion.
True, annoying chimps on live could be a problem, but there is a mute button so you only have to listen and talk to the people you want to. But once you add a few good players to you're friends list, that won't be a problem at all.
> Xbox has done online gaming right. Look at the innovations MS has
> done with voice communication in games
Yeah, its great being called a f****t by a 13 year old american implimenting a voice changer.
> I firmly belive that online gaming HAS to be broadband only. Try
> playing any PC FPSer using 56k modem and you are screwed before you
> even join the server. Its too slow and lag ridden its unplayable.
> Broadband, currently pricy I know, is the only way to do it.
Not true, developers who have some competency can make games very playable on 56k, C&C generals is a fine example, theres very little lag at all during normal play.
I firmly belive that online gaming HAS to be broadband only. Try playing any PC FPSer using 56k modem and you are screwed before you even join the server. Its too slow and lag ridden its unplayable. Broadband, currently pricy I know, is the only way to do it.
Anyway, enough of my negativity. If they could make it work it could indeed sell online gaming to many, but I still maintain that with online costs too high and not enough people with faster net connections (ISDN, ADSL) online gaming on consoles will not be taken up by the majority of gamers.
It wouldn't actually be called The Legend of Zelda, more like something along the lines of Hyrule Online or Zelda Worlds (only not crap).
Second thing, no one could actually play as Link, instead you could create a character, choosing either Hylian, Kokiri etc., and then choose a set of clothes and a name etc.
Then it would be like a Phantasy Star affair, only with decent quests and proper fighting (sticking with the current Zelda method).
There would be no set cooperation, but you can always find some friends and just go through the dungeons with them, and you could go to an options menu to change the people you are with to 'friendly' mode, which means you can't L target them by acciedent in the heat of battle.
Now that would rule, but to be honest I'm not that bothered. Online games like these are for the next generation of consoles.