Warp Pipe Technologies recently announced the discontinuation of work on their Warp Pipe tunneling software. Warp Pipe's software offers GameCube owners an unofficial way to play LAN-enabled games such as Mario Kart Double Dash and Kirby Air Ride online.
Over time the team of game enthusiasts and programmers became Warp Pipe Technologies, a formalized company, and began working on an online software package for game developers and publishers. The Warp Pipe team has decided to focus on their more fiscally viable project, and believes the Warp Pipe software and forums has evolved to a self-sustaining community capable of helping new users get online with their GameCubes.
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...and began working on an online software package for game developers and publishers.
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Today, on the WP Forums, Chad said:
I decided, due to the delays and other other reasons I've been pondering, to fully reveal, within reason, the chorx during the interview. By publication you will be able to see what a chorx looks like, as well as get a contextual view of their role in demasked.
The first session will take place with Dean tomorrow at 1pm EST. I am not sure when the interview will be published, as that is not in my control.
So, tomorrow there will be the first interview on N-Sider, and Chad will fully reveal "the Chorx", he has been talking about.
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The interview is still happening, like, we've been talking for two hours - there's a lot of stuff that will make a lot of people happy.
QuoteI would assume that they were referring to Nintendo, but that would stop them from being implemented into all of the consoles.
N-S: There have been rumours flying around that Demasked is not solely for the Nintendo DS any more, if this is indeed true, how will the software interact, and what platforms are they planned for?
CP : As stated earlier, Magellan was slated to debut with the Nintendo DS. We are obviously very respectful of Nintendo and we enjoy their products. As it stands, Demasked is very heterogeneous. Demasked could be used in all three next-generation consoles including the two current-generation handhelds.
N-S: What are your current plans for implementing the Demasked/Magellan Suite? Have the original talks with developers and publishers provided any benefits to bringing your product to the public?
CP : We have been talking to developers since E3, and they are incredibly excited about Demasked's capabilities and the opportunities that come with it, particularly a segment of Demasked called "ant-farm ". We will begin speaking with publishers this year at E3. I would personally like to work with one publisher exclusively, but we'll see how the rollout ends up. Shortly after E3, barring strong interest by a particular publisher, we will be pursuing our first major round of financing.
WPF: What connection type will users need to access the Demasked software, will it be something launched in-game or separately?
CP : This is something that will be largely up to the publisher of the game. However, in a perfect scenario, we would exclusively partner with a publisher and aide them in growing their existing online community.
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We would like to partner with a publisher exclusively; however that publisher must show us a commitment to delivering these new possibilities to gamers. I did not get into this business solely to make profit, I'm here because there is a void and we are going to fill it. Therefore, partnering with any one company can be a curse or a blessing. Nintendo ' s recent announcement regarding DS online is a positive thing, it shows they are committed to the changing their corporate culture to be more responsive to their consumer, I'd like to see more of that in the industry.
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N-S: Are you able to elaborate more on what "ant-farm" is?
CP : I can tell you what ant-farm is not. Ant-farm is not simply a fisher price toolkit, allowing developers to easily write network code on top of a pre-built community environment while publishers hemorrhage money, ala GameSpy . Ant-farm allows for complete artistic and development freedom, allowing publishers to profit from owning their online infrastructure. We are currently in a time where everything is cut and paste, and the community experience between each game is non-distinguishable, minus games that cost millions to implement and run these features. It's a vicious cycle that hasn't broken because developers are struggling to keep pace with the street date, and some publishers don't mind treating their online infrastructure as marketing expense when they should be treating it as a revenue stream and a way to form a lasting relationship with their customers.
QuoteSo now they are also making games in their spare time??
N-S: There has been much mention of a component of this suite called "Chorx"; it is arguably the most sought after part of Demasked, in terms of wanting to know what it is... So, what is it?
CP: The Chorx are characters in a game we will be releasing shortly after E3, called "Ahhh-choo!". It is the vessel that will allow us to put ant-hill in a live testing environment.
CP : For the sake of maximum accessibility, it will be a flash game. However, I think it would make a great handheld game. We'll see what the future holds for the Chorx.
N-S: While you are releasing a demo game with the Demasked infrastructure, do you plan on becoming a game development studio as well as a middleware tool house (e.g. the Demasked Suite)?
CP : That ' s an interesting choice of words. I suppose you would traditionally think of Demasked as middleware, however I do not. Ideally, we would be much more involved in the deployment and implementation process from the infrastructure point of view, all the way to advising on game integration. However, yes, we have several game play ideas we would like to see happen after theorizing and conceptualizing the possibilities that go along with Demasked. We have one game design, in particular, called "City Block" which I very much look forward to seeing in the future.
QuoteI remember those days, and I also think that would be the perfect campaign for Nintendo to help recapture the gamers of yesteryear and their kids too.
N-S: Is there anything else you wish to state before we close up this interview?
CP : I'm really looking forward to sharing these concepts at E3 and I remain hopeful that we can get to work and start delivering to gamers as quickly as humanly possible. A new platform brings with it a lot of possibility; we are thinking about nothing but the online gaming space.
Something I'd very much like to see, personally, with the next generation is a renewed confidence on behalf of Nintendo. Something along the lines of "don't play games, play Nintendo" would really resinate, I think. Many reading this interview are too young to remember, but there was a significant amount of time where sitting in front of a computer screen to a television screen, playing any type of video game was "playing Nintendo". In any case, I think the company has a lot of opportunity to recapture a lost audience, and I look forward to seeing how they communicate their future innovations on the mass market, which is something they have had difficulty doing in recent years.
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For example if hot spots was the only option then any serious online gaming plans probably just wouldn't work.
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Originally posted by: Myxtika1 Azn
I went and set up a wireless network in my home BECAUSE of the DS.