Todd Northcut of GameSpy Technology gave a GDC talk entitled “No More Excuses: Taking the Wii (and DS) Online. He began with a quick overview of GameSpy Technology’s business coverage. GameSpy has been providing online services for virtually every current-gen system that has been released, and in the case of Nintendo systems they provide all of the online services. GameSpy Technology is divided into four product families: connections, community, competition, and their newly-launched in-game downloadable content.

Mr. Northcut looked at the breadth of talks at GDC and noticed that there were only three talks relating to the Wii, including his own and Satoru Iwata’s keynote. He found this curious since the Wii has sold more than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined. “Why aren’t developers more actively discussing the system?”, he asked.

The speaker noted that games with online components sell better than those without. He also noted that, with the exception of Wii Fit and Wii Play, most top-selling games have a major online component. He was also surprised that the #10 best-selling game for 2008, according to NPD, was Mario Kart DS, released two years earlier. In addition, Mr. Northcut made the claim that Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection offers rich features. Yet, despite the obvious conclusion that games on Nintendo systems should have a strong online presence, he found that innovation is generally missing.

Mr. Northcut listed five excuses that developers give for not developing solid online offerings:

1.Only First Party games sell. Northcut showed that this idea is clearly a myth. Data shows that third party games sell more and are played more. 25 out of the top 40 most-played games on Wii are third-party titles, and a majority of game sales on the Wii and DS are third-party. One surprising statistic he noted was that even RPGs, which are under-represented on the Wii, have high play time online.

2.The core audience is not there because Wii users are casual players. Despite this prevailing sentiment in some media coverage, this is not true; core gamers still there. Northcut noted that Sega and Capcom, in particular, are now realizing this and releasing core-oriented games. However, with the casual audience the online experience should be fun and easily accessible. He gave Mario Kart Wii as a good example for several reasons. The game connects users of similar skill levels, and players can race ghosts of similar skill. The whole process of connecting was made fun through avatars and its globe presentation. Leaderboards were also well done, showing regional distribution curves instead of straight stats. Northcut explained that the same technology that powers this system powers all other Wii games, but in this case the experience has been tailored to the users.

3.Wii users are dumb. Mr. Northcut didn’t belabor this point and showed opposing opinions of the Wii audience and simply stated that the argument is poor.

4.Friend codes suck. Here, the speaker said flat out, “stop whining.” Mr. Northcut stated that the solution here is to make the game fun when not playing against friends so that they don't care who they are playing against, and he gave Animal Crossing: City Folk as an example. He also noted that despite all of the complaints from developers and reviewers, the players themselves have not been stopped by friend codes.

5.Our game was designed as a single-player game. Mr. Northcut noted here that online does not necessarily imply multiplayer, citing online rankings as an example. User-generated content is another good use of online for single player games, and he offered Mario vs. Donkey Kong as a prime example of such use. He especially liked the fact that user-generated content can be showcased on websites. Another potential feature is a spectator mode. Super Smash Bros. Brawl includes such a mode, and Mr. Northcut especially enjoys watching players play the game since he is not very good at it himself. He then mentioned an upcoming WarioWare game, Made in Ore, which allows players to make their own minigames. A WiiWare title, Asobu! Made in Ore will allow them to share their minigames. The speaker noted that even with minimal development effort, user-generated content can be a powerful feature.

Mr. Northcut acknowledged that casual games get complaints, especially from reviewers, and that Nintendo systems have a lot of them. But as a counterpoint he showed that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars delivers just as many features as the recent console versions. Furthermore, pre-ordering the game gives players unlockable content and lots of achievement unlockables.

To summarize, Mr. Northcut emphasized that the technology, services, and most importantly the audience is there and waiting, so there are no excuses left for developers to not include compelling online content in their games. He concluded by stating that GameSpy is more than happy to talk to developers about creating online components for their Nintendo system games.

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