Topic: Wii U's Online May Use EA Origin

[broodwars]

Personally, I tend to tune people out and think them fools the moment they start comparing something or someone to Nazis.  It's the laziest form of insult you can think up, and 9/10 it's hyperbole in the extreme.

[oohhboy]

I didn't go there, you went there. It just happens to be the Germans who protested so openly who have such history. Had it been another nation, I am sure I they would have their own cultural and historical reasons to do so. The Germans may have been protesting because of other historical events, for example the Stasi. Just because it's Germany, it doesn't mean it has to be that event. They have had a century of suffering to pick from.

Assuming EA has withdrawn in it's activities, it still comes down to how trustworthy they are. Time and time again they have proven untrustworthy and incompetent, making them the worse choice, well below Nintendo making their own service which hasn't shown the greatest usability or competence, has been harmless. Why would any forward thinking company think that spying on their users would be a good idea let alone implement it. It wasn't one mistake, it was a chain of mistakes they could have broken that lead to that public mistake.

[ThePerm]

Couldn't

Steam, Origins, PlayOnline, and Virtual Console all be different channels? I like the channels system. Its basically just like a pc, having separate programs for each thing. Nintendo had better include a hard drive, because that pretty much makes bunches of upgrades and features possible. The last hard drive I bought was a 1TB external hard driver for $100 3 years ago. Im guessing by august 2012 1TB will be down a bunch. I think I remember hearing there would be USB hardware support.

[Chozo Ghost]

I noticed on Amazon hard drive prices have skyrocketed. About a year ago I ordered a 500gb HDD for my friend's PS3 for about $50 or so, but I looked recently and the very exact same one is now $129.99. And its not just that one either. It seems like all the 500gb+ drives are $100 or more. I don't know what happened, but in the course of a year the prices have more or less doubled.

Is it because demand in HDDs are high? or is it something else?

[MegaByte]

Floods in Thailand shut down the factories.

[oohhboy]

It the Flooding in Thailand. A lot of the Harddrives are made there. With a 1/3 of the country flooded including most of the capital, there has been a massive drop in supply. Prices go up accordingly.

[Chozo Ghost]

Ahhh, okay... I had no idea. I guess the prices will come down once that gets sorted out then. Its probably that damn global warming. They said there was going to be more flooding as ocean levels rise.

[ThePerm]

well damn

[BlackNMild2k1]

This is how I imagine Nintendo is setting up their Online Network.

You log in to an account attached to your My Nintendo that has a username and password.
Once logged in you will have access to the eShop, your friends list, chat, etc etc.

Everything will seem very unified behind Nintendo from the Users point of view.
You go into the shop, you see games listed, you can buy them, download them, play them.
You can insert a disc into the drive and choose the option to go online.

This is where the portal comes into play.

You chose to play BF3 so it routes you through Origin servers which handle all the cross talk, chat and online play.
If you chose Killer Freaks, it routes you through UbiPlay
....Valve's Black Box routes you through Steamworks
etc etc.

From the users standpoint, you won't really be able to tell the difference other than the logo that will pop up before you start playing.

You decide to download a game or some DLC
depending on who made the game, it will route you through which ever portal is hosting that particular game or DLC and you download it through there. Eitherway, you wouldn't even notice you are no longer on Nintendo's server except for a logo that would probably pop up while you are waiting for the download to start (think like a startup logo before a game).

This is why I think alot of software is gonna be running through the Steam portal (assuming it works anywhere near how I imagine) as I assume it will be multi-plat and will likely use the PC build as a port which will already be Steam enabled for the majority of games.

[oohhboy]

That would make for a very agreeable compromise. It would take the best of what each service could offer and let them have at each other under a unified interface. The only problem I might see is the insane amount of cross licensing legal wankery that would happen especially if two or more providers offer the same game. In the worse case, a game wouldn't be released or is somehow crippled. The potential risks are high, but the rewards for both the companies and consumer equally great.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well, the publisher would decide which portal it would go through.


So if Activision had a game, they would probably run it through Steamworks
If Capcom had a game, they would probably run it through Origin
Nintendo would obviously run their own games through their own servers
Konami might also choose Origin, but iD might choose Steamworks

EA's play right now is to ensure that all these Publishers would run it through their portal (and only their portal since it would be the only option) and therefore have no excuse to not also release the game on the PC through Origin. There is no way that Nintendo is gonna allow EA that kind of power on Big N hardware. It would also really alienate Activision and Valve software.

[Enner]

I can't wrap my head around what an EA-driven Nintendo online would work... it's absolute suicide if third party games HAVE to use Origin. All of EA's rivals and many indie games will probably be driven AWAY from the Wii U if so, COMPLETELY defeating the goals of Nintendo with the Wii U with regards to third-parties again.

EA is already setting up deals to have non-EA games on Origin. There are adverts for the PC versions of Saint's Row The Third and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition on store.origin.com.

If in the undesirable scenario that Nintendo has EA's Orign as the exclusive online service front for the Wii U, seeing games from publishers other than Nintendo and EA isn't out of the question.

[Chozo Ghost]

The downside of so many servers is the more there are the more likely it will be that at least some of them are going to get shut down or merged or whatever somewhere down the road. So what's going to happen to games designed to run on one system when that system gets pulled? Will the games get patched to work with the next system? With one centralized monolithic system its less likely its going to fold, although if it does it would be far more devastating because then everything gets cut off, but its less likely to happen then a bunch of small time things competing with one another.

[oohhboy]

I worry about the licensing wankery because it already happens. There are a number of games on Steam that have a Mac and PC version, however because licensing, they are not Steamplay. The developer then sells the now years old port at full price, effectively killing sales for that game on the Mac because they keep thinking they would get more money selling it themselves than to get a one off payment from the publisher for porting the game.

Now imagine the same thing happening on the WiiU with all these portals openly belligerent to each other. If a game can appear on two or more services, the question becomes, will you get a choice? If Origin effectively locks up the market because they brown nosed Nintendo early, it becomes no choice at all.

The solution to this is for Nintendo to put their foot down and stipulate that everyone plays nice in writing, so there won't be an open war in the court rooms. Everybody will be competing on price and features, things that are important to the gamer rather than who has the fanciest legal letterhead.. The question becomes whether Nintendo has the foresight or the will to do so.

[oohhboy]

EA shoots itself in the Origin foot yet a again before putting said bleeding foot in mouth.

[Chozo Ghost]

I have no intention of joining EA's Origin forums, so its not likely I'm going to end up banned from using Origin. Then again, I have no real desire to use Origin either... but that's something that could happen if Origin ends up being the Wii U online experience. Imagine EA having the power to ban people from playing online games on Nintendo hardware. That wouldn't be right.

[BlackNMild2k1]

EA shoots itself in the Origin foot yet a again before putting said bleeding foot in mouth.

I'm surprised that first link didn't show up in here days ago. I was gonna link to it, but I didn't feel like looking it up again.

But I'm sure EA will not be in charge of Nintendo's Online Service.

[Enner]

EA shoots itself in the Origin foot yet a again before putting said bleeding foot in mouth.

Shouldn't be using official forums anyway. They're usually horrible. That goes with regular forums too! Ah, now I'm just being anti-social.

Electronic Arts does really stupid things. As a satisfied consumer of some of their games, it's frustrating that they don't fix what seem to be simple issues.