Topic: Why did Nintendo not give Wii Sports online multiplayer functionality?

[RampanT]

The more I play Wii Sports, the more I wonder why Nintendo did not include online multiplayer functionality for the game.

Especially with games like Bowling and Golf - which are basically turn based games and would work perfectly over a network.
To have this game online, with scoreboards/leaderboards and tournaments would just have been massive I think. They just HAVE to consider this for any sequal they make.

Anyone agree?

[KnowsNothing]

Nintendo had to give third parties a chance  With online Wii sports I wouldn't even play Zelda.

[Kairon]

Something tells me that their network for simultaneous play isn't done...

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[BlackNMild2k1]

A Sequel is probably why they didn't include online in the first place. The first time around is to get friends and family involved and hopefully they'll buy the Wii, the second time around (now you are purchasing it seperately) they give more options and probably more games.

We all know Nintendo would love to have as many franchises that they could update incrementally and charge us full price for yearly. What better game to add to the Mario Party Mix than Wii Sports?
Online leader boards in atleast the friends circle does seem a little to easy to not implement.
Nintendo, make it happen.

[NeoThunder]

you have to admit though, if you could go out, buy a Wii, and take it home and right out of the box play Wii Sports, and play online with friends and others.  That would have been a very powerful sale.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Quote
Originally posted by: NeoThunder
you have to admit though, if you could go out, buy a Wii, and take it home and right out of the box play Wii Sports, and play online with friends and others.  That would have been a very powerful sale.

Imagine how powerful of a sale it will be during Holiday '07

[Requiem]

F@ck that. SSBB is all you need.

Ohh.....but both of those together would be even more enticing. Plus, it would signify that Nintendo is serious about online and gaming both with and without the wiimote.

[couchmonkey]

I think Nintendo is just being its conservative self.  Get the system out, then do one online game in one country (Pokemon) to test the waters, then start selling it in other countries, then add more online games.  

Don't forget Nintendo also had its hands full with a worldwide launch.  360 is the only other system to attempt that, and I think Wii had better supply, plus it launched in a few countries that 360 missed until 2006  (eg. Mexico and Guatemala).  Considering how big MS and Sony are, and that Sony is a hardware manufacturer in and of itself, Nintendo did a great job.

[ryancoke]

Maybe nintendo can update wiisports to be able to play online. It would be easy for them to release an online patch that would be stored on the internal memory.  Or even if they sold a seperate wiisports disc for like $10 that had online functionality built in. I would buy it.

[Pale]

I predict not only a sequel, but a separate game that is a deluxe version of each sport.  If they add some skill up / rpg elements to our Miis and flesh out each sport with online play and more features, they could sell each at 50 bucks...

Wii Sports Tennis DX - $50
Wii Sports Golf DX - $50
Wii Sports Bowling DX - $50
Wii Sports Boxing DX - $50
Wii Sports Baseball DX - $50

cash cow  

[NWR_pap64]

I think the official excuse for the launch titles not having any online elements is because they didn't have their online kits ready for launch. True, they were able to make Pokemon Battle Revolution online but as SB told me the game is turn based  so they can easily turn it into an online game. If the game was more action based they it would've taken them a while to release it.

[Nick DiMola]

I guarantee that Nintendo will capitalize on a sequel (or sequels as Pale as shown) to Wii Sports with plenty of online goodness. Wii Sports is a huge hit and for Nintendo to just give us online capabilities for free at this point would probably be the equivalent of burning money for them.

I'm also guessing that when the Wii came out they weren't quite ready to conquer the whole online frontier. (read: The system wasn't ready).

[segagamer12]

its all lies, they only didnt inlcude online now like already mentiond because they want to release a online versions down the road. Well thats what WE want them to do but they may not cuz they are stuborn.

The wholke onine kits not ready is bullsh!t. they SAID it was ready at E3 and that we shoudl have online games at launch ebcause DS had been online a year when Wii wa launched and they said they were ready to go then. THey reniged that and said it wasnt ready. It is because they knew that the VC and Mii swapping was going to bog down thier servers and they dint want the extra load till they get stuff figured out.  

[JonLeung]

I always wondered how much a patch to a console game can add to it.

I suppose if a console game's disc is programmed to check for a particular update file on the onboard flash memory when it boots up, that would be how it would work.  (I guess I'm too used to seeing updates to PC games where the entire game, or most of it, is installed on a hard drive and an update replaces or modifies key files right there - with a console game you'll always have v1.0 on the disc itself so wouldn't updates be handled differently?  That's why I had to think about it for a second, I don't have either of the Xboxes, if their games were patchable.)  Then I guess it's just limited to the size of the update additions.  But since the Wii doesn't have a large hard drive like the Xbox 360 and PS3, I'm guessing we won't see things like entire new missions or stages for many games, and even so, they wouldn't be able to add much to the infrastructure, i.e. I imagine that if Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is to have future multiplayer "added" to it that most of it should already be on the disc.

But yeah, a separate purchase of an online-ready Wii Sports seems more likely than a possible patch.  

[segagamer12]

I am all for it but I doubt they will do it, but they could proive me wrong so who knows.

[Spak-Spang]

I think it has to do with the nature of the games development.  They were fleshed out demos designed to enhance sports with Wii functionality and learn what the system can do.

I agree I think the Nintendo online infrastructure may not be ready, but I don't think that is the only reason.

[JonLeung]

Well, the game sells Wii consoles worldwide, sells well in Japan, is E3 2006's best sports game, is TIME Magazine's game of the year...

Doing so well offline, you'd have to admit, if you ran Nintendo, and you expected such a response, you'd save online functionality and other features for future games too.

Nintendo's always tried to avoid cookie-cutter sequels...even the most "guilty" franchise, Mario Party, tried/tries to add things like day/night, microphone, eight-player, and all-new games, etc.  If there was a fully-fleshed out sports game right from the start, they'd have less to add to another one.

[Kairon]

Their online kits WEREN'T ready. Reports from before launch were that third parties were getting those kits in early 2007. And PBR is so simple it could be played through friggin' e-mail, or worse yet, may even be piggybacking on the DS network!

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[segagamer12]

3rd parties being the key there, Nintendo could have had thiers a long time o, they DID say they would be online at launch and when launch came they said no online at launch.