Topic: Onlines Future

[WesDawg]

OK, so I just read this thing over at Gamespy abotu Online gaming

http://www.gamespy.com/gcn/news.shtml

Which refers to this article:

http://www.instat.com/press.asp?ID=576&sku=IN030683IA

which basically says that online is going to be profitable and is the future. They even show a graph of online gaming profits soaring in 2005. I think it's all complete bull. While I think it'd be nice to sit down at home and have someone to play SSBM all the time, I just have a feeling that there's not enough people out there ready to shell out $50 a month for broadband and another $50 - $100 a year at least for some service.  I know I can't afford it. Anyways, I guess I just curious what others think, even though I've heard a million times before. I guess I just wanted to vent. The more I've thought about it, the more I think Nintendo is smart to stay out of the online market right now.

[thecubedcanuck]

I think the olny company who has a chance at turning a profit with online is sony due to their large user base.
With 3 console companies on the go, and only a small percentage of gamers from each one using on line features I just dont see their being enough money to go around.

[BlkPaladin]

No one is saying that Online gaming won't be profitable. It just when, 2005 is a long way off. And you can lose a lot of money in the duration of two years if the interest or the capibility isn't there. This is what Microsoft knows and they know they have to money to weather it a pull it out.

Nintendo on the other hand is a game only company and can't fall face first into it. So they are starting to build and find a plan that will work. They have already made a commit to its players of trying to make any such service free for just their games. But they have to find a way to minimize the loss they are going to experience with server and upkeep costs. That is one of the reasons they brought in NDCube (IMO) to see if the Battle.net way of making free works. To sell advertising slots on the service and maybe the games. (I'm not saying that it will be as easy to hack as Battle.net because Nintendo service will more than likely be a closed network.

[Ian Sane]

Do I think that online is the future?  Yes.

Do I think that online is the present?  No because it's just not accessible to everyone yet.  But it will be someday.  And that's why Nintendo should start focusing on it now.

True online gaming isn't really profitable right now but Nintendo can't just wait until it is profitable to start.  By then Sony and Microsoft will already have a foothold in the market and Nintendo will have no chance of grabbing their own share of the market.  In 2010 when Sony and Microsoft have strong online gaming services Nintendo can't just announce that they're starting one and expect anyone to care about them.  They'll be way behind the times by then and just like their refusal to acknowledge optical medium as the future it will hurt them big time.

New endevours are not usually profitable at first but they can become profitable in the future.  The company that takes the risk in the present is the company that runs the future and the company that waits for the future is left in the past.  I assure you that Nintendo's stingy stance on online gaming WILL bite them in the ass.  They're not even showing any interest in simple peer-to-peer online games that don't require much server maintenance.

[rpglover]

i dont know if online gaming is all its cracked up to be
i mean computer online gaming is good cause you know someone is playing somewhere
but console online gaming is not so good now
a lot of people are getting into it, but i do not think it is the best thing right now
it costs a lot of money to make servers and stuff which is why nintendo is not ready to gamble yet
they always come in last for change, but usually make the best of it
i think nintendo's plan is to wait untill the time is right to jump into online gaming
it is hard to make a game in the first place, and then to integrate it online.........that takes even more work
i can bet nintendo has made experiments with online gaming (mario kart) but they probably wont show anything untill next year or e3
also i hope online gaming isn't the future
doesnt anyone find it more fun to have a bunch of friends over and play party games like ssbm or monkey ball or even timesplitters 2??
i think it is alot more satisfying to have friends over than to play online with some people you may not know

[kennyb27]

Well, first off and in my opinion, I would like to say that this article is complete speculation and cannot be read "to the letter."  This is along the lines of trying to predict the stock market.  It's just not possible, many people have mastered the art of saying "well, this is going on, and so this may happen."  Or something like prediction of the online market in general.  About two years ago, every business was investing in the "dot-com era" and then all of a sudden, it failed.  Was this the most predictable thing? No, obviously not.  All, I am saying is that the online market, especially in video games, is difficult and unlikely, at best, to predict.  Secondly, I believe that Nintendo is correct to withold from the online market.  I do not think it is profitable, and will not be for some time.  Nintendo, as a company, been around for around 100 years, some call them un-aggressive, I call it smart business.  I have stated before that Microsoft and Sony are losing money every month, and maybe even everday on their online business.  This is not going to suddenly turn around and change one day, they will have to make up this loss.  I understand Ian's argument about not having their foot in place for possible the next generation, but with the new systems, they will require new strategies anyway.  They do need to put their foot down (LAN games then slowly step up), but in an all-out way, eg. Microsoft, is just wrong.

Then again, I'm not for arguing about things such as sales and what-not, because, as gamers, it is not our place.  Just my opinion.

[BlkPaladin]

I don't think Online is the end all future of gaming. It will be a nice addition but single Player games, and true Multiplayer games will contine to be the driving force of gaming.

[PIAC]

thats how i kinda hope things will go blkpaladin, have online as an option but dont make it the be all and end all, cause its more fun with people you know and thats not my opinion its fact

[Hybrid Hunter]

I hope nintendo is looking at online stuff, maybe they'll find a way to combat the lag problem and have something like F-Zero Online!

[Ian Sane]

"doesnt anyone find it more fun to have a bunch of friends over and play party games like ssbm or monkey ball or even timesplitters 2??"

Online doesn't mean the end of multiplayer games.  Online for the most part is just an extra feature.  Timesplitters Online would still have four-player multiplayer as well as online deathmatch.  Saying that online gaming isn't a good idea because you prefer to play with friends is like someone saying that DVD is a bad idea because it's better to watch movies in theatre.  YOU CAN DO BOTH.

By the way I'm responding more to general comments that a lot of people have made when discussing online gaming.  Don't interpret this as a personal response.

[ShnozLak]

   I seems to me the best strategy would be a seprate box which would allow friends to log on to a players home servrer (possibly run on a home pc or mac) and play as the second third or fourth player in a match or copretive play in any game this dosent seem to far out of reach though it would require some new hardware. I think the online thing wolnt take off hard core on any system untill dedicated hardware and free home based singlre game servers can be established.

[Don'tHate742]

Personally if I were to chose, I would rather have LAN capabilities then online. But if both can be done.......

Also, Halo can't be played online only LAN, but many people still do........see with LAN you can always trick it to play Online. So that's why I would rather have LAN games.

[aycr]

Somewhat related and not worth a new thread I should think;


EAD Ninja on the Gaming-Age forum has reported that Animal Crossing 2 will have "online interactivity." He also mentions that it will run on a new engine, have cooperative gameplay, multi-engine gameplay, and a wide variety of enviornments, and that Nintendo is planning a late 2003 release in Japan.


Don't take this as concrete confirmation, mind you, but he has been very reliable in the past.

[VideoGamerJ]

Well, when I first thought about the idea of online gaming for consoles, I didn't think that the average buyer would be willing to go to the trouble to do it, but...

Think about how well SEGA did when they first announced SEGANET. Yes, they problably lost money because the way they did it, but it goes to show you that online gaming is an option for gamers.

Online gaming does well enough to make a decent profit. As long as you're not losing money by hosting expensive servers, etc. online gaming should gain profit.

Now, the thing to realize... Nintendo obviously wants to spectate this new area out for quite a while. It will be interesting to see how it turns out in the future. LAN gaming seems strange because picture this. 1 gamer has a broadband adapter, the 2nd gamer had a modem adapter. How will they network? Simple, the 2nd gamer has to now purchuse a broadband adapter even if he/she does not have broadband. The main fact that too many accessories have to be seperately purchused is a turn-off for consumers. The more stuff they have to buy seperately, the more likey they won't do it.

The only thing that ticks me off is developers now have Nintendo's latest development kit, and actually, they've had it for quite some time now. HOWEVER, developers are not implementing LAN or ONLINE features in their games, even though other consoles they are developing are. People will often say, it takes time, just wait a little while longer. I personally think the companies just don't want to take that extra effort to get online or LAN games out the door.

Maybe just me though...