No other company could pull the shit that Nintendo does. It has been a combination of both fanboyism and acceptance of Nintendo’s ineptitude at online gaming that has made gamers complacent to their horrible interfacing. What I am referring to is how Nintendo is using GameSpy to run their online games and that friend codes will be title specific. According to FalafelKid’s conversation with a GameSpy PR rep., your friend rosters will have to be recreated for each game you play. Similar to how the Nintendo DS works now.
Why would Nintendo do something that is so obviously out of sync with what gamers expect from “next-gen” consoles? With the comparative ease with which you can play games online with the PS3 and with the 360 it seems inexcusable for Nintendo to have such an archaic style of online play. Nintendo certainly doesn’t have the line-up that either of the consoles do and now its online support is set up in the most frustrating way possible. Suddenly paying more for a console like the 360 or PS3 doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.
Nintendo is really going to have to step it up in future console generations. I for one have been a loyal Nintendo fan since my NES, but am pained by their lack of third-party titles and horrible online ability. I forgave them for shitty N64 games, and even bought a GCN on day one, but the Wii might be the final straw. The future of gaming is through online connectivity, Nintendo needs to catch up or go the way of Sega.
Chufmoney
This article comes via 1up via Falafelkid’s Blog