Nintendo Confirms Free Online Play For Wii 348
Via Gamasutra, an interview in USA Today with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime confirms that the Wii's online component will be free to play. The outspoken Nintendo advocate says "We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs."
Great Move (Score:5, Insightful)
Live will have to follow suit (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Confirmation for friend codes as well? (Score:2, Insightful)
If you've got a Nintendo DS, you probably are.
At least, thats the way people tend to think. Only little kids play gameboys, grownups play xbox games.
Wow, Nintendo. You've won me back. (Score:5, Insightful)
$200-$250 price point, fun games, and free online play. The only way they could make it more attractive is to [insert natalie portman reference here].
Not to rain on a parade... (Score:5, Insightful)
Note they didn't explicitly say "online play will be free," rather that "some online content will be free."
This still leaves the door to some subscription based services, possibly including 3rd parties. Course, some free content better than no free content.
Just seems that the general view is everything online would be free, I just don't read it like that.
Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)
I just hope that they set up the games so you can connect to random players in the same skill bracket. I don't have a DS myself, but I imagine having to go and hunt out Friend Codes so you can play online gets obnoxious after a while.
Here's his statement:
It should be noted, however, that when he says "we", he probably means only Nintendo. So, third parties may still be able to charge for their own monthly fees. We'll have to wait until the end of this month/early September to get final clarification on this.
Re:Not to rain on a parade... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Confirmation for friend codes as well? (Score:4, Insightful)
You sir, have evidently never been on X-Box Live. You'll never find a more wretched hive of foul-mouthed prepubescents.
Recently, a friend of mine said he was thinking of buying an X-Box 360. He wanted it because of the camera attachment being used in games, so he can see the other players. He thought it was cool.
My response: "I've played on Live with all the 13 year olds cussing in my ear. I don't think I want to see them."
Re:Not to rain on a parade... (Score:3, Insightful)
We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for.
It won't have hidden fees or costs.
How much clearer do you need it to be for you to understand?
Re:Seals the deal (Score:5, Insightful)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo#1990.E2.80.
"By the end of the 1980s the courts found Nintendo guilty of anti-trust activities because it had abused its relationship with third-party developers and created a monopoly in the gaming industry by not allowing developers to make games for any other platforms."
All three of these next-gen console companies are bastards
Re:Live will have to follow suit (Score:5, Insightful)
Depends. If Ninty's online service is of the same calibre as Live (instead of just a random PC-like matchmaking service) and becomes HUGE, I can see Live becoming free. But as of now MS is the only one that has proven themselves capable of making a good console online experience.
Re:Which games? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Seals the deal (Score:3, Insightful)
what's evil about that ffs?
Re:Seals the deal (Score:5, Insightful)
While I'm not naive enough to think that the bottom line isn't Nintendo's biggest concern, their recent history, combined with what they've shown about their future leads me to forgive them their past wrongs. If they manage to pull together an 85% marketshare this next-gen somehow, and then start being assholes about it, my feelings will quickly change. But I don't see that happening, so I'm not too worried.
As for how it will really pan out, I hope Sony loses big, because they really could use the sort of humbling that Nintendo has already been through. Sony has basically gotten a draw(at best) with the PSP vs. the DS, and they still don't seem to have learned anything from it. Sometimes it takes a complete stomping to make people really reflect on the decisions they've been making. And even if the PS3 completely bombed, Nintendo and MS would still have each other to keep them reasonably honest.
Re:Live will have to follow suit (Score:3, Insightful)
People, people... (Score:4, Insightful)
He did not say "we will offer all"...he just said "we will offer online-enabled games..." This guys is a *salesman* first and foremost. A salesman - i.e. what he didn't say is just as important as what he did. This is a shell game played with words and misdirection. You could say the same exact things about Microsoft's XBox Live service's "out of the box" capabilies - "online-enabled games that consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for...etc etc" All of those things are true of the XBL Silver account...you just can't play head-to-head without a gold account.
Re:Live will have to follow suit (Score:5, Insightful)
What this embargo on interplayer communication means is team oriented play is nigh impossible. You'd have to do something similar to the iconographic messages used in Phantasy Star Online, which was primarily designed to let people of different languages play together. Building up a meaningful vocabulary like that will take a lot of investment from both the designer and the players.
Re:Seals the deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Depends on if you're looking at letters of law or spirits of law.
By the letter of the law, people who host roms are giving away software which has not been released freely, and for which the copyright has not expired. I mean, it's only been 10-15 years since the SNES games were made and sold for $49.99. 15 year old books can't be given away for free.
However, by the spirit of the law... I don't see downloading ROMs as hurting someone. It isn't physically stealing, it's copyright infringement. No one is being deprived of a good or service. All of the money that has been spent on development, production, and marketing has already been spent. No additional money or effort is being spent by the copyright owners, and the games are no longer offered for sale. To me, that signals product abandonment.
This might change after the retro services offered by the Wii.
~Will
Re:Great Move (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Great Move (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Those who buy/play games because they're good, fun games
2. Those who buy/play games because they want to get the most of their monthly subscription.
I most certainly fit into group 1. I don't have the time or money to throw away not only on a subscription, but on new games to keep me from getting bored with my subscription.
Re:Seals the deal (Score:5, Insightful)
That's [amazon.com]
right. [amazon.com]
These [amazon.com]
games [amazon.com]
have [amazon.com]
been [amazon.com]
completely [amazon.com]
abandoned [amazon.com]
by [amazon.com]
Nintendo. [amazon.com]
P.S. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Live will have to follow suit (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, some of us actually prefer this. It's the really hardcore players that get into the whole "clan" thing - even instant messaging through a game console is pretty geeky. I mean you can talk about how many subscribers XBL has - you're still talking a couple million people out of a population of 300 million in this country, and it's been stuck at that same number for a long time now. (It's also counting people like me, who got a free subscription, never used it, and then let it lapse.) Online team play and online chat with random people are features for a) the very young, and/or b) the very hardcore.
I think one of the lessons you can take from the DS is that the mass market either doesn't mind, or actually prefers, to be without these features. One of the things that drove me away from XBL was just the sheer idiocy I was forced to endure, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. It got so I would actually disconnect my headset and try to play without it, but then I'd either get kicked out of games or not allowed in because you can tell who's not voice connected. So then I'd connect my headset but just leave it on the floor - worked a little better, but it's a stupid thing to have to do. The bottom line is while I want to be able to play against other people, I do not want to have to talk to or listen to them. I know I'm not alone in this - it may go against the hardcore gamer grain, but there is a lot of resistance among more casual players to being forced into this soup of mostly teenage male hormones.
I've always said that XBL is just a disaster waiting to happen. Someday, a teenage prostitution ring is going to be discovered operating through XBL and that'll pretty much be the end of that for MS. They'll be held liable, whatever their user agreement states. You can bet congress will take notice if the courts don't. Why would Nintendo want any part of that potential headache?
I think it's probably pretty smart to enable anyone to play online for free, but to sell some sort of microphone attacment to those who want it. So if you want to have your games with friends, or you want to use the service as a dating service or whatever, you can. But those of us who just want to play a quick game against a human without fuss and without having to deal with a bunch of morons can do so without being shunned because we've turned off a required piece of borg electronics.
Re:Wow, Nintendo. You've won me back. (Score:1, Insightful)
This is precisely why I haven't gotten into MMORPGs. I'll consider paying $50 for a game. I will NOT pay every month to keep playing.
Hopefully Nintendo will have so much success with this console that others stop the business model of trying to milk their customer's dry.
LK
Re:Great Move (Score:3, Insightful)
Sam's Club and Costco beg to differ.