Nintendo Goes Wireless

This is the copy that ran in the Daily Cardinal today.
By Jason Ducat

Mario Kart for the Nintendo DS launched this week, marking Nintendo’s first serious foray into the online gaming environment. The Wi-Fi enabled DS system allows racers from all over the world to compete in what is almost an anthology version of the Mario Kart franchise. Several more games promising online play for the DS are scheduled for release within the next few months. But is Nintendo’s recent push into the web too little too late? Can online gaming bring Nintendo back to prominence in the home console market?

There are several reasons why the Nintendo DS will succeed online. To begin with, Nintendo is going online with a console that was designed for wireless internet play from the beginning. Similarly, the most successful online home console has been the Xbox, which was also built from the start with online play, unlike the PS2 and GameCube which required the purchase of modems and never had a sound online plan.

But an online plan is exactly what Nintendo has. Nintendo Wi-Fi is a joint venture between Nintendo and a handful of other companies that will offer wireless hotspots all over the country, and the infrastructure will also reach into all wireless-enabled homes. Nintendo Wi-Fi is also the plan that will be implemented when the Revolution comes out later next year. It’s similar to Xbox Live, but free.

But perhaps the largest reason Nintendo will succeed is its peerless gaming franchises that have yet to be played online. Mario Kart is the premier non-sim racing game, and it finally has a chance to be played the way it always should have been. Super Smash Bros. screams internet play. And don’t forget the unusually quirky “community” game “Animal Crossing.”

But there are also several reasons why online gaming may not save Nintendo. Nintendo is clearly in last place as far as the home market goes, and it’s too late for the GameCube. Nintendo has long dominated the handheld market with the GameBoy line, but today that isn’t translating into the kind of success they had in the old NES and SNES days.

And let’s not forget that online gaming is a bonus only some games have. Playing online, for the most part, is still a niche market. Most consoles are not played online and most games do not take advantage of these features. Xbox Live is the gold standard by which Nintendo’s online plans will be judged. And as flawlessly as Microsoft has executed Live, they still trail Sony in overall market share.

So will online play save Nintendo’s home console and give them the decisive edge in the handheld market? Probably not. Winning this war will take a number of things: online play, software, hardware, third party support, etc. Becoming dominant again isn’t as simple as going online, but not having to pay for a gaming service could signal a shift in the industry down the road. It seems as though Nintendo is finally doing something better than Microsoft and Sony. I just hope it works.

Game Creativity v. Final Fantasy

Every time a new game gets a good review the reviewer always seems to mention that the game "revived a genre" or "reinvented" something. These are both absurd and true accusations. What these games really did was try something new and got it to work, something games don’t try enough of these days. One can only circle-strafe and shoot Nazis so many times before it becomes tiresome. Today games suffer from a lack of creativity, so when one breaks out a little bit we tend to notice.

Creativity was once the industry's life-blood has taken a backseat to the almighty dollar. Back in the good old days when games were more easily developed and for cheaper game houses could do crazy things they thought were fun and not worry. Today every game is trying to be a blockbuster with voice acting, cut scenes, huge budgets, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with having good production values, but time and time again we've seen amazing looking games fail miserably because despite everything they had going for them ultimately they were just not fun to play.

We must acknowledge that fact that game making is a business. Game makers wouldn't make games if they couldn't make some money on them. So to hedge their bets developers are opting for tried and true methods of play, as opposed to taking a chance and losing money.

As a result, the gaming landscape of today is a never-ending sea of licensed schlock and sequels. Not that the games are bad. Most are average, but the fun of discovering something really unique and enjoyable takes considerably more effort than it used to.

The Final Fantasy series represents this concept more than any other franchise. This is one of video games oldest and most hallowed franchises. It has spanned most generations of consoles and is practically the benchmark by which other RPGs are measured. As good as the games are, though, next spring will mark the 12th installment of the series. Frickin' twelve!

It's supply and demand, though, and if people would stop buying Final Fantasy games they'd stop making them, but Final Fantasy knows how to market itself and the familiar name and quasi-familiar gameplay of each edition make it a no brainer for consumers. Final Fantasy will succeed sequel after sequel because of its pedigree. This is what makes the industry bad. Consumers won't take the time to do any research on their games, and at $50 a pop it's too expensive to take chances on new games. Familiar licensed products and sequels, like FF, are driving the creativity down.

But Final Fantasy also offers a glimmer of hope. Each game in the series is entirely different from the others, aside from sharing part of its title and a few in-jokes. As such, there's no pressure to maintain story arc or characters across multiple games. This gives the developers a fresh start every time they embark on another Final Fantasy game. It also means they can add new features, change the look, and tweak other aspects of play and not have to worry about whether their game will succeed or not.

The guaranteed success the game will have allows more freedom to pursue new types of play, as opposed to the success a game hopes to guarantee by being as much like a successful game as possible. It's a freedom few franchises have.

Is there hope? Absolutely, but it rests with us; the consumers. If you want changes and new types of games think before you pick up Grand Theft Auto Clone IV and try something quirky like Katamari Damacy. But if you really like your games the stagnant and boring and feel spending $50 on the same game of Madden you bought last year is worthwhile then go ahead, you sheep.

Click here for the Daily Cardinal edited version

Breaking and/or entering

After the fire drill a couple weeks ago management closed the common room on the 9th floor so that the people who's stuff go wet could let their stuff dry in there and it wouldn't be disturbed. After they took the stuff out, however, they kept the doors locked. This blocked my, and everyone else's I suppose, entry to the two front balconies and the secret entrance to the 11th floor terrace that I knew about.

Feeling particularly randy tonight I decided to see if I could find another way in. The common room area spans floors 9, 10, and 11 to some extent and its entrances are thus; two from the 9th floor elevator lobby, a door in the stairwell on the 10th floor that grants access to the 10th floor entry as well as the stairs to the 11th floor entry, and another door in the stairs on 11 that lead outside to the terrace. This totals six locked doors to compete with, all of which are opened from the other side and are blocked with Latch-Gard technology (scoff).

The two doors in the 9th floor just outside the elevators were dead-bolted. No way was I getting in there until I order my lock picking set. I moved to the 10th floor stair door. After studying it I went back to my apartment to think. Then it hit me. I grabbed a flat-head screwdriver, a shoelace, and my fingernail clippers. Using these tools, in a manner I won't specify here, I managed to open the 10th floor stair door and then the common room door beyond that on 10.

Having regained access to the common room, balconies, and patio I rejammed a few select doors so they wouldn't latch upon close and returned home content in the knowledge that I'm really good at breaking into places.