Playing on the Go

Sony off-handedly made a statement last week that they would be making
a skype for the psp handheld gaming system. My response….nice
thinking sony, you just killed the only edge the mylo had over the
psp, the unpopular mylo costing around $200 compared to the psp’s $120
price tag.

In this move by Sony, they slapped mylo owners in the face and gave
the victory to the homebrew kiddies because they’re really the only
ones still using the, what was it called? PORTABLE GAMING System! When
it came out that was the intention I got no idea what mechanized
horror it has mutated into. Maybe I’m being harsh but it’s the harsh
truth.

I myself am a semi-proud owner of one of these purpose-confused
buggers and am still considering a downgrade to run homebrews. I
scoured the Internet to find a decent voip app but failed the hunt.
This news of SONY supported voip might actually drive me to dust off
my PSP now turned bookend and start chatting with some skype
buddies but don’t hold your breath….

I highly frequent Digg.com, mostly because of the wealth of offbeat information, and specifically related to this site, the rate of gaming news. Users don’t update the site with gaming news on a continual basis as sites such as this or others like it are prone to do, but if there is big news to be had, it’s always fine to expect to see it on there first if indeed the site is your first stop on the innerweb.

That said, the users who have a high rate of promoted stories seem to be wont to submit stories about companies and ideological subscriptions that they are loyal to. Which usually tend to be related to companies such as Nintendo, Apple, or even presidential candidates such as Ron Paul (which is a topic for another site altogether). It’s just a generally accepted fact, or should be, that you are more likely to see a story about Nintendo linked to as opposed to one about Microsoft or Sony. Case in point. Nearly every Virtual Console release or Nintendo Wifi Connection announcement is promoted to the front page. Should every similar bit of news related to the PSP or XBox 360 be promoted similarly, these announcements would visually and continually dominate the front page, leaving almost no space for any other news of any kind. Of course, comments left on these stories are usually indicative of the conflicts of interest concerning these topics. You’ll find the fanboys praising Nintendo’s every move, and then you’ll find the seasoned 360 veterans who casually pass off the news, reminding everyone else that they’ve had better features on their system for quite some time now.

That leads into the obvious question. Why? Why do these moves by Nintendo naturally garner more press than the further strides that other companies have already made. There’s not one simple concrete answer, nor should one really be expected. Firstly, Nintendo has played the game very cooly. They seem to be self aware that they have been left behind when it comes to online functionality and market each step forward as if this is the first time the industry has seen such a thing. To Nintendo loyalists, it truly is. The way they marketed games such as Mario Kart DS a few years ago played very well to the main demographic it was seeking. Nintendo WiFi was new for the DS then, and DS owners jumped all over it. The second bullet is comparable to the first in that Nintendo loyalists have been conditioned to treat each online enabled announcement as “Megaton”. It isn’t simply a ho-hum affair as with the PSP or 360. Each new announcement is a bombshell.

Thirdly, and lastly for the purposes of this article, is probably the most important point. Each Nintendo IP has gained a certain mystique by not going online. Bear with me here. The release of Phantom Hourglass will mark the first time that a Zelda title has gone online. A huge step for fans of the series. Also, a true Mario title has never gone online. However, there are rumors and whisperings that Mario Galaxy on Wii may have select WiiConnect24 features. This would also be equally huge. Nintendo has basically assured themselves that once a core IP makes the jump to online, both fanboys and press will cover it very, very closely.

Is it fair in relation to other companies who are way ahead of the game? No way. But the same marketing approach that befuddles and frustrates fans of the company is what keeps Nintendo in the forefront. Should Nintendo have been as outright as they with the Wii and DS, it’s likely that each wouldn’t be the top seller as of now.

nintendo, online, wiiconnect24, wificonnection, zelda, mario

A recent posting at a message board that I frequent begs the question. Can and will the newly redesigned PSP bring about new sales for the quickly fading system? Further investigation on the same message board thread would go to show that the majority of users say yes. But by looking deeper into said thread, that majority seems to be infatuated with the system by way of homebrew. Which would seemingly go to show that perhaps the system is popular, but in ways that Sony doesn’t primarily intend.

My hypothesis is that there are two main audiences that Sony should focus on. Whether they have already or not is up to debate, but these are the groups that are actually pushing sales of the PSP at a modest pace, despite the fact that game sales and publications are slow. The first are the comparably uneducated when it comes to consumer technology. These are the parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who will buy their kid the latest and greatest technology simply because of that. The actual technical specifications or products available for the system are irrelevant, simply because little Johnny across the street has one and their brat kid doesn’t. The second group are the tech elite. These are the guys who buy a PSP for a few Final Fantasy games, but then spend the rest of their time with the system experimenting with homebrew.

Now, Sony has done the smart thing to do when it comes to business and has forced the issue on the first group. However, they’ve severely neglected the second. Anti-homebrew measures via firmware upgrades have caused annoyances for the homebrew community, but it stops there. Further attempts at blocking this sort of modification simply creates challenge for the community that does little more than tempt them into doing what Sony claims is impossible. Why not embrace this? Why does Sony continually intend to shoot themselves in the foot by playing a game of tag that they can never win? Despite the fact that they continue to try to bar this activity, promises of homebrew push sales. More so than a redesign does.

The redesign will ultimately give PSP sales at least a slight push. Consumers are infatuated with sexy technology. Why do you think so many people buy a new iPod each year, regardless of the fact that what they have is fine? The new PSP is sexy, which will do just that. For a time. Should Sony intend to truly drive sales in the long term, they would do well to focus more on the tech elite crowd and pleasing them instead of pushing and pulling on a game of tug of war that gets them nowhere.

psp, redesign, pspslim, playstation, sony

As pointed out just a few days ago, the Nintendo DS is selling like crazy. I’d normally insert some ambitiously witty comment here to help demonstrate how well the handheld is truly selling, but there’s nothing that can be said to fully explain it. Should the sell rate continue as it is, there shall be no man, woman or child on the planet without the Nintendo DS. Okay, well maybe that is stretching it a little, but you get the idea.

But here’s the thing. If you were to ask any DS owner who has also been a loyal Nintendo customer of many years as to how Nintendo is utilizing the system and its capabilities, they would likely prefix the answer with the “under” qualifier. While the company has at times tried new things with the system such as DS Download Stations, the DS Browser, and a downloadable kiosk at Seattle Mariners games, the system hasn’t had the extras that past Nintendo portables have. The Game Boy Color actually had a digital camera and a printer that you could buy. It was cheap technology, but technology that was far ahead of the curve at the time. Sadly, Nintendo has yet to really explore truly innovative ideas with the system.

Nintendo fans aren’t really looking for true innovation, however. Plow around on the web concerning the subject and you’ll quickly find that what is most commonly demanded is an equal of the DS Download Station in Wii form. Or a way to play Wii Virtual Console games on the DS. During the early stages of the introduction of the Wii, Nintendo vaguely hinted at these sorts of possibilities. But aside from that, there’s been no indication of when to expect such a thing or even if it will actually exist someday. Given the enormous sell rate of both the Wii and the DS, you’d think that this would be inevitable. The combination of the PSP and PS3 is able to do exactly this. Yet, the combination of DS and Wii is only around three hundred dollars less than that, meaning that the package will already be guaranteed to exist in more homes already. Plus, you’d think that if such a feature were available, Wii owners without a DS would be compelled to purchase one.

To sum it up, it needs to happen. And pretty soon. Nintendo loyalists are getting pretty antsy about getting this type of service, and frankly, Nintendo is running out of reasons to not do it. Nintendo is obviously one to innovate and surprise, given the Wii. But hopefully the company will not forget to think outside the box with the hardware already available to consumers.

nintendo, nintendods, nintendowii

IGN had a nifty little feature a week or so ago detailing the life so far of the DS Phat / Lite and where Nintendo can take the system from here. They also ask the pivotal question of what is to come after the DS. Specifically, theorizing on what Nintendo may have in store for the DS 2. Or whatever it will eventually be called. While one of the editors claim that the system has “peaked”, I’d have to disagree. While the mantra was long “…and Pokemon hasn’t even been released yet” prior to the launch of Diamond and Pearl, there are still some blockbuster games on the horizon for the system. Namely, Phantom Hourglass. From the looks of it, the new Zelda will be the pinnacle of the DS library. But after that in November, yeah. The good ship DS will have peaked. We’ll still get good games, mind you. But that means it will be high time to look forward to what Nintendo has in store in regards to the handheld line in the future.

First of all, Nintendo would be crazy to not keep the same philosophy as the DS. The quirky and casual games rampant on the system has brought in tons of new players, which have become arguably the target audience of the platform. That in mind, it will have to remain at least a dual screen system with at least one screen remaining touch sensitive. And speaking of touch sensitivity, I assume that most of you have seen at least one of the half dozen iPhone commercials in the past few weeks. Wouldn’t that sort of usability be great in the next DS? Specifically, the ability to use multiple pressure points and the option to use the tip of your finger. Still though, let’s keep the stylus around for pinpoint control when needed.

When it comes to internal features, I think the success of WiFi Connection warrants some extra usability in that regard. A built in Opera browser akin to that available on the Wii would be great. And if we must keep the friend codes, why not just use one friend code per DS, where one code would apply to all games associated with that console? Or does that make too much sense? Some G3 cell phone capability would be nice too. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy. Perhaps a one megapixel camera, RSS readers, stuff like that. But of course you have to balance features with price point. So while some of these sorts of things would be great, it may drive the price up to a point that would make it less of an impulse buy for Granny to buy it for Jimmy for a birthday present.

But that’s just my wish list. There’s more than likely some cool possible features that I haven’t dreamed of. If you have any ideas, drop them off in the comments.

nintendods, nintendo, zelda, phantomhourglass

Just a few years ago when some friends and I were of the age when we were just starting college, we would set aside every Monday night as “Vidgie Game Night”. Yes, we really called it that. I’m not really sure how that alteration of the word came about, but we still use it to this day. Around seven or eight o’clock, when most guys our age were about to watch Monday Night Football or Monday Night Raw, we were firing up the Gamecube or PS2. To be honest, most of our Vidgie Game Nights centered around just a few games. Mario Kart, Mario Party, and James Bond: Nightfire. And they were always a blast to play.

All three of those games allotted for some really cool three and four player multiplayer games. The multiplayer mode on Nightfire, specifically. Which I think we all still feel is a wholly unappreciated gem. As none of us took interest in the original XBox, that game was our Halo. Many times, we would have sessions on that game going for two to three hours and we never grew tired of it.

Don’t laugh, young’uns. This was THE game of 2003.

Here it is a few years later, and we’ve all gone sort of our separate ways and only get to see each other on the weekends every now and then. This past week, we’ve been getting in touch with one another trying to organize another Vidgie Game Night. The thing is, it’s just sort of odd to crash at our parents house and take over our old bedrooms or living rooms to claim it for either a Gamecube or Wii. But thankfully, each of us has our own respective Nintendo DS. Meaning we can take Vidgie Game Night anywhere we want it to be.

Sure, we could have done this during the age of the GBA, but that just would have been a monumental hassle in light of connection cables that hardly ever worked. Not to mention that thanks to WiFi communications available to both the PSP and DS, developers have been able to push out some pretty awesome mobile multiplayer games. We’ve still got Mario Kart available to us, anywhere we want it. There’s no Nightfire for the DS, but there’s always Metroid Prime: Hunters to do the trick. (Although I’ll always miss the Remote Seeker Missile weapon. That gun was awesome.)

I still think there’s good progress to be made in the area of mobile multiplayer games. Yes, there’s always the WiFi Connection, but there’s just something to be said of being the same space with a bunch of your friends. I’m sure that a game like Mario Party DS (should there ever be one) would be fun online, but it’s just not the same experience if you aren’t participating in the “party” part of it with your friends.

nintendods, gamecube, mariokart, marioparty, nightfire, mobile

To think of it, the PSP had every factor on its side. It’s obviously a much more powerful system, has arguably cooler functionality, is capable of playing all sorts of multimedia and so on. But yet the Nintendo DS has laid it on its lap and gave it the whippin’ of its life. What could have happened? In such a tech obsessed society where we are out of place without a bluetooth device crammed in our ear or an iPod under 2 GB, how could a superior tech device be so beaten out by a less capable and quirkier competitor?

I think there are a number of reasons, of which I’ll go over what I feel are the most important. The most important of which is the “intimidation and acceptance” factor. When I use the term “acceptance” in this context, it applies to both gamers and non-gamers. For instance, it is much easier for a Sony fan to accept the PSP on face value, and vice versa for the Nintendo fan. That’s a given. But what about for the non-gamer? For the tech-challenged, the PSP may seem intimidating. It has a ton of features and sort of a confusing interface. The DS less so. It’s very straightforward. The intimidation factor is much less. The device itself is very friendly looking and offers only a few features, of which it does very well.

The other is the “newness” factor. In relation, the PSP really doesn’t offer anything new. All of its cool functionality is available on higher end cell phones, and of course the PS2, which of course millions of families already have in their homes. On the other hand, the DS offers an entirely new way of play, which interests and compels people. Plus. the much cheaper price point doesn’t hurt in satisfying this curiosity.

There are many factors other than these, of which of course we’ll cover here in the future. Even after the PSP practically could have already raised the white flag, it’s still incredibly interesting to see how much The Little System That Could has fared so well in the market.

psp

What you see above may seem like an ordinary screen shot of Mario Kart DS, but seasoned veterans of the game will easily realize what the player of this paticular game is setting up to do. He or she is setting up to “snake“. This was usually referred to as “powersliding” back in my day of Mario Kart 64, but apparently the vocabulary has changed in around ten years.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, it is a method of getting a very quick speed boost in which the player slides back and forth before triggering the maneuver. It’s a trick of moderate difficulty that yields moderate results. However, many players that play the game over Nintendo WiFi seem wont to do this trick for the entirety of each track. In the opinion of this blogger, it’s incessant and annoying.

In theory, the Nintendo WiFi system pairs players together of equal skill, but it still does not seem to separate the snakers and the non-snakers. Frankly, it’s a problem that heavily segments the MKDS population into two, making the online experience pretty much unplayable for the latter half of those who partake in it. You are either a compulsive and obsessive gamer who chooses to snake the entire time, or you casually play as ideally normal. In my experience, this is a problem that presents itself in all of its hideousness nearly two thirds of the time when connecting to Nintendo WiFi. It also rears another problem. Many players, after realizing they’ve matched up with a snaker, drop out of the contest. Which of course usually leaves the snaker unable to complete the game since they are at it alone.

The point of this rant is this… We’d all do better for each other and would make the online experience worlds better if we would all practice a little more etiquette in online gameplay. There’s never a need to “own” all of the other platers because they can’t keep up with you, nor is it polite to drop out of a match that you’ve already committed to by joining. Both practices are very rude, and would make for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone if they were avoided at all costs.

mariokartds, nintendods, snaking

A while back, IGN had a really nice feature about the future of Wii Channels. One of the things that they mentioned was the possibility of a DS Download Channel. That article was published back in January, and here it is the latter part of May and we’ve yet to hear anything about such a feature.

In fact, we’ve yet to hear anything about any connectivity between the Wii and the DS aside from a few features in Pokemon Battle Revolution. In theory, there should be a lot going on. Both the Wii and the DS are WiFi compatible. And we do know for a fact that they can easily communicate with each other because of the fact that the upcoming Pokemon game is able to do it. Communication transmission can actually run both ways. Players of the new Pokemon games for DS will be able to upload their Pokemon to the DS and be able to use them within the new Wii game.

That capability is out there… But where’s the beef? Surely Nintendo knows that a lot of Wii owners also happen to be DS owners. And I’m sure they’d like to get some demos of DS games in the hands of end users. They’ve already been doing it with DS Download Stations in a ton of stores pretty much everywhere.

It’s probably coming, but it’s more than likely going to be a while. The Gamecube and GBA connectivity didn’t come around until the last third of the life of the Gamecube. Hopefully, with the wireless capabilities and the lessons learned from last time, that connectivity for this generation will come around a little sooner. At least I hope it’s a little sooner. That’s an itch Nintendo needs to scratch pretty soon.

wii, ds, connectivity, wifi