SMASHERS UNITE! ... in Celebration. Brawl is Online, and I'm just paranoid ;)

[Wiseguy]

UPDATE: Hello all. I just read the website, and I'm estatic to see that Brawl WILL support online! I've never been more glad that I was wrong in my entire life. To everyone who wrote e-mails or signed my petition: I thank very musch you for your suppport. Clearly, I'm not the ony one who is passionate about Smash. I sincerely apologize if I made anyone upset or angry with my paranoid ramblings, and to everyone who told me that I had nothing to worry about: you were right. And THANK GOODNESS!

By including online play in what is already the greatest multiplayer game ever, Nintendo has proven that they care about their hardcore fans just as much as the casual crowd. (Or our money. Whatever. ) I should never have doubted as much.

I look forward to haveing my butt kicked by each and every one of you over Wi-Fi in December. See you online!

-Wiseguy

(P.S. want to read my original post for laughs? Here it is!)

SMASHERS UNITE! Brawl's Online Multiplayer is in Jeopardy! Do You Care Enough to Act?​

Like most of you, I'm a huge Super Smash Bros fan. Melee is by far my favorite game of all time, SSB 64 is a close second and Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the reason that I chose to purchase a Wii. In fact, if Brawl were the only game coming out for Wii, I would consider my purchase money well spent. Because as hyped as I am for Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy, I know that within a month of their release they will both sit ideal on my shelf collecting dust. Super Smash Bros, on the other hand, is a game that can be played FOREVER – provided you have other human beings to play against. Which brings me to the topic at hand.

After watching Nintendo's E3 Press conference (via the interweb tubes) I couldn't help but feel bummed and a more than a little outraged. It wasn't that the Press conference covered mostly casual games, because I actually thought Wii Fit looked kinda neat. It wasn't that Brawl won't be released until Decemebr 3, since I'm just relieved that the game is on track to be released this year. I wasn't even that upset at the absence of another epic Brawl trailer. As long as Sakurai continues to blow our minds with new Dojo updates, I have no complaints. Besides, I'd much rather that the team focus on finishing the game ASAP.

No, what made me outraged was that Nintendo all but confirmed that Brawl would NOT HAVE ONLINE MULTIPLAYER. In the conference, Reggie Fils-Aime (the President of Nintendo's American devision) went to great lengths to try and demonstrate that Nintendo was serious about online. He touted third party efforts like Madden and Guitar Hero III as shining examples of Nintendo's commitment to online play and unveiled Mario Kart Wii – an all new game to showcase the Wii's online play. All that was well and good, but when it came to what is undoubtedly Nintendo's most anticipated online title, Super Smash Bros Brawl, nothing at all was mentioned. If fact, not only did Nintendo go through all of E3 without mentioning “Brawl” and “Online” in the same sentence, but the mention of online is also conspicuously absent from Sakurai's Dojo updates. You can see the entire Nintendo Press Conference here: http://www.gamespot.com/video/0/6174...p=e32007_index


Obviously, Nintendo hasn't confirmed that Brawl WON'T be online, but I find it very, very odd that Nintendo is saying nil about what is widely considered to be the most anticipated feature in their most anticipated game. The conclusion drawn by many, including 1up.com > http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161020 is that the reason Nintendo hasn't been singing from the roof tops about Brawl's online mode is because there is no online mode to speak of. At the very least, Nintendo's silence on this matter at E3, and on Brawl in general, indicates that Nintendo is unclear whether Sakurai's team have time to include an online mode and still have the game completed this holiday season.

Still think I'm being paranoid? Here's Nintendo's official website: http://e3.nintendo.com/wii.html
Note that Mario Kart, Mario Strikers and Zelda: Phantom Hourglass are clearly listed as using Nintendo's Wi-fi connection. There is no mention of wi-fi multiplayer being implemented in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

Sakurai recently unveiled a full fledged single player mode for Brawl. Still no word on online.



As much as I love Nintendo, I'm not going to mince words: IF BRAWL IS NOT ONLINE IT WILL BE A SLAP IN THE FACE TO NINTNENDO FANS EVERYWHERE! The very idea that DS games like Mario Hart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Clubhouse Games, Pokemon D/P and Tetris DS can be online while Smash Bros cannot is utterly repulsive. Hardcore Nintendo fans who stuck with Nintendo through the deepest, darkest droughts of the Gamecube era need a real online game to call our own. In the face of competition like Halo 3 on 360 and HOME on PS3, anything short of an online Smash Bros would be an embarrassment of the highest order.

There are six months until Brawl’s official release date. More than enough time for Nintendo to devote whatever resources Sakurai needs to include a basic online mode of some shape or form, or delay the game until early ’08 if absolutely necessary. The purpose of this thread IS NOT FOR WHINING AND COMPLAINING. There will be plenty of time for that when and if Nintendo confirms that the game’s online has been scrapped. No, this thread is about how we, the Smash Community, can make it clear to Nintendo that online play is very, very important to us thankyouverymuch.

If you really are a fan of Smash Bros, then I issue the following three step challenge.

STEP 1: Email Nintendo of America here > http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/webform.jsp

EDIT: I'd like to extend a special thanks to everyone who emailed Nintendo Power. Unfortunately, their latest issue went to print just BEFORE E3, so we'll have to wait until their NEXT issue to see how (or if) they responded to our barrage of emails demading online in Brawl.

Now, I suggest we focus our attention on a new target: Nintendo of America.


Write how important it is to you that Brawl is online. If you don’t own a Wii, tell them that you won’t buy one unless Brawl is online (assuming you feel that way.) If you do own a Wii, tell them you would gladly wait a whole year (if necessary) for a proper Smash Bros sequel and that you’ll happily buy plenty of other Wii games in the mean time. Heck, if you can’t think of anything to say just copy this and click “send”:

“Why didn’t Nintendo announce an online mode for Super Smash Bros Brawl at E3? Isn’t the game still online? Playing Smash Bros online is REALLY important to me, and Nintendo fans everywhere, so I hope Nintendo doesn’t let us down.

Sincerely, [insert name here]”

I recommend being polite, but firm. But you can right whatever you like.

Step 2: Sign this online petition if you want online multiplayer in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Once we get enough signitures, I will send it to Nintendo of America:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/brawlmustbeonline

(For some odd reason this petition requires an email address. I'm new to this free petition site, so if you are worried about spam you might want to be wary.)


Step 3: Spread the Word

Last time, I challenged you to spread the word by PMing people on your friends list, posting a link to this thread in your sig, and reposting this challenge on other internet forums. Please do so. But if we REALY want to raise a stink, our best bet is to follow these instructions:

Please a free account on Digg.com here: http://digg.com/register

and digg this article to spread the word:
http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Nintendo_Fans_Unite_Help_us_get_Super_Smash_Brothers_Brawl_online

Digg.com is the Youtube of the written word, so if we can get enough hits we might just get some attention.

In conclusion, I trust Sakurai to make the best game imaginable, but I am concerned that Nintendo won’t give him all the time he needs – considering how much money Nintendo is making on super simple, super cheap games like Wii Play. Smash Bros is OUR game, and we can either wait until it is too late and live with an online-less Smash Bros for years to come – or we step up and fight for the series that we love so much.

May the Wavedash be with you.

- Ben “Wiseguy” Hicks

 

[mrbrightside]

Man, I tried to read it all. Too much.

On a side note in response to this:
"As long as Sakurai continues to blow our minds with new Dojo updates, I have no complaint."

I have not been blown away by any updates yet. All of these ******** confirmed threads of characters we all know are coming back are pointless. DK not coming back? Yoshi "Semi- confirmed"? STFU. He's in the game. So is Peach. So is Luigi. So is C. Falcon etc etc.

So far all we get are updates on things we know. Whats next? A profile for Snake? Give me a break. Give us the rest of the starting line up in consecutive updates and i'll be pleased. After that they can beat around the bush with stages, items, ATs and all that jazz, but in the mean time I want to get to the meat of the game. The only good update was in May of '06 with the trailer. Everthing else is a FAT dissapointment.

 

[OnyxVulpine]

....... I'm getting so confused about online...

 

[Florida]

On a side note in response to this:
"As long as Sakurai continues to blow our minds with new Dojo updates, I have no complaint."

I have not been blown away by any updates yet. All of these ******** confirmed threads of characters we all know are coming back are pointless. DK not coming back? Yoshi "Semi- confirmed"? STFU. He's in the game. So is Peach. So is Luigi. So is C. Falcon etc etc.

So far all we get are updates on things we know. Whats next? A profile for Snake? Give me a break. Give us the rest of the starting line up in consecutive updates and i'll be pleased. After that they can beat around the bush with stages, items, ATs and all that jazz, but in the mean time I want to get to the meat of the game. The only good update was in May of '06 with the trailer. Everthing else is a FAT dissapointment.

So you knew what the Gooey Bomb, Cracker Launcher, Final Smash, etc. was before the updates? You knew that Groudon was going to be a Poke'ball summoning, as that Samurai Goroh and Dr. Wright turned out to be ATs? (let alone, even know that ATs existed?). All of the updates give us information of which we didn't know already, even if it's the littlest of info, it's still something.

You're entitled to your own opinion, I can understand that. But it's a pretty good bet that you're excited about seeing the updates every morning, night, w/e. And as for the character bios of which we already know about, we have at least 100 days of updates left ahead of us, we're definitely going to get some new info that will blow your mind.

 

[a-mar]

count me as an e-mail sent

i hope this thread is not closed, i like what you are saying and i like how you are going about it.

 

[Pegasus Knight]

The lack of discussion of online play for Brawl at E3 is not necessarily indicative of much. Unless I missed something, the only info we got was about 40 seconds worth of Regis Fils-Aime talking about the game and release date, right? On top of that, we have on-the-record statements that they wouldn't discuss Brawl much at E3 after that release date was mentioned.

In all honesty, Nintendo is erratic on their PR behavior. I'm pretty sure they won't go back on something they openly promised last year. But contacting Nintendo 'just to be sure' isn't all that bad of an idea. That said, Nintendo Power's pretty much a loose satellite operation to them, not at all in position to do anything meaningful. Letters to Nintendo of America's real offices might be more useful.

 

[Wiseguy]

Man, I tried to read it all. Too much.

On a side note in response to this:
"As long as Sakurai continues to blow our minds with new Dojo updates, I have no complaint."

I have not been blown away by any updates yet. All of these ******** confirmed threads of characters we all know are coming back are pointless. DK not coming back? Yoshi "Semi- confirmed"? STFU. He's in the game. So is Peach. So is Luigi. So is C. Falcon etc etc.

So far all we get are updates on things we know. Whats next? A profile for Snake? Give me a break. Give us the rest of the starting line up in consecutive updates and i'll be pleased. After that they can beat around the bush with stages, items, ATs and all that jazz, but in the mean time I want to get to the meat of the game. The only good update was in May of '06 with the trailer. Everthing else is a FAT dissapointment.

I was just sharing my point of view. I've really enjoyed some of the updates so far (the Smashville stage really blew me away). Your milage may vary.

....... I'm getting so confused about online...

Aren't we all friend, aren't we all.

I like this thread.
I think that if the majority of us members will send our opinions and thoughts to Nintendo, then the better the chance of online play for Brawl will be.

My feelings exactly. Thanks for the support.

I can understand that it is vital to get Nintendo urged to pull through, but I will still be buying the game even if online play is not included. And I think that goes for everyone as well. We don't need to be liars to send our message through.

Good point. I've edited that part of my post with a disclaimer.

count me as an e-mail sent

i hope this thread is not closed, i like what you are saying and i like how you are going about it.

Good for you.

I too hope the MODS show mercy on this thread. Online is too important...

The lack of discussion of online play for Brawl at E3 is not necessarily indicative of much. Unless I missed something, the only info we got was about 40 seconds worth of Regis Fils-Aime talking about the game and release date, right? On top of that, we have on-the-record statements that they wouldn't discuss Brawl much at E3 after that release date was mentioned.

Yes, but he talked at length about online games for Wii and NOT ONCE mentioned Smash Bros. I hope I'm overreacting, but I don't think so...

In all honesty, Nintendo is erratic on their PR behavior. I'm pretty sure they won't go back on something they openly promised last year. But contacting Nintendo 'just to be sure' isn't all that bad of an idea. That said, Nintendo Power's pretty much a loose satellite operation to them, not at all in position to do anything meaningful. Letters to Nintendo of America's real offices might be more useful.

I know Nintendo Power doesn't make any decisions, but they can find out whether our concerns are justified.

Do you happen to know the email of Nintendo of America's head office? I can't find it for some reason...

 

[Adi]

A logical step from here would be to start an online petition so we can present hard numbers to Nintendo regarding how many people want online capabilities for Brawl.

 

[mrbrightside]

Not bashing ya Wise.

 

[Pyroloserkid]

Agreed to the fullest. I will be SURE to email Nintendo Power. Heck, I'll email them about ONCE A WEEK maybe? Anyone else think that might get the point through better? Just flood them with emails? They don't have to listen to insignificant people like us, because I'm SURE that EVERY ACTIVE MEMBER ON SMASHBOARDS WILL BUY SSBB, online play or not. We'll sulk about it for months and years to come if it doesn't have online, but we'll all still buy it, and Nintendo will still make money. They could care less whether they put in an online feature or not, because they all know we're smart enough to buy the game anyways.
Ugh, big mega-corporations are harsh.

Editing to avoid double post here: Yes SWF may have like 60k something people, but if you look at the member lists, I think about HALF of them aren't active. They probably just made accounts and then forgot about it....OR, have accounts, but have been on these boards for the longest time and got bored, so they don't show up anymore.

 

[Wiseguy]

A logical step from here would be to start an online petition so we can present hard numbers to Nintendo regarding how many people want online capabilities for Brawl.

Hmm... your right, that does sound like the best approach. How would I do that exactly? Should I just ask everyone to post whether they support online play, then compile a list and send to Nintendo?

Not bashing ya Wise.

No worries.

EDIT:

Agreed to the fullest. I will be SURE to email Nintendo Power. Heck, I'll email them about ONCE A WEEK maybe? Anyone else think that might get the point through better? Just flood them with emails? They don't have to listen to insignificant people like us, because I'm SURE that EVERY ACTIVE MEMBER ON SMASHBOARDS WILL BUY SSBB, online play or not. We'll sulk about it for months and years to come if it doesn't have online, but we'll all still buy it, and Nintendo will still make money. They could care less whether they put in an online feature or not, because they all know we're smart enough to buy the game anyways.
Ugh, big mega-corporations are harsh.

Editing to avoid double post here: Yes SWF may have like 60k something people, but if you look at the member lists, I think about HALF of them aren't active. They probably just made accounts and then forgot about it....OR, have accounts, but have been on these boards for the longest time and got bored, so they don't show up anymore.

Of course we Nintendo fans will buy Brawl regardless, but will gamers who have yet to decide which console to purchase feel the same way in light of the multitude of online games on other platforms? I'm not so sure. It is in Nintendo's best interests, in the long run, to make Brawl online at all costs.

 

[Salaad]

Man, I tried to read it all. Too much.

On a side note in response to this:
"As long as Sakurai continues to blow our minds with new Dojo updates, I have no complaint."

I have not been blown away by any updates yet. All of these ******** confirmed threads of characters we all know are coming back are pointless. DK not coming back? Yoshi "Semi- confirmed"? STFU. He's in the game. So is Peach. So is Luigi. So is C. Falcon etc etc.

So far all we get are updates on things we know. Whats next? A profile for Snake? Give me a break. Give us the rest of the starting line up in consecutive updates and i'll be pleased. After that they can beat around the bush with stages, items, ATs and all that jazz, but in the mean time I want to get to the meat of the game. The only good update was in May of '06 with the trailer. Everthing else is a FAT dissapointment.

Did you know Zelda was in? Did you know Bowsers final smash? Did you know there was BoE stage or Animal crossing stage?

That enough blows my mind. and I doubt you knew any of them were comming, mhmk?

 

[Arteen]

I really doubt that the team could stuff in online play if they weren't planning on including it. Their entire engine and architecture would not be designed with online play in mind. At worst, they would need to rewrite significant portions of the code to allow decent online performance, and that is certainly a likely possibility. If they have to redo portions of their underlying engine, then they would need to reimplement the various components of the architecture that depend on those aspects of the engine. It could get ugly, messy, and time-consuming. Besides, the team will certainly already have their hands full in the last few months of development and they won't have the resources to devote to it without having to significantly delay the game (and past the important holiday season).

Let me use an example: Halo PC/Halo:Custom Edition vs Halo 2. HPC has poor netcode, while the netcode for H2 runs the game very smoothly. Bungie released Halo as an offline Xbox title. Later, Microsoft contracted Gearbox Software to port Halo to the PC, resulting in Halo PC (and later Halo: Custom Edition). Gearbox had serious issues with implementing online play when they were developing the title. Why? None of the architecture was designed for working over a high-latency (online, non-LAN) network. They had to rewrite a lot of code to get it to function adequately, but even in the final product, online play is still buggy.

Gearbox President Randy Pitchford made a huge post on their forums addressing all the criticisms of Halo PC and why it was how was.

Regarding why the netcode was not as great as people would like it to be:
"Halo PC netcode is what it is for a reason. It had to be the way it is and any experienced and capable networking programmer would've made similar conclusions."
"As we got to the end of the project, I pushed hard. I wanted that same feel as the synched/deterministic LAN game on the Xbox. The engineers sat me down and told me the score, drew diagrams about the software architecture, the way the internet works and the challenges that they faced with the specification and they showed me why it had to be that way. The specification dictated the code and vice versa..."

Regarding how much effort it took to implement good networking code in a game not designed fo it:
"...For the last several months, the Bungie and Microsoft guys were in it just as deep as the Gearbox guys were - writing code, prioritizing tasks, etc. It was a group effort and it was pretty hard-core, non-stop - even bonding, if you can call it that."

Brawl may not be simple enough to allow great code to be written:
"Okay - Now lets compare to, say, Counter-Strike.
Counter-Strike has only hit-scan weapons. There aren't big explosions that move things around (and when things aren't around, no one else needs to care about whether or not they are in the same place). When a Warthog moves, we MUST make sure that every client knows it's in the right spot. When a guy dies in Counter-Strike (even in CS Source, which has ragdoll), none of the clients care where the body falls. It's okay for it to be different for each client.
So, they have a game design that keeps the problem from showing itself."

On the difficulty of building on top of pre-existing code
"Halo's networking system was from scratch, first generation, developed in six months by three engineers and launched into a very competitive world of PC on-line gaming with a game design that is not condusive to the inherent problems of the internet. This networking system had to be meshed into an existing C code-base that had been evolved over 10 years of Bungie games until, in it's last usage, was completely overhauled, retuned and refitted with bubblegum, duct-tape and infinite sleepless work nights specifically for the Xbox platform (which was being invented while all of this refitting was going on)."

These are the real problems real developers face. I just don't think anything will change this late in the game, so we best hope it does have online, because the decision is already made.

 

[Junpappy]

Let's just all wait until after TGS before drawing conclusions.

 

[Wiseguy]

I really doubt that the team could stuff in online play if they weren't planning on including it. Their entire engine and architecture would not be designed with online play in mind. At worst, they would need to rewrite significant portions of the code to allow decent online performance, and that is certainly a likely possibility. If they have to redo portions of their underlying engine, then they would need to reimplement the various components of the architecture that depend on those aspects of the engine. It could get ugly, messy, and time-consuming. Besides, the team will certainly already have their hands full in the last few months of development and they won't have the resources to devote to it without having to significantly delay the game (and past the important holiday season).

Let me use an example: Halo PC/Halo:Custom Edition vs Halo 2. HPC has poor netcode, while the netcode for H2 runs the game very smoothly. Bungie released Halo as an offline Xbox title. Later, Microsoft contracted Gearbox Software to port Halo to the PC, resulting in Halo PC (and later Halo: Custom Edition). Gearbox had serious issues with implementing online play when they were developing the title. Why? None of the architecture was designed for working over a high-latency (online, non-LAN) network. They had to rewrite a lot of code to get it to function adequately, but even in the final product, online play is still buggy.

Gearbox President Randy Pitchford made a huge post on their forums addressing all the criticisms of Halo PC and why it was how was.

Regarding why the netcode was not as great as people would like it to be:
"Halo PC netcode is what it is for a reason. It had to be the way it is and any experienced and capable networking programmer would've made similar conclusions."
"As we got to the end of the project, I pushed hard. I wanted that same feel as the synched/deterministic LAN game on the Xbox. The engineers sat me down and told me the score, drew diagrams about the software architecture, the way the internet works and the challenges that they faced with the specification and they showed me why it had to be that way. The specification dictated the code and vice versa..."

Regarding how much effort it took to implement good networking code in a game not designed fo it:
"...For the last several months, the Bungie and Microsoft guys were in it just as deep as the Gearbox guys were - writing code, prioritizing tasks, etc. It was a group effort and it was pretty hard-core, non-stop - even bonding, if you can call it that."

Brawl may not be simple enough to allow great code to be written:
"Okay - Now lets compare to, say, Counter-Strike.
Counter-Strike has only hit-scan weapons. There aren't big explosions that move things around (and when things aren't around, no one else needs to care about whether or not they are in the same place). When a Warthog moves, we MUST make sure that every client knows it's in the right spot. When a guy dies in Counter-Strike (even in CS Source, which has ragdoll), none of the clients care where the body falls. It's okay for it to be different for each client.
So, they have a game design that keeps the problem from showing itself."

On the difficulty of building on top of pre-existing code
"Halo's networking system was from scratch, first generation, developed in six months by three engineers and launched into a very competitive world of PC on-line gaming with a game design that is not condusive to the inherent problems of the internet. This networking system had to be meshed into an existing C code-base that had been evolved over 10 years of Bungie games until, in it's last usage, was completely overhauled, retuned and refitted with bubblegum, duct-tape and infinite sleepless work nights specifically for the Xbox platform (which was being invented while all of this refitting was going on)."

These are the real problems real developers face. I just don't think anything will change this late in the game, so we best hope it does have online, because the decision is already made.

In the latest addition of IGN's podcast Wiik in Review, Matt Casamassina stated that he heard first hand several months ago that the Brawl was working on an online mode for the game. His view is that the only reason Brawl wouldn't have online is if they couldn't make it perfect in time. You can listen to the entire post-E3 podcast here to it here: http://wii.ign.com/articles/804/804922p1.html

I don't know if a final decision has been made on online or not. But if there is chance that online multiplayer could be included I think we should try and persuade Nintendo to do so.

 

[Truegamer#1]

Agreed to the fullest. I will be SURE to email Nintendo Power. Heck, I'll email them about ONCE A WEEK maybe? Anyone else think that might get the point through better? Just flood them with emails? They don't have to listen to insignificant people like us, because I'm SURE that EVERY ACTIVE MEMBER ON SMASHBOARDS WILL BUY SSBB, online play or not. We'll sulk about it for months and years to come if it doesn't have online, but we'll all still buy it, and Nintendo will still make money. They could care less whether they put in an online feature or not, because they all know we're smart enough to buy the game anyways.
Ugh, big mega-corporations are harsh.

Editing to avoid double post here: Yes SWF may have like 60k something people, but if you look at the member lists, I think about HALF of them aren't active. They probably just made accounts and then forgot about it....OR, have accounts, but have been on these boards for the longest time and got bored, so they don't show up anymore.

I email them 4 a day, i support this thread!!!!!!!

MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT BRAWL BEING ONLINE

 

[Fastinyoh]

Hope it gets in la~

 

[cyberdemon]

You're jumping onto conclusions too fast. At this point, noone can say if brawl will be online or not.

Besides, Nintendo Power couldn't care less about the SWF community.

 

[XxDoor2DawnxX]

Hopeless cause.

 

[Octillus]

Hopeless cause.

It's a trap. He's one of them. Get an axe.

 

[Wiseguy]

You're jumping onto conclusions too fast. At this point, noone can say if brawl will be online or not.

Besides, Nintendo Power couldn't care less about the SWF community.

Yeah, I'm jumping to conclusions. But what harm will it do to try and make it clear to the big N that we're watching and we care very much that brawl is online? Nintendo Power can at least get us some answers to get us to stop flooding their inbox with emails...

Hopeless cause.

Wow. You made an account on Smashboards so you could make that gem of a first post?

 

[XxDoor2DawnxX]

Yeah, I'm jumping to conclusions. But what harm will it do to try and make it clear to the big N that we're watching and we care very much that brawl is online? Nintendo Power can at least get us some answers to get us to stop flooding their inbox with emails...



Wow. You made an account on Smashboards so you could make that gem of a first post?

That's how I roll.

 

[Junpappy]

Nintendo Power can at least get us some answers to get us to stop flooding their inbox with emails...

They won't give us answers that haven't been publicized already.

 

[Speedsk8er]

I'd also suggest that you guys hit up the Nsider forums. I'm aware that you guys don't like them but there's a time for diplomacy and a time for war. Diplomacy is now, when online is at stake. War is when we **** them online.

 

[cyberdemon]

what harm will it do to try and make it clear to the big N that we're watching and we care very much that brawl is online? Nintendo Power can at least get us some answers to get us to stop flooding their inbox with emails...

All the "big N" cares about is your $$$$.

The only ones who can decide if brawl will be online, is Sakurai and his team.
I don't think Nintendo power and NOA can do a thing about that.

 

[Paranoid_Android]

All the "big N" cares about is your $$$$.

The only ones who can decide if brawl will be online, is Sakurai and his team.
I don't think Nintendo power and NOA can't do a thing about that.

Not entirely true. I'm sure the guys at Nintendo enjoy making good games. I've not met a developer who doesn't.



... But even so. Nintendo won't be raking in the cash much longer if they leave important elements out of the games that make their consoles.


(edit: also; sent).

 

[Wiseguy]

They won't give us answers that haven't been publicized already.

Maybe we'll only get the old "we passed your conerns along and when we can't comment at this time" routine but if the NP editiors tell the powers that be: "we've got thousands of emails from people who want to know what's up with Brawl's online play" our concerns won't go completely unnoticed. At the very least, we should get at least a passing mention in Nintnedo Power's next Pulse.

And keep in mind this is only phase 1...

 

[Octillus]

Phase 2, we become columbian drug cartels that use our newfound economic strength to coerce nintendo into materializing online out of nowhere, with cocaine, cash, and columbian prostitutes. We shall call phase two, THE THREE C's!

 

[cyberdemon]

What do you got in mind for phase 3?

 

[Octillus]

Phase 4 is of course the infamous, "Profit."

How we get there, is of no concern.

 

[Wiseguy]

What do you got in mind for phase 3?

I think an online petition that we could email to Nintendo of America might be a good phase 2. For phase 3:

we become columbian drug cartels that use our newfound economic strength to coerce nintendo into materializing online out of nowhere, with cocaine, cash, and columbian prostitutes. We shall call phase two, THE THREE C's!

IT CANNOT FAIL!

Also, Speedsk8er's idea about bringing the Nsiders into the fight is not half bad. Does anyone have an account on the Nsider forums?

 

[The Black Cat]

This is possibly one of the most important threads smash boards has ever had. Not that most threads here are really "important". Unfortunately I'm friends with some who play video games, but don't play smash brothers. I pray for their safety every night. And when Brawl ever comes up in a conversation, about games highly anticipated in the future I get two responses, "well I might actually try it if it had any sort of online play" or "dude that games isn't that good, it doesn't even have online play". Now this may be just my friends, but I doubt it -_-. Online play would deffinitely sell more copies. We must all remember, Nintendo is a big company, and all big companies like money.

Also anyone with comments along the lines of "it's hopless" no point in filling this thread with superflouis comments. We've already heard what YOUR kind has to say.

 

[Adi]

There are multiple sites which allow one to create free petitions, and have the capability to count thousands of signatures. Below is an example of one.

http://www.petitionspot.com/contact

 

[kin3tic-c4jun-3]

The only ones who can decide if brawl will be online, is Sakurai and his team.

WRONG.

Every game, every movie, every book, every song...

every form of entertainment is made with the audience in mind. You forget the first rule of mass media:

Give the people what they want!

If they see that this is something that us fans want so badly, that we're making petitions and sending emails. They'll do something about it.

If the situation becomes big enough.

It's the people that say "stupid idea" or "never going to happen" that make situations like this hopeless. Because everyone isn't doing anything about this, Nintendo might say "Hey, we got enough people. We don't need to do a thing." But if everyone rallies, and makes a point about this, Nintendo will think "Holy ****, this is serious! Let's make money men!"

So having said that, I agree with OP completely, and I think it's a good idea. For all the negative people posting things here - you're not even worthy to have an account here. Harsh? Yeah, but seriously - it's like a jock showing up at a D&D session. You're not helping, and no one likes you, so leave.

 

[Octillus]

Careful there, dingleberry, people may get the idea that you have high blood pressure.

I agree with the petition, but to be honest, I'd be super annoyed if all I did was work with Nintendo, and have to deal with a flood of obnoxious emails all the time. Hell it may make me bitter, and I'm already bitter because my job is permanently viewed as a "child's hobby." No one wants that.

 

[XxDoor2DawnxX]

This is possibly one of the most important threads smash boards has ever had. Not that most threads here are really "important". Unfortunately I'm friends with some who play video games, but don't play smash brothers. I pray for their safety every night. And when Brawl ever comes up in a conversation, about games highly anticipated in the future I get two responses, "well I might actually try it if it had any sort of online play" or "dude that games isn't that good, it doesn't even have online play". Now this may be just my friends, but I doubt it -_-. Online play would deffinitely sell more copies. We must all remember, Nintendo is a big company, and all big companies like money.

Also anyone with comments along the lines of "it's hopless" no point in filling this thread with superflouis comments. We've already heard what YOUR kind has to say.

What is MY kind?

 

[Truegamer#1]

I just did Phase 1 & 3
but not phase 2, best thing i can do is tell my friends on myspace...

 

[Wiseguy]

There are multiple sites which allow one to create free petitions, and have the capability to count thousands of signatures. Below is an example of one.

http://www.petitionspot.com/contact

Thanks a ton. Here is the petition:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/brawlmustbeonline

Anyone who doesn't sign is dead to me.

 

[goodkid]

I'm sure their will be online play. It could already have online play, but their keeping mouths closed until release.

 

[Teben]

This sort of IS a hopeless cause, unfortunately.

If Sora has not been allotted the time to enable online for smash, or has not already completed that aspect of it, the chances of it being included at this point are EXTREMELY unlikely. Nintendo wants this game out for the holidays, and has chosen an interesting release date (dec 3rd) which allows Sora some extra time for development and still manages to make this a hot item for Christmas time.

It is IMPERATIVE that Nintendo make a BIG BANG at Christmas time when Microsoft is hitting distributors with titles like Halo 3 and GTAIV. Smash will most likely not be delayed at ANY COST.

Sakurai, being the dedicated developer he is, will most likely be making sure that Smash is up to snuff at it's core more than anything else. The final three months or so before release will most likely be dedicated to balancing issues and debugging, leaving a mere 2.5 or so months to implement an online feature if they haven't already.

Hope instead that Online was one of the reasons Smash has been delayed as much as it has already.