🚀 go-pugleaf

Charles Doane <gdo...@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:<3CB07D6A...@mindspring.com>...
> Bent Leads wrote:
> > Interesting.  I agree on a few of your points, disagree on others.
> > For example, I don't think the whole "spontenaity" argument holds.
> > I'm guessing you've played online Dreamcast and there is no big
> > waiting period with the popular games.  AFO is pretty much click to
> > connect then play.
> 
> That works for the popular games, but I've had very little luck finding
> opponents on The Next Tetris online.  You can almost hear the chirping
> of cyber-crickets in the lobby.
> 

What difference does that have to do with spontaneity?  No, it's more
a matter of user base.  As in, the online DC community is small.  But
it's not necessarily a cause and effect relationship.  Even the
popular games have a relatively small user base.  I think it says a
lot more about the problems that Sega had in promoting the DC than it
does that online console gaming can't be spontaneous.  Everything out
in the general public is promoting that DC was and is DOA (dead on
arrival, not the game).  So it's understandable that there won't be
people rushing to play DC online in droves.

And besides, it's online Tetris.  It's not like that sort of thing is
taking over the online PC gaming world, either.

> Part of the reason I pointed out the "spontaneity" of console games
> is from my experiences online with titles such as NFL2K2, NBA2K2 and
> Bomberman Online.  The majority of those games tend to be very short,
> almost arcade short.  I've never seen anyone actually set up a full
> length hour-long game and play that way (not to say it doesn't happen,
> but it's not usual).  The longer a game is, the greater the chance
> that an opponent will drop out for one reason or another.  AFO and
> several RPG-style games work around this by using a sort of "drop and
> insert" format in which anyone can leave or join at any time.
> 

So you're saying that people will only play online console games if
they can easily drop into a game?  And how is that any different from
the PC market?  As you say, AFO has spontaneity, therefore it is
moderately successful online.  Likewise, the most popular PC games are
the ones that are easy to drop into.

> Console games aren't especially well suited to games which allow
> that, as FPS's are weak on consoles, RPG's which allow it tend to
> be a strength of PC's as well (PSO has been called a Diablo clone
> more than a few times) and so consoles aren't offering anything
> (yet) which can't be done better on a PC.  Now, if someone could
> pull off a fighter (like DOA2's tournaments) online, that would
> be something, but the latency will kill it.

I disagree, in fact console games are more likely to be of the "pick
up and play" variety than most PC games.  And FPS's were weak on
consoles about 3 years ago (ie, before Goldeneye).  Now there are
plenty of respectable FPS's on consoles.
 
> > I don't really see the whole "tying up the TV" argument, either.
> > Anyone that plays videogames ties up the TV whether they are playing
> > online or not.
> 
> Right, but they can stop instantly once Grandma wants to watch
> "Matlock" or some such thing.  If the kid starts crying about one
> more level or another half hour, that'll be the end of the online
> gaming in that house.
> 

How is this any different than it is offline?  Kids playing console
games are not going to easily surrender the TV for Matlock whether
they are online or off.

> Sony's supposedly going to try with an add-on modem/broadband adapter
> but if it costs much more than $35 or so, I think it's doomed.  It's
> the old catch-22.  Nobody will make games for something nobody is
> buying, and nobody will buy something nobody is making games for.

Agreed, I think Sony will have a tough sell for an add-on online
gaming device for PS2.  However, I still think if Sony had included
online capability out of the box for PS2, they would be enjoying some
success right now.  Certainly far more than Sega did with DC.  Again,
I think Sega's online problems with the DC were more from a public
opinion/promotion standpoint than the fact that online console gaming
can't be successful.