Wii want 4-player, Nintendo can't deliver

Dreamcast does what Nintendon't?

Wii definitely has LAN capability. No cables even required. This was demonstrated at Leipzig, where people played Mario Strikers and Battallion Wars against one another over wireless LAN.

Since no extra accessories are required, games are much more likely to actually use the feature.

I just see it this way; for a controll with a nunchuck that's £45 so three are £135 plus the Wii itself Makes £315 and that's without games! now, taunting people with lots of 4 player games when you would have to spend more than £350 at launch to buy a Wii and one 4 player game. spreading them out over time so people with realistic budgets can actually have the time to buy 3 extra Wiimotes and nunchucks and games

Good. I hate anything past 2 player, starting back when everyone was hyped about split-screen Goldeneye. When you have 4 players on one screen things get ridiculous. I didnt spent a thousand bucks on a TV just so I could stare at 1/4 of the screen while playing multiplayer. I'm sure that stuff like WarioWare will work out fine, but other than that, I could care less.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, people don't seem to realize..

Nintendo wants Wii in EVERY house!! Which means you wont have to buy 3 more controllers! Your profiles for games will be stored in your controller. Why make new profiles when you can just bring your controller to your friends house, and vice-versa? I don't think Nintendo is planning on selling 4x as many controllers as they are consoles for this very reason. I know if I go to a friend's house, I'm bringing my wiimote.. and my wavebird if we plan on playing any SSBB..

Anyway, Mario Galaxy is two player as well.. wonder if that'll be Co-Op or Battle, or both. We can only hope..

As for the moron who said we don't know anything about Wii Channels... you obviously haven't been to Wii.com where they show you three of the X amount of channels (Max 5 as far as I can tell). That's 3/5, or, 60% of Wii Channels. It will have location specific news, weather, etc, and the Mii channel as well. Can't wait to see what the rest are.

I've got a contrary opinion on something here...
"Nintendo and Sony really fucked up online gaming last gen!"

Hmmm, ... No. Better online gaming last gen wouldn't have sold an appreciable number of consoles. Not enough to justify the costs, anyway. There were a few token efforts and some experimentation, but MS was the one that was already committed to throwing money in a hole, possibly so they could then climb out of it later. That seems to be their big push this gen.

Both because of expanding broadband penetration, and because MS expanded the console market into the online realm, this gen is where online support is important enough to matter. At least, important enough that not supporting it would hurt more.

I think it's a valid argument that Nintendo made the right (financial) choice last gen to not invest in online development. It might not have been the right choice for those people who have a hardon for multiplayer games with random 'net goons. All evidence says to me that they've got an interesting game plan this time with the online channels. Likewise, I think Nintendo's probably made the correct financial decision to not throw all their money into processing power to pump more pixels. It might not make the vast minority of HD owners too happy, but hopefully they're right that their games will be so fun you won't notice.

Seriously, I think Nintendo could compete on processing power if they wanted to, but it would prevent them from fighting the battles they are good at and feel will really make a difference.

Back on topic - gotta agree with everyone that pointed out that this is a non-issue. Some people are really grasping at straws to condemn Nintendo with. I see no destined fuckups here.

Ha...what a "let down"?

It's a good Nintendo doesn't let down there fan base....

Oh wait.

A Wii Channel is added for every retro VC download. A Wii Channel is added for the Opera browser (which is free to download until June 2007). Nintendo has suggested that more functional channels will be added with periodic updates distributed via Connect24.

Even if every launch title supported up to 4 players, who in the world is paying $180 for 3 additional controllers?

Their $40+$20=$60 total price on additional controllers is taking the "we" out of "Wii" more than anything. I'll buy a console, 1 complete extra controller, component cables, and probably Zelda: TTP at launch and that's it for me. That's already going to end up being almost $400 before taxes.

If only the Virtual Console would support online multiplayer...but I thought I heard that Nintendo isn't doing ANY enhancements/revisions to their VC games. A pity. :(

im not so much concerned with excite truck being only 2 player split screen..but no online functionality...????..thats just absurd...online gaming is a necessity this gen...not a "bonus" like it was last gen...

Prey has 8 players over LAN.

Of the Xbox360 launch titles, 7 retail titles had 8 player online play available. You also had Bankshot Billiards 2 (3 players) and Guantlet (4 players) available in the arcade.

Madden and FIFA both had four player local play but reduced or non-existant live play. Call of Duty supports 16 players over LAN, PGR3 and Quake 4 each support eight players.

I'm having trouble figuring out what the online and offline numbers were for NHL 2k6 (2k7 is 4/7, bizarrely, I have to assume that's with spectators).

Thanks, Goodwin. I'd still like to know if there's any way to play multiplayer Prey on the same 360. I was really disappointed that I couldn't play against my brother (that is, until I heard the multiplayer wasn't anything to lust after).

Everyday, Wii60 takes a step closer to just 60.

Twilight Princess Wii, now shut the hell up.

i really dont see the big deal here. sure, it'd be NICE if it had four player - so long as it was online. my friends and i refuse to play any 4 player split-screen games. its just too hard to see.

in response to those bringing up the targeted family market who will be horribly shut out by this one game being limited to two player - once again, i really dont see the big deal here. early adopters are going to be the ones buying the console early. like with the DS, families and the casual gamers are going to take a bit longer to catch on and realize they want a wii of their own. by then, i'd be willing to bet that there will be plenty of four player games for them to choose from.

"And this is the new Wii.."
"Awesome!"
"Yes..."
(waves around baseball bat for a while...)
"Pretty cool..."

"Let's switch back over to GUITAR HERO"

When is the "REVOLUTION" coming out again? "Wii" is just not as exciting as I wanted it to bii.

I too have noticed how Everyone loves to bitch about the Wii now,,, This is just like August 24th, when everyone was flaming nintendo for doing nothing significant at LGC... The gaming community let thier fantasies run away with them (It can play Dreamcast disks, seriously!), and reality hit them like a pimp out to get the cash

But the big draw to families in the US will be gaming out of the box, and overall user friendliness (if not cost-friendliness)

4 Player games work where 4 players games are meant to work, and online works only where it is meant to work, once it proves successful on the Wii (and it will) there will be more online titles

"why does it seem like microsoft is the ONLY company to get online multiplater right..??"

Right for who?

The hardcore Live players who have been there since the beginning mostly love it. But, a couple points:

a) Growth since launch has been tremendously slow. They've been stuck on about 2.5 million paying subscribers for years now.

b) They have lost *billions* on XBL. That's where micropayments are supposed to come in, to fill in that revenue gap. But clearly, this has not been very good business for them.

I think the bottom line is XBL caters to a hardcore crowd, and it has not been financially successful at all. Nintendo and Sony look at that and rather than try to copy it, they say "what can we learn from this?" And what they're learning is that this is not generally a business model that fits in with what they're trying to do. (Sony actually *is* aping a lot of XBL, but they're trying to ditch the parts that make it less accessible to the casual crowd, like forcing everybody to have a headset.)

I fault Nintendo for a lot of things, but doing something different than what MS is doing with XBL is not one of them. Copying a company that's losing money hand over fist is not generally considered "good business strategy".

@ greatn

If that's the case then why the hell didn't Nintendo push that in their conferences? I'd much rather play wireless LAN than screw around with splt screen. Look, I know I'm the exception but I'm getting two Wii (s) just for LAN multiplayer.

@ Jeff agreed!

MS is bleeding cash and have been since the whole Xbox affair began. XBL is definately for the hardcore. It's totally inaccessible to the casual gamer and the gamer that doesn't want to deal with young kids with chips on their shoulders and something to prove. I pass on XBL.

@ Mr Khan

You have to agree that Battlion Wars is a great start. If Nintendo gives us SSBB online along with Metroid, then all is forgiven.

ok, so why are ppl so angry when the most successful system of all the last generation, ps2, made you buy an extra adapter just to get 4 people to play????? give me a break, people just find more reasons to get pissed, this is very minor, it's early, things will get better as they always do after a launch, and i think they are backing off on the first party releases so they have a strong 3rd party base, they learn from their mistakes, while Sony can't learn from Nintendo's own mistakes in the past...

You know those "ergonomic" keyboards that pop up on the market from time to time trying to "revolutionize" your desktop?

www.datahand.com/products/default.htm

www.keybowl.com/kb/index?page=benefits

www.handykey.com/site/twiddler2.html

www.frogpad.com/information/general.asp

store.yahoo.com/safetype/

www.maltron.com/maltron-kbd-dual.html

www.l3sys.com/keybd/keybd.html

They all seem very "Nintendo".

Unless you have Nintendo Press Room access you won't know how many players the games will be other then those like Mario Strikers Charged and Wii Sports.

Wii Sports is 1-4, depending on the game you play on Wii Sports.

Mario Strikers Charged is also 1-4 players.

Twilight Princess for the Wii is 1 player.

Super Mario Galaxy
Accessories: Wii Remote and Nunchuk™ controller
Players: 1-2

Super Smash Bros Brawl does not have a Player limit as of yet.

Wario Ware Smooth Moves is Mostly 1-player, some 2-5 players so you know.

So until you have proof to back stuff up don't say a thing.

Striderhayasa on XBL:
"It's totally inaccessible to the casual gamer and the gamer that doesn't want to deal with young kids with chips on their shoulders and something to prove."

Wrong, bucko. My brother (who wanted a DS for the online Mario Kart until he tried his friend's and hated the assinine friend code system), my mom, and my ex-girlfriend were all able to navigate my 360 dashboard and XBL functions in less than 60 seconds. My mom hasn't touched a console game system since my NES in the late 80's, and my ex loved using the headset mic to let asocial preteen mongoloids know that they had been beaten by a girl.

Go back to mom & dad's basement; the sun's much too bright out here, you fanboy fool.

to jeff

XBL may be in the red but those losts are offset by the $50 subscriptions..and im pretty sure that residual income from subscriptions offsets lots of the intial cost of getting XBL off the ground and now there only main costs are maintenence..so in my eyes that intial cash was well invested....being as how they have no true competition besides PC gaming

and whoever says XBL is inacessible to the casual gamer may be missing something..maybe my grandma wont get it but im sure your avg. mariokart/zelda, marioparty , SSB player knows how to press " sign into LIVE" on the game menu...and lets not even mention the easily accesbile LIVE ARCADE game model...even my mom knows how to click on bejeweled and compete on the leaderboards...and thats basically wat nintendo should be doing...and MS is already doing it..and doing a great job of attending to all online gaming psychographics...

also wat do u consider hardcore..??..when i think of hadcare online gaming i think of MMO's or something really overly complex..

XBL caters to the "casual" bejewlwed/geo wars/pacman/joust gamer as well as the avg madden/need for speed gamers as well as the "hardcore" halo player...

i just think the other 2 companies arent even recognizing the growing online market...and MS has a chance to run with this..

Funny thing is, there is a lot of things to knock about the Wii, but they always choose complete bullshit to go on about or blow out of all proportion which makes them look foolish.

I'd like to think they are just trying to be alternative by giving the Wii a negative press. Probably hoping to hook the under represented PS3 market.

vidguy,

I just booted up Prey with a couple controllers active and still just have the "Single Player" "Xbox Live" and "System Link" options. Doesn't look like there is any splitscreen here.

WolfLink22,

"So until you have proof to back stuff up don't say a thing."

Proof like Nintendos -PUBLIC- page for ExciteTruck which clearly states "Players: 1-2"?

http://wii.nintendo.com/software_excite.html

Until you learn to read, don't say a thing.

"62. If only the Virtual Console would support online multiplayer...but I thought I heard that Nintendo isn't doing ANY enhancements/revisions to their VC games. A pity. :(

Posted at 4:44PM on Sep 19th 2006 by Stoli"


They way I see it, Stoli, is that Nintendo doesn't need to change or enhance any of the VC games in order to get them online.
There are already emulators for NES & SNES that allow online play via IP or LAN. It's not the VC games that need online added but that actually VC software/emulator/whatever itself, then any normal retro game that has 2+ players could be played via LAN or IP.

"Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam" supports 1-4 players. Four player features several different types of events and is pretty darn fun.

We're also a launch title.

Irregardless of what anyone says, this IS a step back from Nintendo. Excite Truck (like all racing games) is supposed to be engineered for multiplayer. If a game that should be multiplayer can't get multiplayer right, how much confidence can you have with other games? I used to think that the processor can handle 4 player simultaneous motion-detected input from remote + nunchuck, but this is definately giving me doubts about it.

This likely settles my decision on whether to get Wii this year, considering that Excite Truck used (emphasis on past tense) to be one of the key games for Wii. At least I'll have enough DS games to pull me along until more decent multiplayer games comes out. (Madden, Wii Sports, and Warioware doesn't count because of the game-type differences)

Keep up the good work, Joystiq.

wait... what about red steel?
"It has been confirmed that the game will have multiplayer: split-screen multiplayer with traditional deathmatches. According the project leader, "Perhaps most impressive is the fact that although split-screen reduces the amount of onscreen space you are playing in, you don't have to make smaller movements —you can gesture as wildly as you want, and it won't interfere with the other player's onscreen quadrants.""-Wikipedia

i also thought i read somthing about it being 4 players? so where is the backing on this?

"I don't see what the big deal is. It's a fucking console launch."

THANK YOU. Now can we all agree that all the bitching about the PS3's launch is just as retarded?

4 players is standard? Nintendo was the only 4 player console untill xbox came along. And Sony isn't among the "standard" I guess either, unless you take all that time trying to find a multi tap that is compatible with your version of ps2.

Jason, you hate Wii, we know this, so stop knocking it because it is seriously getting annoying, especially when you know Nintendo CAN deliver and you know they WILL on the multiplayer. Hopefully we won't be hearing anything out of your after the 17th of November.

Thanks for the recon, Goodwin. I'm at school and 50+ miles from the 360. No split screen is disappointing; I enjoyed the single player, but I refuse to pay out the ass each year for online gaming.

@craft user, yeah, Red Steel was confirmed as having 4player split screen. It must not have made this "listing" yet.

simple, they don't want people to buy that many 4 player titles at the beginning because then they would realize that it will cost them another $180.00 (3x$60.00) and thus realize that the Wii that is suppose to be cheaper than the rest is all a lie.......

Here's what I think with regards to Excite Truck only supporting two player for splitscreen multiplayer. You remember SSX Tricky or SSX 3 (that's what I have so I can't speak for SSX or SSX on Tour though I'm sure it would apply)? Their multiplayer races only allowed for two players. I think this is because of the high jumps and leaps you had to do in those games. Due to the limitations of the screen size you wouldn't be able to see the ground if you had the splitscreen horizontally so they made the split vertically. Factor in four player splitscreen, not only will you have a smaller vertical view (as oppose to a single player view), but you'll be left with an even smaller avatar on the screen (as oppose to vertical splitscreen that at least allows for a bigger avatar).

The post is obviously written by a sony or ms fanboy. So if you are not a Wii fan, why worry about what games those of us that will be buying the system, will be playing. Maybe deep down you know you too will be buying the system, and want to play 4 player games. Oh ..and by the way how many ps3 and 360 games are 4 player (off line)?

phantom42

I have Press Room access and i was talking about the games with Mario Zelda and the possible Mii people.Also i have proof because i have Press Room access.

Excite Truck™
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: TBA
ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)
Game Type: Racing
Accessories: Wii Remote controller
Players: 1-2
Developer: Monster Games

That is what it says on Nintendo's Press Room so i was not saying anything about Excite Truck™.

If you want to more about other Nintendo Wii first party games let me know.

We'll switch off if we have to. The important thing is WHO will want to play the Wii.

"can someone please explain to 1up and joystiq that many "AAA" racing games are single player with minimal, if any online or offline multiplayer."

What? PGR2, PGR3, Forza, Test Drive Unlimited, Need For Speed Underground 1&2, Need For Speed Most Wanted...all multiplayer both online and offline. Forza 2 and the new Gran Turismo game will be online.

The only "AAA" racing game not to have online multiplayer is Gran Turismo.

Zoe K-

online is a big deal now. When the DS launched, the nintendo WiFi service was no existent. Nintendo has already shown the world that they now have an online service like XBOX Live!, as has Sony, but neither seems to be pushing the service very much. When the 360 launched almost every single game had online multiplayer. It's something that should be synonomous with next-gen. Granted, Nintendo fanboys especially are new to the whole online multiplayer experience since it's new for Nintendo, but it's an important feature that helps sell games. Especially racing games.

so you want to play 4 postage-stamp-size split-screens?

Once again, people try to find EVERY SINGLE THING to make Nintendo look bad.

No 4 player mode? Sorry, but in my entire life of multiplayer gaming, 8 out of 10 console games were 2 player games. The only games that are good for 4 players is if they share screens. A 4 split screen shooter game doesn't work as it is very annoying. If you want 4+ players, get a game that shares screens or go Online.

Also, just because Nintendo does not have much games that MAKE USE of the Wi-Fi ability, does not mean Nintendo will not use it eventually. I bet they could've added an ''Online feature'' but what's the point of an online Feature if you don't really need it. Unless you want to offer 'Extra costumes' or 'Buy new levels' online. You can easily put it in the game to begin with.

About the VC, Nintendo never said they would deliver CLASSIC games with online capability to play Super Mario Kart Online. As cool as that may sound, they didn't said anything about it, so you can't rub nintendo off for not offering any online classis games .

Sure Nintendo went on and on about Wii being a family system. So was the FAMICOM (Nintendo Family Computer, ) aka NES and that was only 2 player.

I'm not trying to justify the lack of Online Support here though, I'd pretty much like Online Support as everyone else and I too think Online Compatibility is of something of this age, but don't try to doom Nintendo on something like this, when it's not even out yet. There's bound to be plenty of multiplayer games but face it, there aren't much 4 player games on 1 TV to begin with. Not on Gamecube, not on Xbox and definitely not on PS2.

Considering that the online service is going to be new, and not a pre-existing base of gamers - a la Xbox 360 - developers don't know how many people are actually going to use online multiplayer on this sytem. So there's no reason to waste production dollars to create such a system until it is proven that people want to play Wii online. Let Nintendo test the waters first.

And I think you need to drop this "9 first party" mumbo-jumbo, too - A 9 game list that includes Zelda, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid, and Big Brain Academy: Games that were never intended to be multiplayer.

So, with some simple math, we can augment the list to 6 first party games that could have some multiplayer capabilities. Excite Truck makes sense as 2-player, as most racing games aren't 4 player unless they are Kart. Wii sports is four player. Wario is 1-5, meaning some games can be played by one person at once, others simultaniously. Oh, and the games last like 5 seconds, so it's not that hard to just play on single player and pass the Wiimote around. Superstrikers is 4. Battalion wars is TBA, so you can't include it on the list. Big Brain is 2, but do you want four player mathematic action?

So realisticly, including BW for the hell of it, 3 out of 6 games are multiplayer. HALF, even with the weak arguements like Battalion wars. Drop that and its 3 out of 5.

Sounds pretty good to me. I don't know what you're trying to prove by offering "documentary" evidence, only showing shallow facts without investigating into them to prove your point, but it's pretty weak.

Please continue to post sensationalist peices. It's fun to rip them apart.

WolfLink22, I have access as well.

But the fact remains that the PUBLIC website for the Wii has pages for some of the games and shows numbers of players for those games.

Excitetruck is listed on the PUBLIC website as 1-2 Players.

You say to not talk unless someone has proof. What more proof do you want than Nintendo -SAYING- that it supports 1-2 players?