Mortal Kombat Wii lacks online mode, developer blames Nintendo
by Ross Miller 
{ May 11th 2007 at 7:25PM }
The Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon producer Shaun Himmerick has confirmed that the title will have no online functionality whatsoever. This is despite previous versions of the game having online play (on PlayStation 2 and Xbox One) and despite the developer's wishes to include online play.The reason, as Himmerick explains in an interview with Advanced Media Network, was not a technology issue but that "Nintendo didn't have their online system ready for us when we would have needed to implement it," he said. Himmerick said they instead focused on improving the single player aspect: creating an Endurance mode, including a new character and fine tuning the Wii remote controls.
The news comes as further anecdotal evidence that Nintendo is not letting third-party developers put online in their gameplay. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, takes out its aggression on the Wii on May 29.
[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jp @ May 11th 2007 7:28PM
so you can still add online ps2 does not have centralized online service and it has online
Aex @ May 11th 2007 7:35PM
I still stick firm to my belief that fighting games SHOULD NOT have an online mode. That said, HAHA NINTENDO SUCKS! (I'm kidding, no fighting game should have an online mode)
Blizz4l9 @ May 11th 2007 7:38PM
not that simple jp, nintendo needs to provide them with the info to do so
sheppy @ May 11th 2007 7:46PM
Fuck the online; we should always reserve our inaliable and god given right to be able to seek that pinnacle of ecstatic self indulgence-to be able to play with ourselves.
VanGuardian1 @ May 11th 2007 7:51PM
The online dev kits for the Wii were finalized and shipped in Febuary, IIRC.
Joshua @ May 11th 2007 7:47PM
All Nintendo has to do is refuse a company the right to publish the game with their own online mode. The third party is getting the license to develop on Wii from Nintendo, after all. They have to follow Nintendo's rules...which suck.
David @ May 11th 2007 7:49PM
Nintendo could easily kick the 360 and the PS3's ass this gen. It would be so easy now because Nintendo loves fucknig up.
jp @ May 11th 2007 7:49PM
while dosent sony do the same thing?
force online and mic support
or at least online leaderboard for single player games
Cheez-It @ May 11th 2007 7:52PM
In other news, reading comprehension has taken yet another blow.
"Nintendo didn't have their online system ready for us when we would have needed to implement it,"
For the absolute imbeciles out there, let me paraphrase this into comprehensible language:
"We wanted to implement online capabilities within mortal kombat. At the point during development, *long ago*, when this would have been implemented, Nintendo did not have their online system ready."
How hard is that to understand? At some point, long ago, during development, Nintendo didn't have their online system ready. How in the fuck is this evidence that Nintendo isn't letting third party developers use online functionality? That is just plain asinine.
Aex @ May 11th 2007 7:52PM
@Vanguardan1
Aparently it wasn't shipped to these whiners ;)
David @ May 11th 2007 7:53PM
I meant won't, not would...
Can we add an edit?
Brandon Johnson @ May 11th 2007 7:55PM
We have knew this for months that it wouldn't have online. They have been saying this for months that the online components weren't ready in time for them to implement it.
Jon @ May 11th 2007 7:56PM
Typical Nintendo behaviour. I like them, but quality third party support would be woeful on the Wii, like in the past.
Ian Von Porter @ May 11th 2007 8:00PM
You guys arent going to buy this anyways.. you're waiting for Smash Bros... its the one with Mario on the cover, remember.. Mario.. its all about Mario.
Wii = Mario platform
Rubang B @ May 11th 2007 8:01PM
Let me ask you a question Shaun Himmerick; would you rather release a crappy game this month or spend some more time and money and release an amazing game later this year? I would rent the former and purchase the latter.
And everybody blaming Nintendo can't read.
Rubang B @ May 11th 2007 8:07PM
Umm, that's because Super Smash Bros. is one of the best fighting games of all time. Melee sold 6 million copies, and the only fighter to sell more than that is the original Street Fighter 2 which sold 6.3 million on SNES (but as we all know SF took a nosedive afterwards, with Turbo selling 4.1 million and then Super selling 2 million and the Genesis "Special Championship Edition" selling 1 million).
Personally, I bought a Wii for new ways to play all kinds of games, from Mario and Mortal Kombat to Dewey's Adventure and Manhunt 2.
cc123 @ May 11th 2007 8:19PM
Wow Rubang's my little pony underwear gets all bunched up when Nintendo gets rightfully bashed...
Rubang B @ May 11th 2007 8:28PM
My My Little Pony underwear are in the laundry, dickhole. It's Alf today. And Nintendo wasn't rightfully bashed here. You seriously think Nintendo wants to screw over third parties? Why? Enlighten me.
The quote up above says that it wasn't ready in time. The kits are out now, and I think they should delay the game to put online in. It'll be fun either way.
Chris @ May 11th 2007 8:29PM
I wouldn't think a developer would need a ton of time to implement online functions. It was probably a lot more recent than we think...
I love my Wii, and I will always purchase a Nintendo console before any of the others, but I'm thinking more and more that being a snob towards one console is retarded. Not to say defending a console is bad, but there are a lot of ppl out there who would never buy a Wii or 360 because they love Sony.. or whatever combination it is. Consoles makers distinguish themselves... I think I'm going to embrace that fact and buy another console... Then I won't have to worry about the fact that the Wii doesn't have online capabilities on a lot of games...
Poisoned Al @ May 11th 2007 8:34PM
Hehe, I'm sure all you gamers out there who are pushing 30 would be getting a feeling of deja vu. Devs' left Nintendo for Sega in the 90's because they were sick of Nintendo's control freak shit, and after all these years in the wilderness they STILL haven't learned their lesson.
Darkknezz The Watcher @ May 11th 2007 8:39PM
Funny thing is I have this game for Xbox and nobody ever plays this online! So who cares?
cc123 @ May 11th 2007 8:37PM
Well if Nintendo wasn't so damn afraid of online play maybe they could have had their online system specs ready for the devs.
This isn't even a launch title so there was plenty of time to get this stuff up and running.
So unless this is some excuse from the dev (which is quite possible) then yes Nintendo is to blame here.
Luke @ May 11th 2007 8:38PM
Come on Nintendo get the online going for developers!
Darkness @ May 11th 2007 8:39PM
More of Joystiq trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
First, we've known this for months. Midway stated months ago that they would have added online to the game, but it wasn't ready at the time. Development for Mortal Kombat has been going on for quite a few months now.
Second, we know that in two weeks, Wii gamers in Europe will be playing online with Strikers Charged. After that, we get Pokemon which has online play. From that point on, there should be no excuse for games not to have online play. We know Nintendo has given out the code and third parties are free to use them. If they don't, then that's on them.
samfish @ May 11th 2007 8:43PM
"Himmerick said they instead focused on improving the single player aspect: creating an Endurance mode, including a new character and fine tuning the Wii remote controls."
...that's probably for the better. Especially that last part.
That said, we've known about this for the longest of times. Online kits were shipped out a few months ago, if memory serves, and Midway said they were too far along in development to put it in.
That said, no online means I probably won't buy it. I still generally like the MK games, but I'd rather they delay it and put online in, if it's not unreasonable at this point.
mor @ May 11th 2007 8:58PM
pokemon revolution is coming out within a month of this and it has online play
THE DEVELOPERS ARE JUST LAZY FUCKS
which shows in there crappy decade and a half old gameplay
music hobo @ May 11th 2007 9:19PM
I don't know... for some reason I never felt compelled to play online on the ps2 version. So I really don't care.
Seroth @ May 11th 2007 9:30PM
Yes, we're going to see Nintendo with online games soon..but we won't be seeing third party online games for a while, I bet.
If third party developers could make an online game for the Wii right now, why haven't they yet? And don't say something like, "Elebits is online." Yes, I applaud Konami for trying, but trading one map a day isn't good enough to be considered "online."
Beans @ May 11th 2007 9:43PM
To sheppy
Wow. That's... deep. Just, wow. I'll have to use that in a conversation one of these days : >
Darkness @ May 11th 2007 9:42PM
Seroth, the thing is, Nintendo doesn't force third party developers to add in online. If it's not there, then I'd say it's the developer's fault. Sega has a Pachinko game coming out in Japan that even uses Miis and it's online. Will we see something like that in the US? We also know The Bigs is going to have online play for the Wii.
My thing is, I don't care about online play, but if it's not there, then that's not a fault of Nintendo's after this summer. New games announced now should have online play if the game design warrants it. With that, I lay it on the feet of the developers. All I know is that next version of Madden better have online play. There's no reason for it not to.
syco @ May 11th 2007 9:46PM
Online gaming is stupid. Online fighting gaming doubly so.
Grog @ May 11th 2007 9:49PM
"If third party developers could make an online game for the Wii right now, why haven't they yet?"
As previously mentioned, online kits went out to 3rd parties in February. That was about 3 months ago. I would guess that most games have a development cycle of 6-12 months (longer for the best games, shorter for the throw-aways). Is it really a surprise that we aren't seeing a whole lot of 3rd parties adding to a wholly-unknown system (Nintendo itself still hasn't demonstrated proper use of the online capabilities) with games that were probably mostly through their development cycle when the kits came out?
Shibathedog @ May 11th 2007 10:13PM
Well the multiplayer on xbox wasn't really that great, awesome game though.
Its also really hard to do a fighting game online, every online fighter i've ever played was just not playable because a fighter with any small amount of lag totally ruins the flow, you would HAVE to be on LAN or something.
3cubedminus3squared @ May 11th 2007 11:07PM
"Its also really hard to do a fighting game online, every online fighter i've ever played was just not playable because a fighter with any small amount of lag totally ruins the flow, you would HAVE to be on LAN or something."
Or you could be in the same room. Not like fighters are slit screen or anything.
Aberu @ May 11th 2007 11:23PM
I'm having flashbacks of the Gamecube right now. Despite how much I love my PS3 I was still going to get the Wii for SSBB, but at this rate, Miyamoto's supposed "hate" for the internetz is inevitably destroying any hopes of playing Wii online.
n_revolution9 @ May 12th 2007 12:35AM
Look, who even wants to play online in Mortal Kombat? Everyone would rather have online SSBB play.
And it doesn't matter anyway cause WII's GOT THE EXCLUSIVE KHAMELEON!! w00t!!!!
n_revolution9 @ May 12th 2007 12:45AM
Who cares about online gaming when WII'S GOT THE EXCLUSIVE KHAMELEON!! w00t!!!!
mor @ May 12th 2007 1:15AM
why would they make a specifically limited 3rd party dev kit and give there first party teams a full one??
it wouldn't even be a lack of online, they would have to deliberately leave it out
im not going to say that i like the wii's online system, or the lack of online games but if first parties have it, then third parties have too, the people who make mk just suck
Cuja @ May 12th 2007 2:13AM
I'm starting to see Wiis setting on store shelves. The long honeymoonin' is over. There is no more sheltering their inadequacy. They will not go head on with anybody (including the PS2), because Nintendo can't compete in a real world. This system would get trounce by every system since the release of the Dreamcast. It's a shame that so many suckers had been taken by this scam.
fawazr @ May 12th 2007 3:18AM
Cheez-It really did try to shine light into the void there...
Pearls before swine, buddy... pearls before swine.
Rubang B @ May 12th 2007 5:24AM
Hmmm.... I got my earlier numbers from Wikipedia saying the best 2 selling fighters were SNES SF2 and then Melee... but now VGChartz says Tekken 3 on the PS1 is the best selling fighter (6.91 million), and Melee is in 2nd (6.58 million), and SNES SF2 is in 3rd place (6.30 million). Now I don't know what to believe anymore. I still love Mortal Kombats though, especially the weird CG VHS I found for a dollar.
ZippyDSMlee @ May 12th 2007 5:53AM
Meh a case of unfinished game because Nin didn't give them the complete dev kit so Midway will come along later and make a MK:A 1.5 pad it with some new stuff and have online on it,this works in Midwayys favor since most of its games only make money the first couple of months then doomed forever to the discount bin of fate....
LupinZX @ May 12th 2007 8:07AM
Online play in fighting games just doesn't work, fighting games rely on split-second timing. The inevitable lag of online play, even one second of it, would make the online function completely redundant. So i'm really not that bothered, this is another mountain out of a mole hill story.
ZippyDSMlee @ May 12th 2007 8:36AM
LupinZX
"43. Online play in fighting games just doesn't work, fighting games rely on split-second timing. The inevitable lag of online play, even one second of it, would make the online function completely redundant."
the same can be said for wireless controllers....
TheStripe @ May 19th 2007 8:07PM
"the same can be said for wireless controllers...."
Last time I checked, network lag was more pronounced than the nanoseconds that even the slow bluetooth controllers produce.
Cuja - Way to judge a system you don't own. Nice open-minded statement there. I guess I'm some sort of idiot because I don't feel the least bit ripped off by my Wii. I think If I had bought my 360 during the launch year, the tiny library and incessant system flaws for the $400 price tag would have made me feel like a sucker.
Mr Khan @ May 12th 2007 2:55PM
@ TheStripe. Don't feed the trolls, they've been saying "the honeymoon's over" since October 2006 (?)
One part of me says: its not going to make a difference since this is a game few people care about anyway
Another part says: If they REALLY cared about Online play, they would've waited to implement it
A third part says: wtf, nintendo wifi connection?
Mojo Jojo @ May 29th 2007 2:37PM
Nintendo has inadvertantly stated that they want one of their own proprietary games to have the first online play and hae refused third party developers from including it. Nintendo wants to upsell Pokemon Revolution and SSBM based on online play.
But, the cool thing is that Midway decided since online play wasn't a possibility they created an endurance mode for the Wii which should add to the playability.
Most online fighting games tend to have the same stacked chars fighting their clones and/or if cheat codes are involved aren't worth going online for. (Just look at the all the DS wifi games.)
Thad @ May 31st 2007 6:41PM
Let me start by saying that I own a Wii. I'm a Nintendo fan. Let me add that I really, truly despise Microsoft as only someone in an IT department can; I'm a Linux user who recommends Macs to most folks.
There. Now that my credentials are laid-out and it's abundantly clear which way my biases lie...
What the hell is wrong with Nintendo? They don't seem to have a CLUE how to handle online play, nor any interest in learning. What the hell is a Friend Code, and why do I need one? Better question: when somebody adds me, why don't I get a note saying so and providing the option to add them?
Sony's playing catchup, but at least they're trying. Nintendo...what does the Wii have other than Web browsing, downloadable games (with no enhancements and, occasionally, crippled features), really limited E-Mail, and Mii trading?
I can't see me ever buying an MS console, but even I have to admit that MS is kicking ass all over Nintendo and Sony when it comes to online play. MS is a company that understands the Internet and the importance of its role in gaming.
(Of course, when it comes to PC's, the Live service is an incredibly stupid idea, and by all accounts Vista is currently a WORSE gaming platform than XP. But when it comes to consoles, MS is YEARS ahead of the competition.)
Anyway. As a Nintendo owner, I sure hope they catch up to MS. But I don't see it happening in the near future. Online play in SSBM is still a far cry from competing with Live.