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hopefully the GC emulator will trick LAN-enabled games into running online

Didn't Nintendo hire the Warp Pipe guys...?

After having this for a few days, I find it rather sad that it took this long to get Mario Kart on-line.

Mario Kart Double Dash has been playable online via Warp Pipe's tunnelling software for years now. True, it's no longer supported by them, but it still works and there's a community of players around it and the two other GC LAN games.

They support online play indirectly with the GC. There's the broadband adapter (IF you can find it) and Warppipe(http://cubeonline.warppipe.com/). Now, Nintendo obviously does not support this directly(and neither will the company, Warppipe.com), but it will let you play Mario Kart (GC) online and alot of people have been using it and there is a community behind it.

I think you're mistaken. Have you heard of Warp Pipe?

Discomfort for large handed players

Again, mistaken. Third-party companies have released some pretty bulky controllers.

No possible DVD support.

Wrong again. Panasonic's Q plays DVDs just fine.

They're making fun of us on the warpipe forums. http://forums.warppipe.com/viewtopic.php?t=13217&p ostdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45

I believe the gents over at Warp Pipe are already working on this and have been for while now. They have done this with the GameCube already and there have been rumors abound in the warpipe forums about a DS version. I noticed yesterday that their logo at the top now has two screens it, like the DS logo does. Coincidence? I think not.

I believe the gents over at Warp Pipe are already working on this and have been for while now. They have done this with the GameCube already and there have been rumors abound in the warpipe forums about a DS version. I noticed yesterday that their logo at the top now has two screens it, like the DS logo does. Coincidence? I think not.

The third one (coming out for the Gamecube) will have LAN play. Using the Warppipe project you will probably be able to do multiplayer. A service like Xbox Live would handle it MUCH better in my opinion.

So anyone can photoshop this picture?

No. I'm sure I don't want a copy.

Perhaps these folks can take care of it if nintendo doesn't bother.

For those not familar, it makes gamecube games that are LAN compatable work over the internet. Its a beautiful thing.

Well, I wouldn't say that Phantasy Star Online was a title "for the GameCube". It was a port of a DreamCast game, made by Sega.

PSO goes against Nintendo's idea of online gaming. First of all, Nintendo doesn't want to do online gaming until everyone has a broadband connection. Second, they don't want to have monthly fees for playing games, other than whatever your ISP charges.

Now, had PSO sold through the roof, I'm sure Nintendo would feel differently, but as things stand, they've been proven right. Despite this, Nintendo *has* made some LAN-only games, which can be played online with WarpPipe. And the DS includes 802.11, which makes it even easier for developers to make online-enabled titles.

As far as the PIM stuff on the DS goes, all I've seen is a text/voice/draw networked chat application. I suppose organizer features would make sense... what kid (or adult, for that matter) wants to carry around multiple devices?

No. The Xbox is an x86 kludge of a console. It is expensive and inelegant. The reason it has more capabilities is that has more high end (expensive) parts. Throwing money at a problem is not a good technical solution (i.e. paying for an expensive HD).

First off, the cost for manufacturing XBoxes, like all the other consoles, has steadily been decreasing. Second, the Gamecube is a slightly more elegant PowerPC kludge of a console. The fact that the XBox is based on PC hardware doesn't make it any less of a console. And finally, what "problem" was Microsoft "throwing money at" to solve with a hard drive? You can still use memory cards, but putting a fixed storage device in a console is a very good idea.

The GC gets 3rd party exclusives but if they are successful they get ported to the PS2 (I know, not all of them do. I am exaggerating).

That would define the games as non-exclusive then, huh? Would you care to provide any examples of this? The marketing just doesn't make sense. "Hey, let's spend a bunch of money to write an exclusive game for a marginal console. If it does well there, then we can spend even more money and port it to PS2." Why not just start on the PS2 immediately? Oh, and I'm referring to the US market, so if you want to mention Japanese games that are GC exclusive, they should be games that have already or will be released in the States.

Also, multiplatform games are rarely better on the Xbox than GC and sometimes, but even more rarely, better on the GC than Xbox.

Again, I'm going to have to ask for examples. For my part, take a look at the Splinter Cell games (better on XBox than GC or PS2), EA Sports' entire lineup (they're designed for PS2, but at least now the XBox ports will have online play -- GC still doesn't get the love there, and no the Warp Pipe project doesn't count), Prince of Persia (best on XBox), Soul Calibur II (again best on XBox with better graphics and game control, though fanboys will prefer the GC version for the Link character -- personally, I like Spawn), Rainbow Six 3 (well, pretty much every Ubi Soft game), and many more. Can you provide me examples of cross-platform games that were better on the GC? And games like Skies of Arcadia don't count, because that was only cross-platform for DreamCast and GC, not GC/PS2/XBox.

Granted, the PS2 version can sometimes be less impressive but the GC and Xbox are basically the same unless you have an HDTV

If the port is done properly, the PS2 version will always be less impressive because both the GC and XBox support higer resolution textures. That's not to say that ports are always done well, especially when it's a port from PS2 to GC/XBox. However, I wouldn't say that the GC and XBox "are basically the same". Oh, and speaking of HDTV, that's another Nintendo hardware bungle. They dropped the component output on recent GameCube hardware revisions, which is just plain stupid. Of course, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy when their marketting department looked at the usage of component output on GC, since they only sell the component cables direct from the Nintendo store, and not at regular retail joints. And speaking of non-HDTV, I don't know why, but my GC looks much worse via composite or S-Vid than my XBox. My GC apparently has issues with red pixels, making them appear very blocky and nasty, and bleed all over the place. It seems to be an inerlacing issue, though, because I have the same problem with component cables unless I switch to progressive mode. It's most visible on the red Nintendo oval logo at the start of each game, though you can also really notice it on Mario's hat in Mario Sunshine (horrible game, sold it not long after getting it "for free" with the purchase of my GC). In contrast, my XBox looks just fine on a comp

As a gamer with a cable modem, PC and a Gamecube, I really want online play capability with my console. I am buying the Broadband Adapter for the GC and downloading WarpPipe to allow me to play Mario Kart: DD!! online with other players. Personally, online play is inevitable, it was with PC and now will be with consoles ONCE enough people can actually have internet connections. Usually people don't have ethernet ports in their walls near the consoles. Wi-Fi should fix that. I think right now it's a bit complicated for players to set up their consoles to play online.

From the comments on their news page about how they have gone closed source and are whining about IP violations:

It was our mistake to keep using Source Forge's CVS, but that does not mean the presence of the code on their server makes it fall under a standard GPL or BSD. Rather, we are using our own license that is totally closed source.

However, if they read SourceForge's Terms of Service, they would have found that using SourceForge requires that the project be licensed under an open source license. Chad (project PR guy) then goes on to whine about everyone else being unprofessional while he ignores SF's TOS and implies the threat of legal action.

If it were me, I would have to go with a GameCube. Even though it has few games with native online support (I think just PSO), there are games with LAN support you can play over the Internet using Warp Pipe. MarioKart, which my girlfriend loves, is one of them. Super Monkey Ball 3, another game series my girlfriend loves, will have LAN support when it comes out. Lately we have been playing Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance II on the PS2, which does not have LAN support, but since she likes it, maybe she would like PSO. I am not familiar with PS2 or X-Box online gaming, other that knowing that they both have headsets, which may or may not be what you want. Actually, if you liked GoldenEye 007, then TimeSplitters 2 is the next best thing, but it only has LAN support on the PS2 and X-Box. Hopefully TS3 will have LAN support on the GC too.

Chad, Project Manager:

"Let me clear up a few things. First off, the Linux version has been ready since the Windows Beta release. It was my fault for the delay since I wasn't sure we should support linux or not."

"As for running as root, since Warp Pipe is only run during the time you use it, it shouldn't be an issue. It should never be kept running unattended. Also, our linux support will be limited to command line applictions, as we don't have the resources for the limited demand to create a GUI that would interface with our application server. Although we will still keep releasing the command line application."

There's already 2 projects working on GC tunelling warppipe and X-Link, so I don't see how starting a new fork of warppipe off 3 week old code is going to help unless you're a lot better at network algorithms than I am, or you're just a roll-your-own kinda guy.

Personally I'm going to try Warppipe tonight, then keep playing it till X-Link Kai comes out and compare the 2. I don't feel like hacking together someone's old code in hopes of getting my own solution working... but then again, I'm just lazy ;-)

http://www.warppipe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=398

Looks like the warp pipe guys think the xlink guys stole their alpha source code. I personally think Chad with warp pipe is being a bit paranoid.