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Warp Pipe Project - GameCube Online

Posted by simoniker on from the console-hack-du-jour dept.

chadlnx writes "The Warp Pipe Project, an open source project to bring LAN-based GameCube games online, recently released a specification detailing how GameCubes communicate over a network. The Warp Pipe Project is aggressively seeking out developers who would be interested in this project through its SourceForge project page."

14 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Increased interest... by Endareth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Along with dropping prices, this sort of info can really incline people to getting a GameCube! /me digs around in his pocket for some spare change :-)

    --
    Disclaimer: The above comment was made while under the influence of too much coding and not enough sleep.
    1. Re:Increased interest... by 13Echo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Sony and Microsoft *killed them*? Are you nuts? XBox's only major seller has been Halo. The DOA games likely come in second place along with sports titles. Live! kits are selling, but little else is.

      If you don't believe me, read this article at GAF. I could list numerous others as well with *real* numbers and not some hearsay from trolls.

      I'm not trying to diss Microsoft or anything, but these rumors of Nintendo getting slaughtered are getting rediculous. Nintendo is still up on worldwide console sales by 2 million units over the XBox. And while Microsoft may *barely* be pushing second place in system sales in the USA, they're hurting elsewhere, especially Japan. Game to system ratios are terrible, even at that. What good does it do to sell consoles if the games aren't selling?

      Nintendo already has its fanbase and it's consistently pulling profits year after year. What's the problem here? Do you really think that they need to be number one in console sales to be successful? The GBA is still outselling the PS2, and though it's not a fair comparision, it's still profiatable. Gamecube has a pretty good library of excellent games, and though the quantity isn't as large as the older PS2's library, the games sell well and the fans seem to like them.

      Nintendo *IS* listening to their fans. They're giving us the games we want. They want new games based on the old franchises. Metroid was on hiatus for years, but Prime is a fabulous game. People want Zelda. Many of us were wowed by Eternal Darkness. Metal Gear: Twin Snakes looks like it's going to be a groundbreaking remake. F-Zero is already pulling in great scores by Famitsu and other mags. Your comments are like saying that gamers don't want "Final Fantasy 52" or some other popular franchise. Speaking of which, there's no doubt that a lot of Square fans will pick up a Gamecube for Crystal Chronicles. The titles that you think have been "milked" are Nintendo's exclusives. They are what makes a Nintendo system.

      So what's the problem here? Are they "failing" because they haven't released more network-based titles for you? Can you give any really good reasons why they aren't listening to you?

  2. They should use OS/2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    And call it the OS/2 Warp Pipe Project.

  3. crap by SirSlud · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its exactly what nintendo wants (network without having to risk dollars to in), but being Nintendo, I can't imagine them being friendly to this group.

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
    1. Re:crap by duffhuff · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They may go after these guys, but I doubt it. Remember that Gamespy mod for Halo which allowed internet play (albiet slowly)?. Microsoft didn't touch those guys (to my knowledge). While what these guys are doing isn't quite as simple as a firewall hack, I don't see how Nintendo can do anything about it. Unless, that is, they use some "magic" encryption on their connection...

  4. Cool logo! by jared_hanson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Man, that is a cool logo: the eternet plug as the hole in a Mario pipe. More open source projects need good designers to come up with eye catching logos like this. This may get modded off-topic, but oh well, I've got karma to burn. I went to the site and said, "Damn, that is cool." Anyone else agree?

    --
    -- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
  5. Gamer's Internet Tunnel by paul248 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found this Gamer's Internet Tunnel program a while back when attempting to play Starcraft without going through battle.net:

    http://www.morpheussoftware.net/git/

    It listens for almost any kind of traffic on a network, and relays it over TCP or UDP to another network, allowing LAN-only games to be played across the Internet. It might even work with GameCubes if you put a PC on the same LAN as one or more of them.

  6. Nintendo haxors getting in on it. by Valar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's good to see the Gamecube haxors getting in on the fun. I was thinking about which one I would rather buy, a GameCube or XBox the other day, and the main thing that makes me lean towards the Xbox is the better network support. Now, maybe, I'll wait out a see what these guys can do.

    --

    ====
    Crudely Drawn Games
  7. A lot of aggression... by pen · · Score: 5, Funny
    This seems to be turning out to be a pretty aggressive project...

    From the abstract:

    Once the cube has given out a series of 8 NOTIFY packets, it begins to aggressively search for other GameCubes on the network by sending out standard UPNP M-SEARCH packets (also on port 1900 with a TTL value of 1).
    From the weblog:
    As soon as I publish my findings, the specification of the protocol Nintendo is using, and a few suggestions about what needs to be done to bridge two LANs together (a simple tunnel will not do), I will be aggressively recruiting developers.
    From this Slashdot story:
    The Warp Pipe Project is aggressively seeking out developers who would be interested in this project through its SourceForge project page."
    I would be afraid to work with these guys...
  8. But... by binarytoaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    which games on the GCN are LAN-only as of now? It's a great idea, but the only game that comes to mind is PSO, and that *has* to be online. So could someone fill me in on which games are LAN-only? I remember reading in EGM about one that could support 16-player mode with the LAN, but that's about it..

  9. Gamespy doing this too by MaverickUW · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not sure if people realized, but quite a while ago, Gamespy and Nintendo reached a development agreement. The idea was that Nintendo would give gamespy full access to how the LAN play on gamecube worked with the network architecture information, and in return, Gamespy would create a tunnel code and set up their own servers to arrage games (much like they do for everything else and Halo) for gamers to find eachother over the net and play online over broadband connections.

    See, that's what bugs me when everyone says that Nintendo doesn't have an online strategy. At least with Nintendo's strategy of giving gamespy the information in return for creating the software (though technically unsupported) is very smart. Online gaming ability, only ever costing the consumer $35 out of pocket specifically (for the broadband adaptor) where as the consumer never has to pay the cost of developing online cost for a game, a monthly service charge to access a game, and no yearly charge to have online features.

    If this turns out to be very popular and used by millions of gamecube owners, then Nintendo will put in the effort to do something of their own. Nintendo isn't stupid, and knows that just throwing money at a fad won't help anything. If they see through the gamespy system, or one like the one done by small groups, then Nintendo will have more incentive to put the effort in to give people the Nintendo Experience in an online format.

    1. Re:Gamespy doing this too by chadlnx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Valid points, and I mentioned the possible GameSpy deal with Nintendo in the project's mission statement. However, color me a skeptic, I'll beleive it when I see it. Even if GameSpy does come up with something, I doubt that it will be free forever. This is just one of the things that makes open source great. As long as we are focused, we can pull out a great solution which will benefit us all in the long term.

  10. Betamax by yerricde · · Score: 5, Interesting

    gamers don't want to sacrifice their smooth 60 fps framerates

    Most LAN games don't update themselves every frame; instead, they predict what happens in one frame based on the velocities of the avatars. A racing game such as F-Zero, Mario Kart, or possibly Kirby's Air Ride (which I've been following since it was supposed to be an early N64 title but got back-burnered in favor of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards) can probably use much stronger prediction than some twitch game like Super Smash Bros. Melee.

    We're not evil like Microsoft, so as long as they aren't pirating stuff, we won't really care.

    So why did Nintendo sue the flash cart makers even when the devices had a substantial non-infringing use?

    I'm not very sure you really work for Nintendo.


    My GBA tech demos, if you're hiring game programmers and are willing to relocate me from Indiana
    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  11. Re:From a Nintendo employee by mnemonic_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Evidence of being a fraud.

    This guy's a troll.