Warp Pipe Group May Bring Online Gaming to DS

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Warp Pipe Group May Bring Online Gaming to DS

Posted by Zonk on Thursday September 30, 2004 @04:55AM from the aetheric-plumbers-get-to-work dept.

dolphin558 writes "Warp Pipe may be in partnership with Nintendo to bring online gaming to the Nintendo DS! What's more, the project is supposed to add a "social aspect" to online gaming that hasn't been seen before. A press conference is scheduled for October 7th. I cannot wait!" This would seem to partially confirm earlier speculations, and partially explain Warp Pipe's decision earlier this year.

25 of 127 comments (clear)

added "social element" to online gaming, eh? by RLiegh · 2004-09-30 04:56 · Score: 5, Funny

Can we say SHITCOCK?!?!!
Social Aspect by NitsujTPU · 2004-09-30 04:58 · Score: 4, Funny

What's more, the project is supposed to add a "social aspect" to online gaming that hasn't been seen before

Ohhh, a "social aspect" to online gaming. I've never heard anybody pitch that before.
1. Re:Social Aspect by Doesn't_Comment_Code · 2004-09-30 05:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  the project is supposed to add a "social aspect" to online gaming
  
  Yes, and perhaps the most egregious error was not looking at the lifestyles of video game fanatics. If they've chosen not to have social lives by now, why would they want to start one in a video game?
  
  --
  
  Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
2. Re:Social Aspect by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-30 05:35 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Maybe nintendo isnt marketing to gaming fanatics. Maybe there is a large population of people who enjoy games, but dont make them a cental part of their lives. Just guessing here.
Sweet by lateralus_1024 · 2004-09-30 04:59 · Score: 3, Funny

I knew there was a good reason for me to keep my dial up ISP.

--
If you think /. comments are bad, check out Digg.
Wait one second... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-30 05:01 · Score: 5, Funny

One second, wasn't warp pipe a small team of like 3 people that developed a little tunneling app to get Gamecube online? This is the whole team responsible for Nintendo's future online plans?

Well then, looks like Nintendo's finally decided on a competitive online plan, one that will most surely rival the best offerings of Microsoft and Sony... hats off to them.
1. Re:Wait one second... by mahdi13 · 2004-09-30 06:06 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  They developed a way to get the GameCube online...something the device was never meant to do.
  
  I think Nintindo is making a good call by going with these guys, if they can make hardware go online this was never suppose to, imagine what they can do with hardware this is designed to go online
  
  --
  "Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
2. Re:Wait one second... by kid-noodle · 2004-09-30 06:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  So hang on, Nintendo are taking note of the interesting work done by the community, and instead of just copying that work, actually hiring the people who did it.. and this is bad?
  
  Also not a first - they did the same with the backlight technology for the SP.
  
  --
  fortune -o
Social aspect that's never been seen? by MyDixieWrecked · 2004-09-30 05:02 · Score: 3, Informative

There's been a online gaming services with a social aspect. The only way this would make sense is if they meant "Never been seen in online console gaming"

Sheesh, I remember The Sierra Network (then ImaginNation) which had chatrooms that you could invite people to play card games, checkers, chess, then later, red baron, boogers, and other more graphical games. There was even a dungeons and dragons-type world to play in and trade items, like everquest. ;)

Man, I remember when I first got that service, I only had a 2400bps modem and couldn't play red baron since it required a 9600, but my dad got a 14.4, and man, that was SWEET.

That service was my first contact with online-ness... chat, gaming and email. and that was in like 1990 or so.

--

...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...
You can forget about meeting girls... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-30 05:02 · Score: 4, Funny

...when the name of your social club is "Warp Pipe."
If I were at Sony... by goMac2500 · 2004-09-30 05:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

I'd be quaking in my boots about now... Seriously, the opinion has really shifted. At first everyone thought the PSP would smackdown the DS. But Nintendo bit by bit is slowly showing us that there is far more to the DS than meets the eye. While Sony seems to have shown all their cards for the PSP, it looks like Nintendo has a whole lot up their sleeve.
1. Re:If I were at Sony... by tuffy · 2004-09-30 05:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Seriously, the opinion has really shifted. At first everyone thought the PSP would smackdown the DS. But Nintendo bit by bit is slowly showing us that there is far more to the DS than meets the eye.
  
  That's largely because the PSP looks more and more like the next Game Gear. It's more powerful than the DS, but it's also likely to be far more expensive. Now with the battery life problem being shifted to the developers, it's almost certain the DS' card media and low-power ARM chips will beat the PSP in that vital category.
  Add in the backwards compatibility and wireless networking and the DS looks like a portable juggernaut. The PSP might do well with Sony's muscle, but unless some new portable market has emerged I have a hard time believing it'll do better than second place.
  
  --
  Ita erat quando hic adveni.
2. Re:If I were at Sony... by StevenHenderson · 2004-09-30 05:58 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  For me, rather, it looks like it's pathetic writhe of Nintendo to team up with some shady tool developers, if this story is not a daydream of fanboys
  Keep in mind that Nintendo knows what they are doing. There was a time when people thought "Who the F*CK is Retro Studios?" Then, WHAM, all of a sudden Metroid Prime comes out and everyone praises the decision by Nintendo to partner with them. If the WP devs have caught the eye of the big N then they are surely capable (and likely cheap enough to be a smart business decision).
finally! by to_kallon · 2004-09-30 05:08 · Score: 5, Funny

What's more, the project is supposed to add a "social aspect" to online gaming
finally a way for me to play games and satisfy my social needs at the same time! i see no real reason for me to ever leave my room again. thankyou nintendo!

--

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
-Oscar Wilde
1. Re:finally! by solive1 · 2004-09-30 05:12 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  But it's portable, so you can leave your room if you choose.
with all those things cramped into the ds... by Savves · 2004-09-30 05:19 · Score: 4, Insightful

i still can't help but worry about battery life.
Duh by Mr+Guy · 2004-09-30 05:33 · Score: 5, Funny

If they've chosen not to have social lives by now, why would they want to start one in a video game

Because their guild demands it.

--
Never confuse volume with power.
Slashdotted by CrazyJim1 · 2004-09-30 05:35 · Score: 5, Funny

They bring it online, we take it offline.

God spoke to me:
www.geocities.com/James_Sager_PA

--
God spoke to me.
Respect by ianmalcm · 2004-09-30 05:43 · Score: 3, Insightful

Whats next? Microsoft hiring bunnie?
I'm so glad to see respect from the institutional gaming companies shown toward the homebrew exploiters. People wanted Online gaming, Warp Pipe gave it, and Nintendo applauded with alleged business relations. We've come a long way from Bleem!
Guesses from a wifi background by CaptCanuk · 2004-09-30 06:02 · Score: 4, Insightful

Judging from some of the stuff at game cubicle forums, I have some guesses what they could do.

They could use 802.11 and multiple DS's as repeaters. I bet the protocols for DS games won't take up much bandwidth so repeating 20 other packets won't be too bad. You could probably play against people X hops away.

The other thing (something I've already done) is WiFi tracking. It would be relatively easy to do wifi tracking of people based on relative positioning and varying signal strengths. You could create a wifi based compass pointing you to anybody with a DS nearby (given 3 people with DS nearby). This could make for some interesting discovery ideas.

There was some cellphone game that was big in Japan that was on Slashdot awhile back that used real places (based on cell tower "gps") to affect game play. This could be another application of a similar principle.

This could be real fun if dealt with properly. I'd be impressed if they get this down right.

--
---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.
Warp Pipe is going to integrate Orkut with DS... by cabra771 · 2004-09-30 06:07 · Score: 4, Funny

so you all better brush up on your Portuguese.

--

-my other sig is your mom
Re:Sony has nothing to worry about by j0nb0y · 2004-09-30 06:32 · Score: 5, Informative

They came out dead last in the next gen console wars

If by dead last, you mean outselling the xbox, then yeah, you're right. But I believe most people reserver the term "dead last" to mean "sold the least consoles of any major game console," in which case, the xbox is in dead last. Worldwide, more gamecubes have been sold than xboxes. And keep in mind that the gamecube has been very profitable for Nintendo. They don't need to be in first place to keep making consoles and games.

--
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
Free Publicity, Bad Article. by Dryth · 2004-09-30 06:56 · Score: 4, Interesting

The article is good publicity for Warp Pipe. Which, as it clearly identifies, is now a business.

However, the article basically takes some random actions on the part of the Warp Pipe team (i.e. posting images with a DS badly photoshopped into them), combines them with some random allusions and common assumptions (i.e. Marionette, online play), and then pulls a patent applying to the Gameboy Color out of nowhere.

Out of that we get:
1. Warp Pipe is now a business.
2. A bunch of people know big things but aren't telling us, and won't even confirm that they know big things that they won't tell us.
3. GBC Patent.
4. This somehow correlates into the DS being online.

So what do we get? Questionable rumors and what's probably hype over Warp Pipe's next project. I mean, is anyone else getting anything out of this beyond Warp Pipe publicity?

Nothing against Warp Pipe, mind you, as they've done great things on the Gamecube. I find myself wondering if they're just using all this mysterious BS to simply hedge their bets (and bets that are theirs alone) should the DS not fit into their online schemes.
So many whiners by TheBot · 2004-09-30 07:29 · Score: 3, Insightful

There are so many of you that just put everything down, anyhting new that comes in, you have to put it down. Don't you guys know anything? Why are you so negative about these great things coming to our consoles, PCs, and handheld peripherals? Geez, I better not see any of you enjoying the PSP or DS or any console if you're going to be so negative about anything great that happens to it. Jesus, you'd think this was a 2Yr old Baby convention. Some get them their warm bottle of "shut the fuck up"

--
Flat Screen TV for F
Dip shit... by gmezero · 2004-09-30 09:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

While that may be true for most X-Box gamers, most middle/high school kids don't live in a dark closet.

My kids for instance, are very social with their gaming. My children and their friends have set up group gaming battles in Pokemon Stadium where everyone brings over their carts and plays against each others characters. They arrange trades, etc...

One of my children bugged me constantly to try and convince me to let him take his Animal Crossing memory card to school so that he can take turns trading towns with a friend so they can visit each other's towns to trade fruit, etc... So on, and so forth...

I for one am very excited about the added social dynamics to be introduced here. Any thing that get's kids out and engaged with their peers has a lot of positive potential.