Square Enix Considers Revolution Support

IGN reports on a recent interview with Square-Enix president Wada, where it's revealed that the RPG crafting company is considering heavily supporting the Nintendo Revolution. From the article: "One area that Wada seems to be impressed with is a particularly controversial side of Nintendo's Online plan. In his comments posted at Impress Game Watch yesterday, Iwata states that Nintendo is going through with the idea of letting players connect only to players whom they've met in real life. While it's unclear how strict Nintendo plans to be with this idea (Animal Crossing DS is reported to allow for play amongst strangers), Wada applauds the move in his comments today, stating 'It gives the image of taking the real world seamlessly into the virtual world.'"

Comments

False childhood memories.

[grub]

Square-Enix president Wada

That sounds like a character George Lucas would make up.

Cue standard complaints

[KDR_11k]

I expect many people to complain about that possibility of restricting you to people you know (which would be zero for me considering friends without DSes don't count). I agree that it doesn't make much sense to hardcode that, it'd be much better to make that an option for parents.

With children it makes sense to restrict your connections since you probably don't want your kids to meet with strangers to "trade Pokemon" but adults usually don't risk being abducted by paedophiles. Of course they couldn't connect to people with access restrictions, either but at least the rest can play online even when nobody they know is online or they simply don't know anyone else with the hardware. I mean, the whole point of online gaming is that you can play with anyone no matter where you are. This limit defeats the point.

Well, let's just hope that gets limited to games targeted only at children (as opposed to the ominous "everyone" demographic Nintendo is often talking about) or even just Japan (I could see NoA and NoE cutting that unless NCL forces them to include it).

Re:Cue standard complaints

[Admiral Ackbar 8]

The other reason I could see them doing this (and I don't mean to demean Nintendo, I love them as much as anyone) is so that someone can't buy zero DS games and just play online with anybody whenever they want. This is a possibility given that some DS games support online play with a cartridge in only one of the DS's.

Re:Cue standard complaints

[SetupWeasel]

Considering no details have been announced yet, we should all keep our panties unbunched for the moment.

Think of online play now. Most systems now give you access to everyone and people try to branch off into smaller groups to get away from internet jerks. This doesn't always work, however, as often times random people still have access. Watching my friend play NFL 2K3 on XBOX live highlights the problem. He's good, and more often than not opponents disconnect, quit, or act like total jerks when he is winning.

Now imagine an opt in system. You look online for certain groups. These groups have rules you have to play by. Moderators can kick you out if you don't follow them. Because it is an opt-in system only, these groups would not be affected by outsiders at all. The downside would be to do the legwork to find groups of people to play with. The upshot is that internet ass clownery is greatly reduced. It will result in more finished games, more civil attitudes, and more fun.

That's my take on the whole thing. In games like MMORPGs or Animal Crossing most of the game is centered around player to computer conflict, but in sports or fighting games you have direct conflict with another human, and the current anonymous system leads to alot of frustration. I think Nintendo is trying to reduce this.

That's just my opinion though.

Re:Cue standard complaints

[Apreche]

Don't be so narrow minded. A feature like this wont be all bad and only for kids. Think of it this way, you'll have a whitelist of people you are willing to play with. And only if both parties communicate with each other in some way can they play games with each other. As long as the whitelist is unlimited in size, this would be awesome.

No more problems of people dropping out of games. No more problems of accidentally getting team killers on your side. I know tons of people who have only one argument about Counter Strike, that argument is the sterotype of the CS player. A system like this solves that problem flawlessly.

And you can bet within a day that there will be people sharing info all over the internet so that they can find strangers to play with. There is simply no way Nintendo can prevent that, in fact I think they would encourage it.

Nintendo prides itself on making things very polished, very simple, and flawless by design. I believe that this move is true as it perfectly fits in with the Nintendo philosophy. However, there better be more to the revolution than just this or it will be more of a quickly routed rebellion.

Re:How do they know?

[KDR_11k]

That's probably referring to the DS in which case "know" would mean had a direct DS connection to.

Re:Why didnt you named the article...

[KDR_11k]

FF12 is coming to the PS2 but from there onwards nothing is known. Could very well be that Dragon Warrior 9 or Final Fantasy 13 are released on a Nintendo system. OTOH they might not use their old franchises since they seem to be going for online-only games nowadays.

They aren't loyal to Sony, that much is sure. They are loyal to whoever has the biggest userbase. Which explains why the DS is getting better support (3 games announced so far, AFAIK) from them than the PSP (FF:AC, what else?). Of course they'll support the previous leader before a clear leader shows but don't expect them to stick with Sony until they die.

Chrono Trigger

[MoonFacedAssassin]

If they decided to remake, enhance, redesign, etc., Chrono Trigger for the Revolution, I'd buy the game system simply to play that. Chrono Trigger has to have been one of the best RPGs to date. The Final Fantasy series was great, but I always keep going back to Chrono Trigger and the 12 or so possible endings to that game. I know there was Chrono Cross, but from what I hear it didn't live up to Chrono Trigger's legacy.

Re:Role Playing G-Rated Movie

[BTWR]

You're right in the fact that RPGs are scant on the Gamecube. BUT... in some ways it's a blessing. Unlike PS2, which has some classics along with shelves of crap, the few gamecube RPGs are literally some of THE BEST RPGS EVER MADE:

Skies of Arcadia: Legends

Tales of Symphonia

Paper Mario 2: The 1,000 Year Door (i happened to simply love mario, but lemme tell you, as an independent thought, this game is a fantastic RPG)

Baten Katos

Dozens of GBA rpg classics playable with the GBA-Player (Golden Sun, Sword of Mana, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Mario & Luigi Superstar)

Re:Why didnt you named the article...

[Jerf]

the highly polemic FF: CC

polemic : 1 a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another b : the art or practice of disputation or controversy -- usually used in plural but sing. or plural in constr.
2 : an aggressive controversialist

I'm honestly curious, what did you mean to say?

Re:Except...

[Lehk228]

not completely, each console comes with a cryptographically enabled dongle, the only way to disclose a gaming public key is to exchange nintendo-signed system public keys by plugging twho dongles together. you must have a dongle containing your opponent's key in order to establish a secure gaming connection to his or her machine.

don't say it can't be done, it can be quite easilly, also not very expensive if you make it more breakable 64 or 96 bit crypto.

Re:How do they know?

[jessecurry]

I suppose that it may restrict online play a little bit, but I think that overall playing against people you know is a more enjoyable experience. When you're playing people that you actually keep in contact with there is a level of accountability and certain expectations that you develop. I know when I play MMO's I have the most fun playing with people that I've known for a while because I know their playing styles and have some idea of their skill levels. I don't really find it that entertaining to hop online and start a game against someone who is much better or much worse than I am.
I'm not saying that being able to play only people that you have met is the best for every situation, but I do think that it will make the games that you do play much more interesting. And if online communities do spring up, you'll probably still be able to jump on and play a quick game of whatever you want anyways.