Sports and Racing games need online play now!? (1 Viewer)

[Keith Frederick]

I can't imagine spending $50 for a racing or sports game with no online play anymore. SSX Tricky was one of my favorite games, but I won't be getting SSX3 because of no XBlive support. Deathrow sounded interesting, but no XBlive support. F-zero, Mario Kart, NFS Underground, Fifa, and even Soul Caliber II are AAA games, but I find that I am no longer interested because they are missing this feature.

Sure, I like to have my occasional single player-only experience like KOTOR, Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Baldur's Gate, Buffy, Ninja Gaiden, etc. But for games that live and die by multiplayer, my expectations are way too high now.

 

[Rakesh.S]

i agree

it's disappointing that nintendo puts out a $35 peripheral only to have it support 2 games

i initially bought a gamecube with the hope that mario kart would be online..they announced lan capability and we have to rely on a tunneling software..which could turn out to be a bust if it's too laggy.

i think the xbox is in good shape and could take over the market with the next generation of consoles but nintendo has to step up and deliver some solid third party non-mario titles and provide some kind of online gaming capability..at least compete with online titles that are released on all platforms..

F-zero is another major disappointment..apparently the game is more single player oriented but they could've at least included a lan capability

 

[Scott_W]

Fifa will have online play this year on the PS2. NFS: Underground probably will be online via the PS2.

 

[BrianB]

Fifa will have online play this year on the PS2.

It will? Hmmmm.. Interesting, very interesting. Had missed that.

 

[Scott_W]

There is definitely information on EASports site about Fifa, and its online service. I haven't seen any definitely press releases about Fifa in general yet though. If its online, I buy Fifa, if not, I'll just wait for the next Winning 11.

http://www.easports.com/games/fifa2004/ps2onlinefaq.jsp

 

[BrianB]

I wasn't doubting you, Scott, I just hadn't heard about it. Very interested in it now!

 

[Damien]

Online play is a nice diversion but for every good time you have you'll have a bad expirience unless you plan your games. People are always cheating/being a cheeser to ruin it for everyone else.

 

[JayV]

People are always cheating/being a cheeser to ruin it for everyone else.

Damien, do you mean in general, or do you have a particular system in mind?

This isn't a loaded question; I'm just curious. Heretofore most of my online experience is with the Xbox and Dreamcast and while I've run into a lot of asshats, I would've guessed they represented less than 20% of my games.

-j

 

[Scott_W]

I wasn't doubting you, Scott, I just hadn't heard about it. Very interested in it now!

I know, just wanted to show the link, as it looks cool. I wish I could find out more information about it, to really confirm it. I hope the FAQ doesn't disappear closer to ship time. I haven't seen any previews of Fifa that definitely mention online play, though I haven't really looked.

I've had mostly good experiences online. Certainly there are those that cheat, but you have that anywhere. If you can play with a good set of people that you meet, or others from good forums like these, I think you're all set.

 

[Damien]

Damien, do you mean in general, or do you have a particular system in mind?

I'm mostly referring to sports titles in general, both xbox/ps2. Sometimes it takes a good amount of effort finding realisitc people to play. I know there is a friend list but it isn't always easy to connect with them every time. So when you play a random game, people in nba 2k3 lob 3's all game, in ncaa people call hail mary and scramble with the QB. I always think what else could I be doing now when I play these kinds of people and what were they thinking buying a sim title in the first place. It's nearly impossible for the developer to stop every exploit before the game ships. I'm not saying a majority of people online do this, but not all of your time spent online is going to be worth the time.

I haven't been online with the racing titles, but I imagine games like Moto GP2 are do a good job from what I hear of stopping cheating...nintendo would do well to at least try online gaming(but I have heard of an f-zero bug already).

 

[Graeme Clark]

MotoGP 2 is usually fine. The only issue is that there are a lot of people that go online to just try and set PBs to work their way up the scoreboard and are not interested in the actual race. Many of the fastest players will sit in a room with one or two other guys, set the it to long race, turn on the AI and use them to get a draft for faster times. When you pause the game your bike just becomes a ghost and sits in the middle of the track without any speed penalty, so they pause the game, let the AI and their buddys pass them then upause and use the draft. If they can get enough people they'll setup up people paused along every straight who will then unpause when the person trying to set a time gets to a certain point so that they can draft at just about every possible place on the track.

Some people get upset about this practice because they feel that if the best are doing it, then they also have to do it just to keep up. I don't really give a crap what other people do though, I just play to race and get better as I do.

 

[Scott_W]

in ncaa people call hail mary and scramble with the QB.

Both are stoppable though, which can cause havoc with whom you're playing. Then its a win, or you force them into a better game. I'll scamble with my QB depending on the situation, or if I'm using Marcus Vick. Scrambling is part of the college game for some of these faster QBs, especially with the options. I don't think it works as well in Madden with faster defenses, though I'm just waiting for Vick and the abuse of the playmaker system.