It is March 12 today… The 4th day of Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s release. (And the 2nd day of Stargate SG-1: Ark of Truth’s release.) I bought it the day of release. Went to church at 9:30 to 11:00am, then went to town, ran into Meijer, picked up the game, and got back home at 12:00. Had lunch, and then settled down for an all-day marathon. Best game ever. I don’t think I’ve had a console on for so long. (With the exception of the Halo games, maybe.) Right now, I’m looking at the record screen and it says it’s been on for 33 hours and 6 minutes, and that we’ve actually been playing for 16 hours and 32 minutes. Most of the power on time has been me spectating online matches and betting on the outcomes. (So incredibly awesome… And coins aren’t at all hard to come by, so it’s not like you’re losing hard work or anything.)

But what post of mine could truly be considered a post of mine if I didn’t bring up the idiocies of humanity? I don’t read Digg anymore, but I have subscribed to the Games section RSS reed in my Google Reader, so I can keep up with the more important stuff. But, actually, since I’ve subscribed to Kotaku, as well, I get the majority of my gaming news from them, and Digg is always several lagging days behind. Unless, of course, there happens to be an intolerable “problem” with something… And what better article to promote than a “problem” with Nintendo? You’d think that since Digg obsesses with Apple and Linux and other “unappreciated” companies, they’d be cutting Nintendo some slack… But it seems that most of Digg is too busy trying to make their Playstation 3 look like a good purchase now that they’ve forgotten that Nintendo is and always will be the top dog. Anyway!

It seems people are having trouble getting online to play matches with SSBB. May I take a moment to utter a single word here? “Duh?” That’s all. This is Nintendo’s biggest title… The Smash Bros. line of games have always been hugely anticipated, and the last release (Super Smash Bros. Melee for Gamecube) has been continuously played since its own release so many years ago. This is the Halo of Nintendo… With free online services. Free. Online. Multplayer. It doesn’t cost you anything, either… Oh, and it’s completely free. Did I mention you don’t have to pay anything for the ability to play online? Yeah. Remember when Xbox Live went offline due to the sheer amount of people trying to get online during Christmas break? That was largely attributed to fact that a lot of people were out of school and trying out their brand new Halo 3 game for real this time. The outcry was astonishing and people demanded refunds for a month (which, I might add, is a whopping 4 bucks)… You know! The typical whining that goes on when people are inconvenienced. Xbox Live, a service that you pay for and caters to millions upon millions of players went down… Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, a service that you do NOT pay for, goes down when a blockbuster game is released… People are shocked? People are surprised? There haven’t been any sales numbers released for this thing, yet, but I’m going to guess that it’s very, very high.

I’m just saying… Can you name a blockbuster (I know that’s a term for movies, but I don’t care) game title that sports online play that HASN’T experienced some server strain when it comes out? Face it, clueless gamers. Servers are built to sustain massive loads, yes, but there is absolutely no way to know if they CAN sustain massive loads until you release the game. Chances are high that you’ll find some coding error that makes the game lag a tiny bit here, and then another error that causes another bit of inefficiency… Things show up after release that you simply can’t plan for because your beta player base was nowhere near as high, and you have problems. World of Warcraft had problems with its initial release. After a couple years, they release the expansion pack and a whole new influx of players flooded the servers and they had problems again. Halo 3 effectively leveled the Xbox Live system, and now SSBB is randomly disconnecting people and experiencing some lag here and there… This is unexpected?

I’ve had SSBB all week and in all this time, I’ve been disconnected a grand total of 1 time. Once. It has happened so little (just once) that I attribute it to a wireless hiccup, since I’m inexperienced with setting wireless up to work with a router. It hasn’t happened to me more than once, though I have experienced lag at times, but… Uhm. What online services doesn’t lag out sometimes? Even Google/YouTube lags out every now and then, for crying out loud, and their entire income is based on those sites being UP. My advice to you whiners is to give Nintendo some time to work some issues out and maybe release patches (if they have to). It’ll take time… It ALWAYS takes time to sort this stuff out, and it ALWAYS works out in the end. Kind of like when people were whining about there being no games for the Wii when it came out… Consoles ALWAYS have a small selection of games until publishers see that it’s a platform to make money off of. Point is: This always happens. Wait it out, like you always have to, because there are always unforeseen oddities in any online service the day it goes live.

So maybe I analyzed this far too much. I guess that’s what comes when you’re in the business of analyzing heavy duty politics all the time… When you take the same approach to something as insignificant as gaming, you start getting a major over reaction. Oh, and while I’m thinking of it (because I was going to discuss this earlier in the post, but I couldn’t figure a place to fit it in), here’s a little screenshot of my Google Reader trends page:

12,717 items over the last 30 days… And, as you can see by the chart, I still have 8 days before I have a true 30-day analysis. I’m always looking for more feeds to subscribe to, also. Political feeds, if you please. If you find one that you think I’d enjoy reading (or one you think I should read) then let me know! Ahh… Politics. The ultimate exercise in managing level-headedness and anger, too. Still not quite Peter Heck-caliber yet, though. (I would have said Rush Limbaugh-caliber, but I really don’t like how he responds to callers. I mean, they’re definitely funny when someone makes a stupid comment and he makes fun of them, but Peter Heck seems to treat every caller seriously, even if they’re ignorant views, and he answers them in a way that they could actually walk away with something learned.) He gets some funky callers sometimes and he knows exactly how to answer them to make them think really hard about what they just said. Me? I need time to think and research before I formulate a response.

Anyway… I need to do History and English Composition now… Maybe after I watch a couple Brawls, though.

Conversation on Digg:

Sega does what Nintendon’t.

What, fail in the home console market?

Actually, they both did that. Nintendo just managed to bounce back.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Nintendo never failed! Why do people keep insisting that they did? Failure insinuates a complete break down of the product line. Failure defines Sega’s line of consoles… Failure defines RadioShack’s line of computer systems… Failure defines something that does so poorly that the company in question decides to stop producing and supporting the product in question. Nintendo did NOT FAIL in the home console market for the simple reason that they never stopped making consoles during any generation of consoles in history. They began with the NES and never missed a production cycle. Not only that, but they always made a profit on their consoles, whether or not it was the best selling system! The least selling console never automatically means the failed console. A failure would insinuate that the product line sold poorly and made no profit. The Gamecube may have come in last on sales, but Nintendo never lost a cent with it, and that completely destroys the idea that Nintendo ever failed at the console market. They may have been behind, but they were never a failure.

Sega failed… Nintendo did not.

Forget beginning… It’s already upon us!

Remember when I posted that Wii games are starting to pick up speed and caliber? All the typical internet kiddies who think they know how the world works have been whining constantly about how terrible the selection of Wii games has been, and how Nintendo should have learned from the GameCube, and how they’re going to fail again. (While, I might add, they don’t even consider selling their Wii console… Got some double-standards there, whining and complaining about the lack of games and how worthless the console is, when it’s still sold out nearly an entire year later, and you could see the thing on eBay and make all your money back.)

I would like to point you all to an article at Joystiq. Whiners and fans alike… This list of games being released or both the Wii and the DS should give you heart! Mind you, this is only a list of games being released between right now and March 2008. That leaves the rest of 2008 to keep propelling Nintendo to the clear and obvious winners of this chapter of the console war. And this, I might add, fits into what I’ve been projecting this entire time.

Let me break it down for you all once again:

GameCube considered a failure, despite the fact that Nintendo always, always, always made a profit off of every sale. Marketshare was low, perhaps, but they clearly won the race when it came to money. People conveniently ignore that, predicting the withdraw of Nintendo from future races.

Nintendo announces the Wii with the motion sensitive remote control that Sony shamelessly copies after denouncing it as a gimmick along with the rest of the internet. Honestly, how could something that stupid ever win against the sheer graphical power and popularity of the Playstation and Xbox console lines? Clearly, the winner was going to be Sony, if the PS2 was any indication.

Publishers and developers shy away from the Wii after hearing everyone’s negative press. Some are still enlightened and smart enough to realize the ultimate potential of the Wii, but not a whole lot, and most continue to focus on the Xbox 360, after learning that the PS3 isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be.

Wii and PS3 are released more or less at the same time and the Wii lurches ahead, carrying the title of fastest selling console in the history of video games. Publishers and developers who were afraid of developing for the Wii suddenly wake up to their terrible mistake and rush to make SOMETHING for it. Anything! Just get a game out there on what’s clearly the most popular console! They’re losing money… Hurry, hurry, hurry!

This results in some pretty boring, hastily released games by third parties. Consumers are irate at this fact and declare that Nintendo is doomed to follow in the footsteps of their former glory, overhyping the console and failing to deliver. Some threaten to sell their Wii and spread the word of its failure, but none ultimately seems to sell it in the end.

One year rolls around, the amount of time that new console games start rearing their heads. The start of the amount of time it takes to make a game actually worth playing. Behold, a whole parcel of games by Nintendo is scheduled for release during the holidays. The masses rejoice, for finally, Nintendo has learned from their mistakes! (Actually, the masses just can’t see the larger picture.) But sadly, some people are upset that there are no major third party games coming out.

No, see, this is because Nintendo clearly knew ahead of time that they would be making games for their own console, and started making games earlier than the third party developers. The third party developers jumped on the bandwagon only after it was such a hit, and thusly, they’re still not quite finished. Happily, they’re beginning to announce the new games and they’re nearing completion, and the anti-Nintendo sentiment is slowly fading as people do complete 180-degree turns and conveniently forget that they were anti-Nintendo in the first place.

And all this time, we’ve had an example of exactly what the Wii would become in front of us. The Nintendo DS. Take a look at the Joystiq list again. The DS list of games is clearly longer than the list of Wii games. In the same time frame. The DS got started exactly the same way the Wii did, and nobody in their right mind can say the DS is a failure, can they?

If you want to know how the DS got started, just re-read the recap and replaced “Wii” with “DS” and “PS3″ with “PSP” and drop references to the Xbox wherever they may be. Seriously. The DS was stamped as a gimmick because of the touch screen, and the PSP was heralded as the end-all handheld and nobody jumped on the DS bandwagon until AFTER it became popular. Now look at it!

Anyway, there you have it. The list of games scheduled for release for both platforms between now and March 2008, which I must stress does NOT include the REST of 2008. That makes the list of games they have right now HUGE. I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2008 has to offer, if not only to use as ammo against the Nintendo haters who just can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that the company that created the modern gaming industry is back on top and shows no signs of defeat.

The Wii nay-sayers are going to start having their comeuppance in the next few months, and I say… It’s about time. Maybe everyone will shut up about how slow the Wii game market has been and how they’re so bored with their Wii and how they’re sick of bowling. (But aren’t willing to actually sell their Wii for a hefty profit, I might add, seeing as how retail Wiis are still sold out, almost 12 months after release.)

I started college, so I was completely unaware of the fact that Mario Strikers Charged was finally released in the United States! I was aware of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption coming out a few weeks ago, though. But in addition to these two amazingly fun looking games, Super Mario Galaxy is slated to come out on November 12th, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl is coming out on December 3rd.

I am in a… very odd predicament. I am raising money for a new PC, while having preordered Halo 3 Legendary as well. In addition to that, I have four Wii games on my list, plus the Orange Box from Valve that’s going to come out soon, too.

Brawl is a no-brainer. I may even preorder that soon with my new handy-dandy Amazon certificate I got in the mail a few days ago. I want Mario Strikers, too, but I have a feeling that nobody else will, and I’ll be playing that alone. Metroid is high up on my list, but I didn’t realize that all three Metroid Prime games were to make up a trilogy, so I’m going to have to find Metroid Prime 2 and play that. Mario Galaxy is pretty low on my list, though, much to the very oddly placed chagrin of Edrick. (What does it matter to him if I buy a single-player game at release or 2 years later? :P )

But anyway, the games are coming, people. All you need is some patience for just a little bit longer! Mark my words, after this year, more people will start announcing and releasing far better games. Remember! Nobody expected the Wii to do so well and they’re all scrambling to make the next blockbuster for it.

Well, well! Here’s another Wii tidbit… Nintendo just announced that they’ve sold 4.7 million Virtual Console games since release. Looks like Digg users were wrong (again) with the fact that the games are overpriced and that nobody wants them. Well, after this, they’ve just changed their tune and are saying if they were cheaper, they’d be selling MORE games. Yeah… Keep on with the anti-Nintendo sentiments. You’re just jealous that the Playstation 3 isn’t doing as well as you predicted it would, while laughing at those of us who predicted correctly that the gaming market wanted something new, and that Nintendo was going to provide it.

One by one, Nintendo knocks off the naysayers, and not even on purpose, but because they’re doing everything the right way and everyone knows it.