Topic: Warp Pipe ver. 0.1 Released for Testing

[Jonnyboy117]

Now you can help test software that enables GameCube LAN titles to be played online.

The Warp Pipe Project has announced the alpha release of their online software for GameCube.  The goal of the software is to enable online gameplay in GameCube titles which support the LAN feature.  It currently only works with Kirby Air Ride, of course, but Warp Pipe hopes to have the software fully working by the time Mario Kart: Double Dash is released in North America.

If you are interested in helping to test this software, hit the link above.  Note that you will need a PC running Linux, broadband Internet access, Kirby Air Ride, a broadband adapter for GameCube, and some other stuff.  (The software will soon be ported to other operating systems, including Windows.)

Thanks to Jan for the tip!

[Pale]

This is cool cause its so non corporate and all...But whats going on with gamespy's tunnling stuff?  How come we haven't heard anything about that?

[Kulock]

I loved a recent interview with Nintendo. Roughly quoting:

"It's not a matter of us not being able to do it, the technology is the same as for LAN. Nintendo just doesn't want players to have to spend more money on a game they already purchased."

And also the variant:

"Anyone can put online play in a game; Nintendo wants to bring something original to the table when they do it."


So you see? They're doing us a favor by not delivering the single-most requested aspect for a new Mario Kart. That way, instead of having the choice to pay them if we wanted to play online, that difficult decision is removed, and it would be so common and urbane to make their games online without a brand new gimmick to focus on solely.

Kudos to Warp Pipe Project; I personally though there'd be a lot more roadblocks in their efforts to pull this off. My only concern is if Nintendo encodes the signal sent to try to block Online Play using something like this, but even then, I guess it wouldn't matter, just as long as Warp Pipe gets the signal from one Gamecube to another, it doesn't really have to understand specifically what is being sent...

[SuperLink666]

Personally after playing 5 hours just now of Halo online via tunneling I can say this is the greatest thing ever. Mario kart battling will be so intenses and crazy. The best part is me and my brother were both playing at the same time! 16 player death matches yep.


MARIO KART WILL BE AWESOME!

[joshnickerson]

Nintendo obviously thought someone would step up and provide something like this. Why else provide LAN play on these titles? Smart move. I for one am looking forward to playing my buddies across town in Mario Kart online.

[Kulock]

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Nintendo obviously thought someone would step up and provide something like this.

I think they knew there was a possibility, but I don't think they were counting on it. Nintendo are such control freaks, if they had wanted something like this to happen, they would've developed it themselves. That's just the way they tend to be.

Quote
Why else provide LAN play on these titles?

Because they could honestly be that deluded? This is Nintendo we're talking about: great, innovative company; doesn't necessarily always make the public-winning decisions. "Pah, CD-ROMs won't catch on this generation, let's stick to cartridges!"

[Edit: Don't get me wrong, LAN play is better than nothing, but I'm saying that they sided with LAN play and didn't think it was worth it to go the extra step to Online play.]

[Ian Sane]

"Anyone can put online play in a game; Nintendo wants to bring something original to the table when they do it."

Translation: We want to use a proprietary method instead so that we have 100% of the profits.  Nintendo never goes with anything that's standardized because they don't want to share profits with anyone else.  That's why they stuck with cartridges.  That's why the Cube doesn't play DVDs.  That's why there's no online.  Something like the GBA/GC connection is much better in the eyes of Nintendo because they have 100% control over it and thus have 100% of the profits.  With online games ISPs and hub, cable, and server manufacturers could potentially make some money without Nintendo getting a cut.

If Nintendo ever goes online I imagine it will be an Xbox Live sort of thing so that they can have complete control over which games are online and get some money for every online title.  When they say they're waiting for online to be profitable I think they really mean they're waiting to see how well MS's control freak friendly strategy works out.

I think Nintendo provided LAN for a few reasons:

A. It's to give us hardcore fans a bone by giving us the bare minimum to shut us up.  They know someone will find a way to make this work online so then the really hardcore fans get some online play and thus we can't complain about no online because technically it exists even if it's a backdoor method and Nintendo may very well never release any more LAN games.  It's like how Nintendo will release like two mature games and then nothing else so they can say "See.  We have mature games."

B. It tests the waters out without actually doing anything themselves.  Nintendo is basically saying "Here you go.  Make us an online service for free and if it works we can just buy/steal the idea from you and if it flops no lost money on our part."

I think this sqeamish approach to online gaming is going to seriously bite them in the @ss "sticking with cartridges" style when MS and Sony have a solid online market share next generation and Nintendo is just announcing their own.

[Bill Aurion]

"Solid online market"?  Don't make me laugh...There is absolutely no way online gaming is going to catch on at the rate it's going right now.  

If I want to play a multiplayer game, I just call my friends over to play; playing with strangers can be really frustrating and obnoxious...

[Plugabugz]

I think what Bill and Ian Sane can be merged somewhat: why not use Tunneled LAN to play your friends online?

That's what I plan to do.

[Bill Aurion]

I was actually thinking about that  It would be lazy, but it would be an easy way to separate everyone's screens without having to bring all the GCs under one roof...

[Pale]

Thats exactly it, i don't and never will want to play games against strangers...but I would be all over playing games against friends that live in other states/countries.

[Ian Sane]

I personally don't like the idea of playing with strangers but I think the option should be there.  My friends aren't always at my house to play.  Plus I can't realistically play with any of you guys without online gaming, can I?

And saying that online gaming will never catch on is foolish.  Once it became easily accessible in the PC gaming industry it took off HUGE.  Once the option is readily available and easy to use for console gamers it will take off there as well particularly since the popularity of the internet has made it so that most gamers now have friends that live on the other side of the country.