[Source Kotaku]
What's Super Smash Bros. Brawl Online Like? Eh...
Back before Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released, footage of Nintendo Co., Ltd. in Kyoto and SSBB developer Sora in Tokyo playing each other online surfaced. The online aspect of the game looked very smooth with no lags whatsoever. I'm assuming it is smooth. Assume because I haven't been able to clock a single online brawl. Hello Xbox Live circa 2002.
Sure, the interface is nice and all, but in the last a hour and a half, I've logged on almost twenty times. I have connected to the game's servers, and I have picked my character and battle stage. But, the game hasn't been able to find me a single partner to play against. It searches and searches and then knocks me offline. That's if I'm lucky and actually able to connect. More often than not, it won't let me connect. At all. It's a lot of hassle and not exactly the online experience we've become accustomed to with Xbox Live and the PSN.
Imagine if the entire population of China decided to try to squeeze into the Colosseum. That could very well be what's happening to the game's servers as everyone in Japan tries to fire up an online match. Granted, this also could very well be a connection problem on my end, and I'm simply bitching and moaning. But, I've been connected via WiiFi for a coupla days now, no problem whatsoever. I've gone back through to check if my connection is sound (it is) and have been able to successfully log on the internet via the Wii.
Perhaps Nintendo should've eased into online gaming, instead of ambitiously diving in head first with its biggest title. Even Microsoft, a computer software computer with a sizable infrastructure, had difficulties at first. If there are issues, will Nintendo get them fixed? Definitely. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Super Smash Bros. Brawl online. So why'd Nintendo think it was?
