Currently Online 
Soundwave on 18 May 2013
| badgenome said: I can't agree. It is 2013, and Nintendo still doesn't have an account system for its network, so I shudder to think what online gaming would be like on consoles without Microsoft. |
But I think Nintendo would have focused on online much moreso with the GameCube successor if MS wasn't around. The whole "we don't care about online" thing was really galvanized at Nintendo IMO because Microsoft was focusing on it so much that it led Nintendo to focus more on a casual approach.
Nintendo was actually experimenting with an online network in the 64DD in Japan before Sony or MS, but they abruptly nixed that completely. Maybe that's just coincidence but I find it interesting that they go from experimenting with a network service to doing a 180 on it as the XBox/GameCube/PS2 battle began.
Sony would've made their online network either way, with or without XBox Live to push them.
