| MrPennybags said: Forgot about racing. Anything where a split-screen would otherwise be needed is helped by online. Otherwise I think most people prefer playing with their friends (duh) and don't need to play so much that they'll actively need to seek opponents when not with their friends. I guess this gets back to appealing to casual vs. hardcore. |
Might be casual vs hardcore. But it's hard to to tell because online is something that really change behaviors. Quite exactly like many ppl thinking achievments are a gadget, until they get hooked.
I won't say that online experience is always as fun as splitscreens, but now that you have an easy connexion, a cam (Uno), a mic (on pretty much any games), you can start to have a true felling between players. A true contact. And, it also allows more players so more possibilities.
Combined, I think these element can affect the "casual" players expectations (and Uno is really a good exemple of that).
| Alacrist said: I don't think that a home console without ANY online would lose that many sales. And people who WoW play it online because that's the only way to play it, what I mean by that is you can't compare games that have no single player campaign to games that are built for online. Plus, PC is different from home consoles. I'm just comparing home consoles. |
Once again, it depends on players expectations. Right now, the number of console players that may have had a true online experience isen't that big. So you're right, that may not be a decisive argument this year and the next one.
But for the ppl playing online regulary, it is, and it will remains. Don't forget that many ppl end up with TWO consoles. And wether it's WII60 or PSWii, it will be the same, they'll get an online experience, and if the Wii lag behind in this field, I'm pretty sure it can become a real issue.
Already, you can say that for a same game, having or not an online mode do a real difference (see VT3, VF5 rumors). Online keep you busy in periods with fewer releases. Online make you use you console instead of letting it take the rust because you've finished the only decent solo game release this month. It give you the feeling the game has a better value (time vs money).
You can be sure that online will be important on this generation (while not this year or the next), and will be a basic requierement for the next one.
