While online is not a necessity, Nintendo will suffer somewhat down the road if they don't start trying harder to incorporate it.

Just looking at myself, I would have purchased Excite Truck if it had online racing. I would also buy SSBB if it had online fighting. As it stands now, I haven't bought Excite Truck and have no plans to buy SSBB (the only fighting game in years that has interested me). If Metroid had online co-op, I'd preorder it. Right now, I'm not even sure if I'll buy it. I know I'm not the only Wii gamer that feels this way. I'm older and married now. Calling up a buddy and inviting him over to play a video game is not an option anymore.

Not every game needs online and many games would suffer because of budgetary constraints if they tried to add it in at the last minute. But that doesn't excuse Nintendo completely ignoring the online world.

Online also gives a game legs. One of the major factors in me purchasing a game is how much I'll play it. If Forza didn't have online racing, I would have hesitated buying it. As it stands now, I'm eagerly waiting for more tracks and cars so I can give Turn 10 MORE of my money because the online component is so great. I expect to be playing the game a year from now, just as I still play Gears every once in awhile. While many of you write off online gaming because a) you've never tried it or if you have, it's in very limited doses or b) never owned a console that even offered it, you can't possibly believe that everyone else feels the same as you. As time progresses and online console gaming gets better, you will see some companies live and die by their online component, just as you do in the PC world.

Anyway, I don't expect Nintendo to be hurt by online gaming this year or even next. But when 2009 rolls around and XBL and PSN are taking the world by storm with demos, videos, co-op, better graphics, PvP matches, etc., there will be a group of gamers who will turn their backs on the Wii. I've already started to do so. I don't think mine has been booted up in two weeks because I spend so much of my time on XBL.

I think I agree with most of that post. This year I will be starting college (ages 16-18 in the UK), and the college I'm goin to is at least 30mins away by train, and so the people I'm going to be with are going to be living further away, and so having mates round ym house is just not going to be as feasible, doesn't mean it won't happen, but logistically it's harder. Frankly, if a game released in late '08 or early '09 has a co-op/multiplayer, but there's no online version, it's highly unlikely I'm going to buy it, because that's what I'm going to expect from games by then. If Nintendo are putting this off, then I'm going to put off my purchase of a Wii aswell, as PSN and xBox Live already have this in place, so they'll satisfy me of the time being (if the price comes down a bit, and reliability issues become a a thing of the past, I might end up getting a 360).

Yeah, I haven't done any programming, the only person who's done any programming in our family, is my dad cos he's a software engineer, but no, I myself haven't done any programming.

Well, you may want to make a difference but still, many ppl play on both PC and console ;)

The thing here is also about experience. How do you know you lack something if you've never experienced this thing ?

Players that have been only on Nintendo or Sony machine have probably never experience online play. Now, talk to the PS2--->PS3 owners that have tasted Resistance or Motorstorm online. I'm pretty sure they'll tell you it matters.

Online gamig is a big deal if you already know what this is. When you like VT3, having a worldwide ranking and fighting your way in the ladder just make the solo carrier dull. But agreed, otherwise, this might not seems very important.

The games I'm talking about don't have online but they all have (sometimes on other formats) a Multiplayer component. And that's pretty much the base.

When you like multiplayer games, it doesn't matter whether it's on same screen, split screen, lan, or online because what you like is the concept : playing with/against other humans, usually smarter and way more challenging than AI.

Now, I won't say that, on console, Online can make or break a game, yet. However :

1- Its true on PC (which is a few years ahead in this matter).

2- Purely online Multiplayers games are heading on console (Shadowrun, UT, Conan) so, by the fact... (even FFXI on PS2 in fact)

3- The multiplayer aspect (not online though) happens to be a great deal in games like Smash Bro or Mario Kart. So it might become a great online deal.

@Alacrist

Try playing games like World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Starcraft, or basically any sports or racing game online (whatever genre you're interested in) then come back and ask what the big deal is about online (I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be asking that question then). Online gaming is highly addictive because it allows for a lot of social interaction, competition, and being made to feel a part of a group (especially with guilds and clans).

I realize you made this thread as some sort of a way to excuse Metroid Prime 3 by trying to make online gaming seem insignificant or not a big deal but seriously I doubt anyone really cares if Nintendo is slow to adopt online or not. There's more than enough room for single player, multiplayer home games, and online games but as time goes on and more and more people experience online gaming you can bet that Nintendo will either become serious about online or they'll go the way of the dinosaur.

I agree... People who haven't experienced something don't miss it or have any idea what it's like.  The thing with Nintendo is that a lot of their games don't require online (Mario platform games, etc) or would have to have major rework in order to become an online game.  Nintendo has very little experience making online games so it's obvious that they're going to take baby steps until they get there.  But you can't ignore things like World of Warcraft and other subscription based games that are bringing in millions of people and generating massive amounts of money for gaming companies.  They're also addictive and usually if you lose a player to online they usually stay online and find single player games missing something (at least in my experience).

I have a friend who only plays online shooters, online RTSs, online whatever. He played through Zelda, he liked it because it was Zelda, but otherwise, I can't get him to play single player games. He says there's no skill required, and it's boring.

I told him to play Half Life 2. He's played CS, HL2 DM, DoD, many online shooters, but he won't play the #1 best PC FPS game...because it's single player and boring.

I say, single player games are tailored just for you. The AI guy with the gun or the big scary monster is right around a corner that the game developers KNOW you're going to walk past, thus scaring the shit outta you. The game is much more cinematic, it has an actual story...it's just a superb gaming experience. Multiplayer is generally just added for fun.

One multiplayer game I'm looking forward to that does more than usual is Left 4 Dead. That game uses an AI Director to spawn zombies in strategic, yet "cinematic" spots. It knows when to send a crapload of zombies at you, and then it knows to cool down for a minute so you can catch your breath, only to be swamped by a gigantic Tank when you least expected it. This is a 4 player survival game that I cannot wait for.

of course online matters. i for one had a 25% of getting metroid if it's got online, but 0% if it's not.

but quite frankly, even if metroid's got online, it's likely to suck. nintendo needs to design a dedicated online FPS, not just tack it onto metroid or something.

or maybe one would just have to hope somebody comes up with a big online FPS hit on the Wii. it's money there to be made.

Well, you can love both. I do.

GoW was lot of fun on solo/coop with great moment. But 7 hours after, once you've finished it, you know where the monsters are and it's less fun. Then comes the Multiplayers, where you'll speend tens/hundreds of hours having another kind of fun.

 See?  I knew there'd be strange people that don't buy Metroid because it's not online...but I suppose they aren't the kind of gamers that would like Metroid anyway, so whatever, no loss.

No offense to you, but Metroid doesn't need to be online, and you're an idiot for passing it up, but whatever.

And yeah, I love both single player games and multiplayer.

I still play Day of Defeat once in a while, and online RTSs will never die. Multiplayer games are crazy fun, and very unpredictable.

But single player games will always be amazing as well.