"They have the manpower, it's just a matter of priorities."

The thing is that Nintendo finds that too many people can just make a game bloated. Brain Age was deliberately made with a small team, with only so much time and money. Wile many developers see that as a reason to cut corners, Nintendo sees that as a way to enforce making the games better without relying on all the bells and whistles. The same with NSMBWii. They wanted to look at the game without the crutch of just throwing more money and manpower at it.

There is a better point to be made though. Online might not work well for the game. Having played 4 player I really cannot imagine trying to do that online. The lag, and inability to effectively communicate would destroy the game.

Further, Miyamoto decided not to include it. It wasn't a matter of budget, or time constraints. It was a matter of design decision. The experience he wanted to create required people be in the same room. I would be hard pressed to call artistic vision laziness.

Yeah, this philosophy is enshrined in Innovator's Dillema, isn't it? So anyone interested in it can read about it there...

Absolutely granted any lag would kill the game. However it was never even attempted.   Yes, it was an artistic decision by Miyamoto and I agree it's best played together in the same room where you get a lot of laughs.   But... there is something to be said to catering to your loyal fans.   Online would not have cost much for them to impliment and while I'd rather play it with people locally too, it'd be nice to play it online as well.   Brawl and Kart are better locally too for that matter but I still play them online.  I don't see the difference.

I don't really count PC games in the console wars, since I'd rather play them on a PC than any console.

Artistic vision is the difference. Miyamoto had an idea of how he wanted the game to be experienced. That idea did not translate into online gameplay so it was never included. I can understand being disapointed, and I can understand still wanting it. Calling them lazy is either ignorant, or intentionally hostile though. Sticking to your design ideals is not lazy. It is just an artist getting caught up in his work.

Edit: Just to be clear I would like to state I am not objecting to your desire for online play in NSMBWii. I am objecting to the claim it was done because they were lazy. Everyone has the right to bitch about whatever they like so long as they are bitching for the right reasons.

And this is not because Malstrom said it. This is centuries old. I can't remember the composer, but he said if you just told him to write a symphony, he would just have too many ideas to think of one that the patron was asking for. But if you gave him some parameters, he could make it beautifully.

This is why all the whining about Wii specs shows they are using the HD systems as a creative crutch, not a creative tool.

On that note, I do admit Dead Rising didn't work as well on the Wii mainly because they first game was just showing off the power of multi-core processors, and even Capcom admitted it didn't work as well as they hoped. So if CTYD was flawed, it was because it was based on a shacky foundation (I still like either version of the game, but they could still have been a lot better).

It's also why despite the griping over the size limit of XBLA, some have stated they can still get great games out of it (but that is helped by compression being a lot better for the system than the N64, where size could be a problem).

Wish you'd just answered me now, huh psrock?

Well, I'd really like to argue with your logic, but I won't.  It was Miyamoto's decision and not made for 'lazy' reasons.   However, I'll still call it inconsiderant and it just come off as feeling 'lazy'.

Matt_IGN said: Wow. I'm a bit surprised to see the reactions here. Yes, we at the Nintendo team think Nintendo has screwed up this generation, an yes all you Nintendo fanboys seem to be blinded somehow. You just can't ignore the Wii's lack of horsepower, lack of quality games and lack of achievements. The Wii is basically a GameCube with a flawed controller, and we from IGN are attempting a wake-up call for Nintendo. Things need to change, otherwise Nintendo might as well drop out of the gaming business and start creating toys for kids. p.s. I'm not fat, just a tad big boned Matt

Oh man somebody deserves a high five.  But who?