Super Mario Strikers only lets you play against those in your region?
by David Hinkle 
{ May 25th 2007 at 4:30PM }
Joystiq has a scan of the European manual for Mario Strikers: Charged, sent in by reader Joshua Marketis, that documents what could potentially become quite the pain in the backside for those of you trying to take the game online when it releases. According to the scan "you will be able to play only with people within Europe" unless you have the friend code of said opponent outside of your region, citing that the reason behind this choice is due to concerns over lag.
When is Nintendo going to get a clue about online gameplay? This kind of thing isn't going to cut it and surely doesn't necessarily even improve the chances that a gamer will not receive lag. We can't be the only ones thinking this, right?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nushio @ May 25th 2007 4:36PM
I know it has online, but does it have any way to chat with my friend/opponent, yell "OWNED!", or otherwise question his sexual preferences?
I didn't think so. So, why concern yourself over lag? Its not like voice is traveling too...
Mark @ May 25th 2007 4:36PM
Old news, what does it matter anyway? It's not like you can communicate with the person anyway, I'd rather have no lag than playing against an American I can't talk too.
OzFactor @ May 25th 2007 4:49PM
file this under: who cares....
if anyone is a veteran of playing any PC FPS or otherwise online, it makes no sense to play people from europe if you are in the US and vise versa because the lag is too much of an issue....
vidGuy @ May 25th 2007 5:18PM
This is a bummer. They could do what all region-free online games due: increase the latency.
I'm not gonna complain, though, it's free, so you can't expect them to be up-to-snuff with a $50-$60 a year service.
And Mark is right, we've known this for what, 3 months?
Mr Khan @ May 25th 2007 5:29PM
Yeah, we've known that the matchmaker would not be region-free, but we didn't know that they would specifically strongly advise against extra-continental matchups
$50 says that Brawl will have this same handicap
JonnyBoy2U @ May 25th 2007 5:32PM
Wow Joystiq is so anti Nintendo its ridiculous. Now even the writers are intent on pointing out every single "negative" thing related to the Wii. Such as the graphics. Such as the "gimicky controller". I tone out half the bs on this website to be honest. Its more about reading the real news articles and the game rumors.
And yeah why should I want to play with someone in Europe? They're are plenty of people in good ole US of A to compete with. And to keep it real it would be pretty pointless to play with someone over seas...especially if I'm not going to understand a damn word they say.
Balam @ May 25th 2007 6:23PM
People from America using the backup on their NTSC Wii are reporting minimal or no lag problems.
Grog @ May 25th 2007 7:32PM
This is not at all a big deal to me. If I want a random game, I'll play whoever - it doesn't matter to me if where my opponents are from. If I happen to have a friend in Germany that I want to play with, I'll put in his friend code and we can play anyway.
Dipso @ May 25th 2007 11:03PM
This was clearly stated to be done to ensure a solid lagless gaming experience for all players. And makes a lot of sense to me, some users not used to online gameplay might not understand concepts like lag and latency, and i find that the best gameplay experience is local and nearby servers anyways. I mean the regions are pretty big, its not like its going to be a problem finding players because of this.
steve @ May 26th 2007 6:01AM
I don't understand why everyone thinks Nintendo and it's Wii, will be 'replacing' the 360 or ps3 this generation. The Wii will not fill the void. They don't know hardcore gaming, and never will.
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http://www.howtogetfreewiipoints.com
Smoke @ May 26th 2007 6:55AM
I've played this game online a few times(Bought it on thursday) and there can be issues with lag that are more prominent over longer distances. I don't really care that random online play is only against locals, since it improves the experience and there's no real difference between players from different regions anyway. I've also played a lot of FPS games back in the days, and intercontinental lag is very noticeable if both connections aren't great.
Besides, friendcodes still allow you to play against everyone all over the world.
This is rather needless bitching about an aspect of a feature that's intended to maximize enjoyment from a game.
Would you rather spend half the time complaining about lag when you play against international opponents?
I also wouldn't be surprised if SSBB has a similar limitation. The game's just too fast to keep synced over long distances.
Keine @ May 26th 2007 10:11AM
How is this a problem if I can't communicate with my opponent anyway? I'd rather play a lag-free game than knowing I MIGHT be playing against someone who lives in Australia.
ianC @ May 26th 2007 3:07PM
Oh who gives a flying fuck?
mike @ May 26th 2007 5:52PM
I'm with ianC. I am in the United States, and I could care less if I can play people in Europe, Asia, or where ever. They've sold millions of these things here in the states, so they'll people plenty of people to play. Quit complaining.
Jamar @ May 27th 2007 4:24AM
I live in China with a Japanese Wii. So how does that work? Am I going to be playing against others in China with Wiis or am I going to be playing with Japanese people? Their lag argument is moot if it matches people up by Wii region instead of IP address (think of those in the States and Europe with Japanese Wiis).
Smoke @ May 27th 2007 12:53PM
Jamar: I'd say that part of the market is far too small to be worth considering. You could verify this however once the game's out in all 3 regions: Just check the leaderbord and see who's on top, compare it to a friend who has a system from a different region. If they match, it's done via IP.
Spekkio @ May 27th 2007 1:53PM
The biggest online game right now (ever?), World of Warcraft, restricts by region, if memory serves. This is just a practical thing.
It still makes me sad to hear that there's no way to communicate with other online players. That's one of the big hangups I have with Wi-Fi on the DS, like Mario Kart or Tetris DS - you might as well be playing against the computer.