Valve staffer wonders how The Grinder will work on Wii

"I'm very interested in social gaming. Left 4 Dead is social gaming. One of the reasons why we're on Steam and Xbox Live is because those platforms deliver that, they deliver hooking up with your friends. I have no idea how you'd do that on the Wii. I mean, I can be sitting there, watching Netflix on my 360, I see a popup saying that someone online who I know is playing Left 4 Dead, and I can go join them. How am I doing that on the Wii? Left 4 Dead couldn't have existed ten years ago without the technology to hook you up with your friends as easily as we do now. Even QuakeWorld, when that first came out it was this huge thing because you could hook up with any stranger, but it still didn't let you connect to your friends and there was a lot of work on that and on Steam, we had a lot of iterations of friends lists because it's not an easy problem to solve, there are a lot of things to want to do right. I don't know if those other platforms are doing that yet, so when I see a game coming out like that on the Wii, I just wonder, 'how's that gonna work?' Best of luck to them, that's totally cool and if it's a cool game I'll definitely buy it and figure it out, but I don't know how that works. I think it's hard to discount how powerful the Xbox Live community and Steam community are." - Chet Faliszek, Valve

Thoughts?

So if the Grinder works well on the Wii and accomplishes what they set out to do Valve will want to try something similar on the Wii?

That's what I'm getting from that quote.

"I'm very interested in social gaming. Left 4 Dead is social gaming. One of the reasons why we're on Steam and Xbox Live is because those platforms deliver that, they deliver hooking up with your friends. I have no idea how you'd do that on the Wii. I mean, I can be sitting there, watching Netflix on my 360, I see a popup saying that someone online who I know is playing Left 4 Dead, and I can go join them. How am I doing that on the Wii? Left 4 Dead couldn't have existed ten years ago without the technology to hook you up with your friends as easily as we do now. Even QuakeWorld, when that first came out it was this huge thing because you could hook up with any stranger, but it still didn't let you connect to your friends and there was a lot of work on that and on Steam, we had a lot of iterations of friends lists because it's not an easy problem to solve, there are a lot of things to want to do right. I don't know if those other platforms are doing that yet, so when I see a game coming out like that on the Wii, I just wonder, 'how's that gonna work?' Best of luck to them, that's totally cool and if it's a cool game I'll definitely buy it and figure it out, but I don't know how that works. I think it's hard to discount how powerful the Xbox Live community and Steam community are." - Chet Faliszek, Valve

Thoughts?

Brawl578

So if the Grinder works well on the Wii and accomplishes what they set out to do Valve will want to try something similar on the Wii?

That's what I'm getting from that quote.

Nintendo_Ownes7

[QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"]

So if the Grinder works well on the Wii and accomplishes what they set out to do Valve will want to try something similar on the Wii?

That's what I'm getting from that quote.

Cherokee_Jack

[QUOTE="Cherokee_Jack"][QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"]

So if the Grinder works well on the Wii and accomplishes what they set out to do Valve will want to try something similar on the Wii?

That's what I'm getting from that quote.

Nintendo_Ownes7

I don't know how its gonna work either. Sure you have friend codes but that's really as deep as it gets.

Its been said a million times before and I'll say it again, Nintendo needs to scrape their entire "freind codes" system and put forth a real online communtiy!

I put the disc in and play it. That's how it'll work.

I put the disc in and play it. That's how it'll work.

789shadow

[QUOTE="789shadow"]

I put the disc in and play it. That's how it'll work.

Cherokee_Jack

Oh. I should really read the post before being sarcastic.:P

As much as I hate traditional consoles being thrust into a fad of online gaming... I can't not admit that its probably a good thing. And Nintendo is still an entire generation behind. Hell, Nintendo's online is akin to early PC online.

I don't get what he's confused about. Is he questioning how people will join and leave the game while it's in progress? Otherwise, how would it need to operate any differently than CoD WaW or The Conduit. Join a game on a server and play. There it is.

I don't get what he's confused about. Is he questioning how people will join and leave the game while it's in progress? Otherwise, how would it need to operate any differently than CoD WaW or The Conduit. Join a game on a server and play. There it is.

gamecubepad

[QUOTE="gamecubepad"]

I don't get what he's confused about. Is he questioning how people will join and leave the game while it's in progress? Otherwise, how would it need to operate any differently than CoD WaW or The Conduit. Join a game on a server and play. There it is.

foxhound_fox

Something like the Mario Kart Channel already addresses that problem. Lets you see if your friends are online, view rankings, download ghost runs. Wii has a messaging system as well.

Brings us back to my original question. What is he confused about?

Nintendo could easily fix their entire online system with one patch by gettting rid of friend codes...but they still stubbornly refuse to do so :roll:

i like he knows the answer to his own question

he and valve helped make that kind of online gaming work on steam and XBL yet he can't figure it out on Wii?

All of the things he mentioned are on Brawl or Kart (like saying when your friend is playing, etc)

Something like the Mario Kart Channel already addresses that problem. Lets you see if your friends are online, view rankings, download ghost runs. Wii has a messaging system as well.

Brings us back to my original question. What is he confused about?

gamecubepad

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]

[QUOTE="gamecubepad"]

I don't get what he's confused about. Is he questioning how people will join and leave the game while it's in progress? Otherwise, how would it need to operate any differently than CoD WaW or The Conduit. Join a game on a server and play. There it is.

gamecubepad

Something like the Mario Kart Channel already addresses that problem. Lets you see if your friends are online, view rankings, download ghost runs. Wii has a messaging system as well.

Brings us back to my original question. What is he confused about?

The uniformity Live and Steam give you is much MUCH better than what your refering to. For instance, say you are playing MK WII online and a freind jumps online to play the grinder, now, while your playing MK WII does NWFC alert you at the bottom of your screen that your freind is playing the grinder? Does it give you the option of just hitting a button to join him? Can you view when your freinds are on and what games they are playing by just hitting the wii home button and going to a freinds list from any game or any program? Can you then send them invites to come join the game your playing?

Like I said, NWFC does not offer a uniformity system anywhere close to that of Steam or XBL and that is what this guy is talking about!

He makes an excellent point. Pub players in L4D SUCK ASS.

I assume Wii pub players are the scum of the online multiplayer community.

As much as I hate traditional consoles being thrust into a fad of online gaming... I can't not admit that its probably a good thing. And Nintendo is still an entire generation behind. Hell, Nintendo's online is akin to early PC online.

foxhound_fox

I dont think online gameing is a fad. I cant see it fading away at all.

I dont think online gameing is a fad. I cant see it fading away at all.

Trmpt

[QUOTE="Trmpt"]I dont think online gameing is a fad. I cant see it fading away at all.

foxhound_fox

If consoles never die out neither will their online component. Once it became popular, the online component became a standard that no one will want to see go away. Have you read some of the topics that go into detail explaining why they wont buy a certain game just because it is single player only with no online?

And yeah, local 4-player multiplayer was a blast in the past, but it has evolved into online play. It is just way more fun playing with 4 times that amount or more.

[QUOTE="Trmpt"]I dont think online gameing is a fad. I cant see it fading away at all.

foxhound_fox

I think it will be different in respect to individual platforms.

meh, i hated.. the conduit, it was like, the most boring game ive ever played, sure the controls were sweet, but that doesnt matter if your game completely sucks