Brawl with your friends online

Don't look at me like that. Over twenty million game consoles have sold in the Americas alone since the latest generation of them started hitting the shelves in late 2005. So we're launching this column here to talk about video games, and technology in general, with the hopes that at least some of these consoles that have been flying away from retailers are sitting somewhere in West Island living rooms. And another thing. I want to hear suggestions and ideas from you, the gamers reading this. E-mail me at raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca and tell me what you want me to talk about, from exactly why Blu-Ray is better than regular DVDs anyway to allusions to Shakespeare in action-adventure games, and I'll try to address it if I think I can do it without sounding like a noobie.

For starters, I'll be looking at something that's been bothering several gamers with a very popular recently released video game by Nintendo, that eternal manufacturer of great software.

Brawl with your friends online…if you have the patience

In 2000, setting up a round of video gaming with friends online was a hassle. Before I could do so, I had to call them, tell them to get online, inform family members not to use the telephone, and hope our game would be uninterrupted by people randomly calling after 10 p.m. Those were the days of 56k and we only had one telephone line at home.

While technological advances have allowed most PCs and consoles to move beyond this phase, Nintendo, a company synonymous with the cutting edge of gaming when I was about knee-high, is still behind.

Take their latest big game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, on their successful Wii console. In Smash Bros., players choose a favourite Nintendo mascot character and engage in cartoony fistfights against computer-controlled enemies, or real-life opponents, which is usually much more fun. The formula is enhanced by the use of absurd melee items like flowers or turtle shells, or weird fighting arenas like a racetrack in the middle of a grand prix tournament.

Brawl does not introduce much new. Its biggest addition is an online mode, meaning you can theoretically play with people living on the other side of the world without leaving your couch. The problem is Brawl has a restrictive online mode. Choose to play against strangers and you can't interact with them before, during or after the game, so you might as well be playing against the computer. To play with friends, you have to go through a double registration system, first allowing your Wii to recognize theirs, and then your copy of Brawl to do likewise.

Should you still have the patience to play after this dozen digit debacle, you have to call your friends and tell them to get online, and still you won't be able to communicate with them in-game save for short, pre-assigned catchphrases, since the Wii doesn't have any headset capabilities and the game doesn't recognize USB keyboards.

Of course, one could argue that complaining about meagre online misses the point. Brawl is extremely fun to play with friends in person. A smirk when you knock your friend's character for a loop, an innocent (or not so innocent) insult when you feel they cheated, or even a slight shove when one of them has too much of an upper hand and your gaming skills alone are just not enough to top them…this is not possible online, and having the ability to yell at your friend over a headset doesn't really make up for it. Not to mention you kind of look scary sitting alone in your basement and intoning profanities at nobody in particular.

Still, Nintendo seems to have caught the message. Their next big game, Mario Kart Wii, will have at least a few more features. You'll be able to check how well you're doing worldwide thanks to an up-to-date ranking system and race against up to 12 players simultaneously. You will even be able to text chat with friends before races, though pre-arranged text will be the word of the day instead of allowing gamers to hook up a USB keyboard to the Wii, despite the console allowing that.

And though there has been no final say, I think I'll still have to call my friends beforehand to tell them to get online. At least I won't have to worry about incoming phone calls disconnecting the game anymore.