The game would suffer for one of two things depending on how it would be implemented:
1) Input lag on everything that varies by ping. Nobody wants to play that.
2) Teammates, enemies, and objects that just teleport all over the place due to rollbacks. Not great when you consider how much that you can interact with all of those things. I actually think this could work in a differently designed game though, such as a game in which the players aren't forced to be in close proximity of each other at all times. But 3DW isn't that game.
Then you have to consider that you're not guaranteed to have communication with your teammates. Think about that for a minute.
Personally, nothing from the previous generation disappointed me as much as online play in general, especially in most of the types of games that I play. It's hardly a feature I require or even want in most of them, platformers included. I won't have the opportunity to play a full multiplayer session in this game until Christmas week, and I might not ever have the opportunity to have another one after that, but even then, I think online play would pretty much be a useless bullet point for 3DW that I'd never want to use anyway.
I see I have gotten a ton of responses, or "defenses" for Nintendos stance of not to introduce online, but I might as well answer here, not going to quote all of them.
I feel the problem with this and most other "defenses" of the no-online policy mistakes the point. You write: "the game would suffer" - now how so? The game would be completely the same in both single and local multiplyaer, the online multiplayer should only
be added onto that.
As everybody who responds, I am also in favor of Nintendo continuing to produce these games with local multiplayer in mind first and foremost. What I am critizising is not that at all. It is the fact that they couldnt spare some workhours to give us a working online as well. So:
1. People quoting me misunderstand my message. I do not think Nintendo should make this game with online multiplayer in mind, or do online multiplayer instead of local multiplayer. What I say is undefendable is the fact that there is no fucking multiplayer at all - they have time to do this stupid luigi-sprites everywhere, but cant implement such a basic feature like this? Come on - this is all about stubborness from Nintendo because they feel the game is better in local multiplayer - which it definitely would be. But that doesnt change the fact that this should be the choice of us, the players, and not some directors in Tokyo (or even worse, a producer in Kyoto).
2. Some people say it wouldnt work because of lag etc. That is probably true for some people with slow internet connection. But I refuse to believe that online is not possible to get to work in a game like this, when it works flawlessly in games like Street Fighter that is much more based upon fluid framerate and no lag than this.
3. One or maybe a few persons said Nintendo doesnt have to do it, because nobody else does. That is not a defense, Nintendo should do it because it is designed as a multiplayer game - and the most easy way for people to experience multiplayer these days are via online play. Not a lot of other studios are even making 3D-plattformer - that doesnt mean Nintendo shouldnt do it either - in fact, that is rather an argument
for making more games like that, and the same applies to this. Nintendo should not be "judged" or "defended" or whatever in comparison to other companies good or bad policies - they should be judged by what their games set out to do - how they succed in doing that - and what potential there might be to do even more things. In this case, there is the potential for a ton more players to experience the number one design decision going into this - that they for some reason decided to ignore. And I still see no good defense for that.
To summarize: Nintendo should NOT base this game around online multiplayer instead of local multiplayer, nor should they drop the local or anything else. However, it should be offered as an option, either by spending an extra week or whatever it would take to implement, using a few extra men to build it, or taking resources from something like the luigi-sprites all over. As good online multiplayr as exist in a ton of games, even on Nintendos own plattforms, there are just no good defense for not having online in a game so designed around multiplayr as this one.
With that said, its probably time to complete that world 8
