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[Mr Trout]

I want to play that game so badly! I almost ran out and got it today but I have so much work to do on projects I can't really afford the distraction. So I post on internet forums instead.

Have you gotten a chance to try out the multiplayer?

[AugustWest]

I use it to track my weight as well, although its somewhat perverse since I'm actually looking to put on weight at the moment.  My goal is for the thing to declare me obese, which should happen at about 193lbs.  Caveat: bodyfat percentage can't be above 20% for this to be a success.

Huh.  My goal is to get out of obese.  I'm close.  I'd like to know what my bodyfat percentage is.

[Ben-San]

Have you gotten a chance to try out the multiplayer?

Sadly no, but the multiplayer looks hella fun. It incorporates gameplay elements and mechanics cherrypicked from all the previous 2D Mario games so it makes a very well-developed and polished game overall.

[Mr Trout]

Sounds awesome, I'm going to have to get it this weekend. Is the multiplayer online? I'll have to dig out my friend code if it is.

With Mario Galaxy and New SMB on DS, Nintendo has really been batting 1000 with the franchise. Well, I guess the latest Paper Mario wasn't quite as great as the GC one, but I did really like the "flipping" mechanic.

[Ben-San]

Sounds awesome, I'm going to have to get it this weekend. Is the multiplayer online? I'll have to dig out my friend code if it is.

With Mario Galaxy and New SMB on DS, Nintendo has really been batting 1000 with the franchise. Well, I guess the latest Paper Mario wasn't quite as great as the GC one, but I did really like the "flipping" mechanic.

Unfortunately there is no online multiplayer. This is where Nintendo has sort of been falling short with a lot of Wii stuf.

[Mr Trout]

This is where Nintendo has sort of been falling short with a lot of Wii stuf.

I agree, and I'm not sure whether it is because they're afraid of it because they're afraid of it tarnishing their family-friendly reputation (witness the way people behave on Uno of all things) or they genuinely don't think it is an area of gaming that is worth investigating. I lean towards the former, given how the friend code system and lack of any chat system in most games work to shelter the player.

It is surprising though, given how Nintendo usually loves to try new things to make the gaming experience better (and how multiplayer friendly their consoles usually are).

[jaydub]

Huh.  My goal is to get out of obese.  I'm close.  I'd like to know what my bodyfat percentage is.

You can buy a pair of skinfold calipers and convince your wife to learn how to use them.  Its pretty simple, 4 measurements or so and look up the results in a table.  Since some of the measurements are inaccessible to yourself you need a buddy.

[littlefallsmets]

I do not own a Wii and have only occasionally played the device at friends' houses. However, I thought that the whole marketing scheme of the Wii's appeal was to market aggressively to the casual gamer and only serve the hardcore gamer outside of the main focus of their business model.

Mario being the cornerstone property, I'd imagine that they'd want to keep the focus of the game on in-person casual-gamer-type interactions and not suggest that there were all sorts of things that you could only enjoy about Mario via a disjointed isolating pursuit.

The whole "I have reprogrammed my keyboard so that I can buff my manna while charging my Rod of Holding while also yelling LEROY JENKINS for ten hours every night, breaking only to sleep and work the job that allows me the money to buy more buffed-manna-rods" versus "here is a tiny candy-coloured guitar, lets get eight people together, get drunk and pretend to play it" split.

[Ben-San]

On the other hand, a cornerstone of their Mario Kart Wii marketing was showing people playing against each other from across the country or the world, and it's been prominent throughout the marketing for the DS (another system following the marketing strategy which Nintendo terms "Blue Ocean" for reasons that make sense to the Japanese executives). Online multiplayer is not the province solely of hardkore uebergamers, and including it does not "suggest there are all sorts of things that you could only enjoy about Mario via a disjointed isolating pursuit" - rather, it involves (from a marketing standpoint) putting a little tick on the box that says "Nintendo Wi-Fi supported" and a page in the manual that says "You can even play with your friends over the Internet, and here's how". The actual reason they don't do it isn't marketing, but because Nintendo doesn't feel like paying programmers to make netcode for the game.

It may come as a shock to you, but there is actually a middle ground between "drunk people having a good time together" and "this high-larious stereotype of gamer butter-trolls". I don't know what the fuck crawled up your ass that made the concept of playing a video game over the internet so offensively loathsome to you, but sometimes you want to play some fuck*ng Mario with a friend.

[littlefallsmets]

While I genuinely see how emphasizing casual-gaming benefits the Wii's image and how it would make sense to de-emphasize hardcome gaming elements...

Uh, the rest of it was a riff, Ben.

I thought I made it abundantly clear by stereotyping casual gaming as harshly as hardcore gaming at the end, there. Thought "candy-coloured" was a tip, to be honest.

I'm not actually all that judgemental a guy (most of the time) but I do enjoy exaggerating my opinions to comic effect and if I do not make that clear enough, I am sorry.

I did not mean to insult your +5 Sword of Reckoning, Ben. It is a rad sword as is clearly connotated by its +5 status.

(See what I did there?)

[Ben-San]

I guess I didn't notice because you used the exact same tone and terms as when you're actually saying what you mean.

This is a known danger of the Internet and also of being consistently confrontational in extremely verbose ways about things that appear arbitrary to other people.

[littlefallsmets]

Oh, I do sometimes have difficulty showing the difference without using an emoticon or writing "haha" or something. This is basically why I do not take offense and am just explaining and apologizing for the misunderstanding.

All I can really say is that when I sound like a slightly-crazy person, I am probably being sincere. When I sound like I am a panelist on Bizarro O'Reilly Factor, I am probably playing off my own slight-madness for comic effect.

I... I dunno. In text and standing outside of my own head, it is not necessarily easy to parse, I guess. Just assume that if I am being particularly crazy-sounding, I'm probably kidding. It is probably best for all.

(Also, it helps to remember that I actually only get that worked up about manners of religion and politics. If I am doing it about less life-and-deathy things, I am just fuck*ng around 99.9% of the time. I do not actually, for example, believe that Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen were roommates at Yale, were in Skull and Bones together and regularly have money fights on their yachts. I do, however, enjoy the idea of that kind of a world to no end.)

[Chump Change]

nugggggggggggggggh

[jay-ell]

I just re-read the "raise your hand if you are uncircumcised" thread for voting purposes, and I hereby forbid Ben and sMets arguing.

Or rather, I strongly discourage  it, given that I have no actual power here any more.

Seriously, dudes. Get a room.

[Ben-San]

Aw, mom, but he.. that is, we.. he started.. aw, MAAAAAN.