truly disappointing. Didn’t they have keyboard support for Phantasy Star on the gamecube LAST gen?

even if nintendo is so worried about younger players interacting with the wrong kind of people (which is what I’m grasping is their intention with the numerous restrictions) isn’t that where personal responsibility for people and their children comes in? It should be in the hands of the parents to decide how little they want their children to interact with people online, and use the parental controls the Wii has built into it.

it’s really pathetic when an online service goes totally against the entire purpose of it’s existance; to bring players together, not isolate them.

I think I always just fall back on “at least it’s free” because there’s just no other way to quell the frustration their system creates in my mind. I suppose that only goes so far, though.

The free excuse fails when you compare WFC to the PSN, which is also free. PSN is actually pretty damn awesome for a free service.

I mean, I’m not expecting Xbox Live. I do expect some basic competency.

Do you really need text chat on a racing game?

@Greg - Well, I am someone who would normally bitch about their horrid system, but I’ve done it so much before. Need to stop at some point lol.

They really should have just left chat out all together if they refuse to do it right. People would bitch a lot less if it was not there instead of being implemented in such a half assed piss poor manner.

I hafta ask, what’s the Logitech S530 for Mac got to do with Mario Kart Wii text chat?

…Just messing with you, I actually have that keyboard and recognized it instantly. If I understand the ‘text chat’ in MKW, it’s about the same as SSBB’s text-taunts, more or less. Either way, communication in anything other than games against friends has always been useless for me, and mostly a way for others to threaten to kill me in my sleep. This doesn’t bother me at all.

This seems par for the course with Nintendo. They seem completely paranoid about any interaction between users (and given the cesspool that is Xbox Live, the caution isn’t entirely unwarranted). It seems bizarre that they’re unwilling even to allow people to voluntarily communicate with designated friends, though.

But what really puzzles me is… If they’re so deep-set in their paranoia, why does the frigging DS ship with software that allows unfettered text/picture communication -preinstalled?-

Keyboard chat? Ha! Nintendo did it for the LULZ.

:x Nintendo’s on thin ice. Pay-to-play?! False text chat?! One more online dissapointment, and I’m gunna flip a sh*t.

i love voice chat in games! Team Fortress 2 would be far less entertaining without it.

ugh…

/wrists

yeah, it sucks.

but at the same time, it could actually be kinda fun. i mean, if its the right blurb at the right time.

anyone who’s played Zelda: Phantom Hourglass online knows that random blurbs at the end of a match can be funa at first, but get annoying quickly and are in no way a good solution. If this is just a textual upgrade of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’s method of conectivity I’ll be very disapointed.

I don’t see the big deal. We’ve already been dealing with NO form of communication at all, you act like they somehow messed up. If they messed up, it’s because they already messed up, they’re not going to go and change the way they do online play out of the blue, not with this, not with Smash Bros, not with whatever. They didn’t go and promise you voice chat or the ability to use a keyboard in the middle of a race to slander opponents or whatever, so I don’t see any problem that’s here that’s not anywhere else. You’re blaming them for someone’s misinterpretation like they were going to put it in but took it out.

“even if nintendo is so worried about younger players interacting with the wrong kind of people (which is what I’m grasping is their intention with the numerous restrictions) isn’t that where personal responsibility for people and their children comes in?”

Yeah, tell that to them after they get sued and get bad press after one or two incidents in which young children meet child molesters online. From their standpoint, I don’t blame them for doing this, especially in something like “Mario Kart.” It will likely save them a lot of trouble and possible bad PR (if something unfortunate were to happen). It’s unfortunate, but then, I don’t care much about chatting in “Mario Kart” either.

Wow… this sucks…

There’s no doubt that Nintendo’s online strategy sucks. However, after playing on XBL for a while, even a game like N+, it’s easy to be indifferent towards any kind of communication with the idiots that always seem to appear. If there are 12 players in Mario Kart, chances are good at least one of them would annoy everybody to end with voice/text spam.

It’s also easy enough to mute them. I agree there are a LOT of idiots in any online system, but to give up on some potentially great games for some easily avoidable issues just doesn’t seem worth it. WFC is so based upon playing with people you know already as it is (given that if you want to continue playing with anyone, you basically need to contact them for their number) that it makes it even less of an issue.

@Me3: That’s why there are terms of service for these issues and other protections. The 360 has parental timers, age restrictions, rating restrictions, etc. Nintendo could figure out something similar and avoid those issues entirely. Media outlets look for these things even where they don’t exist as it is…Like with the whole DS stalker thing.

I’m just gonna say it.

Funk That Sunshine

here’s what should happen that would fix the whole problem: if you had a little icon on who was talking at the moment show up whenever someone was talking, and then you could have the whole group to vote to disable their chat. It would cause people to start being clean and nice, so you don’t get your important chat disabled!

here’s what should happen that would fix the whole problem: if you had a little icon on who was talking at the moment show up whenever someone was talking, and then you could have the whole group to vote to disable someone’s chat at the end of each match. It would cause people to start being clean and nice, so you don’t get your important chat disabled! The only catch however would be that the person talking wouldn’t know about the vote, and most people would have to agree for it to actually go thorough.

Nintendo does this for the kids. And avoidign lawsuits if something bad happens. If you can’t live without voice chat, you might want another console hat doesn’t protect itself that much.

Honestly.. I’ll probably only ever play with a few friends online, and I guess I’ll just use skype for real communication.

Seriously nintendo, fucking wake up.

Admittedly, it’d be nice if you could chat with people of a friends list or something. Certainly THAT much should be acceptable. Ah well.

Nintendo loves to claim this is all about the kiddies, but it doesn’t make sense. Kids have the internet, kids have Xbox Live. This isn’t the ’90’s, kids are internet savvy and protecting them from certain aspects of the internet is just a part of life now. Which is obviously why the Wii has PARENTAL CONTROLS. As in parental controls that DISABLE THE INTERNET CHANNEL and could, very, very fucking easily DISABLE VOICE CHAT IN ONLINE GAMES. Whoa, what’s that?? Voice chat for all of us grown-ups out there, and none for the fragile kiddies?? What a crazy idea! But alas, that impressive “on-off switch” technology must just be too advanced for the big N.

I don’t need voice chat in Nintendo games. I mostly find it obnoxious, and only useful when I want to terrorize nerds on XBL. However, part of the joy of multiplayer Mario Kart is unleashing torrents of obscenities upon your opponents when they slam you with a red shell and whiz past you right before you roll over the finish line. It’s like an intrinsic part of the experience. If I can’t do that with my friends from far away, it certainly makes it a less fun, less connected experience. But more than anything, it’s just about staying current. Even the youngest gamers know that voice chat is a long-standing part of online gaming now. This makes Nintendo feel like the old, paranoid Grandmother of the gaming world. Ugh.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=36580#comment-1758978

i don’t feel like typing this all over again.

I didn’t plan on doing any typing between races, so this really doesn’t bother me. I would still love to have voice chat, but oh well. When it comes to online multiplayer, “It’s free” seems to be the only leg Nintendo can stand on at this point.

Can somebody tell me ONE racing game with online voice chat?

JUST ONE, please, then we can go back to using nintendo as a scapegoat for everything wrong with gaming.

I’m thrilled that we’ll be able to take Kart online. It’s gonna be sweet. I could really care less about sending messages and talking to people while I play online…that’s what the local multiplayer is for.

Is there LAN support? Please say yes. Double Dash LAN parties rock so hard, but I haven’t read about LAN support for MKWii.

I think the text bubbles should go in favor of being able to have your character should the predetermined lines in their own voice. I would always make Mario say “Taka Dis!”

MIK: Burnout on Xbox 360 has excellent live voice chat during races. I’m sure there are others, as well.

I’m glad nintendo has not implemented voice chat!
I am tired of people’s anonymously fueled comments on forums, games, etc. I now totally ignore comments/ratings on gaming/music sites most of them are useless trolling. This is the only site that I often visit that comments do not quickly escalate into a “flame war.”

I know this may seem off the subject of the post, but if Nintendo’s reasoning behind the lack of online features is what I think it is (and not just pure laziness and/or cost cutting), I am very much behind them.

Something needs to change before a game can still feel enjoyable online as it is playing with friend IRL. Either a societal, or technological change. Preferably the former. It feels like entering a stoneage playground when reading or hearing conversations online these days.

@ Drin: Yeah, voice chat with strangers is not always a good thing and I also hate it. But we SHOULD at least have voice chat with friends. I hate having to use the phone to set up Wii and DS multiplayer games with friends. The option needs to be there, from a usability perspective. But it’s not, so it’s a critical flaw.

Hah, funk that sunshine. But yeah, sorry for being so punctual. I’ll present a better argument next time.

Voice chat is the first thing I disable in all online games.

they did the same with Brawl, why would they done any different now?

Voice chat in games… I’m not a supporters. It’s true it’s an awesome to have if the all the player are sensible… too bad most of them are retards and flaunt curse words that they just learn 5 minutes ago

In my opinion, voice chat is essential for fps. Especially those that require teamwork, such as Team Fortress 2. Voice chat for a mario kart game would only be useful to taunt your opponent, unless you were a serious battle-mode player O.o.