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GameCube (Games) Entertainment Games

Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes Shows Multiplayer Action For GameCube 78

Posted by simoniker from the long-awaited dept.
Thanks to Nintendo.com for its new info page officially revealing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for GameCube, showing several impressive screenshots of "this highly anticipated sequel to Metroid Prime", as the first hints of setting are discussed: "Hunted by a mysterious entity and a warring race called the Ing, Samus Aran must explore the light and dark worlds of this doomed planet." The previously rumored multiplayer mode is also confirmed: "Up to four players can battle each other as they search for weapons, grapple across ceilings, and turn into Morph Balls to make their escapes."
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Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes Shows Multiplayer Action For GameCube More

Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes Shows Multiplayer Action For GameCube

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  • Metroid Prime and multiplayer (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BigHungryJoe ( 737554 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @01:53PM (#8959848) Homepage
    I loved Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime and Windwaker alone made the Gamecube worth the money.
    Unfortunately, this is the kind of "multiplayer" I was hoping for.

    Why is Nintendo so averse to doing providing a real online multiplayer service? I have a blast on XBox Live and I think that being "Live Enabled" drives the sale of many games.

    It just seems like they're ignoring a potentially lucrative part of the market.

    -BHJ
    • I'd personally rather have LAN play for Metroid Prime 2. Games are much more fun when the people are sitting in the same room. I have XBox live. Don't like it.
    • Metroid Prime was an excellent game... and 2 will be even better. I'm so glad to see Nintendo bring back this franchise after so long.

      As for the online... I think Nintendo doesn't see it as profitable yet. Because it really isn't. Out of the estimated 14 million + Xbox users, only 750,000 are subscribed to Live. So Live really isn't pulling that much for Xbox when you look at the general numbers. I love playing games online, and I think it would be great if Nintendo made more of their games online for the
      • That's 750,000 more than Nintendo.... and they've paid for the privilege. In the UK it's 39/year for Live, assuming that we're getting ripped off (as usual), and that the average internationally is $30/year, that's still $22 million. It certainly doesn't cost anywhere near that much to provide the service, and given that a fair proportion of games already have LAN capability, it's not that much of a stretch to extend the service on the programming side either.

    • Re:Metroid Prime and multiplayer (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:13PM (#8960304)
      "Why is Nintendo so averse to doing providing a real online multiplayer service?"

      Because then they'd have to filter out all the assholes online.

      • Re:Metroid Prime and multiplayer (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Salamande ( 461392 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @04:53PM (#8960887)
        Interesting point. I think that's one of the prime (ahem) reasons why Nintendo is so skittish about going online.

        When all is said and done, the image they're trying to project is one of a family company...which is quite different from a kiddy company, despite popular opinion. Making a game online capable requires such freedom of communication that it's impossible to censor it and not cripple the experience. Look at Phantasy Star Online: do you think you'd be able to bond with your buddies as well using only the Symbol Chat interface? And even then, they still managed to "dirty" it up...it seems you can make a lot of questionable images with those symbols.

        Even if they stuck on a big, shiny sign covering half the retail box that said, "Hey, people on the net can be assholes, so we're not responsible for hurt feelings incurred playing online!" parents would still bitch the first time little Timmy was told to "fuck off n00b". I guess doing without that grief, and the resultant image shift, is worth the online sales. I disagree, but that may be part of the rationale.

        • There's a simple solution to this.

          Every game has an ESRB rating associated with it. Each online game can be automatically censored based on that rating. So, if a game has an M rating, anything goes. If an online game has an E rating, they could auto-sensor bad words, etc. I'm sure they could come up with one that would detect those words in voice too.

          • As far as I'm concerned this isn't about language, it's about behavior and courtesy. Consider all the assholes on TV and the radio that still come up clean as far as the FCC is concerned.

            Consider [penny-arcade.com]. You can scrub their language until you're blue in the face, but they're still assholes and they still detract from the gaming experience of paying customers.

            And, conversely, it is possible to be polite while still swearing like the proverbial sailor.

  • Expect a speed run (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by Radix37 ( 670836 )
    In the traditions of my Metroid Prime 100% in 1:37, as soon as the game is out and dissected ;-)

    • Just allow me to say that you, sir, are The Man.

      I've tried the trick to get the Space Jump boots at the beginning of the game and can never pull it off, even with instructions.
      • Do you have a 'Players Choice' version of the game? I do - and looking around online, I found a site [can't remember it, was a few months ago] that says that trick, and several other sequence breaking tricks were fixed, but not all of them - there's one room where you can literally climb up a magnetic track by sticking your face in it, turning to the left a bit, and repeatedly jumping - that still works.
  • I played through it again recently, with 100% items. It didn't strike me as much the first time just how well put-together it is.

    I mean, even in the first area, just look at the walls. There are places in the game where there's multiple laters to the walls, just for the purpose of realism. This game was a labor of love. I can't imagine how many man-hours it must have taken to develop all those textures.
    • The one real exception I've found is the way the Omega Pirate plays. When I went through on Hard Mode without too many items recently (notably lacking were all the beam-missile weapons other than Super Missiles) I just found that the randomness of which type of enemy showed up, and the randomness of whether all enemies would be the same type was rather obnoxious. It was also kind of silly that I found myself trying to memroize the ceiling so that I'd know where it's safe to walk while strafing.

      Though ye

      • Eeee, the fight with the Omega Pirate *can* be annoying, but I always put that down to my own skillz.

        I can think of one texture I wish they'd have improved. When going down an elevator, you can see the pixels on Samus', um, breastplate.

        - John Harris
    • "This game was a labor of love. I can't imagine how many man-hours it must have taken to develop all those textures."

      What I found neat was that the textures in some of the "Loading: Please Wait" tunnels in the Chozo Ruins get (more) reflective when you look at them through the thermal visor.

  • New Icons? New stuff? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FroBugg ( 24957 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @06:26PM (#8961482) Homepage
    The icons on the HUD look different from those in Prime, if I'm remembering correctly. Does this mean it's going to have different beams and visors?
    • True the icons on the HUD are different, but if you really think about it they can pretty much all be justified as 'revamped.' Chances are they're all the same thing (with a change or two) since, after all; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

      Judging from the first screenshot where you can get the best view :

      Energy bars? Different but its pretty clear what they're trying to do.
      The two verticle bars under the missle count? Again, pretty clear (Dark Blue shows max, Teal shows remaining.)
      Left verticle bar? Danger

      • "Energy bars? Different but its pretty clear what they're trying to do."

        But it's definitely different from the way energy has been displayed since the first game. There might be something else involved in there (another try at the Reserve Tank concept?), especially considering the way everything else seems to be revised to get less clutter on the HUD, not more.

        "The two verticle bars under the missle count? Again, pretty clear (Dark Blue shows max, Teal shows remaining.)"

        Or there's two flavors of miss

  • I've said it before, I'll say it again, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GaimeGuy ( 679917 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @06:43PM (#8961588) Journal
    People always need a reason to bitch about Nintendo.
    "Nintendo is too traditional!"
    "Nintendo should put multiplayer in Metroid!"

    Now, it's:
    "Nintendo is selling out!"
    "What the hell is Nintendo thinking?! Putting multiplayer in Metroid. No one wanted that crap!"
    People are ALWAYS criticizing nintendo for being too conservative and for not "changing with the times." Now that Nintendo is listening to these people, they're getting branded as sell-outs. Good god, people. If Nintendo wants to become #1 in the industry again, they're going to have to do stuff like this.

    No, it doesn't mean that they're going to change the game formula at all! And no, it doesn't mean they're going to put less effort in their games! They're adding something which the fans asked for. And for the love of god, if anyone can pull off these types of things and still retain the feel of the franchise, it's Nintendo.
    Now why don't you all wait until more about the game is revealed and until you can PLAY it before judging it?

    • Re:I've said it before, I'll say it again, (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      People are ALWAYS criticizing nintendo for being too conservative and for not "changing with the times." Now that Nintendo is listening to these people, they're getting branded as sell-outs. Good god, people. If Nintendo wants to become #1 in the industry again, they're going to have to do stuff like this.

      It's what is known as 'discussion'. Nintendo is not bashed any more than any other big company, but all the Nintendo fans get defensive about it and say ridiculous things like your last sentence.

      • Re:I've said it before, I'll say it again, (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Actually, I've noticed that Nintendo is the target of young turk gamers that somehow think they've something to prove by kicking the old man of the industry around. Sony doesn't get the same amount of trash that Nintendo gets from casual gamers, for example, just because there would be nothing to gain by dragging their name through the gutter. Sony's extreme to the max, dude. Nintendo? Pssh, "I played that when I was five, but I'm a man now. A MAN!"
      • I'm not getting defensive. I'm telling the truth: people ALWAYS need to complain about Nintendo. I saw thousands of people posting across the internet about wanting multiplayer in metroid. Now, they're getting it, and I'm sure I'm going to see thousands saying that Nintendo's selling out now, too.

        No matter what, Nintendo is always criticized. They were criticized for making the smart business decision in selling Rare (Rare, during the past three years, had made up for less than % of Ninte
        • I mean they made up for less than 5%. In fact, during the last year they were partially owned by Nintendo, less than one percent (.5%, I believe) of Nintendo's profits were from Rare. Rare became a liability, so nintendo got rid of them.
    • The bigger question is why do you care what people think about Nintendo? As long as they crank out good games they will be around. Let people say whatever they want to say. If someone rips on it does that make the game any less fun?

      Its like people argueing about which OS they use. Its stupid and pointless and the people that get all upset about it are just as bad as those making the statements.
    • I do feel that the criticism aimed at Nintendo can sometimes be overdramatic, and if anything I've been surprised at how good a few business decisions have been in retrospect. Case in point: Rare has released...practically nothing on the XBox (just Grabbed by the Ghoulies last time I checked). Also interesting is how Sony and Microsoft are now planning to use chips made by ATI and IBM for their next consoles (GCN's partnerships). At the same time...

      HOW ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE MULTIPLAYER FEEL LIKE METRO

  • Battle is good... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CylanR77 ( 532552 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @09:47PM (#8962474)
    But not all of the time. What I'd really like to see in this game is cooperative multiplayer.

    Perhaps it's just me, but I've played games where the series or main focus of the game is based on single player mode, and the multiplayer "battle" modes were dull and simply not as fun as other games that were designed for multiplayer combat. On the other hand, I've had a blast playing games that include cooperative gameplay.

    Granted, cooperative gameplay makes more sense in the adventure/puzzle genre, but that's mostly what Metroid is. I'd much rather have friend and I playing the game and accomplishing it together than having both of our progress slowed by each other.
    • Though, you'd really need a storyline based around it. I'm thinking specifically about the

      *SPOILERS*

      10 SA-Xs in Metroid Fusion.

      *ENDSPOILERS*

      There's also a lot of really nice puzzles you can set up for multiplayer. Anybody else here played those RPGs where the party splits in half and one side pushes a switch which moves an object in the other half of the dungeon? those puzzles tend to end up reasonably interesting every time, though this does assume both players are similar in skill....

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