It’s not often that Ken Cauley, the founder and president of Kombo (as well as our parent company, Advanced Media Network – not to mention my boss) and I play online games together. In fact, we never do. However, recently, we tried playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl together, which turned out to be a disaster of an event. Simply put, the lag was horrific. I’ve been so busy with work lately that I haven’t played Brawl since around launch time. I figured the lag problems would be gone, but they weren’t.
I think this is a sign that Nintendo has messed up. I know some people can play Brawl with little to no lag, but I know just as many – if not more – that can’t play the fighter online because the lag is so terrible. It’s clear that Nintendo’s lack of experience in the online department hurt Brawl. During last-gen, when Microsoft was experimenting with online via Xbox Live, Nintendo sat on the sidelines, saying stuff like, “Online is not the future of gaming.” (Note: not an actual quote – just a paraphrase.) I can’t help but wonder if Nintendo had taken online gaming more seriously during the GameCube’s lifespan, would Brawl’s online play be better?
As someone who is in love with online gaming, I find it frustrating that Nintendo dropped the ball with its biggest release of the year. Brawl should have been the game that defined Wii as an online gaming platform. Instead, it serves as a great way to see what a game running at one or two frames per second online looks like.
If anyone has any tips on how I can fix the lag in Brawl, please share. I do want to play this game online – with no lag, I should add.
