TechStuffCanada

jargon-free tech news for non-technical people

GameCube to go online

May 14, 2002 › Sandy McMurray | comment

With less than a week to go before the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Nintendo is talking about its plans for online gaming.

Starting this fall, players will be able to play head-to-head via telephone or high-speed Internet using the GameCube video game console. Nintendo will sell adapters for dial-up and broadband modems for $49. The company announced that the first online game for GameCube will be Phantasy Star Online from Sega.

Is this a good idea?

"The profitable part of the online business is very likely several years away," according to Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's director of corporate planning. "Entering the business because it's the hot topic of the day doesn't make a profitable business nor satisfied customers. That's why it will be a part of Nintendo's strategy, not the mainstay, as other companies are attempting to do. There still are too many barriers for any company to greatly depend on it."

May 14, 2002 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item