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Super Mario Maker 2 Restrictions for Online Play

Nintendo makes amazing games but they make weird online support choices such as using a phone app for in-game communications. Nintendo has been slower on online features compared to PlayStation and Xbox but fans have been hoping they add better online futures in the current console era. Unfortunately, Nintendo is making a mistake for their upcoming game, Super Mario Maker 2, by only allowing cooperative play with a friend through one Switch or local wireless play.

This means that if you want to play with someone or competitively online on a fun fan-made Mario level, you will be paired with a random person. Nintendo’s reasoning is due to the Global Leaderboards’ scores potentially being skewed for cooperatively play if you play with a friend. However, Super Mario Maker 2 will still restrict you to a random player even if you’re not playing a Leaderboard game mode.

This is definitely a mistake for Nintendo. Many players are building their friend list online in hopes to play together. As an adult, it is difficult to meet up with friends often to play video games together but online fixes that. I am glad that there is still cooperative play but playing with friends will always be more fun. According to Nintendo World Report, there are no announced updates for Super Mario Maker 2 but hopefully, cooperative online play with friends will be added in the near future.

Sources:

Nintendo World Report

Tencent and Riot are working together for a Mobile League of Legends Game

Tencent, the Chinese Enterprise Company, is working with Riot‘s U.S. team to develop a mobile version of League of Legends. The MOBA is still going strong despite being a 10-year-old game. During their Mid-Season Invitationals, it gained almost 1.1 million viewers globally. Riot was bought by Tencent back in 2015.

Despite Tencent owning Riot, the company has had a strained relationship. Riot didn’t want to develop a mobile game for Tencent several years ago. Mobile gaming is Tencent’s most popular platform. Most video games they publish is for the mobile market.

Tencent then developed a mobile Battle Moba called “Honour of Kings” in 2015 in China. It did extremely well and had over 200 million players in 2017. It was eventually ported to the West and was renamed “Arena of Valor.” The game didn’t click well in the Western Market but it did cause the relationship between Riot and Tencent to grow worse. Tencent has had a difficult time gaining a popular game in the West.

The mobile game isn’t expected to release in 2019 and details of the game are still uncertain. It may not actually be a League of Legends mobile version as Tencent has not responded.

Riot has been difficulties making a large profit. Although they made 1.4 billion dollars last year, it is still 21% less than in 2017. “League of Legends is not doing as well as it used to and so Riot badly needs a new way to monetise the game, especially considering that it is Riot’s only game,” said Gu Tianyi, an Amsterdam-based analyst from Newzoo.

Despite this, League of Legends is still extremely popular. The League of Legends World Championship Finals 2018’s biggest e-sports tournament boasted 81.1 million hours in live hours watched across Twitch and YouTube Gaming. According to Newzoo, it is 24.7% of the total PC gaming market.

Sources:

Reuters

Eurogamer

Sony and Microsoft will Merge their Cloud Services

To the shock of everyone (including PlayStation employees), Sony and Microsoft will be working together on their cloud services for gaming. While they have been competing in the video game console industry for years, Sony is not an expert in the Cloud system. Running a cloud server is expensive and Microsoft is considered the 2nd biggest company with the capabilities. Sony and Microsoft “will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services.”

Essentially, PlayStation’s online services will be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud platform. Don’t expect PlayStation exclusive games or services to come to Xbox or vice-versa. This collaboration can be considered a response to the Stadia from Google and Amazon’s Cloud gaming system (which still isn’t out yet).

Cloud isn’t going to take over anytime soon

Despite the Stadia coming out this year, don’t expect Cloud Gaming to take over the industry. Reports from players have said there were mixed results including delays in registering actions and reduced graphics quality. I strongly believe that console gaming will be strong in the next generation however Cloud gaming can be a game changer once 5G actually comes out. An analyst has predicted that Cloud gaming will only take 2% of the industry according to Bloomberg.

Sources:

Bloomberg

The Verge