So yeah, the Nintendo DS is finally starting to gain some traction among my local friends (though nobody "in-tribe" yet). I am nuts about this little system and you should be too.
Continuing to enjoy Mario Kart DS, but ultimately kind of disappointed at Internet play.
It can be great fun, and I love watching how some online racers discover ways to communicate in the very limited language offered by a vocabulary consisting entirely of cartoon characters driving in circles. For instance, the other day, a grueling four-race match ended with my rival pulling out way ahead in the end due to a very good shot with a green koopa shell. Instead of roaring across the finish line, however, he sat on it, and inched over it right before I crossed it myself.
Though what I said may have been "Oh-ho-ho you little fucker!" while giving the finger to the screen (and now those of you who were in the same room at the time know what was going on), I was actually giddy with glee at the statement this person managed to make with the action. (Which I take to be some combination of "You are a worthy opponent" and "PWN3D!!") Browsing a message board about the game yesterday, I saw some players write that they enjoy purposefully driving in reverse or keeping pace with their opponents when it's clear that they're beginners (or very young children), just to make it more fun for them. I think that's great.
However, it really really needs a reputation system. I've lost (in the "misplaced" sense) more than one winning race because the person in last place disconnected after hitting a wall or falling in the water or whatever, and then the next-to-last person quit, and then the sole remaining opponent quit too. Rather than let me finish the race alone and claim a victory by default, the game just calls the whole thing a wash and dumps me back to the main menu.
Volity will not work like this.
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