This close to launch there's no excuse for full MP details not being out there.
I bet they know what a retarded design choice most people will (rightly) see it as and are trying to keep it hidden til the very last moment.
I'm open to it, as I've stated before, since I'm open-minded to other non-conventional forms of MP becoming the norm. A lot of mobile games are adopting asynchronous MP, and people love it, but in an ideal world -- for a console release -- I'd rather have both because I feel console players aren't ready to embrace async MP yet.
Racing games without collision, like Trackmania, for instance, give you the illusion of "regular" MP, but the end result is the same: you're competing against everyone's time rather than their interaction with you. Because they cannot interact directly with you since there's no collision detection. The same will be true for SSX
if there's no collision in Global Events. (We still don't even know for sure, yet! We thought we did before, but I can't say that we know this for sure now.) I can understand why people want this illusion of competing simultaneously. But to me, it doesn't matter either way. We'll still be competing against each others' final times or scores, just in a format that allows you to compete on your own time, at your own convenience. And,
from what we're guessing, you can still ride the same runs with your friends simultaneously and chat with them, but you don't have to start at the exact same time.
I also don't think this is a "retarded design choice," it's a smart design choice that allows you to play when you want, even if your friends aren't online. You can still play with them when they're online too. It's just coming in a form that you're not used to yet.
I know that I'm the sole member of the defense force here, but it's not really SSX that I exclusively give this kind of benefit of the doubt to. You'll see me championing games that look like shit to most people because I always enjoy new and interesting gameplay mechanics or games that allow us play in different ways. I'm always one to give a game a shot and play it a bit before I go out there and shit on it, or at least I try to as much as I can, these days. I was a cynic in my early years of lurking and posting on GAF. But I just felt like it was a waste of time and energy, a very entitled attitude to have, and kind of disrespectful to people who pour years of their lives into something meant to please us.
I love games and the art of play. It's what I do as part of my job. I'm not saying I love games more than anyone who has posted in here, but it definitely gives me a bias about being very forgiving until I'm actually able to pass an informed judgement of something. I hope this clarification gives people some understanding when they see me trumpeting and marching in on my steed to defend a game/SSX's "honour."
This is why I'm optimistic about SSX's MP. If it's terrible, and people don't like it, and the SSX series finally dies off? Then that's the developer's responsibility to own up to. But until that happens, and until we get a chance to get our hands on this, I don't blame people for reacting to a game that doesn't have the MP that they're used to. Because those forms of conventional MP are all you know
right now.
