Well shit.
Last night Tristan and I got the chance to watch Shigeru Miyamoto discuss all things Mario (and some Zelda, Star Fox, and Pikmin) at a special Apple Event at the store in SoHo. The whole shebang lasted about an hour and I plan on updating this post when the video goes live on iTunes. Miyamoto walked us through how the world of Mario came to be and why certain design choices were made to adapt Mario for mobile devices.
You wanna know what was never mentioned? The fact that Super Mario Run will require a constant internet connection to play. Everyone here at Pixelrater saw the news today and we all drew the same conclusion—Nintendo kind of just shot themselves in the foot with that move. Looking at the gameplay, it doesn’t make sense as to why an always on connection would be required. High scores could probsbly be cached and uploaded when a connection is available. However, in an interview with Miyamoto himself, the Mario creator goes over why the requirement (restriction) is there.
“We view our software as being a very important asset for us. And also for consumers who are purchasing the game, we want to make sure that we’re able to offer it to them in a way that the software is secure, and that they’re able to play it in a stable environment. “We wanted to be able to leverage that network connection … in a way that keeps the software secure.”
When asked to clarify if by “security,” Miyamoto was referring to the risk of piracy, he simply replied, “That’s correct.”
So there you have it. If you envisioned your kids playing the game on an iPod Touch or iPad during a long drive, they won’t be. At least not without a hotspot. As for city dwellers like myself who don’t have service underground (damn it New York) it looks like you won’t be playing either. I will probably still pick the game up and find time elsewhere to play it here and there, but this willno doubt limit my time spent with the game drastically. That’s a shame, because I liked what I played so far and Tristan and I were looking forward to besting eachother’s high scores. What do you think? Is this a deal breaker, or doesn’t it effect you? Let us know!
