Wii 2008 Games

wii 2008 games
Madden 2008 (Wii). Is the online gaming any good?

Question for Madden 2008 owners on Wii.

I was planning to buy this game mostly for its online capabilities.

But then I heard some negative reviews on the online play.

Questions (you decide which ones you like to answer):

Is the online play good?

There are major lags during games?

How is it compared for example with Mario Strickers Charged (I think this one pulled off a very nice gaming online)?

Is the online server userfriendly or you need a MIT Ph.D. to use it?

Thanks a lot.

I bought Madden 2008 Wii edition at 7am the day it came out. I couldn't wait to take it home and see how the Wii measures up in online gaming (compared to other consoles and the PC). I know that Mario Strikers Charged and Pokemon had their online games available but those just don't suit my fancy and I didn't even bother to rent them.

Back to Madden:

Set up is easy! You must have an EA member account and if you don't you can make one from your console. You then sign in and BAM - your at the online options screen.

You have choices such as "play now", "lounge", "update rosters" etc. I wanted to play so I chose play now and played my first full game without losing the connections. However, there are noticiable lag issues. The game controls seem slow to respond and it is especially slow in the play select screens.

Unfortunately, my opponent did not finish the game we started so I had the option to quit without adding to lost or won game stats. It did add some to my reputation score, but little else. One nice feature is that you can give "feedback" about people you associate with in the lounge as well as opponents you face in the game, so if you have people who are rude, report them! On another note, there is a "friendly quit" option where both players can choose to end the game without repercussions. This is nice in a ligitamate situation.

Since my first game I have had numerous issues with connectivity. I have attempted to start several games in which the connection ends up dropped before the opening kickoff. Very frustrating for a Madden lover to have these problems, especially when anticipating a great match against other Madden faithful.

I believe it is EA who needs to revamp their hosting servers to get rid of any bugs. Although I do believe that connectivity problems in home networks can often be to blame, especially with wireless home networks - I tend to blame EA still. My home network runs rock solid, yet with Madden 08 for Wii I have had several issues. I even took the game to another friends house who has a different home network setup and got the same connectivity issues as with my network.

All and all, the game graphics are very good for a Wii game, the controls are quite similiar to Madden 2007 for Wii, and with the added "family" and "party play" options even your grand dad can play football now. But the online play is still slightly rusty, and I believe that EA will have to do some revamping on the server side to ensure quality connections amongst competing guest.

My suggestion is to buy the game and see for yourself. The Madden franchise has to much to lose to not fix these issues. I don't think we'll be seeing the lag and connectivity problems after enough people have contacted EA about it.