#31553 - qwertycho - Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:21 am
In this interview with Chad of WarPipe and DS update, Chad, indirectly, reveals many of our questions with demasked.
DS update has always been an excellent source for DS news but now, it definitely tops my list because of the interview.
I don't really feel like posting the whole interview on the forum, but here are couple good parts that deem pointing out:
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DS Update: Now earlier in the week one of the Warp Pipe members claimed that Microsoft will be your competition for DS Online is this true?
Chad: In a question regarding tunneling competition, I made a note that no longer will any tunneling application be considered competition for Warp Pipe Technologies, as tunneling is no longer our core competency. One of our many competitors is indeed Microsoft. For what product or service? I am not at liberty to say.
DS Update: When can we expect an announcement on Demasked? Earlier you specified 2005, can you be more specific?
Chad: I cannot be specific, but I wouldn't expect to hear anything before E3.
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So, to me, he's saying this "Demasked is very similar to Xbox live and will be announced this upcoming E3." That may seem a bit radical, but it could be reality.
Also in the interview, Chad pointed out why Demasked is perfect for commercial use, verses tunneling which requires some medium level computer knowledge.
So this leaves us with some assuming to do. When I put this all together, I get these questions; Will we have to pay monthly for Demasked? Will we see some "Demasked Compatible" games in the future? Or rather than that, will Demasked be some kind of side perhiperal used with the GBA port on the DS?
express your ideas on this situatilon, maybe I could somehow pull together a situation where we could arrange an interview with chad.
#31557 - netdroid9 - Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:05 am
If we need to pay, then just run a simulation of some sort on it, and look for it's weak points. Then just figure out how to set it to hook up to a different server that simulates the DeMasked protocol and we can make a free version . Sorta like Ultima Online and RunUO ;)
#31558 - bcforn64 - Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:37 am
All I could say is if this is a means to play DS games online, anywhere there is an internet hotspot with only the standalone unit and game in hand, I will pay for that service!
#31559 - Abscissa - Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:59 am
I put "no", but that doesn't really mean much coming from me since I'm not much of a multiplayer gamer anyway. Of course, it probably depends on price too. A small annual fee (like Live) with lots of non-fps and non-rts games (that don't require god-like skills to stand a chance at anything better than last place) could perhaps entice me.
#31560 - netdroid9 - Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:12 am
| bcforn64 wrote: |
| All I could say is if this is a means to play DS games online, anywhere there is an internet hotspot with only the standalone unit and game in hand, I will pay for that service! |
You will need to have DeMasked pluged in. If a multiplayer game takes up room used by DeMasked, your screwed. If a multiplayer game uses the GBA slot, your screwed. If it's open source, you can make it built in to your homebrews.
#31564 - PhoenixSoft - Sun Dec 12, 2004 9:02 am
That interview was painful to read. Almost every question began with "Now".
#31567 - Fatnickc - Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:01 am
On the subject of DemaSked compatible games, a while back he did say 'look for games ... with the warppipe logo' .
#31583 - wombatman - Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:48 pm
"One of our many competitors is indeed Microsoft. For what product or service? I am not at liberty to say."
Is xbox live a secret? Nintendo seem to have been pointing to some free alternative to online gaming for a while now. The truth is I'm not sure exactly what this demasked project will become but I do expect something somewhat unique. A portable, mass marketed, wireless system has many possibilities. I see many new game ideas coming from this. We'll see though.
#31585 - ravuya - Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:07 pm
Well, if it's an XBL-style matching service, it doesn't deserve the hype and secrecy that's been pushed towards it for the last couple of months.
If that's the case, I'm extremely disappointed in such a cheap publicity stunt.
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#31593 - wombatman - Sun Dec 12, 2004 9:07 pm
people are often letdown when they expect too much and I don't mean to to feed into that but I do expect something different though maybe not a megaton type announcement.
#31599 - Darkain - Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:33 pm
something people seem to fail to realize, is that public wifi hotspots generally arent free. you have to pay a usage fee of the hotspot itself (such as at starbucks or mcdonnalds), and then if demasked cost money, that would be even more. however, the hotspot thing isnt an issue if you have a wifi setup in your own house, but this restricts your playing location.
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#31611 - EaDS Milliways - Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:17 am
| Darkain wrote: |
| public wifi hotspots generally arent free. |
Which makes me glad that I have a Paneras nearby. Truly free wireless, BUT it does require you enter a password using the browser redirect interface. If the DS can't at least emulate this password entry, then you're limited to networks that require no WEP pass at all which would be even MORE limiting!
#31615 - Darkain - Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:42 am
| EaDS Milliways wrote: |
| Darkain wrote: | | public wifi hotspots generally arent free. |
Which makes me glad that I have a Paneras nearby. Truly free wireless, BUT it does require you enter a password using the browser redirect interface. If the DS can't at least emulate this password entry, then you're limited to networks that require no WEP pass at all which would be even MORE limiting! |
right. people keep asking why dont all DS games support a TCP stack, and this is a big reason. public login systems of hotspots arent all that standardized, plus there is an ever growing number of wifi encryption methods. every game to support internet play would require a mini web browser, SSL for the browser login, WEP and WAP (plus others) for the wireless encryption. there are countless amounts of wireless security techniques out there. i'm sure this is the largest reason why we only DS to DS communication right now and not DS to Hotspot.
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#31616 - qwertycho - Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:53 am
| Darkain wrote: |
| something people seem to fail to realize, is that public wifi hotspots generally arent free. you have to pay a usage fee of the hotspot itself (such as at starbucks or mcdonnalds), and then if demasked cost money, that would be even more. however, the hotspot thing isnt an issue if you have a wifi setup in your own house, but this restricts your playing location. |
Chad said that Demasked won't require a wireless router, so maybe if demasked ends up being a GBA cart that you use while playing a game, the cart would have a dongle thing for regular ethernet cables.
Also, I was just informed by someone that Chad also said that the Demasked service would be free, so that leaves me asking "How are you getting your money out of this?", and I think the answer is that they will sell seperate Demasked packages (like Xbox live) that will include a headset, demasked GBA cart, and ethernet dongle for those that don't have wireless networks.
So pretty much you would be paying a one time fee and getting all that for probably around $30-$50.
I'm hoping that demasked will work with all games that offer any sort of multiplayer, but as it seems, you will have to look for the warpipe logo, so you will be limited to certain games that offer the service.
Those are the only things that I could come up with, from what Chad told us, which are:
-Free service
-No need for wireless router
-similar to Xbox live
-look for the warpipe logo
-not a tunneling program
If anyone else has any reasonable ideas that fit within those limits, please let us know.
#31627 - imbrettjackson - Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:18 am
I'm with QWERTYCHO. I buy that totally. Does anyone think that there will be "real space" gaming inroads? Anything to do with that Chad malarky about gaming being sitting around with people face to face?
-Brett
http://www.themodgods.com
#31630 - Abscissa - Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:59 am
| ravuya wrote: |
Well, if it's an XBL-style matching service, it doesn't deserve the hype and secrecy that's been pushed towards it for the last couple of months.
If that's the case, I'm extremely disappointed in such a cheap publicity stunt. |
A lack of public disclosure has very little, if anything, to do with publicity. They have a contract to develop something with/for Nintendo, it's not done yet, not officially announced by Nintendo yet, etc. Chances are (well, more than just a chance, I'm sure) there's confidentiality sections in that contract that they would be in breach of if they said anything more. Standard business procedure. The little bit of talking they are doing, they're doing just because people want to know, and it won't get them into trouble. Taking secrecy as an indication that there's something big going on is just overanalysis.
#31636 - Cleon I - Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:06 am
Yes, I agree that secrecy because of an NDA should not be construed as a publicity stunt, but the fact is they've been actively using it to build hype for their product. It's one thing to answer interview questions with "Sorry, I can't answer that," and it's another to purposefully give vague answers just to raise hype..
If their product is really that impressive, they should just wait until they have it ready for release and then promote it properly.
#31773 - FluBBa - Tue Dec 14, 2004 11:25 am
Why would you want to tie your wireless DS to a cable to play games over the internet?
Doesn't it point more to a cheap wireless router from Warp-Pipe?
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#31785 - ravuya - Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:22 pm
| Cleon I wrote: |
Yes, I agree that secrecy because of an NDA should not be construed as a publicity stunt, but the fact is they've been actively using it to build hype for their product. It's one thing to answer interview questions with "Sorry, I can't answer that," and it's another to purposefully give vague answers just to raise hype..
If their product is really that impressive, they should just wait until they have it ready for release and then promote it properly. |
It smells to me like they're coming out and saying "WOW, this is our new product Demasked! You'll want like six! Buy some for your pets! It vaguely involves online gaming!" and then when you ask them what the hell Demasked is, they have nothing to show you.
There's a lot of that behaviour in the videogame industry, actually, and it's disheartening to see a former indie group that finally got what it wanted acting like that.
I hope that this wasn't their intent, that they just wanted to go "Well, hey, we're working on a fabulous new project and as soon as Daddy Nintendo will let us talk about it, we'll spill the beans".
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#31787 - tepples - Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:36 pm
I don't know about Nintendo, but at least Sony keeps some of its NDAs under NDA. You have to sign an NDA just to see the developer's NDA.
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#31830 - netdroid9 - Wed Dec 15, 2004 2:01 am
Thats a good move.
| Quote: |
Just sign here and here... good. Now you can read the terms.
*Reads*
$100 weekly fee?!?!
You signed it.
*Reads more*
Must develop only for sony?
Like I said, you signed it. |
I also agree that an NDA shouldn't be called a publicity stunt, but I don't see why they can't tell us how much the equipment costs, or when there would be a game thats compatable with it.
#31839 - ravuya - Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:43 am
| netdroid9 wrote: |
Thats a good move.
| Quote: | Just sign here and here... good. Now you can read the terms.
*Reads*
$100 weekly fee?!?!
You signed it.
*Reads more*
Must develop only for sony?
Like I said, you signed it. |
I also agree that an NDA shouldn't be called a publicity stunt, but I don't see why they can't tell us how much the equipment costs, or when there would be a game thats compatable with it. |
It's the "Don't go to our competitors, we have something REALLY COOL coming out soon but we can't tell you about it" syndrome. Microsoft uses it all the time.
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#31842 - dmgice - Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:09 am
I've signed NDAs before. They're really nothing too special. Sometimes, it's tough to keep information under your hat, but in the end it is worth it to do so. Besides, leaked information leads to embarassment for both people involved.
I think "DemaSked" is just a wireless content delivery deal where certain games -like Animal Crossing- have a special serverside and homeside companion program that corresponds with it. You subscribe to the DemaSked service and -when you are in a WiFi area- you can access the DemaSked site and download things from it. You could probably also download a small " companion island" onto your computer from the DemaSked site. This would be for modifying items on your computer or completeing small mini-game tasks for bells. Then transmitting that data from your computer back to the server side and from the server side to your DS. Thus you could -say- import a musical song from your MP3 playlist onto the "island" program on your computer. Then send it to the "DemaSked" site for transfering it to the DS. Or you could design a photo for your Animal Crossing house with a photo from your computer. Then send that to the site which would then allow you to send it to your DS. Most likely, in order to get the DS to recognize the DemaSked software, you would need to transmit another small program from your computers wifi or from the website to your DS first. This would unlock the option in the Animal Crossing DS game card. Then again, I'm just speculating. *yawns* 10PM.. it's late. O_o
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#31848 - netdroid9 - Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:06 am
| dmgice wrote: |
I've signed NDAs before. They're really nothing too special. Sometimes, it's tough to keep information under your hat, but in the end it is worth it to do so. Besides, leaked information leads to embarassment for both people involved.
I think "DemaSked" is just a wireless content delivery deal where certain games -like Animal Crossing- have a special serverside and homeside companion program that corresponds with it. You subscribe to the DemaSked service and -when you are in a WiFi area- you can access the DemaSked site and download things from it. You could probably also download a small " companion island" onto your computer from the DemaSked site. This would be for modifying items on your computer or completeing small mini-game tasks for bells. Then transmitting that data from your computer back to the server side and from the server side to your DS. Thus you could -say- import a musical song from your MP3 playlist onto the "island" program on your computer. Then send it to the "DemaSked" site for transfering it to the DS. Or you could design a photo for your Animal Crossing house with a photo from your computer. Then send that to the site which would then allow you to send it to your DS. Most likely, in order to get the DS to recognize the DemaSked software, you would need to transmit another small program from your computers wifi or from the website to your DS first. This would unlock the option in the Animal Crossing DS game card. Then again, I'm just speculating. *yawns* 10PM.. it's late. O_o |
You really like Animal Crossing.
Note that there are three people involved in a leak, and only two of them are embaresed.
#31910 - dmgice - Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:19 pm
Well, one of the clues apparently had to do with Animal Crossing, then Nintendo stated they would show a hint of their online plans with the next Animal Crossing game. So, I just tiredly slopped the rest into it.
Like I said, leaks embarass both people involved. I guess I wasn't too clear on it. O_o I mean, the act of leaking involves a third party, but the person who leaked and the person who's secret was leaked will both be embarassed or impuned by said leakage. Something like that.
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#31937 - netdroid9 - Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:41 am
There can be a two person senario, when someone signs up for a nintendo developer access without authorisation (hacking to get the authorisation code generally) and posts it on the internet. That way, the person with actual authorisation doesn't exist.
#31997 - Abscissa - Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:00 pm
| tepples wrote: |
| I don't know about Nintendo, but at least Sony keeps some of its NDAs under NDA. You have to sign an NDA just to see the developer's NDA. |
That's really bizarre.