Topic: Mario Kart 8 - OT

@Mister_Wu:

Do you use a wireless connection or did you get the LAN adapter?

@Rexcalibr: Don't worry, I solved my problem. The issue is that it was an ISP modem/router, with limited settings, hard-coded port mapping rules that overrode the settings you put and no UPnP. When I called the ISP, they said that this was a deliberate choice, as apparently users fell victims of phishing and the like due to UPnP. They also said that to have all ports open and UPnP I needed to use a third party router connected via PPPoE to the modem, therefore I bought a simple wireless router and performed a PPPoE connection to the ISP router that is now used as modem and to give POTS-like service via VOIP. In both cases (ISP router and new router) wireless is used, but as I told you, the connection wasn't the problem.

@Mister_Wu
You're not understanding. The lag I've run into was so bad, that I could barely even play at all. It's more ahout the lag than it is firehopping, and I've already said that like 5 times.

This is my main problem with your statements. I don't find them very clear. If firehopping and slides really caused lag, the Mario Kart World Cup, with many 12 people races where every player used those techniques, would have been impossible. We must not create correlations that are not really there.
You probably wanted to say something else, but I still didn't understand what you want to say, other than you have serious problems with lag, which is definitely an important issue in Mario Kart 8.

EDIT: I changed the second statement about the clearness of what you said, as I must never make personal opinions sound as if they are fact.

Obviously, which further proves my point.

No. Saying that lag is the main issue is what I've been telling you all along, so you failed to read the posts, and that's besides that the lag either isn't on my end or is shared between multiple countries, like I said.

It still doesn't change what I said; that firehopping creates lag, which makes the match ridiculous. I didn't need a whole explanation about firehopping when what I said was clear in the first post.

By the way, did you notice that in the Nintendo Account examples Mario Kart 8 was there? Do you think it will be updated when Nintendo Account and My Nintendo are activated?

@Mister_Wu: I noticed it but I don't think any more content is coming. The April 2015 pack looks to be it in terms of MK8 support.

You never know. MK8 is a game that runs through the whole console life cycle, so more DLC support wouldn't be a surprise. I could see Captain Falcon, Diddy, Kong, etc. and 8 more DLC stages, but Captain Falcon probably wouldn't show up if there ends up being an F-Zero for Wii U(which there probably won't be). I wouldn't count out anymore DLC.

@Grumblevolcano: Yes, I too I am starting to suspect that MK8 support ended with version 4.1, the 1st of May 2015. If this was true it would be surprising as it would mean that the best selling game on the Wii U, with an attachment ratio greater than 0.5, was supported for less than an year. It must be said that the new content in the DLC pack is so much that probably such an approach is not viable in the long term without delaying the development of other games, including the new Mario Kart. Since the updates appears to be linked mainly to the DLC packs, the game didn't see new updates since the 1st of May. I honestly would have liked a digital speedometer and a timer to be added to the on-TV-screen HUD and 200cc Time Trials...

@SCAR: I must say that I would really like new content, because 64 tracks makes sense as 64 is a power of 2 and since Double Dash!! the number of tracks is a power of 2, I also would like some character featured more than once in the Mario Kart series to return (Bowser Jr. especially, since the Koopalings are in the game, but also Birdo, Diddy Kong, Dry Bones, King Boo).
There were also interesting cues such as:
-the trailer for Rosalina in Super Smash Bros. 4 that showed Kirby on the Rainbow Road;
-Bowser Jr. ending picture in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U that shows MK8 Mario Circuit while Jr. activates kart mode in the Koopa Clown Car;
-that "Toad Polar Expedition 2014-2015" sign in Ice Ice Outpost which might be interpreted as an indication of a new ice-based track coming, which wasn't featured in the second DLC pack;
however Nintendo is being really quiet about the game, so I suspect that we won't see new DLC packs, and the release of the soundtrack containing the background music of the two DLC packs and of the Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle with the two DLC packs doesn't help in creating expectations for new content.

Anyway, it must be seen if Nintendo actually implements a true achievements system (in which case an update to Mario Kart 8 to add achievements as well as new contents and other fixes could be a real possibility) or if My Nintendo will use other criteria to establish how much a game has been played.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo just let Shinen use the Blue Falcon in Fast Racing Neo, and call it a day. They don't care about F-Zero anymore, and it's because no one else did in 6th generation. Rambling aside, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirby ended up in Smash Bros, either because Kirby Airride is probably dead. That's just how things are.

@SCAR: since MK8 has showed us that Nintendo developers are still able to create decent F-Zero courses, I suspect that more than not caring, they likely have serious issues in creating mechanics acceptable in modern racing games: in F-Zero X you could take shortcuts by literally flying in many parts of the tracks, and F-Zero GX had similar issues as well with some specialised builds (if you look for flying world records you will understand what I mean). Other than that, F-Zero GX also was developed by Amusement Vision which now is no more (they should be part of Sega, if the developers are still there). Since the new F-Zero would likely support online races, the developers must first devise mechanics that are stable enough not to generate these glitches, then they should try to introduce new elements as well and after that they should make a netcode that minimize the impact of lag, which could be disastrous in an F-Zero game.

Then, of course, the slides from Kimishima didn't feature Captain Falcon at all while they featured the Inklings, so you could be right...

P.S.: Kirby Air Ride looked more like an experiment from HAL Laboratories, since it didn't have any sequel. It's quite impressive anyway that in the GameCube era we had three racing games from Nintendo while in the Wii U era, in which online gaming should enormously benefit this genre, we only have one...

You guys calling series like they're dead left and right. You sound like people who said Kid Icarus was dead then they brought that back from the grave, or that Metroid was going to die because there was no N64 game. Just because every generation doesn't produce a game in a series doesn't mean it's dead. The WiiU gen is a terrible time to claim death to any series with sales and record low support from fans on this system. The NX will also probably be a bad time to tell what's surviving because it'll probably be a time of trying to regain fans and generate new ones.

Nuff said.

It's taken me a long time to come around to this viewpoint, but I just don't enjoy 200CC. I've tried, but I just don't feel like the courses in this game are designed for moving that fast on. I find having to brake on corners breaks up the action in a really frustrating way.

It's a shame as I had the three star ranks on every cup before it came out, but I'll probably never get round to doing that with 200CC.

I never liked 200cc. The game feels much better in 150cc.

I agree. At first, 200cc looked really fun, but after playing it, I wasn't that impressed. The speed is great, but having to stop at almost every corner kinda ruined the fun for me. I prefer 150cc; I think that's the most fun speed, single or multiplayer. The CPU's can get annoying at times, but that's any game.

Well, I could not disagree more with all of you! I like 200cc not only because the developers fixed many issues (such as firehopping, slides, incomplete subtiering of acceleration) and changed completely brakedrifting (now it makes you decelerate slowly so you don't lose the Mini-Turbo charge so fast, and it also has its own animation and sound effect), but exactly for the reasons you cited:
Mario Kart 8 150cc class is perfectly playable with medium to low Handling (between 2.5 and 3) without even decelerating (heavyweights wouldn't be the most viable competitive drivers otherwise).
200cc class actually rewards high Handling combinations by letting them take some difficult turns without decelerating, but in other turns, you are anyway forced to decelerate and this, coupled with the 50% speed icnrease, makes the class much more intense and entertaining, as you must now be able to master the lines and breaks if you don't want to slow down immensely at every turn or even make mistakes that cost you your race. It is really difficult and much less forgiving than 150cc class. Still, I really like it because it's fast, really challenging to drive in and incredibly rewarding when you start learning the best lines and driving practices and you see the results. In my opinion, slowing it down or designing the tracks so that you don't have to brake in 200cc class would defeat its purpose.

P.S.: Of course, if you want to use inward drifting bikes, 200cc class is much better, as they were coded correctly in 150cc class and aren't able to firehop.

Does actually nobody play this now? Cause I somehow run across the same people online sometimes. That never use to happen

150cc or 200cc? In 200cc it's of course quite common, while in 150cc the userbase is much larger and this should be rarer, unless you're playing some custom mode.

Actually, I haven't played this game online in quite a while, but when I did play 150cc, almost every night I kept on running into this one Mii. I'm not friends with him or anything, so running across the same people over and over again is possible, just very unlikely. I wasn't doing a custom mode, either, just normal 150cc races. I definitely thought it was weird how we kept getting into the same group. Out of all the people playing online at the time, what are the odds?!?