The Land of the Betas

I used to own a Playstation 3. I don't anymore, but sometimes I still miss it.

One of the things I like the most about the Playstation 3 was the various betas (online demos that can be downloaded to help test multiplayer servers) they did for online multiplayer games. This was always a cool, free thing that Sony did. Sometimes it was a tricky to get into a beta, but I always seemed to have a bit of luck with it. I got into the LittleBigPlanet betas and a few other betas too.

And now that I'm just a Nintendo gamer, I find myself thinking about the Sony betas and sighing. I wish Nintendo would do more betas. They did the Splatoon one awhile back, but its too bad they didn't do one for Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and other online games. If you think about it, Devil's Third could have benefitted from one too!

Project Treasure, an upcoming MMO for Wii U, will have a beta in Japan. I have no idea if the beta will come over here or to Europe. It would be amazing if it did.

Nintendo really could benefit from more betas (and demos too). They would help test out the online servers AND give players an early taste of an upcoming game. This could particularly help with some hard sell games, like Devil's Third, Project Treasure, heck, it could even help sell games like Mario Tennis (if it has online).

One of the things I've noticed with Nintendo is that they don't do demos for their games too often. And when they do release a demo, most of the demos are for 3DS games and not Wii U. Wii U demos are released for stores like Gamestop or Best Buy or events like E3, but its rare for Nintendo to bring out a demo on the Wii U eshop.

So yes, it would be even more rare to see something like a beta on the eshop. Demos and Betas could be really helpful to Nintendo though. Games like Xenoblade and Fatal Frame seem like good picks for demos and there are plenty of upcoming online enabled games that could use a server test.

Nintendo has had some trouble with online games in the past. They are getting better at their online, but betas could help them get the most out of their online server testing.

I wonder how that Splatoon Beta went. If it was a success, perhaps we'll see more betas from Nintendo in the future. I'd love to see that. Nintendo is all about fun and surprises with its fans. I could see them wanting to reach as wide an audience as possible. Hopefully they'll be more open to betas in the future!

What do you all think? Would you like to see Nintendo do more betas/demos on the Wii U and 3DS? Let me know in the comments.