Quote:Thanks for posting those artifacts of TMBO history.
It always weirded me out that clearly the idea of team games had occurred to Incog and yet they left the mode out of TMBO.
So weird.
Sony had weird ideas as to how PS2 online was going to work. They tried to cut the chat function. They likely had a hand in eliminating team functionality from the game as well.
I would blame the elimination of the chat function on ESRB concerns. But games had been doing online chat and clearing ESRB ratings for years before TMBO came out. Many of them published by Sony.
That leads me to believe that Sony had the final word in which functions are included in the game and which functions would be excluded. It would not surprise me if Chat and Team Play were both on the list for illogical reasons. Probably involving Sony's poor grasp on online gaming.
Japanese companies were dragged kicking and screaming into the online world by American and European gamers. That is partially why Nintendo Wii and DS use shitty ass friends codes. Imagine it's also why they tried to remove chat and there are no team modes in TMBO.
There is a really weird design philosophy that seems popular with older japanese designers that involves restricting the hell out of online games. I think it has a lot to do with how games were still marketed as toys. Sometimes adding too much to a formula confuses customers and can kill your game sales. In Japan the gaming demographic is way different then in America or Europe. Which would explain many odd design choices in online games published by Sony or Nintendo.
Another theory is that the way games are rated and looked at in Japan is way different then how they are looked at in America and Europe. So Sony and Nintendo both have difficult times developing online games with both markets in mind. Which results in crazy decisions including elimination of chat functions and game modes.
Also Japanese companies hated spending money to support online functionality in games. That also might have a bit to do with it.