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Nintendo spoils the broth

Online plan? We don’t need no stinking online plan!

It's been quite a morning for Nintendo fans in Europe - a new(ish) console, a raft of software release dates we hadn't really expected, and far more important than anything else at all ever... the news that Advance Wars 2 is on the way. Woo!

Sadly though, Nintendo's half-hearted attempts to compete with Xbox Live and Sony's forthcoming online gaming service were exposed as virtually non-existent. Despite David Gosen's attempts to talk up the March 7th release of Phantasy Star Online - with online adapters going on sale the same day - beating a vastly superior service like Xbox Live to market by one week with a two-year-old game is hardly going to frighten uncle Bill.

Indeed, Nintendo once again told of its plans to support third party online gaming as best it can - confirming in a roundabout way that it has nothing of its own to speak of. Pokemon Online? Keep dreaming.