Frankenstein's Console: How the GameCube's handle made games truly social
It’s easy to forget, given how terrible the Switch’s online service currently is, that Nintendo was once at the forefront of social innovations in its consoles. The original DS’s Pictochat was a brilliant abstraction at a time when SMS was still the main way we communicated, forcing you to talk through the touchscreen, stylus and your own artistic skills. Or you could just send some sketchily pencilled grot to friends during dull lectures.
Later, we’d get Miiverse, which at times felt like Nintendo had reinvented the internet in its own curious way. It was a space that birthed a hundred memes and always had the warmth of community to it all – I always thought it was ahead of its time, and the PS5’s in-game guides that are part of its flash new AI, this might be one of the rare occasions when I’m right.
