The purpose of this post it to put a little more fire into the blaze of complaints that are surrounding the online issues with Tenkaichi 3. For those of you who don’t have the game, or haven’t tried the online component yet I will fill in the details.

It is the equivalent to fighting in slow-motion, with your hands tied behind your back, while having a seizure! The online piece is completely unplayable. If you don’t believe me watch this video of an online game, and then this video of a single player game! If you are interested in following the problem, a couple sources have attempted to pull together resources describing the state of a fix. If you just want a summary of the major events you can keep checking back here, and I am sure as soon as a fix is presented, and I know about it. It will be on here!

The basic state of a fix is that everyone spammed Nintendo and Atari with complaints about the problem. Nintendo has responded with:

Message(#6851-000639-1203\6391203)

Hello, I’m sorry to hear about the issues you’re having playing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 online. Our role in online play is matching players up. Once the match, race, or fight starts, you’re connected directly in a peer-to-peer format and no longer connected to Nintendo servers.

From the reports we have received, we have determined that this is an in-game peer-to-peer latency issue and not something that occurs through Nintendo’s servers. We have provided Atari information on how they can address this issue and recommend contacting them.

To get their contact information, go to the following web address and click on Atari: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/licensees.jsp

Nintendo of America Inc.
R.M. Rickets Nintendo’s home page: http://www.nintendo.com/ Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529

Atari has blamed in on the wireless network

Thank you for contacting Atari Support. Atari would like to sincerely apologize for any multiplayer lag issues you may be experiencing within Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

If you are experiencing multiplayer lag, this may be due to Wifi wireless internet connections or poor signal from the your ISP. To resolve this issue, please ensure both players involved in multiplayer gameplay use a hard wired connection – this should solve current lag issues.Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you from enjoying Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and thank you for your continued support.Thank You,Atari Support

but if you read over the Fix Budokai blog, you will notice references to numerous people who have attempted to fix the bug using a wired adapter for the Wii with no luck.

I don’t really care who fixes it, I just want it fixed. The game is great, and when I write up my review I will explain why it is a good game regardless of this feature. But this is ‘the feature’ that makes Tenkaichi 3 amazing as opposed to just great. Atari, Spike, and Nintendo need to put the Wii’s patching system to the test, and get this corrected ASAP.