Jubenhimer
Member
Nintendo's plans for online on the Switch are very sketchy in detail at the moment. Currently, a limited version of the service is free, but by the holiday, it'll become a paid subscription with it's key component being a dedicated Smart-Device app allowing for management of Voice Chat, Play Appointments, and universal game lobbies.
If this sounds confusing and clunky, well it does. It sounds like Nintendo is desperately trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. I get they want to encourage mobile players to make the Switch a companion piece and vice-versa. And that's fine, but I question the implementations of it.
That being said, how fine are you you're phone being a companion piece to the Switch? If it's actually a lot better than we're speculating, I'd be fine with managing universal voice chat through an app, BUT ONLY IF the voice chatting itself is done through the actual Switch hardware. I imagine this app would be nothing more than a glorified mute button and volume control in this case. The Switch does support wired headsets, so I can see Nintendo offering free wired headsets to subscribers, as well as offer wireless headsets for purchase. I would also imagine the app having a group chat feature that turns your phone into an open air mic so that multiple people in the same room can chat, which would be fine, as long as it's optional. Nintendo can be misguided, but I don't think they'd be stupid enough to expect users hold a phone up to their face while playing Splatoon 2. Plus, if you can actually chat with your friends across different games on your phone while you're away from your Switch, that would actually be pretty bad-ass.
As for other things like universal game lobbies and play appointments, I'm still unsure how they can make those work, but I do see it being useful in case you don't feel like backing out to the home menu and send invites to everyone in the middle of a game, though a conventional private messaging system on the Switch itself is a must as well. And setting play appointments could be useful for pre-setting game times to play with your friends, that way you're ready to play when the time comes. The Switch isn't as pocket friendly as a phone, so having a convenient way to access all of your multiplayer settings and friends with you at all times could be a major benefit. Of course, not everything can be tied to the app. As mentioned, a basic PM system and a way to access all you're friend messages on the Switch itself is mandatory if this is going to work.
Considering Nintendo's previous track record with online play, you'd be completely justified in being skeptical about Nintendo's approach here. But I don't think we should automatically write this off as a disaster just yet, especially since we don't know exactly how it's going to work. So I'd wait till Nintendo actually reveals what this app does before we call it DoA. Who knows, it could be one of those things you didn't even know you wanted until you used it.
If this sounds confusing and clunky, well it does. It sounds like Nintendo is desperately trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. I get they want to encourage mobile players to make the Switch a companion piece and vice-versa. And that's fine, but I question the implementations of it.
That being said, how fine are you you're phone being a companion piece to the Switch? If it's actually a lot better than we're speculating, I'd be fine with managing universal voice chat through an app, BUT ONLY IF the voice chatting itself is done through the actual Switch hardware. I imagine this app would be nothing more than a glorified mute button and volume control in this case. The Switch does support wired headsets, so I can see Nintendo offering free wired headsets to subscribers, as well as offer wireless headsets for purchase. I would also imagine the app having a group chat feature that turns your phone into an open air mic so that multiple people in the same room can chat, which would be fine, as long as it's optional. Nintendo can be misguided, but I don't think they'd be stupid enough to expect users hold a phone up to their face while playing Splatoon 2. Plus, if you can actually chat with your friends across different games on your phone while you're away from your Switch, that would actually be pretty bad-ass.
As for other things like universal game lobbies and play appointments, I'm still unsure how they can make those work, but I do see it being useful in case you don't feel like backing out to the home menu and send invites to everyone in the middle of a game, though a conventional private messaging system on the Switch itself is a must as well. And setting play appointments could be useful for pre-setting game times to play with your friends, that way you're ready to play when the time comes. The Switch isn't as pocket friendly as a phone, so having a convenient way to access all of your multiplayer settings and friends with you at all times could be a major benefit. Of course, not everything can be tied to the app. As mentioned, a basic PM system and a way to access all you're friend messages on the Switch itself is mandatory if this is going to work.
Considering Nintendo's previous track record with online play, you'd be completely justified in being skeptical about Nintendo's approach here. But I don't think we should automatically write this off as a disaster just yet, especially since we don't know exactly how it's going to work. So I'd wait till Nintendo actually reveals what this app does before we call it DoA. Who knows, it could be one of those things you didn't even know you wanted until you used it.
