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Nintendo Switch: Online Service Features

boiled goose

good with gravy
You know...

I didn't think it could be possible but Switch might have WORSE online than WiiU and 3DS.

Nothing so far seems to indicate progress on features and integration and it's not free anymore.

Surreal.
 
Nintendo have told us they are charging without any value proposition

I mean MS's value was that they were miles ahead of the game when they first started charging
Sony's was that they organically built up a subscription base through PS+ well before going to full charging by providing excellent value in that service. They also dramatically improved their offering coming into this gen

Nintendo can't just half ass it AND expect people to pay
 

Griss

Member
This service is screaming $20 a month at most. That sounds ok but still severely lacking some of the most basic features from what's detailed in this picture. Chatting over a smartphone is so stupid considering that was the argument made for the lack of party chat on the PS3.....and I'm not going to do this...no

$240 dollars a year for this? Online and a couple of NES games?

...it's Nintendo, I can see it.
 

Hobbun

Member
I’m confused.

Will the Switch have a Virtual Console or not? Barring the ‘free one NES or SNES game per month’. I mean from what it sounds like is that’s it available during that month and then you no longer have access to it.

Will I be able to purchase VC games like I could with the Wii/Wii U? Are they going to continue to release more VC games (there are so many that can still be released)?
 
I... I... I actually think nintendo wants out of console business but somebody influential keeps pulling the strings so they are trying to make convincing attempts that are actually doomed by design...


I just don't get the switch at this point...
 

Machina

Banned
Free NES and SNES games for a month as in we have a month to nab it up for free, or do we lose access to it after the month is up?

The latter. You're literally paying a subscription to rent digital games that you lose at the end of the month for something else.

Don't wanna lose your progress you say? Buy the game before the month is up.

Nintendo.
 

nampad

Member
The service sounds bad so far, hope they can clear up things (wording on the free games, whether voice chat is also available on the device alone).
 

Dunlop

Member
You know...

I didn't think it could be possible but Switch might have WORSE online than WiiU and 3DS.

Nothing so far seems to indicate progress on features and integration and it's not free anymore.

Surreal.
I've given up on Nintendo since the WiiU

They are sitting on a mountain of money but their online offerings are still a decade behind the competition
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
it sounds like even the phone app is paid for? Initially a free, limited version will be available.

surely it can't be possible that they charge you for online play, and then charge you again for voice/party chat on the phone? Probably wouln't be recurring, but still could be a one-off charge.
 

Machina

Banned
it sounds like even the phone app is paid for? Initially a free, limited version will be available.

surely it can't be possible that they charge you for online play, and then charge you again for voice/party chat on the phone? Probably wouln't be recurring, but still could be a one-off charge.

No chance in hell. That is just a massive middle finger to everyone.
 
The only reason I'd ever pay for this is because I have to in order to play Splatoon 2 online. That's it. Even Mario Kart online isn't worth paying a monthly subscription for.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
This service is screaming $20 a month at most. That sounds ok but still severely lacking some of the most basic features from what's detailed in this picture. Chatting over a smartphone is so stupid considering that was the argument made for the lack of party chat on the PS3.....and I'm not going to do this...no

$20 a month for this is fucking insane. $40 a year is pushing it.
 

gaiages

Banned
I’m confused.

Will the Switch have a Virtual Console or not? Barring the ‘free one NES or SNES game per month’. I mean from what it sounds like is that’s it available during that month and then you no longer have access to it.

Will I be able to purchase VC games like I could with the Wii/Wii U? Are they going to continue to release more VC games (there are so many that can still be released)?

I'm really wondering this too. I do hope that there is a VC, and that it is handled far better than it has been with the drip releases :(
 

PaulLFC

Member
Nintendo have told us they are charging without any value proposition

I mean MS's value was that they were miles ahead of the game when they first started charging
Sony's was that they organically built up a subscription base through PS+ well before going to full charging by providing excellent value in that service. They also dramatically improved their offering coming into this gen

Nintendo can't just half ass it AND expect people to pay
Exactly.

With Games With Gold, you get two games per month, and can keep them for as long as you have a subscription. If you cancel, you can play the games again if and when you re-subscribe. If you were already in the Xbox ecosystem and have a 360, you have an additional two games a month, and you can keep those forever, subscription or not.

With PS+, you get at least two PS4 games a month (sometimes more with cross-buy), and as with GWG you can keep them as long as you subscribe, then re-subscribe to access them again. If you have a PS3 and/or Vita, you have access to even more games, up to 6 per month.

For both services this is on top of now-expected features such as online multiplayer, voice/party chat, cloud save storage, and so on.

Now for Switch's online - includes online multiplayer and voice chat, as with the two above services. Their "free" game offering is where it looks distinctly less like good value compared to the competition. One game per month, and not a recent game at that (NES or SNES only). I'm not saying all games should be recent, but when your competition is providing recent games, it would have made sense to at least try and offer a mix of newer and older titles.

To make matters worse, there is confusion over whether you even get to play the one game after the month is over. Then there is the lack of major online titles for the Switch to make online multiplayer worth paying a monthly fee for (based on currently known software, at least).

Nintendo have to think very carefully about how to price this service unless there are dramatic improvements and additional features they have yet to announce. Given what we know currently, I don't think $5/month or $50/year would seem worth the cost at all for what's being offered.
 
The latter. You're literally paying a subscription to rent digital games that you lose at the end of the month for something else.

Don't wanna lose your progress you say? Buy the game before the month is up.

Nintendo.
Well that's disappointing. Oh well, kinda expecting they have a silly feature on their subs. Whatever, the rest of the console is cool enough.
 
Nintendo so stingy:

Subscribers will get to download and play a Nintendo Entertainment System™ (NES) or Super Nintendo Entertainment System™ (Super NES) game (with newly-added online play) for free for a month.

I think that means the game locks at the end of the month... probably won't be our choice of what game either. Can't wait to play Balloon Fight for a month
 

leeh

Member
Exactly.

With Games With Gold, you get two games per month, and can keep them for as long as you have a subscription. If you cancel, you can play the games again if and when you re-subscribe. If you were already in the Xbox ecosystem and have a 360, you have an additional two games a month, and you can keep those forever, subscription or not.
Just to chime in, you actually keep them if you cancel gold :)

Totally agree with the switch online outrage though. Terrible value.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
This service is screaming $20 a month at most. That sounds ok but still severely lacking some of the most basic features from what's detailed in this picture. Chatting over a smartphone is so stupid considering that was the argument made for the lack of party chat on the PS3.....and I'm not going to do this...no

$20 a month??

Are you high? Surely that's a typo and you meant $20 a year?
 

Nzyme32

Member
This service is screaming $20 a month at most. That sounds ok but still severely lacking some of the most basic features from what's detailed in this picture. Chatting over a smartphone is so stupid considering that was the argument made for the lack of party chat on the PS3.....and I'm not going to do this...no

It's not even screaming £5 a month, but then again I feel the same for all the console online services. Vote with your wallet
 

Lom1lo

Member
I hope this gets extendes on n64/gc/wii vc games.
And why only a 1 month rental ? I dont get how they can think, this is a good value (if it costs more than 10 € a year)
 

jmdajr

Member
They don't even let you keep the games! That are like..30 years old!literally!

Hell how many are on that NES mini?
 

Machina

Banned
Well what other games should they offer? There arent many switch games, so giving them out for free is not realy an option.

Gamecube VC games seems like the obvious answer. The Switch would have been much better received if Nintendo announced earlier that Switch "plus" or whatever its called was launching with a popular gamecube game like RE4 or Mario Sunshine or Eternal Darkness or Luigi's Mansion or F-Zero, and that is with the assumption the model is based on PS Plus and not this "you rent then lose" garbage.

But no, instead we'll get Balloon Fight full stop.
 
This truly is laughable, the company a decade behind in online services is now asking for consumers money. At least Sony fucked us slowly with an amazing free service for so long before deciding they weren't going to let MS gobble up all that free money. Nintendo still doesn't have basic online features.
 

trixx

Member
This service is screaming $20 a month at most. That sounds ok but still severely lacking some of the most basic features from what's detailed in this picture. Chatting over a smartphone is so stupid considering that was the argument made for the lack of party chat on the PS3.....and I'm not going to do this...no

$20 a month you mean 20 a year? Xbox and ps4 is $50 a year
 
I'm not paying money for this period. When their online sucked but it got me playing against people it was honestly fine. But they are gonna charge money and that is the shit they are offerimg. Nope.
 
Nintendo still showing they have no idea what they are doing when it comes to online.

I fully expect no proper account system.

Paying them to use my phone wtf
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
The way "online lobby and voice chat" is a separate bullet point from the phone app having chat functionality makes it seem like those are different things. However Nintendo is still pretty awful with messaging and giving people hard information in a sensible way.

I get the impression that even at this point, Japan controls all information and messaging 100% and they don't understand anything outside Japan, period.

Being a paid service demands more value and features though, and yes, Nintendo is going to get roasted if this thing is fucked up. FYI though, they'd already said a while back that their next console would be moving towards online account / cloud services. My Nintendo is the new basis of that. It's getting hooked into their games and smartphone apps.

So in that regard, it seems the Switch is moving towards what people normally consider account-based. Again though, Nintendo deserves blame for simply refusing to tell people how things work.
 
- Our new dedicated smart device app will connect to Nintendo Switch and let you invite friends to play online, set play appointments, and chat with friends during online matches in compatible games─all from your smart device.

Lol at paying to do that shit on your phone, Nintendo are out of their minds
 

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
I've been away for a bit from Gaming side, the hell kind of "Features" are these

1 fucking NES or SNES game from their library to play for only 30 days, if it has MP, then you need to buy the so called apo down the line to chat...


How many fucking hoops do you have to jump to play a Nintendo game now
Like Friends Code+++ is the new system
 

muteki

Member
I struggle to justify paying for Plus like hell I would pay for a Nintendo variant with even less features.

Also the "with new added online features" for VC games to me confirms you are buying them again.
 
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