yeah I made that point to that poster almost 12 hours ago and nada lol
I don't understand any defense of the way this app works and especially the lack of functionality on the Switch itself
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Have Problems with Switch Online app? - Let Nintendo know.
- Thread starter jorgejjvr
- Start date
yeah I made that point to that poster almost 12 hours ago and nada lol
I don't understand any defense of the way this app works and especially the lack of functionality on the Switch itself
WordsintheWater
Member
That's what it comes down to in the end, options, you shouldn't pigeonhole your audience.
Jubenhimer
Member
The fact that games can have little applets like SplatNet 2, that can track stats and add in-game items, even when your away from your console. That's a novel idea that can lead to some clever uses. There is some good to this app, but it's unfortunately held back by it's poor Voice Chat implementation.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Being a Nintendo fan can be frustrating as hell, lol. They literally just made what is, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, and I genuinely like the Switch in general. But then for all of that there's this kind of nonsense.
JershJopstin
Banned
I think they both have a purpose, one being better suited to a direct dialogue with Nintendo, which is important, but it's also a private discussion between you and them. I think some are worried that they won't address the discontent with the public unless that discontent is on display to the public, such as with App Store reviews, so those reviews being public-facing and a very clear way for everyone to see that discontent also has merit.
D
Deleted member 465307
Unconfirmed Member
This is kind of my stance on it. Some good ideas within this app, but the implementation right now is seemingly lacking in practical usability. That's, of course, not considering the bigger dilemma of why the Switch itself doesn't have this.
This release was pretty disappointing to me. I know Nintendo has really weird ideas sometimes, but I usually expect them to execute on their weird ideas reasonably well. This app, from my experience, has some design missteps even within its weird concept. I think with some serious updates to both the app and Switch, this could be a passable solution where I'll use the phone app (while still hoping Switch gets it incorporated into the system itself as an option). But there's some distance between the current state and what I would like it to be.
Nintendo is notorious for selling random stuff that works with a couple games, then never mentioning it again. (Wii Speak)
Pokemaniac
Member
Splatnet 2 becomes available once you play the game.
You should. Then this app wouldn't be a total waste.
ookami
Member
What we call companion apps is not a novel idea, except maybe for Nintendo. Putting aside all the issues with the app implementation in general do we even have access to Splatoon 2 stats and app functionalities without being in game ?
I will admit that it's a good thing having Nintendo interested in companion apps. But the way they're implementing this is just so wrong from the concept.
Splatnet is the reason i give it 2 instead of 1 star(s), pretty cool feature wise and neat hopefully more games get it even singleplayer ones i love stats, news, shops etc.
Voice chat is botched to fuck tho and it should work party system wide not on a game by game basis. On PS4 i sometimes have people in my party even while playing a singleplayer game to just talk.
With the app you can only use it for Splatoon right now....
But there are also alot of other huge problems like no background running no message system (wich should have been on Switch for sure) and alot more missing/botched.
Voice chat is botched to fuck tho and it should work party system wide not on a game by game basis. On PS4 i sometimes have people in my party even while playing a singleplayer game to just talk.
With the app you can only use it for Splatoon right now....
But there are also alot of other huge problems like no background running no message system (wich should have been on Switch for sure) and alot more missing/botched.
And I'd rather be able to hear both game and voice chat audio through my headset like the good ol' days of 2005. Maybe some day the Switch's online will catch up to those heady days.
How would 1 work at all?
Okay but think about what you're saying here. If Nintendo is willing to add memory overhead to the OS to send audio via bluetooth to a phone during game matches, why wouldn't they be willing to just allow direct voice chat over bluetooth headsets on the Switch without the app? Why require the app in the first place?
Baleoce
Member
This is pretty accurate lol
It'll probably go up again tomorrow, fanboys will give it a lot of high reviews when they're using it for Splatoon.
Yes I think if the app acts like a companion app with stats for supported games you can access without the Switch, and the ability to invite friends from social media directly into games, but the Switch itself supported basic messaging and voice chat for the friend list, that would fix almost every problem people have with the arrangement. That's really what it should have been from day one.
Nico_D
Member
What if... there are people who actually like the app?
What if you are not wrong for not liking it?
What if others are not wrong for liking it?
Sure, people like all kinds of objectively bad things.
MilkyJoe
Member
killatopak
Member
not usable while screen is turned off?
muh battery
muh battery
The app itself isn't all bad, and apart from the obvious fact that there should have been a native solution, the main issue is that the voice-over portion isn't well implemented(can't run in background, permanently on screen), along with the lack of some features that would have made things a lot more convenient. The app - if ironed out - would be great for monitoring stats and doing various things while away from the console.
This said, this shouldn't have been an area of discussion in the first place. The fact that Reggie tried to pass this off as an "elegant" solution(when it's even worse than we feared!) is really something. The media ought to call his as$ out.
I'm expecting something like this:
Jubenhimer
Member
👍
Spiritwalker
Member
lmao
Alex
Member
I'm not sure they'd take my feedback to remove the app and make revisions of their controller solutions with audio ports to heart.
I'm not sure how they managed to come up with a solution that is substantially worse for simple friend usage than opening up something like Discord in the background on a phone or PC.
I did put in feedback, but honestly when this was considered a good idea to begin with I don't see any amount of feedback making a big difference. It is one of those things where it is just...weird that it can even exist because the people with the knowledge to make it should prevent it from coming out like this.
I'm not sure how they managed to come up with a solution that is substantially worse for simple friend usage than opening up something like Discord in the background on a phone or PC.
I did put in feedback, but honestly when this was considered a good idea to begin with I don't see any amount of feedback making a big difference. It is one of those things where it is just...weird that it can even exist because the people with the knowledge to make it should prevent it from coming out like this.
Jubenhimer
Member
Nintendo said when they announced it that the app would launch with limited functionality, which implies that they plan to update it in the future. The app itself isn't the problem, it's the unnecessary limitations and clunky implementation of voice chat that's the problem. Many people would be fine if you had the option to use a headset on the Switch itself, and if the app could actually work while in the background. Simply providing feedback on how it should be improved will go a long way.
Marty Chinn
Member
Man, I knew things were bad but I was still caught off guard by two things today that just blew my mind.
1) If you have the app open and you're in your car where you normally would connect to Bluetooth, it will activate the phone interface in your car. I was completely confused when this happened since we thought one of us accidentally made a phone call but we hadn't since it was just the app. Why the hell did they set it up in a way where the app is accessing phone functionality in your car?
2) If you ran the app, you cannot play music from other apps even if you've left the app to go do other things. I was super confused why I couldn't play music in my car until I realized I had to actively kill the Nintendo Online app that was in the background. It just completely takes over the audio path until your kill the app. I knew you couldn't do both at the same time, but I had no idea it was going to be that bad.
I didn't even discover both during the same drive. I discovered them on two different drives so the second one I didn't even consider was a factor because I had run into the problem with the app earlier. It's amazing how bad this thing is on so many levels.
1) If you have the app open and you're in your car where you normally would connect to Bluetooth, it will activate the phone interface in your car. I was completely confused when this happened since we thought one of us accidentally made a phone call but we hadn't since it was just the app. Why the hell did they set it up in a way where the app is accessing phone functionality in your car?
2) If you ran the app, you cannot play music from other apps even if you've left the app to go do other things. I was super confused why I couldn't play music in my car until I realized I had to actively kill the Nintendo Online app that was in the background. It just completely takes over the audio path until your kill the app. I knew you couldn't do both at the same time, but I had no idea it was going to be that bad.
I didn't even discover both during the same drive. I discovered them on two different drives so the second one I didn't even consider was a factor because I had run into the problem with the app earlier. It's amazing how bad this thing is on so many levels.
This took my by surprise too, as I went into my car with blue tooth on
Ok, so I didn't want to weigh in too heavily before I tried this thing for myself, but of course, everybody was right. It's awful.
The main things that are horribly wrong:
It's frankly bizarre that Nintendo thought it would be acceptable to kill communication when phones go in to a low power state, or when users visit another app. The app itself ALLOWS you to share your invite via Facebook and Twitter - which is a great idea - it could be the perfect LFG-type system.. but sharing on social media? It takes you out of the damn app..... which kills communication! Did they test this at all?
I have found, that on OnePlus phones at least, you can still use WhatsApp if you use the notification bar's quick-functionality to reply to messages - but that still isn't acceptable.
After my first few attempts of using the app, waiting for players, and not being able to coordinate how we joined, and not being able to plan our play sessions - we all quickly agreed that Discord would be better, or just silently joining one another in one of the normal Splatoon play modes. That's a horrific conclusion to come to. "Let's just give up".
So the first step to making this better is putting voice chat on a background processing thread so communication doesn't die in a ditch the moment you start using this thing.
I have a few other ideas for improvement (which I have already sent to Nintendo using the feedback function as outlined in the OP) - but I wanted to share them here to maybe prompt further discussion or any other ideas.
I know the overriding emotion is - "Why can't Nintendo just do a normal online system on the console itself" - and I agree, but if they have to go this route, this is what I would suggest.
Add a whole lot more to the App
If you're wondering how the above would look, I'm thinking of something like this:
The main things that are horribly wrong:
- You can't communicate with this app at all, until your friends accept your invite and join your room. The App has access to your Switch friends list, but you can't use it to send simple messages?
- Once you're all in a room, that's just the start. If you get split in to different teams, or somebody minimises the app, or enters another app? You can't communicate with this app at all until they return.
It's frankly bizarre that Nintendo thought it would be acceptable to kill communication when phones go in to a low power state, or when users visit another app. The app itself ALLOWS you to share your invite via Facebook and Twitter - which is a great idea - it could be the perfect LFG-type system.. but sharing on social media? It takes you out of the damn app..... which kills communication! Did they test this at all?
I have found, that on OnePlus phones at least, you can still use WhatsApp if you use the notification bar's quick-functionality to reply to messages - but that still isn't acceptable.
After my first few attempts of using the app, waiting for players, and not being able to coordinate how we joined, and not being able to plan our play sessions - we all quickly agreed that Discord would be better, or just silently joining one another in one of the normal Splatoon play modes. That's a horrific conclusion to come to. "Let's just give up".
So the first step to making this better is putting voice chat on a background processing thread so communication doesn't die in a ditch the moment you start using this thing.
I have a few other ideas for improvement (which I have already sent to Nintendo using the feedback function as outlined in the OP) - but I wanted to share them here to maybe prompt further discussion or any other ideas.
I know the overriding emotion is - "Why can't Nintendo just do a normal online system on the console itself" - and I agree, but if they have to go this route, this is what I would suggest.
Add a whole lot more to the App
- I should be able to message my friends. Period. We've already had to jump through hoops, we've added each other by being friends through other games, or friends on 3DS and Wii U, and friend codes are back (for some reason) - so just let us message each other!
- Sharing your room with Facebook or Twitter is cool, but I should be able to let my friends on Switch know that I'm looking for players too. They could show this as a notification on Switch and/or in the app, and it would be a simple QOL improvement to what they're doing so far.
- I think it would be nice to be able to access my Nintendo Switch screen captures album via my Smart Device. It would encourage use of the capture function during online games, and we would be able to share those moments with friends - be it in the app, or on other services.
- I should be able to schedule games with friends using some sort of calendar, and everyone who accepts should get a reminder shortly before the game is due to start.
- I should be able to chat with friends whether I'm in a game or not. Like I can on other systems. That means Party Chat. I can't think of any infrastructural reason this couldn't happen. It would basically be inviting friends to a chat session that is global and super-cedes any chat rooms that individual games create themselves. The system and its API could pass along the party ID so that games could choose whether to group players by party, or to start a more game-specialised chat room with the same players in it once they all start a game together. An OS update and a few game patches would fix it. Nintendo just need the WILL to implement this, or something like it.
- When I'm in a game with other friends, I shouldn't be cut off from speaking to them until the game ends. There should be a simple switch that allows me to change the target of my voice messages if I am in a group. At the very least I should be able to text message them.
- There is no reason, aside from audio feedback issues, that the client systems and their games could not subscribe to the same voice chat channels and have the audio come out of the TV or headphones. This would, in fact, help with people who like to online stream their games - and allow other people in the room to hear what's going on.
If you're wondering how the above would look, I'm thinking of something like this:
This was very in depth, thank you.Ok, so I didn't want to weigh in too heavily before I tried this thing for myself, but of course, everybody was right. It's awful.
The main things that are horribly wrong:
- You can't communicate with this app at all, until your friends accept your invite and join your room. The App has access to your Switch friends list, but you can't use it to send simple messages?
- Once you're all in a room, that's just the start. If you get split in to different teams, or somebody minimises the app, or enters another app? You can't communicate with this app at all until they return.
It's frankly bizarre that Nintendo thought it would be acceptable to kill communication when phones go in to a low power state, or when users visit another app. The app itself ALLOWS you to share your invite via Facebook and Twitter - which is a great idea - it could be the perfect LFG-type system.. but sharing on social media? It takes you out of the damn app..... which kills communication! Did they test this at all?
I have found, that on OnePlus phones at least, you can still use WhatsApp if you use the notification bar's quick-functionality to reply to messages - but that still isn't acceptable.
After my first few attempts of using the app, waiting for players, and not being able to coordinate how we joined, and not being able to plan our play sessions - we all quickly agreed that Discord would be better, or just silently joining one another in one of the normal Splatoon play modes. That's a horrific conclusion to come to. "Let's just give up".
So the first step to making this better is putting voice chat on a background processing thread so communication doesn't die in a ditch the moment you start using this thing.
I have a few other ideas for improvement (which I have already sent to Nintendo using the feedback function as outlined in the OP) - but I wanted to share them here to maybe prompt further discussion or any other ideas.
I know the overriding emotion is - "Why can't Nintendo just do a normal online system on the console itself" - and I agree, but if they have to go this route, this is what I would suggest.
Add a whole lot more to the App
- I should be able to message my friends. Period. We've already had to jump through hoops, we've added each other by being friends through other games, or friends on 3DS and Wii U, and friend codes are back (for some reason) - so just let us message each other!
- Sharing your room with Facebook or Twitter is cool, but I should be able to let my friends on Switch know that I'm looking for players too. They could show this as a notification on Switch and/or in the app, and it would be a simple QOL improvement to what they're doing so far.
- I think it would be nice to be able to access my Nintendo Switch screen captures album via my Smart Device. It would encourage use of the capture function during online games, and we would be able to share those moments with friends - be it in the app, or on other services.
- I should be able to schedule games with friends using some sort of calendar, and everyone who accepts should get a reminder shortly before the game is due to start.
- I should be able to chat with friends whether I'm in a game or not. Like I can on other systems. That means Party Chat. I can't think of any infrastructural reason this couldn't happen. It would basically be inviting friends to a chat session that is global and super-cedes any chat rooms that individual games create themselves. The system and its API could pass along the party ID so that games could choose whether to group players by party, or to start a more game-specialised chat room with the same players in it once they all start a game together. An OS update and a few game patches would fix it. Nintendo just need the WILL to implement this, or something like it.
- When I'm in a game with other friends, I shouldn't be cut off from speaking to them until the game ends. There should be a simple switch that allows me to change the target of my voice messages if I am in a group. At the very least I should be able to text message them.
- There is no reason, aside from audio feedback issues, that the client systems and their games could not subscribe to the same voice chat channels and have the audio come out of the TV or headphones. This would, in fact, help with people who like to online stream their games - and allow other people in the room to hear what's going on.
If you're wondering how the above would look, I'm thinking of something like this:
I'll use some of this to further provide feedback on the app!
Jaded Alyx
Member
Only for SplatNet 2.
Same.
Update
Switch online app updated with background voice chat
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/907771988445323265
Something at least changed for the better.
Switch online app updated with background voice chat
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/907771988445323265
Something at least changed for the better.