Steve Youngblood
Member
Don't do this.
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Nintendo Switch Online app now available on most Google Play and App Stores
- Thread starter Cerium
- Start date
Don't do this.
ViolentP
Member
Hell, even starting a party on my PS4 would be as serviceable.
Skittzo0413
Member
Do what I did and just download the app to give feedback. I doubt I'll ever use it for voice chat either.
MisterR
Member
Yep, you even have people saying, this shouldn't even exist and should be on the OS, and then they give it 5 stars.
Dreamwriter
Member
There was always the hope that Nintendo was sending audio from the game console to the phone over bluetooth, with the app mixing the audio together. And the company making that Splatoon-branded mixer thing being out of the loop and guessing that was something youd need.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
You'd get all kinds of latency doing it this way.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Most people can afford $20 a year and will pay even if it only has a fraction of what they want. Believe that. It's at a don't-give-a-fuck price point for people who aren't living paycheck to paycheck (less than $2/mo)
Spiritwalker
Member
Will rate it 1 star and tell them to put these basic functionalities on the Switch itself. This is just silly.
I don't think that's what they did. It's just a byproduct of Android's system level share feature.
To me this reads like Nintendo saving money by having everything in one App and offering sub-par solution to problems that didn't even exist.
I do expext some similar App by Sony and MS though for game invites. That's pretty neat.
Yeah that's what I'll do. I mean, I will give it a chance most likely, if I am being honest. Just because I want my feedback to be informed.
D
Deleted member 20415
Unconfirmed Member
Not really.
I think it's the portable nature that is driving this... if you've got your switch hooked up to the TV, you're going to run a long cable to the couch?
I mean, they could clear this up with bluetooth or some other solution, but a wired solution probably won't cut it.
Maybe you lose all the battery and system power, which you saved by not having a voice-chat software running in the background and have it work through a different device, if you have such an bluetooth connection. On my Smartphone bluetooth kills my battery fast (as fast as having the same screen running all the time ...).
Annoying Old Party Man
Member
Oh it's a first time someone calls me a defense force, thanks!
That some of Switch's online functionality is dependent on a device different than the Switch, is, has been, and always will be a very bad idea. Even awful maybe, we'll see what it grows to be.
But the issues described here really, and I mean REALLY, are not a big deal to me. Yeah, if I get a call or I open a new app, the voice chat stops till I get back to Nintendo's app. I don't really mind. Seriously. Should it be better? Yeah. Do I mind. Eh, not that much. The original Splatoon didn't even have messaging or voice chat and I coped just fine. Maybe because I'm not big on online gaming anyway.
People should really complain to Nintendo because they have handled this pretty badly. At the same time, some of the mental breakdowns here though are frankly hilarious.
Well allegedly, the Switch mic jack doesn't support audio input and the Switch doesn't currently support Bluetooth headsets.
Steve Youngblood
Member
The issue I still have with this is simply the simple one of "why?" Why is this handled this way? It makes absolutely no sense. There has to be some reason why this functionality isn't being handled by the console itself, but all we've gotten so far is dubious spin.
I get that the console received a kind of soft launch and that there are still WIP aspects of it. But this is just one of those things where it's a legit headscratcher that this was not only not ready for launch, but that this is the delayed implementation of what is a standard feature of any modern console.
I feel like there's a lot of smart decisions Nintendo made in designing the Switch and that its popularity is for the most part deserved. But I feel like there are some issues circling the launch where I just don't understand what the holdup/omission is.
Devilgunman
Member
Nintendo hates them bulky, ugly gaming headsets.
Retro Edge
Member
It's a good feature, but it's not a let's-die-on-this-hill, "best we can" do feature. Nintendo has the resources to get better data from players and find a better core solution.
Just agreeing with the poster above that the app isn't a idea as a bad supplement. And it can certainly be quite useful depending on the situation. It's just borderline unacceptable as the only solution considering the collective gaming community has had more progressive options for a while now.
Skittzo0413
Member
I'd agree that it not being able to run in the background isn't a HUGE deal even if it is a bit annoying, but the bigger issue for me is that it cannot even run with the screen off. That's a ridiculous waste of battery power, especially for lengthy online sessions. It's absolutely absurd that you need to keep the screen on in order to get audio.
A phone call is a better voice chat solution than this app.
The former is not true, the official specs say the jack can work with microphones.
These are the types of things where the PR spin is probably actually worse than the real reasoning behind it. And the type of thing where a weekly blog would help immensely in communicating some of this to the fans.
Nintendo's communication remains absolutely abysmal.
sir_bumble_bee
Member
They love their cords though, apparently.
Kittehkraken
Member
I wonder what Nintendo will do once it catches wind of voice chat being its toxic self, especially around kids. I see them pulling the plug pretty quickly.
I agree, which is why I was curious if Nintendo had given an official answer as to why it wasn't implemented on the console itself.
The current solution is just really inconvenient in my opinion. I know some have argued that it's actually convenient because you have your mobile phone with you, but do you know what else you have with you when playing the switch online? The switch itself lol
I don't ultimately care about the app as voice chat in games is irrelevant for me. I tend to play online games solo, but I find certain things about the switch baffling. Aside from this app thing, why on earth are game saves tied down to the console lol. Finally they make progress with regards to digital purchases being tied to an account that can be used on any console (once you de-activate elsewhere) but the game saves are tied to the damn hardware.
Nintendo seem to take 1 step forward and 5 steps back without fail each time....
I'm sure the family friendly environment was a reason why Nintendo were against voice comms years ago. I'm surprised they just didn't stick to that philosophy with the switch.
MisterR
Member
If you think it's a good idea for Nintendo to not have voice chat of any kind on their paid online service then maybe start a petition and maybe they'll drop support. Most people could afford a pile of shit for $20 a year too, doesn't mean most people are gonna buy it if you start bagging yours up.
prag16
Banned
I haven't really seen any mental breakdowns. Only completely justified criticism.
I don't know. I think it's actually fairly modern and progressive on Nintendo's part to offer a smartphone app like this... as a supplemental option. It's just the fact that this is the only way to do this that makes it so utterly baffling and insulting. The fact that a console is launching in the 2017 and this is the solution for "how can I chat and hear game audio simultaneously" is just insane.
Yeah it's really quite bizarre. The app would be great as a supplement, but why go through the trouble to build this, and not build the hardware and OS of the Switch with all of these features in mind in the first place. Mind boggling stuff.
For Voice chat? Sure. For creating lobbies? It's just a nicer way to do that. You can still create lobbies and invite friends on the Switch like every other console.
Wet Bloodfart
Banned
Yikes. Well, Nintendo makes incredible games, but like dunkey says, they do NOT understand the business. Sad.
Steve Youngblood
Member
Yeah. I'm not trying to be an apologist when I say there has to be some good reason why they went this route. I mean, it may not be a good reason to consumers, but there had to be some legitimate software/hardware engineering concerns that led them to look at multiple implementations and decide that the smartphone app was the way to go. I don't work in gaming or hardware design, but I work in development. I understand that sometimes it just happens that the client wants something and all we can offer in response is "we'd love to do it, but the solution isn't workable because of (insert reasons here)" or "we thought about that and could have done it, but unfortunately because (insert other reasons here) it was just more pragmatic to go this route."
I don't think the people working at Nintendo are big dumb dumb idiots that must be new to hardware and software engineering. But there's just no way that the teams were sitting around working on the basic, OS-level community functionality on the Switch itself, and it was working just fine, and then someone else came along and said "what about a smartphone app" and everyone agreed that this was definitely the more elegant approach and worth completely abandoning the console implementation for. What made putting these features on the console unworkable or a secondary priority? What challenges are they trying to overcome only offering a smartphone app?
No, not based on anything we've about the app and online infrastructure. But a bluetooth mixer solution was something I thought they could have figured out by now or relatively soon. The answer on their FAQ just seems like the Splatoon adapter setup will be the best option for a while.
Skittzo0413
Member
I'm pretty sure you cannot invite friends on the Switch itself. You can join friends in private lobbies, but not invite them. From what I've read here.
EDIT:
Yup I agree 100% with this. It's silly to pretend this is their decision "Because Nintendo" or because Nintendo "doesn't understand online anything", because there is most certainly a real, legitimate reason why they had to resort to using this app at this time. Whether it was the time/budget relegated to the Switch's OS or firmware, or the fact that there was no room left in the Switch or joycons to put an integrated mic, or some deal with DeNA, or any number of technical software reasons that I'm not aware of, there had to have been some real reason which made them seek out this app solution. The only thing we can do at this point is hope that A) they greatly improve the functionality of the app or even better, B) add some of this functionality to the Switch OS over time.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Where did I say it was a good idea? My point was that at $20 a year, a lack of features isn't going to deter people from paying. It's cheap enough that people will be willing to pay for what it provides even if they aren't fully satisfied
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ke-it-could-be-every-bit-as-bad-as-you-feared
Wow...this sounds horrendous. Baffling decision all round.
Wow...this sounds horrendous. Baffling decision all round.
On the one hand I can understand them because yeah it's weird and dumb that Switch's vc is handled like this.
On the other hand yeah I was planning to continue using discord since the day this was announced so it's hard for me to care too much lol. The most I can do is roll my eyes at Nintendo and keep doing what I've been doing.
Splatnet 2 seems cool though, I'll use the app for that at least.
Nintendo: here, take this convoluted solution instead
LightningXCE
Member
Okay, this is broken.
Jo Shishido's Cheeks
Member
I was actually in favour of accessing core system functionality via a mobile app but this is inexplicable.
Every part of it has me confused, even down to the main menu's gigantic useless red area.
If they had combined the communication of Miitomo and the game hubs / communities of Miiverse they would've had something really cool.
Foregoing every feature of two services you've already built, both of which are currently active, is amazingly stupid.
To think just a few hours ago this was my biggest issue with the app... :lol
Every part of it has me confused, even down to the main menu's gigantic useless red area.
If they had combined the communication of Miitomo and the game hubs / communities of Miiverse they would've had something really cool.
Foregoing every feature of two services you've already built, both of which are currently active, is amazingly stupid.
Nooo, its one of those apps with a non-fitting title.
To think just a few hours ago this was my biggest issue with the app... :lol
More at: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ke-it-could-be-every-bit-as-bad-as-you-feared
Limited as in it works only with Splatoon 2.
Nooo, its one of those apps with a non-fitting title.
rofl, wario64 stole your screenshot and cropped it.
https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/887493377255546880
Oh man, so Nintendo was 10 years behind in online infrastructure. Now it's also 10 years behind mobile app infrastructure.
Annoying Old Party Man
Member
Is there any legitimate theory on why this happened? Sometime ago I proposed that maybe it was to free up resources and have the least possible memory dedicated to the OS, but that got played down here.
Having the app as a supplementary service could be a great idea. But a forced one doesn't make sense.
Mh, yeah. I think you're right.
I mean, all they have to do here is to either allow messaging apps on Switch or implement a messaging system themselves. You get a pop-up that a friend has opened a lobby, click on that, game launches, you're in the lobby. Done.
That's a really obvious flaw right here.
Kabuki Quantum Lover
Member
This is how I feel. I've always hated voice chat, but it's a load of shit that a system released in 2017 couldn't do this stuff natively. This is a convoluted approach to something that was solved a decade ago.
I always just thought that Nintendo went with whatever DeNA said and as a mobile app developer they went with this.