Topic: The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service Thread

Jokes on you, they don't have servers!

@FaeKnight they are beyond a doubt peer to peer. There is a reason they want you to port forward every port on your router to the switch.

And people are paying for the online, not their services. They are there to sweeten the deal. Without the online part they would have far less subscribers.

@Yorumi ...Proof or you're just making things up. I have been a longtime Nintendo fan and I have never seen anything ridiculous like your post. It's like you're trying to convince people to not get the Nintendo Switch's Online Service subscription.

I'm getting the Online Subscription. It only costs $20 a year. Now I know why some people don't take u seriously...

We can do that witt McD, i would liek free burgers

Depending on your router it is simple to see it in the logs. Your switch either connects to different machines during a match or a bunch of machines connects to you.

Also, Nintendo wants you to port forward every port from your router to your switch. Not only is this a big security risk, there is no reason to do that at all if you don't have a server. Why would Nintendo want you to treat your switch as a server?

@ReaderRagfish technically they are using your bandwidth for servers without informing you. This might be a breach of our favorite acronym, gdpr.

It's extremely different than ransomware. Ransomware takes your access away from something that had no connection to the creator of the ransomware, and demands you pay money to get your access back.

There are ToS regarding all these games that have online features that include the disclaimer that availability is subject to change. It's no different than shutting down Miiverse, you can't say they're doing anything wrong. They provided it, user agreed, then they took it away.

You know those ads where you can sign up for something and you'll be offered a 30-day trial of another product? What happens after the 30-days; you get charged for another 30 days if you don't cancel. There's nothing wrong with it, it's in a disclaimer. It's not illegal or shady at all. It was presented up front ahead of time.

This is so far from illegal that ambulance-chasing lawyers are rolling their eyes

@HobbitGamer Ya know, I believe Yorumi won't listen to reason. And I agree with what you say, HobbitGamer. This is far from ransomware. So I don't know what Yorumi is talking about.

@Alantor28 All I do know is that I've saved a $20 bill since I bought my Switch in February this year. (I'd been paying for Xbox Live Gold for 8 years, and never had a problem. It's just the cost of doin business.) I'm looking forward to the 20 NES games available at launch, even if some I may only play for a few minutes every once in awhile.
I'm okay with this, that doesn't make me a terrible consumer. I'm not going to try and change someone else's mind, either. If someone can't see value in it for themselves, then that justifies them not purchasing it. It's how free market works, thank goodness

@Yorumi A 3rd Party game licensed for use on Nintendo hardware. That comes with a disclaimer.
Here's some more clarity, too.
You don't own the internet in your house; You are under a service agreement with an internet service provider. You pay them in exchange for the provision of internet service.
You don't own the lines; same as above

You also can't use the argument of "I already pay for internet and i'm being charged by nintendo to use it" without also stating that Nintendo would be charging you to use your; electricity, cost of furniture, cost of food to maintain your metabolic rate, housing cost. Right? Because you already paid Nintendo for a game and have to pay for those things, but now Nintendo is "double charging you".
To be absolutely clear, I'm not upset at or berating you or anything even unhappy, I'm just trying to say I can't get to the level you're coming from on how this is a terrible practice. Paying for online service for consoles has existed for just under 16 years.

Based on other consoles and what they do, online only games likely wont require a Nintendo Online subscription. This is doubly true if the game it's self wants a subscription to play it. If Final Fantasy XIV came to switch, you could likely play it without being a paid Nintendo Online member. You'll be able to keep playing Fortnight and Paladins without being a paid member too. Microsoft initially tried that, and the backlash was so great that they reversed the decision. Sony learned that lesson from watching and didn't even try charging to play games that are online only.

Single player, local multiplayer, and local wireless multiplayer are gated by Nintendo Online subscription. This means your system isn't bricked if you choose not to play. Nor are you locked out of multiplayer. None of your games are being held hostage by the paid premium service, you can still in fact play them. And you've been warned all along that you are currently experiencing a trial of the Nintendo Online service and it will become a paid service at some point. It's not Nintendo's fault you didn't read the fine print on those games you bought. Nor is it their fault that you didn't pay attention when your Switch it's self told you this.

This is an entirely predictable move on Nintendo's part. If you couldn't see the writing on the wall, that's also not Nintendo's fault. The only reason they didn't implement such a system with the Wii and Wii U was because the systems weren't doing that well. Sure the Wii had a huge initial install base, but most people quickly got tired of it and shelved the system. Especially after 3rd party publishers all but abandoned the system.

@Yorumi Too bad, not everyone agrees with what you say.

@Yorumi Hey, I respect your opinion just as much as I respect everyone's. The great thing is we don't have to have the same point of view, and the market can decide which direction it wants to go.

@HobbitGamer True that. I respect others opinions (Well, almost most of the time) even if they are negative opinions and I don't mind the Online Service. Heck, I saved up my eShop funds to prep myself for it.

@Alantor28 My only legitimate hope for something they haven't announced; a messaging service for folks only on the friend list.

I'd sort of appreciate a messanging service (and maybe voice chat) that isn't game specific and limited to using the smart phone/tablet app. Especially since currently the messaging service is limited to only Splatoon 2.

@Yorumi No, not really. In order to use voice chat on Xbox Live you've gotta be Gold. And this is 1/3 the yearly cost. So it doesn't bother me if there's no centralized messaging.

Announcer Voice
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"Fight the Corporation", coming September 2018, Rated R

With XBL you can send voice mail or instant messages if not a paid member. You can browse the shop and make purchases. And you can play certain online only games like MMOs or 'Free to Play' MOBA. You can also do things like watch Youtube or netflix. Originally video streaming services had been gated behind Gold Membership.There was a lot of backlash about that though, so it was reversed in 2014. You also have to be a paid subscriber to use the Cloud Save feature. And if you let your account laps, any game saves on the cloud are unavailable to you.

When the X-Box Live service first rolled out on the original x-box it was limited to in-game voice chat and playing online multiplayer or other "online" features of a game. Ninja Gaiden for example had an online mode which was basically "super hard" mode, but still single player. This too was gated by being a paid XBL subscriber. One nice thing is that the "games with Gold" free games are still playable even if you decide not to renew Gold membership. Once you claim the free game, it's yours.

For Playstation Plus, the paid service of PSN, you get the ability to play online multiplayer, discounts and demos unavailable to non-members (same as XBL Gold), and a selection of free games each month. But if you ever decide not to renew your PS+ membership, all those free games are unplayable due to them also requiring PS+ membership to play even after you claim them. Oh, you also get cloud game saves and in-game voice chat.

To be honest, yeah I think that Nintendo Online has a lackluster set of benefits compared to the others. But then again this is Nintendo's first real attempt at creating such a service. Friend codes are a pain, and the lack of communication tools is annoying. But I remember Sony's first attempt at online service with the PS2 Network Adapter. And even at launch Nintendo Online will have more benefits then X-Box Live originally did.

I also think they are dropping the ball with how voice chat is handled. But hopefully they'll learn and do something better in the future. But other then online backup of your game saves, discounts, and voice chat Multiplayer is the main, often only reason to subscribe to the other consoles premium services too. Okay, yes I mainly subscribe to XBL Gold for the free games. But Nintendo is already planning on having retro games available as part of your subscription. Here's hoping the list of games included is expanded upon in the future too.

Did you know that text chat wasn't part of the original Xbox Live service either? That got patched in later. And to be perfectly honest, lacking voice chat may be a benefit for online multiplayer. Sure it makes teams strategizing harder. But at the same time, 99.9% of the time you wont be strategizing when in an online multiplayer match. Instead it'll be foul mouthed trash talk, whining about cheaters (IE anyone more skilled then the whiner), and more racial slurs then you ever thought existed. All piped right into your ear.

And god forbid anyone actually uses a blue shell during a Mario Kart race. My apartment building had a weekend long Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament. And things got kind of loud anytime a red or blue shell got thrown. No profanity or racial slurs, but rather loud. But going online, you' encounter people who rage over anything not going 100% their way.

I use to know someone who was proud that he'd had 30 Xbox Live accounts permanently banned for issuing death threats, cussing everyone else out, and using racial slurs liberally. And that was by 2005. By the time I lost track of him he'd gotten banned over a thousand times, and kept making new accounts. He viewed those bans with pride as a mark of an "elite gamer".