Topic: Online Service App

I might be sipping on the Nintendo Kool-Aid a bit to be somewhat agreeing with them on this app idea. Everyone practically has a device already that will be able to run it and a pair of headphones. Playing in handheld mode using a second device you already have with you will save some battery. I kinda worry about app interruptions though with phone calls and push notifications. I hope there's a way the voice chat will be able to carry game sound too. Did I see somewhere a demo of this app will be out this summer? What's the thoughts on this working alongside MK8D too?

@Dan0753 I'm fine with it, and also decreases price of Switch with a microphone. I will be using it, even if it's not as easy.

I'm anxious to find out more about it. Hopefully they bring some details out for E3. seems like they still want to hold onto that second screen concept a bit.

I'm interested in how it will work before I can comment on it

I don't have a smartphone. Cue people telling me it's impossible to live without one.

Even if I'm weird, the app really should not be the only way to communicate with friends, especially since it means we're left with nothing until it comes out. I feel like there's no point in being able to friend request people I've played with because all I could possibly do is make a room and hope they show up, and even if they do I'll still know nothing about them.

@Zyrac you'd likely be able to play online as you can now with random people. I just wish there was more info out about it by now. It feels like back in the day when Xbox came out and Live started up a year later.

The online app for voice chat is simply horrible.

I got to test it and it is horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

It's not just bad. It's worse.

It's the worst thing I have seen from Nintendo in the last ten years.

@Timppis So...

Firstly how. Do you have a review copy?

Secondly...want to elaborate why?

@BLP_Software

I don't but I got to play one. I wish I got review copies and even suggested that once at a quarterly meeting but it wasn't discussed

For me it's the clunkiness. There is more wires than I've had combined on my consoles since 2003. There is actually so much stuff that it hinders the gameplay. It makes playing harder and that is a major drawback. (almost wrote something nastier, but didn't).

Also I don't know if it was in just the version I played, but it actually shuts the voice chat down if your screen locks or if you get text message or chat message. That was some seriously bad stuff as well. Hopefully it is patched away.

I will just use skype personally. It is much more versatile. Although that means I have to take my game sounds from speakers. As a father of two small kids playing mostly during late hours that is big annoyance.

@Timppis You know as a Youtuber I think Im so used to it with wires and not hearing TV output (unless i want a 2 second delay...) that its nothing new to me.

And actually I saw a tweet showing how the wires would actually connect compared to the horror images for clicks.

Replace earbuds with headset.

Honestly...its better than what I do for recording.

HDMI goes to capture card. Capture card has a HDMI to the TV. It also has a mini USB to my PC. Then i have my headset to hear my co-commentators and a mic via USB to a stand near me.

Yes. Really.

@BLP_Software

As someone who captures gaming you are probably much more attuned to those things I would imagine.

For me just having them all in a mess was really bad and unpractical. I didn't have the hori headset but there was a similar divider thing that allowed me to get both voicechat and audio to the earphones.

Oh and thank goodness I didn't have that horrible grip-accessory. That looks just... wow... who would get that?

I hope that you can get it to work with that simplicity although that is WAY too much stuff you need when it should be Switch and wireless headset (or plug-in headset).

How does that other pic plug into the phone? Is it that blue thingy?

Also quick edit: How do those people play with docked mode? Their wires are REALLY short.

@Timppis I think that grip is an unlicensed third party one.

The second image is a mock up. The actual wires as shown in the first horror image are MUCH longer.

You plug the middle bit (the blue bit in the how itll actually work image) into the Switch and your phone via headphone jacks. That blue bit, the ipod looking bit in the horror image, splits and balances the audio from both.

Thats it.

@BLP_Software

But basically that blue thingy and the arrow thingy and the divider we had still work all in the same way?

It goes to your headphones and from it one to your phone and one to Switch?

So those are the same things, except that we had a decent headset instead of earbuds?

Or what am I missing here?

@Timppis The 2nd image is a mock up.

You have your headset. It goes to the arrow thingy. That goes to your phone and the Switch.

@BLP_Software

Yeah, the same thing we had, except the divider wasn't arrow thingy but instead a small blocky black thingy kinda like you have on school mixing tables.

Garbage. Str8 up junk. Might just not buy Splatoon2 and stick with Overwatch☕

Or you could just play the game without voicechat

My concern is for 2018 when Nintendo decides to charge money to simply play online. If there chat solution is rubbish and there is no real on Switch online features like Xbox Live or PS+ it seems pretty greedy to charge for it. At that point it's just a subscription based virtual console service.

Nintendo still has a chance to fix the app, but I think there may be a technical reason why they have not built in the chat functionality to actual hardware. I don't think we will see Nintendo build chat into the switch itself at least not in this current hardware SKU. Perhaps in two years they will upgrade the switch to include onboard chat but I sincerely doubt it given the battery concerns on the Switch itself.

The app not supporting any sort of background use can certainly be fixed and I am sure it will be. And if the history of Nintendo systems are anything to go by we will be seeing allot of 3rd party accessories to make chat work like the Hori Headset. And you know if Nintendo fans buy them, Nintendo won't bother changing the way it all works.

As much as people are hating on the app, the thing I'd most like to see is support for ARMS.

Well... I have to vent a little bit. Personally I'm not a big online gamer and when I do I never do Voice chat. With that being said this is ANOTHER HORRIBLE decision by Nintendo. They are a victim of their own success and dare I say strategy at times. They seem to take it a step too far when it comes to their "innovation.". I'm all for them innovating when it comes to their controllers and the way you interact with games. Some thing needs to be standard and they have to see that. This reminds me of the gamecube and the mini disk. Like there was no need... DVD disc was basically standard at the time and they missed out on games like GTA which has never been on a Nintendo "home" console. This is another dumb decision but now the question becomes what do they do? Will they be brave enough as a company to save face and come out and admit this is a horrible idea. I mean we have seen online and chat done for the past two generations without major issue and they come and want to try and reinvent the wheel. So no this won't affect me as much as others but as loyal as I am to Nintendo they need to be called out when they do things like this. I can't allow my love for the company to let them get away with horrible decisions like this.