Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@DannyBoi
Probably not. Nintendo seems adamant about separating chat on Switch. They've always been overprotective and worried about lawsuits if ppl get harassed or sexually assaulted (like with Flipnote Studio on 3DS).

Maybe their app will add messaging on day, but Im not expecting Discord integration (even though it would be a very smart way to allow chatting while ensuring the responsibility fell on Discord rather than Nintendo).

Sounds like they (or someone in their family) deleted their Discord account.

@Link-Hero
just accept anything that Nintendo throws at them

I don't think that's completely true. Plenty of ppl have not signed up for the expansion pack (and of those who have many have leveraged the family plan to do so), many refused to buy games like Star Fox Zero and Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival- there's lots of examples that show ppl dont accept anything thrown at them. They buy the things they deem worthwhile and skip what they deem isnt.

Many ppl have the base online service and would love to see messaging or other features, but since it's needed to play online, and needed to have cloud saves, and needed to play SNES games, and only $20/yr, they still get it. But that doesn't mean everyone who does has no criticisms or desire for more features.

There's been a tsunami of criticism toward Switch online from day one. The problem is that's not enough to change Nintendo's mind. Because ppl are still subbing. It would take a significant percentage of players unsubbing to make a difference. But that's an unreasonable thing to expect of most ppl- giving up online access, and cloud saves, and VC games, in the hopes that maybe somewhere down the line a few years from now Nintendo adds messaging in their app? Nobody's gonna do that. Especially since there's no guarantee what message will be sent to Nintendo in doing so. Everyone has a different complaint or specific feature they want- there's no united front asking for one specific improvement at a time. All Nintendo would see is, "subs down, let's increase value with more timed trials or DLC". They're not going to understand the specifics of why ppl aren't subbing unless there's a united front and push on social media and customer feedback.

Which is why I have always encouraged ppl to speak up and voice their consumer demand on Twitter (in a respectful manner of course). But again, there's no united front. It's "we want folders, we want themes, we want more icons, we want voice chat, we want messaging, we want add to cart, we want better refunds" etc etc. There's a hundred different issues being bellowed out at any given time.

That said, many ppl are perfectly OK with things as they are because they have no need or desire to use the features we're discussing. While I would appreciate messaging, and many others here as well, I'm willing to bet a large number of ppl just couldn't care less one way or the other. It is what it is.

It's not gamers' fault that Nintendo doesn't include messaging. That's on Nintendo, and Nintendo alone. Ppl have tried to enact change over the years- Operation Rainfall with localizations, the push for Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero back in the Wii U era (which we've seen 2 of the 3 since), the demand for region free, an online account system, preorder refunds, etc. There's been a lot of positive change which I believe is a direct result of fan feedback. There's just some things Nintendo is unwaveringly stubborn about. Communications is one of them.

I would imagine that the lack of chat is due to the big N not wanting a load of chinless wonders screaming homophobic / mysoginistic abuse at other users while playing.

Nintendo had the right idea regarding voice chat given the vast majority of games nowadays either block voice chat or default the ability to even hear voice chat to off.

@Rambler
Doubt it. Messaging and voice chat can very easily be limited to friends.

Nonetheless kids are foolish enough to friend anyone they talk to on the internet, and with that comes potential predators. The Swapnote incident spooked them. They immediately pulled the app, which speaks volumes about their sensitivity to such matters.

@JaxonH

You hit the nail on the head as usual. Yes there are a fair amount of people not subscribed to NSO or even boycotting it, but the problem is that number pales in comparison to the overwhelming amount of people subscribing in their place. If I were to unsubscribe from my family plan right now multiple people would've already taken my place.

The success of NSO gives Nintendo no incentive to improve the service and to their eyes probably they probably don't care. Going on twitter and replying to Nintendo's account with complaints isn't helping anyone if anything it's probably giving their social media manager anxiety.
But that doesn't mean that criticism isn't warranted though and they're are still ways to reach Nintendo it's just like you said, they're incredibly stubborn.

And lastly while I would put most of the blame on Nintendo for providing a mediocre online service, the fans are still partially at fault for enabling it by buying it, which I don't blame them since paying is the only way to play online and get cloud saves, but from an objective standpoint we're still technically enabling these anti consumer practices. It would take too significant of an amount of people to unsubscribe from NSO for things to really change, so the NSO is probably going to stay the same.

This is a very specific example that can easily be worked around, for starters for most if not all games that include voice chat, the option is usually turned off. And also you could easily implement parental controls onto voice chat if thats such a concern.

I pretty much fall into this category to be honest. I don't like having to pay for online and cloud saves and having retro games tied to a subscription rather than being able to buy them, but I do want to have access to those things and NSO is so cheap that I'm okay with subscribing to it. More features would be nice but I have no need for voice chat or messaging personally. And even if you don't have a family plan, the annual cost for the standard price tier works out at £1.50 a month, and I have to admit that's pretty good value just for the S/NES games and Tetris/Pac-Man 99.

Edit: By the way, regarding the idea that Nintendo is avoiding adding communication features because they don't want to risk abuse, I do think that's probably true but the voice chat on the NSO app actually does let you talk to strangers by default. It puts you in a call with everyone else in the same game lobby as you. It's not really an issue because no one uses the app but it's weird that Nintendo would allow that.

@JaxonH, @ILikeUrAttitude - I defer to you both.
As you say, Jaxon, it could well be that Nintendo won't go anywhere near it after such an adverse situation.

I think the real problem is that their way to "improve" NSO was to throw random games at people instead of...actually improving the online service that people paid for because it was required to pay for an online service. I don't think some Nintendo fans realize, but I feel pretty confident in saying the majority, maybe even the vast majority, of people paying for NSO do so because they have to if they want to play their favorite Nintendo games online now. And they use it for nothing else. They might not even know about the SNES games. I know about the SNES games and I've played...2 of them.

NSO succeeded because people had no choice (unless you think people didn't want to play their multiplayer games with online going into the 2020s lololololol). If it was optional, even if it had a bare minimum of extra online features that don't even currently exist, it would still not have done remotely as well.

Does anyone know of a way to check online activity before purchasing a game? I wanted to buy the luigi's mansion DLC and street fighter 30th collection, but not really interested if nobody is playing these games online.

@JesseA honestly just asking on here or the subreddit for their respective series is probably best

The increasing reliance on live service is just making me very sad. Look at Square Enix for example, this month we saw the release of the very good Triangle Strategy and FF Origin is honestly a lot of fun judging by the demo (sure it's nonsensical at times but in a world where most games are trying to be the next BotW or Fortnite, it's refreshing to have something like Shadow the Hedgehog) but the other 2 releases (Babylon's Fall and Chocobo GP) are completely ruined by live service.

So it looks like my Switch path through the rest of the first half of this year will be something like:

MK8 Deluxe DLC -> Kirby and the Forgotten Land -> Return to Triangle Strategy -> FE Three Houses preparation for Three Hopes -> MH Rise preparation for Sunbreak -> other backlog if not June yet -> Mario Strikers -> Three Hopes -> Sunbreak

I may pick up Switch Sports, not sure.

The Three Lords

A werewolf, a vampire, and frankenstein based monster.

@Grumblevolcano and splatoon 3.

@Umut Splatoon 3 isn't 1st half of the year, the earliest it'll be is July though I'm predicting August.

Ooooh... there it is...

And there it is!!!

https://www.play-asia.com/zorro-the-chronicles/13/70f9hh

ZORRO...!! 😃

checks the NSO app on my Switch

Welp, guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for the New Donk City icons. Literally my favorite world in SMO.