Nintendo Switch Online App to Bring Voice Chat and SplatNet 2 to Splatoon 2 Launch

Sounds cool, except the voice chat bit. Why are we running voice chat through an app, again?

If only I had a Switch to play this game...

I actually like this approach. My phones always there and it feels a good fit for organising and communicating.

It's about time the finally started giving us info on their online app. I've been pretty interested in how they handle online this time.

How does the voice chat work though?

It's better than nothing, but I'd prefer to have a website option for viewing the SplatNet info like they did with Splatoon 1. Plus, Voice Chat through a mobile app is pointlessly convoluted.

hopefully this works. As app compatibility is a nightmare sometimes with Android phones

I hate the voice chat thing. Switch is handheld why it can't have inside voice chat? Why?!

It basically uses the ARMS setup, which is really good.
I like it.

Looking forward to give it a try. I'm not a fan of the voice chat workaround but it is what it is. So people should really just move on because complaining isn't going anywhere. Hopefully a more streamlined option will be given in the future but for now, just be grateful Nintendo is including voice chat at all.

Question. How can people be hating the voice chat before they know everything about it and have tried it? Just saying. At least give them a chance. This is like shooting the developers before they even get the chance to make their solution.

@TommyRabbit I agree with you!

Do you HAVE to use the app to invite buddies?

@Grandpa_Pixel

I personally hate voice chat, but people who do like it, never got off on the right foot when this picture emerged.

I voice chat with friends when playing Smash Bros or Mario Kart using other voice chat services. I commonly use Facebook Messenger on my phone, which is not that bad.

Nintendo is basically tone deaf when it comes to online and the fact they eventually want to start charging for a service that is marginally better than the Wii U's poor service is rather disappointing. Pricing notwithstanding it's a shame we can't have online that rivals something the original Xbox had. Using an app for services is no better than hopping on Skype to chat with friends like I used to do with the Wii and Wii U.

While Splatoon 2 is certainly going to be amazing Nintendo's restrictions on maps/modes and even times we can play Salmon Run online are ridiculous. Get with the times Nintendo. Or at least get with 2005

@MoonKnight7 And yet that is HORI's approach. Not Nintendo's. How can you be sure Nintendo's approach will be like that? The proof is only in the eating. Or gaming in this case

Splatnet 2 is inside the NSO app? I'd hate to need a separate app for every Switch game that has online voice chat.

Still curious to see how this works IRL. Going to make for awkward commercials I think. I really would have liked if that "Direct in name only" had actually shown people playing the game in all it's different modes so we could see how the game works in docked, tabletop and handheld mode, Grip vs Joycon vs Pro. That's the kind of stuff I want to see in a Direct, how things work. Don't just tell us about it, show us how to do it.

@rjejr Yeah, Splatnet 2 is part of the base Nintendo app. Any future Nintendo online game will probably just add additional sections to the app. Could get really messy to navigate if a ton of online games get sections (especially if 3rd parties also use the app instead of making their own).

@MoonKnight7 What does that mean?

You don't have friends?
You have friends, but you don't like to talk to them?
You have friends, you like to talk to, but you only do it in person?

Which one is it? Oo

Also, just on a general note, I don't see the point in ranked competitive team-based gaming without communication. Communication is pretty much what makes or breaks a great team-player. Anyone can be born with good reflexes, motor skills and spatial awareness (pretty much the essential for a game like this), but good communication and coordination with your team mates, that takes alot of effort and actual 'doing'.

A great lone-wolf player does not necessarily make for a great team player, and if I am not totally mistaken here, Splatoon 2 was conceived as and is meant to be played as a team game.

Anyways, the problem with that app solution is not involving, the phone, and not even the app itself (probably) but the three cables I spy with my little eye (+ need to buy that silly adapter).

I've been doing wireless sound+chat for years now on other systems. My desire to go back to a 'three cable solution' is about as pronounced as my desire to have my doctor attach leeches to me any time somthing is wrong with me.

I know Nintendo is desperately clinging onto parent friendly policies with their games but I really think some form of "friends only" chat could have been worked into the pro controller, switch itself and/or grip charger. I can understand the difficulty of Bluetooth and wireless headsets but even wired options aren't been offered in 2017. if you decided to connect your controller to the dock via USB would there not have been the option for a BT headset then? Does anyone know if the communication with the phone app will steal bandwidth away from your internet connection vs a built in console option?

Will this work on tablets as well? The parental control app works on them, so I would assume so.

I think I'd much rather use Discord than this. Maybe using this for stats and lobbies, but nothing more

@Ralek85 This is the Right Way to play this game, and it ought only to be played the Right Way, everyone else shouldn't bother if they're not going to dedicate their lives to the Right Way!

Not even going to bother if I have to use my phone to chat. I like the app's ability to schedule and send messages. It's nothing new as games like Destiny already do this.

I don't enjoy chatting with strangers. Sometimes it's necessary to communicate. It's great with friends though. Nintendo hasn't really created a gaming experience like a Raid in Destiny. As much Nintendo talks about bringing people together to play, they sure make it difficult.

@Ralek85 Like MoonKnight, I hate voice chat, and in my case it's the same reason why I've always hated talking on the phone. It's just not the same thing without the peripherical aspects of conversation, such as body language and physical expression. It's harder to avoid people interrupting each other, for example, and the sound often isn't as clear, meaning there's more chance for miscommunication. At the end of the day it's just not nearly as enjoyable for me as the real thing - on the contrary, I always end up jarred by those small inconveniences. Thankfully, with Switch's portability, it will be super easy to just take my console to a friend's house and play online together that way.

@concra "Does anyone know if the communication with the phone app will steal bandwidth away from your internet connection vs a built in console option?"

Absolutely not. Quite the opposite actually. Most routers state that they can transmit up to 600+ Mbs, but what they mean is they can transmit upto 25 Mbs on 24 devices simultaneously. (Generalized numbers of course)

Assuming Voicechat uses roughly the same amount of Data as actual gameplay(and it probably does). By splitting Voice Chat off on to another Device, Nintendo is effectively halving the amount of Bandwidth require to play the game online while also doubling the rate in which the data is transmitted through a Router.

Sounds like a pretty smart Idea to me.

@Ernest_The_Crab "3rd parties"

Thanks for reminding me, I can start using that as an excuse for why no CoD on Switch, they didn't want to deal w/ stupid apps when the other versions have built in voice chat.

I like the app in general, but games should still have a non-app option for voice chat.

Nintendo = Innovation again!

An app that lets me talk to my friends... on my phone?!?!?!?!
Stupendous!

I'm okay with the voice chat on my phone. My phone has a microphone on it already. No need in having to buy a headset.

Why oh why are they doing this, needlessly complicated.

I have never used voice chat in a video game and I have no interest in starting now. That said, this solution looks real wonky. Especially for when playing Switch as a handheld system. Voice chat needs to be built in to be a viable service/feature.

The online aspects being on the app makes a ton of sense to me and I'm looking forward to see how well it works with Splatoon 2 as well as other games. I like the idea of peeking into the game world on the go while you may not have Switch with you.

I think the app itself will work out pretty well, but I still really loathe having to run chat through it.

I hope SplatNet 2 will be a website aswell, I use the original SplatNet all the time on my laptop.

@Ralek85

I'm not a big fan of talking on the phone to begin with, and voice chat is the same feeling. When I'm on the phone, out of respect, I always go into another room so my wife can enjoy the quiet. I'm not going to make her listen to my ramblings while playing Splatoon. It's not that important, and it's too obnoxious.

Do I enjoy my friend's company? Of course. Do I talk to them on the phone? Sure do. If I have a need to call them, I will. We enjoy Splatoon a lot, and being super competitive via voice chat to make sure we win more often is not something we're concerned about. If you like voice chat, by all means go for it. I've tried it, and just don't like it. An added bonus for me is that I'll never have to worry about accidentally strangling myself with all those cords.

Yeah, no. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence, Nintendo.

@Grandpa_Pixel

HORI has officially licensed products with Nintendo. I'd argue that is Nintendo's approach to this.

@Dr_Corndog This. I think I'll just stick with Discord or Skype.

@ZurapiiYohane I'd argue it's a whole lot worse then the 90's. I managed to do voice chat in a flight sim on a 33.6K modem in 1994 on PC.
23yrs ago. On hardware with a tiny fraction of the power of the Switch. On a modem.
Their nowhere even remotely close to what we had in the early 90's.

Sounds good. Hope the app is intuitive.

@NEStalgia Speak for yourself then, because I explicitly said something else. I talked about ranked competitive team-play, and yeah, as far as that is concerend, and like I said before, I don't get why you would play THAT, but insist on NOT communicating with other players reliant on you to work with THEM.

Obviously, you are free to play whichever way you want to play, but still, I do not understand the thinking behind that. Your comment did nothing at all to change that.

@ricklongo The thing that strikes me about this argument is that a) no one ever argued that voice-chat is a proper substitute for a face-to-face conversation, and b) that half of what you said (lack of bodylanguage and facial expression, which is actually the way we do most of your communicating in daily life) is also absent in .... correct, that which we do here, which is chatting or simply: the written word used as a means to have conversation.

I mean, I'm just saying, just because you and me can't or won't talk face-to-face does not mean that we can't or should talk to each other AT ALL. I know it's obvious, but maybe it's also worth remembering ^^

Other than that, I also hate people with cheap microphones or bad setups. I normally tell people as much if the issue arises, and if things really get unbearable, I also tell them that unfortunately, I have to mute them (for my own sanity). It was more of an issue 10 years ago though, with people having poor connections and said cheap mics.

@MoonKnight7 I'm with you on those cords obviously wink
I get playing for fun, well, I think I do to be honest, but I don't think I ever went into a ranked competitive match purely for the fun of it. That is what you normally have 'Quick match' for or whatever that most basic mode might be called.
For example, in Overwatch, often times I just want to fool around, and not try tooo hard, hence quick match it is. Other times, I want to challenge myself (it also depends on whom I'm partying with of course), and then I go straight to ranked.

I'd never go ranked if I don't want to win or give it my all. In a way, and please don't take that the wrong way, but in a way, that would - at least to me - seem disrespectful to the passion and effort my fewllow players are putting in.

I've been in mixed teams (with randoms) playing ranked competitive matches before, in dozen and dozens of games, and it is my experience, that I don't enjoy it. It's a nuisance to say the very least, and so, for my part, I try not to cause that kind of annoyance to other players.

I suppose if my team consisted purely of buddies, and we all agree that we are just goofing around, and for some peculiar reason we want to do that in ranked mode, it would be alright with me. But honestly, I don't think that such a suggestion came up in like ... well, ever.

Also, since the Switch is kinda portable, you can take it to another room just like your phone, in fact, if we are talking "talking", you'd have to take your phone with you - and all those cables as well

needing to use a second device for basic communication functions present on consoles since the xbox 360, amazing!

in b4 you won't be able to chat during a game, lol. hope they patch support into existing titles (MK8, ARMS) at least.

I don't understand why people who don't want to use voicechat feel the need to comment on this thread at all.

Oh boy, we can use voice chat with Nintendo's convoluted 3 way with a smartphone system right from the start.

I mean, the service looks alright, but it really, really, really should be on the Switch itself and not on a smartdevice. It's not rocket science...

@cleveland124
Apart from the fact you can use this application without using voice chat and this thread is clearly about the application in general?

Don't like the fact we're forced to use the app for voice chat. Sure, ultimately it's a niggling inconvenience and I don't even voice chat much really, but it's a niggling inconvenience that there's absolutely no excuse for. Which... is irritating.

That said, I'm just gonna do the dang thang and get that adapter Hori showed (or an equivalent from someone else) and use with my Bose earbuds. It'll consolidate the game audio and chat audio, which is the end goal. I keep my phone by my side of my recliner anyways, so I'll just run that extra wire from the adapter to the phone. Which... at least the Splatnet 2 is cool. So it's not all bad.

For at work, I'll use mobile hotspot to play online, so I'll just keep my phone in my pocket and have the cord run into it. It's more cumbersome than it should be, but at least it'll work and at least we'll have voice chat finally. Bright side and all that

@shaneoh

Obviously I'm talking about the people commenting that I dislike voice chat and am glad it's this convoluted mess. If you don't like voicechat you can easily ignore it. It should be irrelevant if it works well or not to you. Though if you want the Switch to be successful you should want its features (even those you don't plan on using) to be good. Just like when game X doesn't come to Switch and there are dozens of comments saying they are glad it's not coming. That's stupid. If you don't want a game it's either irrelevant to you or at the very least you should feel some empathy for those that like that type of game and won't get it. I see the parrallel here. This online chat setup clearly sucks. There is no reason to justify it just because you plan to ignore it.

@cleveland124
Obvious to you. I still don't see why they shouldn't say they don't want to use voice-chat.

I'm not a fan of voice chat, but I like this set up, it's similar to using a third party application for voice chat like mumble. Don't want to hear voice chat? You don't need to join the channel or bother going through muting people. I also prefer wired connections, so I like the connection setup.

Inklings look pretty cute using their squidphones

@shaneoh

If you want to waste your time commenting on things that don't affect you and you don't care about by all means comment on every single Nintendolife article multiple times to be heard. Be my guest.

You liking the setup is different than not caring but still trying to justify a bad setup. Nothing you listed can't be done with a Switch and excluding a phone. You could have a wire to the Switch, you can choose to activate voice chat rather than have it be default. There is no reason for this setup. They could have a separate app that would keep your stats, let you see whose online, and they could even activate voice chat through that as an optional second means.

Making this the primary means will no doubt limit the people that use it. There are just so many negatives with this setup. I run my phone through Bluetooth at my house into a home phone system. I don't like being attached to my phone like so many people. When I come home from the workday I attach to the charger and forget about it. What if your phone is dead? What if someone calls you in the middle of playing interrupting it? What if your setup is in the basement like me which basically means you get no service whatsoever in where you are playing? What if, since there are 100s of different phones and different networks, the app doesn't work with your phone? Plus the additional costs for adapters and such. List some positives? Simply not liking chat is not a positive.

I really like the idea of doing all the lobbies and text chat from my phone. As for the voice chat I think we all need to see how it works and if there is a way to mix game audio and headset when docked as the hori adaptor doesn't seem to address that.

I like the idea of the lobbies and news but I really hate chat in online games. Full of annoying children and boring numpties. So keeping it out of the game itself works for me

@cleveland124
I've been commenting on things that don't affect me for a long time, but I'm glad I have your approval to do so. By commenting on people commenting on something that doesn't affect them, aren't you commenting on something that doesn't affect you?

There is a reason that they're doing it this way. What it is, I don't know, but I don't think they'd be successful as a business by pulling any old thing from their backsides.

If your phone battery is dead you should probably stick it on a charger (it also isn't good for the battery to allow it to run dry). The app will possibly make calls silent while you're using it and display a notification. Who knows? If you're in the basement with no coverage, either play somewhere else or without chat, Nintendo can't account for every scenario. The provider isn't going to affect how the app works, only the OS, which is a choice between iOS and Android.

Benefits? Don't feel like playing with chat? You don't need to hook it up or disable any settings, it's a completely independent system. You also don't have menus overlaying the gameplay, you can fiddle with mutes and whatnot while being able to keep an eye on the gameplay

@shaneoh

You asked a question I responded. But it seems you are trying to create an argument to win at this point so I won't respond to this point anymore.

This program will run your phone dry and I shouldn't have to change my entire gaming setup to use voicechat. Basement setups aren't that rare at least in my part of the country. Certainly not as rare as the flip phone my friend still uses.

You know what doesn't have this convoluted setup and is just as easy to ignore voicechat if that's not your thing? Every other system available.

@cleveland124
You made a statement, I responded. People are allowed to have their say around here.

I don't imagine it will be a taxing application to run, it's no Pokemon Go. After all you're using the phone for what it's intended for, talking to other people.

It's a console that doubles as a handheld. It has less power behind it compared to other systems. It's a mistake to think that the Switch should be capable of doing the things all other consoles and PCs are capable of.

@shaneoh

Oh you were talking the original comment. It was actually a question. Why do people feel the need to comment on something they don't care about? I'm curious why they waste their time. And I do care because I read through the seemingly endless comments saying this is great because I don't like voice chat. It's annoying and adds no value to this thread. The original xbox was able to do non gimped voice chat so spare me the its not as powerful card.

@cleveland124
"I don't understand why people who don't want to use voicechat feel the need to comment on this thread at all."

Statement, not a question. It also adds nothing to the thread.

The original xbox wasn't running on a battery. The switch LITERALLY doesn't have the power that other consoles and PCs have access to.

@shaneoh

Saying I don't understand usually leads to someone explaining it unless there is no explanation. It also highlights that there is a heart icon so you literally don't have to type out the same thing as 10 other people have said.

You just said the app won't run down my phone battery life. Now it's going to run down the Switch battery which is much larger?

@cleveland124
And I've explained it. They say it to have their say. The hearts suggest a wide variety of things, someone could have found it funny, someone could appreciate the time someone took to type out a reasonable response etc.

You're neglecting that the Switch will be running much more draining programs to the phone. Running a voice chat application on top is going to increase the drain. If the drain is too great on the phone, you can always close other background programs on the phone. You can't close down the Switch game you're trying to communicate on (well you can, but it's counter-productive).

@shaneoh

I guess I didn't think your explanation was a great one. If someone says what I'm thinking there is little reason for me to repeat it unless I think I can add something. I mean if I thought a Nintendolife article was great, should I copy and paste to the comment section so people can read again or does the article make its own point? And I never said people can't be heard. They can repeat comments if they want to. I just don't understand it and I still don't.

Why would it? People used to voicechat over dial up. This isn't a data heavy add on or something particularly new. The Switch is already running wifi, producing sounds, and communicating with the app. I have a hard time believing this adds 1% to the Switch workload.

SplatNet 2? You mean there was one for Splatoon 1 too? HOW COME I NEVER KNEW??? I HAVE THE GAME SINCE LAUNCH AND I FOLLOWED EVERY DIRECT YAAAAAA

Quietly checks the Play Store for the NSO app

@cleveland124
Because the more apps and hardware you have running, the greater the demand on the hardware, which means more energy required. Communicating with the app over cable requires less power than running bluetooth. Bluetooth requires power to remain connected to the headsets and microphone, even when they're idle. Then once they're no longer idle, power usage increases.

@shaneoh

I was under the assumption we could use a wired setup though certainly blutooth would be preffered. I guess this is though where I'm maybe not techical enough because the Switch will already be running blutooth to talk to the controller/s. So it seems again the overhead is already running. Either way I'd gladly give up 10% battery life for a more functional solution. You've also got to remember this is a home console too. Batterylife doesn't matter one bit to the home gamer and it's not ideal either to the portable gamer because you'll need a backpack for the adapter and headset.

@cleveland124
I mean, it may not even be power consumption that is the issue (I personally think it's a contributing factor), we don't know why they took this direction, but I assume there was a good reason for it. This may not seem like the ideal solution, but the alternative could have looked nicer to people, but functioned worse.

@concra Separating the chat and matchmaking to the phone will make no difference as far as bandwidth usage is concerned. In theory it will help improve contention within the network stack on the console by giving game stream a free run, a bit like when you sometimes need to turn off video to improve sound on a skype call. But in practice I see no technical advantage given modern hardware and methodologies.

I wonder how long it will be until we start to see map progression in the app?

Voice chat has been a gaming staple since the original xbox right?, At least the 360. Nintendo doesn't want anyones feelings hurt while playing video games

@Ralek85 Ah, but the difference is that we're not talking in real time here. You answered me yesterday, now I'm re-answering today. There isn't the urgency to respond right away, which for me at least takes the vast majority of the annoyance away. It's the same reason why I don't mind answering text messages, but generally can't be bothered by chatting in real-time text services anymore. Or why I don't like talking on the phone, but am okay with voiced WhatsApp messages.

There's no opportunity for interruption, for example, or the pressure to understand bad audio, especially not right away and without a chance to re-play it. At the end of the day I guess those are my main pet peeves with voice chat (and phone calls) as a whole.

Of course, I'd be happy to have voice chat in Splatoon, because I know a lot of people enjoy it. It's just not something that's on my personal priority list, as I 100% would never use it.

@Ralek85

Haha, true, I could take the Switch to another room, but that's not where my big tv is. A big tv, and pro controller is where it's at for me.

I get it, and like I've said before, I'm just not a fan, and what doesn't help is that the whole voice chat thing is a convoluted nightmare on the Switch. I'd rather not bother even if I liked voice chat.

Even in the original Splatoon, I didn't go into ranked mode much, so you don't have to worry too much about this lone wolf ruining the experience for your fellow hardcore inklings. I like Overwatch as well, but there again, I'm only on quick play, and not competitive about it at all. Does that mean I run around like a goof in quick play? No. I'm just not super serious with the need to use voice chat to ensure my chances of winning.

Voice chat is unneeded, everybody knows you guys have no friends!!

@ningeek185 Amazon has them at the moment. Grab you one. Cheers.

I do like to voice chat when playing multiplayer so I will give the service a fair shake, however, I also don't understand why voice chat was not integrated at system level. As stated by many others, it is a feature that has been a staple for a long while now with other consoles. Cheers.