Comments 2,220

Re: Editorial: Nintendo, Somehow, Has Gone Backwards With Voice Chat on the Switch

DarkKirby

having an external voice and lobby service isn't necessarily an awful idea.

It's not, it's awful because you can only do it externally. It would be great if you could use both your Switch by itself and also use your PC and smartphone to manage your friends and lobbies.

Some have said Nintendo wanted to keep voice chat off the hardware to keep it 'safe', but there are parental controls for that, and kids have smartphones and tablets anyway to access the app if they want; most know more about how to use them than their parents. Even if that 'safe' argument is true, it's been a mistake to launch an app that, in its core function of supporting lobbies and voice chat, is a bit embarrassing.

This is why it's extra frustrating. Nintendo has the most robust and heavily advertised parental control features of any major console but they still fear to death that allowing open, convenient voice chat would hurt their "child safe" reputation, so much so they'd rather make voice chat so convoluted and inconvenient that almost nobody will use it anyway.

though if voice chat was handled through the hardware it could be as simple as using a wired headset straight through the console's headphone jack

This is the reason why people think the convoluted and inconvenient 3 way with a smartphone for voice chat is an intentional attempt to discourage its use. The Switch has an audio/mic jack built into it, but it can't handle voice chat on its own just because Nintendo doesn't want it to. All it would take to fix this silly situation is software, software Nintendo won't release.

If Nintendo wants to fix this situation, the earlier they do it, the better, because then newer games won't have to release update patches or add to development mid way just to get their voice chat to work with the new, ideally convenient, voice chat system that replaces this terrible one. The longer they wait, the larger the chance is that many games will get stuck using this 3 way with a smartphone for voice chat and never update their game even if Nintendo eventually releases a better solution (the better solution being the Switch doing voice chat by itself).

Re: Guide: How To Invite Friends And Use Voice Chat On The Nintendo Switch Online App

DarkKirby

Its just about as convoluted as you would expect a 3 way with a smartphone to be.

And for some people asking for Bluetooth to "simplify" the 3 way with a smartphone, the Switch should just be able to handle voice chat on it's own without a smartphone (which the PSP could do).

And for the people saying having the Switch do the voice chat would drain the Switch's battery, you have to have your Switch plugged in or using an external battery if you're playing a AAA game on the go anyway, especially if you're playing online.

Not to mention using your smartphone for voice chat will drain your smartphone's battery, and now you have to have both your Switch and your smartphone plugged into something.

Re: First Impressions: Running Scared from Sonic Forces

DarkKirby

I don't have a problem with "slow" levels in 3D Sonic games, but they have to be designed well. In a game like Shadow the Hedgehog, they just weren't (not that they were perfect in Sonic Adventure 2, but the controls and camera for 3D Sonic games somehow took a nosedive after that, all noticeably worse than Sonic Adventure 2).

That said, are the custom Sonic characters regulated to slow levels, or is that just the demo?

Re: Video: Experience an Awakening With this Fire Emblem Warriors Story Trailer

DarkKirby

@abbyhitter

Laura Bailey is a pretty famous voice actor so I'd be strange to replace her (unless Nintendo decided to be cheap), that said, Lucina's voice actor being uncredited in Fire Emblem Heroes, than changed for the Spring costume, is a bit worrisome.

For me personally, I hope Lucina's Japanese voice actor hasn't changed , and I'm having a hard time telling if it sounds different because it's a different person or because the quality is different off of the 3DS.

Re: Hori Unveils Another Nintendo Switch Headset for July, With Plenty of Wires

DarkKirby

Once again this silly set up is something Nintendo could fix with just software changes, it's something they are choosing not to fix.

And the change should be that the Switch does voice chat by itself, not that you use Bluetooth Headsets to make the silly 3 way with a phone less silly. Why should you have to beg to be slightly less inconvenienced when you shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense at all?

Re: Talking Point: How ARMS Can Punch Its Way Into Competitive Gaming

DarkKirby

I said this in another topic already.

There are main 2 things that determine if something can be an eSport.

1. How much money is involved in winning.

2. How entertaining the game is to watch, and how many people are interesting in watching it. If enough people want to watch it being played competitively, advertisers will start putting money into streams and tournaments, which make the prize pot bigger, and increase production value.

The 3rd factor is how fun the game is to play, but this can be mitigated by #1, money, as people will play the game even if they dislike it, if they can win money from doing it.

Even for Smash 4, Nintendo doesn't really put money into the community. Not straight shutting down streams and tournaments isn't "support". And that's the biggest detrimental factor to any Nintendo game being an eSport, Nintendo themselves not directly supporting it (they have in the past, considered their games being played competitively bad for the image of their game, and their company).

Re: Reggie "Can't Say" If A Cloud Save Solution Is Coming To Switch

DarkKirby

@jimi

You're making up that other systems block your saves.

There is no online DRM with Steam games, why have so many people not figured this out? You can run Steam offline and play games you've downloaded offline. If there is online DRM with the game it comes from the publisher.

Yeah, you can't resell the game, but in exchange you can redownload it at any time (depending on the platform, on multiple systems/PCs). But that's all digital games on all platforms, not just Steam (except Nintendo before the Switch).

Making an environmental argument against digital games isn't here or there, but you can't possibly believe downloading a game is more wasteful than mass manufacturing a physical product with packaging and shipping them.

If a game needs tons of patches, that's the publisher's fault.

Not being able to redownload games if the distribution service goes down would happen to any gaming platform, including Nintendo and the lauded VC people love.

And the paid mods idea was Bethesda's (makers of Skyrim) idea in which they got the largest cut of the profits (which they announced at E3 2017 they are trying again by the way). Get your information right instead of throwing blame at things you dislike. Now, making something free paid is bound to upset people, but there were many other problems with Bethesda's paid mod attempt which where ridiculous.

Re: Reggie "Can't Say" If A Cloud Save Solution Is Coming To Switch

DarkKirby

@jimi

You're blaming hackers for Nintendo's atrocious DRM, when people hack the OS and pirate on every major gaming platform, but the other gaming platforms don't intentionally inconvenience paying customers in an attempt to stop that (except that one time Xbox One required you to be online once a day so they could DRM scan you, which they eventually stopped doing).

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem

Give people what they want, conveniently, at a fair price, and most people will gladly pay you for your products. You're never going to stop every pirate, and attempting to do so only upsets paying customers.

Re: Reggie "Can't Say" If A Cloud Save Solution Is Coming To Switch

DarkKirby

Why do people talk about Cloud Saves as a "solution" when your save files shouldn't be locked to your Switch in the first place.

It's like when people ask for Bluetooth to make Nintendo's convoluted 3 way with a phone Switch voice chat less convoluted, when what they should be asking for is for the voice chat to not be convoluted at all and just work off of the Switch itself, which the PSP could do in 2004.

The lack of the ability to back up or transfer your saves is not an oversight, it's an intentional (but misguided) anti piracy and anti hacking measure (they're not worried about people cheating online, but installing something like homebrew again).

So here's what's going to happen, 3-5 years from now, when Nintendo finally releases "New Switch" or "Switch XL" or whatever, they're finally going to allow you to move saves to the microSD card but lock the saves to the microSD card and 1 system similar to the 3DS's games because now there is a direct monetary benefit to allowing people a limited ability to do so, to convince people to buy another Switch.

Re: Reggie Fils-Aime Sets Out Nintendo's Stance On eSports

DarkKirby

The biggest difference between "eSport" and "pro tournament" is really just how much sponsorship and money is involved to put on a big production (and with that sponsorship comes a "more" family friendly show).

Nintendo has traditionally not been very monetarily supportive of their game's competitive communities. I'm not sure not straight shutting them down is "support".

Re: Talking Point: Five Key Areas Nintendo Must Get Right at E3 2017

DarkKirby

Let people backup and transfer their saves.

Release the entire VC at once instead of dripping them out.

Put voice chat on the Switch itself and ditch the horrible 3 way with a smartphone set up.

Stop restricting communication in games on purpose, you already have the most powerful and heavily advertised parental controls of any console.

Stop having games censored. Don't let Treehouse localize things.

And finally, you got to have a lot of good, new, AAA games that are designed for gamers and not trying to reel back in the non gaming casuals.

Re: Feature: Is Tokyo's Arcade Scene Really Dying?

DarkKirby

I was asked this question recently by an author researching a Street Fighter book. Dying out?! Maybe – but there’s a long way to go.

Street Fighter's Arcade success specifically would be hindered by Capcom's decision to not put Street Fighter 5 in Arcades (personally I don't think SF5 is that good of a game but that's besides the point). They have funneled a lot of money into turning SF5 into an eSport however.

The top Arcade fighters in Japan as I understand it are "Blazblue: Central Fiction", Tekken 7, and the Gundam one (I don't know it's whole name).

Re: Pokkén Tournament DX Confirmed For Nintendo Switch

DarkKirby

@RadioShadow

I'm sure there are Wii U double dippers, but you also have to remember that the Wii U was actually an utter failure and most people didn't play any of its games because they were unwilling to buy a Wii U, so playing them on the Switch would actually be their first time.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the complaints on remasters/HD versions, but I will say one notable difference is the ones on PS3/PS4 (or Microsoft consoles as well for that matter), are usually notably cheaper than a new AAA game, or are multiple HD versions of old games in a series bundled together to make up the price of a new AAA game. A practice that is done more often with ports (like on the 3DS), remasters and HD versions from Nintendo, is selling the game alone, at full retail price or near it. In the end, it's not really Sony's decision most of the time either to release HD/remasters, but the publisher of whatever remaster/HD version of the game is being released.

Re: Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Confirmed for 17th November Release on 3DS

DarkKirby

@KTT

It's been a long time since these models and animations were discovered (S/M's game was data mined soon after release and these found), so I don't remember everything, but there were multiple reasons these walking, resting, and running animations for Pokemon were decided to likely be "following" animations.

You theorize all the models and animations were made in 2011, but this data wasn't in X/Y or OR/AS, and there exists one for every single Pokemon in the game, including S/M's Pokemon.

And they have resolutions that match the models used for the over world (lower resolution).

This is speculative evidence, but S/M's story also has other characters often talk about you and your "partner" Pokemon, mentioning them by name (more accurately, referring to the Pokemon in the 1st slot in your party as your partner), despite there not being any actual significance placed on the Pokemon in the 1st slot of your party.

I'm not defending Game Freak's ability to design a competent game that runs well, but the models for even the larger Pokemon exist, shrunk down and off scale, and while these Pokemon would probably still have collusion issues, I really don't think anyone would actually care if these Pokemon did clip though things when walking around corners and through narrow corridors.

Not really related, but apparently someone took the data mine running animations for Gardevoir and Gallade and cleaned them up. I'm just posting this because it looks nice.

Untitled

Re: Pokkén Tournament DX Confirmed For Nintendo Switch

DarkKirby

@NEStalgia

The AI isn't bad, it's more accurate to say it's easily exploitable if you know what it doesn't know how to deal with.

That said, while the game was very bare bones and completely lacking in features in general (or at least the Wii U version was), the online ranked mode worked well and found matches fast (really fast), despite the online itself also being bare bones, lacking lobbies or chat, and connecting to specific people online required putting in their code. But the point is you're never going to be short on people to play as long as you can play online.

Re: Pokkén Tournament DX Confirmed For Nintendo Switch

DarkKirby

@NEStalgia

There is nothing wrong the the game play, as Pokken's Story mode essentially takes place in the game's Arcade mode, where you just fight against one random person after another with the game's normal mechanics, with story segments squeezed in between some of the matches.

The reason the story is bad is simply because the story itself is bad. It's short, lazy, and boring. It's pretty much "here's a story for the sake of having a story".

This is ignoring the fact that the English voice acting was horrible, it sounded like they just had whoever was around the office that day try and voice all the characters instead of hiring actual voice actors, and these people are voicing the dialog for the characters in the story. Thankfully, the original Japanese voice acting was left in as an option (with subtitles), but not everybody is into that.

Re: Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Confirmed for 17th November Release on 3DS

DarkKirby

While I wanted Sun/Moon 1.5 to be on the Switch simply because I think Pokemon games need to stop lagging behind on hardware, realistically even if it was on the Switch I'd likely be a texture and resolution improvement without the models being changed, like Twilight Princess HD and Monster Hunter XX, or in other words a lazy improvement. It would look better, that's not debatable, but it's the easiest change they could have made.

I'm a super sucker for Pokemon games though so as long as they put in Pokemon following you which was cut from the original Sun/Moon (as the data for it is still in the game files), I'll buy it.

Untitled

Re: Pokkén Tournament DX Confirmed For Nintendo Switch

DarkKirby

A lot of people here don't know much about Pokken and are making some incorrect assumptions.

For one thing, the Wii U game was a port of the Arcade version (with an added story was was really poor), the Wii U version was inferior graphically, and stopped getting updates while the Arcade continued to get them, which includes the new playable Pokemon.

Pokken DX is not a port of the Wii U version, but more accurately a "Super" version of it, or the game with more content and balance changes (not something that's new to the Pokemon franchise, as in fact Sun/Moon 1.5 was announced along side it).

Since this is a Nintendo site, I assume almost everyone here (myself included), already owned a Wii U, and thus, games on the Wii U they're not interested in, but you have to remember, the Wii U was an utter failure and most people didn't buy one so they didn't play any of the games on it.

@IceClimbers

I'm not sure this is what you mean by "fixed local multiplayer" but split screen on 1 Switch console has been confirmed in another video.

Untitled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68OcUvRYz3I

Re: Get Ready for a Pokémon Direct on 6th June

DarkKirby

While Pokemon Stars and Pokken with the Arcade updates for Switch are expected, I still don't understand the logic of dumping this information just a week before E3.

Nintendo really underestimates the impact of E3 for announcements in general.

People who don't normally do so are actively searching out information on games during E3. It's why people save their announcements for it.

Re: ARMS Producer Would Love To See The Game Embraced As An eSport

DarkKirby

There are 2 factors to if a game can become an eSport.

1. How much money is the publisher putting into sponsoring tournaments and creating prize pools?

Nintendo has traditionally not been very supportive of the competitive communities of their games. Even if they allow it, which they haven't always done, they don't put much monetary support into the scene in the long run.

2. How fun is it to spectate? How many people want to spectate it?

This is a major deciding factor to if you get support from advertisers that would provide money to keep the eSport alive.

The last factor is of course, how fun is it to play over long periods, but if there is enough money to be made playing the game, people will play it even if they don't enjoy it.

Keep in mind, this is specifically as an eSport, there could be competitive communities build around ARMS if the game ends up being enjoyable enough, with okay money involved, but it wouldn't reach "eSport" levels.

For example, Punk, a Street Fighter 5 player, won $150,000 last week on a tournament that was broadcast on TBS, because Capcom aggressively pushes Street Fighter 5 as a competitive game, and injects, and arranges for others to inject, money into the scene to keep people wanting to play for the money. Street Fighter 5 itself, while not terrible, is still often is complained a lot about by its user base because of its many problems, and the mechanics of the game are often said to be simple and non flexible.

But because there is good money involved, lots of people play it competitively anyway. The high level of competition with money on the line keeps the game interesting, even if you're not that interested in the game itself.

Re: Hori's Nintendo Switch Voice Chat Headset Looks Like A Wired Nightmare

DarkKirby

@Meaty-cheeky

I think you're asking the wrong question here.

Bluetooth functionality would just be helping people cope with the poor voice chat set up, not solve it.

Rather than ask for a solution that makes this convoluted voice chat system that requires a smartphone sightly more manageable, people should be asking for the friend management system and voice chat functions to be completely integrated into the Switch itself and not require a separate smartphone at all, which as I said earlier, can be done with just software.

Heck, built in voice chat was available on the PSP, which came out in 2004.

There is no advantage to voice chat on the Switch requiring a smartphone, it's simply a barrier that's so convoluted that most people won't even bother with it in the first place.

You can even allow the smartphone app to also, by itself, allow voice chat with people in your friends list, because both the app and your Switch would be linked to the same account.

Re: Hori's Nintendo Switch Voice Chat Headset Looks Like A Wired Nightmare

DarkKirby

Nintendo could easily fix this nightmare by having a normal in game voice chat and friends list just on the Switch itself and without the need of a separate smartphone, with only software changes.

I don't think they're going to, but they could.

It should also be noted that, for this set up to be sustained, both your Switch and your smartphone will need a power source as well, which means 2 more cables that need to lead into an outlet or battery, as constant voice chat on your phone will quickly drain its power.

Re: Nintendo Reveals More Details About its Paid Online Service

DarkKirby

You can argue that $20 isn't that much in general.

But my question is, what are you are actually paying for?

All multiplayer games released so far and to be released seem to still be peer to peer (as I don't see how MHXX could have dedicated servers for the Switch but still be peer to peer for the 3DS and have inter-connectivity online).

Voice chat with strangers flat out disabled in some Nintendo games.

To voice chat at all you need a wonky device that connects to your smartphone and your Switch at the same time.

None of these fabled improvements to online that were supposed to happen because you're paying for the online now have happened.

Are you saying having to pay to play online is justified, just because Microsoft and Sony are doing it? It's still free on Steam, and usually, the online for games on PC is superior to consoles.

Free to play online can be an amazing selling point if Nintendo can get the same online 3rd party games on the Switch that are on the PS4 and Xbone.

Now to make up for poorer graphics, the Switch version has both portability and free online.

They can still charge $20 for the monthly VC game, but the online multiplayer itself be free.

Re: Random: Solving the Joy-Con D-Pad Problem With a 3D Printer, Sort Of...

DarkKirby

Why doesn't Nintendo just release a version of the left JoyCon that's optimally designed for single player use, how a mass majority of people are using it, and doesn't assume you're going to hand off the JoyCon to a friend to play simple party games on a shared small screen on the go?

It's not like they would have to get rid of the original left JoyCon, just give people the option.

Re: Rumour: Japanese Retailer References Pokkén Tournament in Switch Arcade Stick Listing

DarkKirby

I was surprised there wasn't a bunch of Wii U ports available at the Switch's launch.

Pros: If true, we're finally getting the updated version of Pokken.

Cons: Gardevoir, my main, and favorite Pokemon has been bottom tier since the release of Pokken, and she's still considered bottom tier even in the latest version of Pokken. They really refuse to significantly buff Gardevoir even though she's been considered bottom tier through the entirety of Pokken's existence. They even nerfed her at multiple points, including removing the gimmick her move set was based around from the game entirely, and not giving her any significant buffs in return (she has had buffs, but nowhere near enough to get her out of bottom tier, especially after having unblockables, the gimmick her move set was originally based around, removed from the game).

It's not even an anti zoning thing, because they keep buffing Chandelure (Gardevoir is technically a trap character that relies on zoning but she has much more weaknesses than Chandelure when the opponent is up close and without a ranged grab or fast movement speed, has a much harder time breaking a guarding opponent).

Yeah I'm salty, what of it.

Re: E3 is Coming, Which Means Anonymous Super Smash Bros. Switch 'Screenshots'

DarkKirby

I don't know why there aren't more Wii U to Switch ports which are easy to make and would quickly bolster the Switch's library. I had actually expected a bunch of Wii U ports to be available at launch since almost nobody purchased a Wii U to play those games anyway.

But as someone who did own a Wii U, if they're going to port Smash Wii U I hope they put some effort into improving the game in areas other than graphics. Something simple like making the rewards system not give out things you already have, the training mode not lying to you, chat in lobbies, or having a ladder so people of vastly different skill levels aren't matched up with each other would be nice.

Re: Capcom Unleashes Debut Trailer and Details on Monster Hunter XX for Nintendo Switch

DarkKirby

It's kind of what I expected, it looks like they improved the textures (often in game development the textures start out high res and are downgraded to meet the system requirements anyway) but kept the models mostly the same. It's giving me Twilight Princess HD flashbacks.

It does look better of course, over the 3DS's hardware which was out of date when the 3DS launched, but I'm not sure it's improved enough for me where I'm willing to have to pay to play it online (whatever that cost is going to be).

Re: Capcom Is Bringing Monster Hunter XX to the Switch

DarkKirby

If they bump it up to 60 FPS and significantly improve the graphics on the Switch version I might consider it over the 3DS version and stomach paying for the online (whatever that is). I enjoy Monster Hunter, but the graphics on the 3DS are super dated.

If they're not going to use the opportunity to make MHXX beautiful and just port it with better textures or some lazy baloney like that I'll stick to the 3DS version.

Re: Talking Point: ARMS Has Plenty to Prove In Its Nintendo Direct

DarkKirby

The game play itself doesn't look very interesting to me. Additionally, with Nintendo refusing to speak more on it, I'm not really convinced on the need pay to play this game online.

For me, the most important aspect of a fighting game is if I care about the characters. Regardless of the game play, if I don't care about any of the characters, I really have a hard time caring about the game. It's why I enjoy a game like Blazblue, which spends a lot of time letting you get to know the characters themselves due to its extensive story content.

Re: Poll: Are You Excited About Nintendo's E3 2017 Plans?

DarkKirby

Nintendo Treehouse: Watching people who don't know how to play games demonstrate a game to you and tell you their experience.

Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational: Don't care.

ARMS Open Invitational: I'll watch but my opinion of ARMS isn't very positive right now.

I'm interested in Super Mario Odyssey, but I'm not really interested in more information on it unless it's showing something about the game other that what we already know about it (non linear open world 3D platformer). Are there any new mechanics? Does it have a story that's meaningful (yes I know Miyamoto said he hates story in Mario games)? I don't need to be even more sure it's going to be a non linear open world 3D platformer.

So basically, I want Nintendo to really show something impressive that hasn't already been announced.

Re: Poll: What Do You Think of the New Nintendo 2DS XL?

DarkKirby

If you're absolutely dead set on never using the 3D ever, and still don't have a 3DS, and don't mind that the 3DS is possibly on its way out if the Switch is successful enough, it's slightly cheaper for you I guess.

The major factor separating the 3DS and the Switch right now isn't the hardware, but the software. There is still barely anything to play on the Switch, where the 3DS's library is huge.