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[Joeshabadoo]

cant believe this thread title remains. perhaps the most vague and flame-baiting garbage ive ever seen. The OP clearly trying to imply that games themselves wont be able to build lobbies of random players, match-make them, and go in to online play. smfh

 

[Jintor]

Nintendo you crazy

You can't possibly be reliant on every user having a smartphone can you

 

[decoyplatypus]

I think Opiate or Durante once analogized Nintendo to a kid in a classroom who, given a problem, goes off into the closet to work on it alone while the other kids all collaborate. Sometimes the kid in isolation is going to come up with a creative solution that groupthink would have ruled out. But more often the kid is going to come very late to solutions everyone else shared (see, e.g., Nintendo struggling with the same HD development curve that caught everyone else a generation earlier), and every now and then he'll arrive somewhere not just different but totally bizarre.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

Nintendo needs to show thinks off before talking about them, their ideas are to crazy to understand without seeing them first.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Use their phone to use as a voice chat while the kid play ? It's not a temporary set up. This is to be used the entire multilayer session. Makes no sense for parent to give up a smart phone for that purpose. Nor do I want to mix my phone device mixed with gaming, unless it's to supplement but not as a primary means to do setup and voice chat.

I don't own a smart phone. My parents are sadly unavailable.

Running their voice chat and matchmaking service over a phone app is so inept it's kind of awe-inspiring.

it's a joke

 

[K.Jack]

If all of these online features will be native to the console, I can't even quantify how monumental stupid it is, to be exclusively talking about the smartphone app.

Which is why I don't believe the console will have the functionality.

 

[nynt9]

No app. No online sub.

It's amazing how industry standard features seem to be a big deal and worth bending over for this app bullshit for people who have been stuck in the Nintendo bubble.

 

[Seik]

The quote by Reggie sure implies all of those functions will be done on the smartphone app only.

I hope that the 'overall proposition' he's talking about implies that the same services are on the console and that the app can serve as a helpful, second choice in this whole service.

Let's be frank, if it's phone only, it is unacceptable in so many ways that I still can't believe that it's simply...that. Especially if we're going to pay for it, I just can't conceive that they're relying on people having smartphones.

Nintendo is usually about being accessible to everyone, and while smartphones are common, it's not everybody who has one, especially with younger kids.

 

[NotLiquid]

Actually, now that I went and checked it, their plan was already pretty clear in their very own Online Service page:



This MOST LIKELY means random matchmaking (launched from within the game) will be available in March. AKA: yes, you will be able to play MK8 online before the paid service.



Notice how they don't say "from your smart device OR console". Custom lobbies and voice chat will MOST LIKELY be handled ONLY by the smartphone app.

So general matchmaking isn't phone-only. If that's the case there's nothing stopping developers from creating "invite/join friends" setups like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 did. The smartphone app really just sounds like a private party solution with the main negative being it's the only way you can enable voice chat in a party.

So in other words what Reggie is saying here is not much beyond what we already knew.

 

[7DollarHagane]

That might be a possibility but the Vita handled things like friends and chat online quite well.

the problem people are having with this is that even if it works as advertised, it's needless. it's a solution to a problem that nobody was having. Nobody can name a single potential advantage to having the online service tied exclusively to a separate device. Perhaps it's a technical concession, like you said, but that doesn't all of a sudden put it above criticism anymore than any other decisions made by develops and publishers on hardware and software are criticized here every day, often before anybody has a chance to use them. Nobody else gets this "lets wait and see!" parachute, why should Nintendo? Why are they so special when it comes to boneheaded decisions? People don't necessarily have to try and idea to criticize it (Xbox One DRM says hello)

The PlayStation and Xbox apps have almost this same exact functionality. You can message, add friends, send and accept invites.

They don't make a big marketing deal out of it, but that hardly seems like a reason for so much outrage about the switch app.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

cant believe this thread title remains. perhaps the most vague and flame-baiting garbage ive ever seen. The OP clearly trying to imply that games themselves wont be able to build lobbies of random players, match-make them, and go in to online play. smfh

How dare the thread starter quote the President of the company. SMFH.

 

[Vena]

if you could use the game interface wouldn't creating the app be a huge waste of money?

No? This would supplant lobbies and external matchmaking in the OS as how it can be done on other platforms.

Software has never needed an app nor can it be forced to not have its own matchmaking that connects to specific servers for said game. Would Steep and FIFA have to use Nintendo's app pipeline to handle their server traffic for sorting out matchmaking? Obviously not.

This rather clearly cannot apply to software because... what is launch software going to do? Not work online for months?

 

[Mahonay]

I don't see the problem at all. I like the idea of my phone as a hub.

So removing the ability to use some basic online functions from the console UI is a great idea to you?

How about doing this phone app, and just letting you do it from the console it's self as well. That would make actual sense and be good.

What is the upside of not including it on the console?

 

[disappeared]

So, you have seen this process?

You know that it doesn't display the users in the lobby on the app as well as on the screen? Or when you click quick match in Splatoon 2, it displays progress on matchmaking on your phone, while you play a little mini game on the switch screen?

You know these things? No, nobody does. It's just jump to conclusions, negative ones if possible, and be smug and shitpost.

It's not about what we've seen. It's about what we haven't. The Switch is less than two months away and Nintendo didn't show even a hint of their online service at the conference, and instead chose to relegate its presence to an off-screen PR explanation; it is proof enough it's not something they're either a) proud and confident enough to share on a worldwide stage, or b) something they're going to treat any more seriously than they did with the Wii or Wii U.

We need our damned cell phones to play online. There we go. That's all we need to see.

 

[hwy_61]

cant believe this thread title remains. perhaps the most vague and flame-baiting garbage ive ever seen. The OP clearly trying to imply that games themselves wont be able to build lobbies of random players, match-make them, and go in to online play. smfh

Is changing the title to, "Switch online voice chat and lobbies to be handled through app", going to baffle people less?

 

[jblank83]

That site honesty makes things a bit clearer for me. Managing friends has to be on the console since it's part of the free tier. The app only references online lobbies and chat. Voice chat on the app is dumb, but I rarely use voice chat at all and lobbies sounds like Miiverse type stuff or maybe party management.

It's dumb, but maybe not as catastrophic as I feared.

Good point

 

[Ninja Scooter]

The PlayStation and Xbox apps have almost this same exact functionality. You can message, add friends, send and accept invites.
0

If you go to PSN's website, or speak to Shu, he's not going to only bring up the phone app. If he did that, one would logically believe that those features were exclusive to the phone app.

Their website only mentions the phone app. Reggie has only mentioned the phone app. Reggie has also referenced how the phone app is a superior solution, more "elegant" solution to traditional gaming implementation of things like voice chat and lobby management. I don't need the Hardy Boys to crack this case and figure out what's going on here.

 

[GodofWine]

Based on hos phrasing, its not completed yet and its still a work in process 2 months from launch.


And not all gamers use a bulky headset. Most console owmers probably use a single ear earbud.


They are lost.

 

[Mindlog]

Amazingly, this pisses me off the most.

I'm going to kick it up a notch for you.
That's actually triple headphones.

 

[Kindekuma]

Like, I get the idea of having your device tethered at all time by your phone so taking the Switch doesn't mean losing your home WiFi connection.

But this....I don't get nor like this idea at all.

 

[lt519]

This thing has some baffling design choices, but I'll roll with it. I have a smartphone, I'll live.

 

[renzolama]

I'm sure this has been mentioned already, but isn't it possible (and probably likely) that Reggie just fucked up his terminology here and, by "matchmaking", he meant talking to some people in the app and deciding to play a game together?

 

[Shambala]

Really Nintendo. Lol man I guess

 

[Gator86]

*Nintendo Board Meeting*

So The Wii U is a disaster- lets rethink our approach...

What if...

We make an underpowered system...

With shitty battery life...

And we price it out of market....

And we did the same to the accessories...

And we provide next to no internal memory in order to discourage digital purchases...

And by that we lessen the appeal for 3rd parties to join in...

And we then charge for online...

But then we half-ass the online concept by making an iPhone app for it instead...

And did I mention fuck 3rd parties?....

And what if our launch lineup was absolutely abysmal?

And we'll trickle out information in a unpolished manner so as to confuse and be overlooked by the masses?

Meeting adjourned!

The Nintendo Switch

Nintendo execs are, as always, laughably clueless. Nintendo staff should thank God every day for their big 1st party studios and the fact that the Wii caught fire the way it did.

 

[pixxxelz]

Requiring 2 devices for online management is REALLY dumb.

My thoughts exactly, we just gotta wait and see how this thing actually works but so far this looks like a monumental mess.

 

[Locamotable]

Perhaps it's a technical concession, like you said, but that doesn't all of a sudden put it above criticism anymore than any other decisions made by develops and publishers on hardware and software are criticized here every day, often before anybody has a chance to use them. Nobody else gets this "lets wait and see!" parachute, why should Nintendo? Why are they so special when it comes to boneheaded decisions? People don't necessarily have to try and idea to criticize it (Xbox One DRM says hello)

I didn't really mean exempt from critisim. The way Nintendo always drip feeds this info out leaves them open to these reactions and they deserve critisism of that.

I guess I was more talking about the "Nintendo doomed, switch doomed" reactions coming from an element that you havnt seen yet or have the full details of. By all means criticise the decision and hypothesis why they made (that's what I'm interested in)

EDIT: example

HAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

No way anyone in their sane mind will pay for this.

 

[Dunlop]

Based on hos phrasing, its not completed yet and its still a work in process 2 months from launch.


And not all gamers use a bulky headset. Most console owmers probably use a single ear earbud.


They are lost.

Lol their main competitor (ps4) comes with a single earbud

 

[Living the Dream]

HAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

No way anyone in their sane mind will pay for this.

 

[Joeshabadoo]

How dare the thread starter quote the President of the company. SMFH.

more like paraphrased, and in a way that he should know is absurd and is only going to serve to cause endless posts of hatred, disgust, disbelief, and overreaction

Is changing the title to, "Switch online voice chat and lobbies to be handled through app", going to baffle people less?

'custom and friend-specific online lobbies' rather than an implication of any/all online lobbies grouping players together for online matches? yes absolutely. have you seen the bulk of the posts in this thread?

 

[Darklor01]

OK, so, it seems I'm wrong..
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/55877/nintendo-switch-online-chat-requires-smartphone-app/index.html

This article interprets that the headphone jack on the Switch itself has no Voice Chat capability and that everything would be using your existing headphones/headsets through your smartphone.

So, I guess, Switch sends the game sound to your phone to send to the headphones/headset along with voice chat using data? I can't wait until my phone rings and my game enjoyment and chat is interrupted by a phone call or I miss a call because I don't hear call sounds on my phone due to an app suppressing them.

 

[Fireblend]

So thinking about why they'd have to do it this way (lobbies and voicechat), maybe this is Nintendo's way of making it easier for developers to be able to develop games with this sort of online capabilities without them having to spend resources in building components for this purpose and having to connect them with their infrastructure?

Like, maybe this is super useful for making NES/SNES games have online multiplayer and voicechat without much effort, but then again they could have just built native UI components that could be equally shared between games, so what do I know

I'm glad I never use voicechat.

 

[Chezzymann]

I wonder if this ties back to nintendo's family friendly mentality. Lots of kids dont have smartphones, so they'll be forced to ask their parents to use it to voice chat and matchmake with their friends. Sort of their halfway solution to adding voicechat without actually adding it. I dont think it will be awful if you can still randomly matchmake with people like on wii u without the app.

Also the app could serve as a nintendo hub, maybe you could use it for their mobile games too.

 

[Sgtpepper89]

I bet if you get a call on the phone it would disconnect the game session, to make this even more amazing.

 

[Ataru]

I'm sure this has been mentioned already, but isn't it possible (and probably likely) that Reggie just fucked up his terminology here and, by "matchmaking", he meant talking to some people in the app and deciding to play a game together?

Even if that's true, shouldn't we be able to message friends directly from the console? The Wii-U had that functionality.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

I'm just going to wait and see. Most people have some sort of smart phone, so using it as a way of communication isn't completely terrible, just a little inconvenient in some regard.

However, it would be nice to have that UI element separated from the Switch itself so you don't have to awkwardly wait for a sluggish UI to come up and work while running a game under full load. Looking at you Xbox One =/

The thing that irks me about it is not being able to use a headset with game audio and voice chat simultaneously. Not the end of the world for Nintendo games, but it sucks.

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

more like paraphrased, and in a way that he should know is absurd and is only going to serve to cause endless posts of hatred, disgust, disbelief, and overreaction

OK, so, it seems I'm wrong..
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/55877/nintendo-switch-online-chat-requires-smartphone-app/index.html

This article interprets that the headphone jack on the Switch itself has no Voice Chat capability and that everything would be using your existing headphones/headsets through your smartphone.

So, I guess, Switch sends the game sound to your phone to send to the headphones/headset along with voice chat using data? I can't wait until my phone rings and my game enjoyment and chat is interrupted by a phone call or I miss a call because I don't hear call sounds on my phone due to an app suppressing them.

LUHMAO

 

[AdventureRacing]

This can't be real. Surely Nintendo is better than this. They expect people to pay for this service?

 

[GuitarAtomik]

He continues after OP cuts off that you can use your phone as a hotspot or if you're on the go and connected to wi-fi it offers a fairly convenient solution compared to busting out a huge gaming headset. I think they're eventually going to have these functions on the system itself, but this is certainly a peculiar way to get things done. That said, I'm waiting to experience it before full judgement.

I still don't understand where this huge headset part comes in. Why is the phone an alternative solution to a "huge" headset? Are you still not using headphones with the phone (or best case scenario, the Switch)? Or do they actually expect you to use it on speakerphone?

 

[Ninja Scooter]

more like paraphrased, and in a way that he should know is absurd and is only going to serve to cause endless posts of hatred, disgust, disbelief, and overreaction

Thread title: Switch matchmaking and lobbies handled through phone app.

Reggie's own quote: "The smart phone app that we’re creating, that will be part of our online service, we believe is going to be a very compelling part of the overall proposition because that’s how you’ll voice chat, that’s how you’ll do your matchmaking, and create your lobby."

"...phone app...that's how you'll do voice chat, that's how you'll do your matchmaking, and create your lobby"

#FAKENEWS

 

[____]

What about kids that don't have cellphones tho?

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Neogaf is not Nintendo's focus.

*Looks at Wii U sales* Neither is 99% of the planet, apparently.

 

[Elfforkusu]

This is going to be a dumpster fire, isn't it?

 

[theWB27]

more like paraphrased, and in a way that he should know is absurd and is only going to serve to cause endless posts of hatred, disgust, disbelief, and overreaction

You need to re read what he said. He stated the app will be important because its how well voice chat and matchmake and THEN gave an example of a game doing this on the go.

The game is only there as an example of what the app can do.

 

[BahamutPT]

If that's the case there's nothing stopping developers from creating "invite/join friends" setups like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 did.

I'm hoping so, but that's the only thing that doesn't seem clear yet. They do say this above:

This service lets Nintendo Switch owners enjoy online multiplayer gaming as well as a dedicated smartphone app that connects to your Nintendo Switch system and helps you connect with friends for online play sessions.

Plus that other bit about using the app to "invite friends to play online".

I'm still hoping the friends portion isn't just managed through the app and that each game can manage it individually, although all official info so far doesn't look very positive.

 

[JayBabay]

Brought this up to a friend and he said "why would I ever need voice chat on a Nintendo console?" Mentality like that won't get anyone anywhere, coming from someone who is always group chatting on PS4 with me and other friends while even playing single player games.

 

[Augemitbutter]

what a disappointment this all is.

 

[hwy_61]

What about kids that don't have cellphones tho?

They...they should get one.

 

[Yukinari]

I love seeing some people try to play devils advocate for the dumbest possible shit.

"Most people have smart phones"

Stop.

 

[18-Volt]

OK, so, it seems I'm wrong..
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/55877/nintendo-switch-online-chat-requires-smartphone-app/index.html

This article interprets that the headphone jack on the Switch itself has no Voice Chat capability and that everything would be using your existing headphones/headsets through your smartphone.

So, I guess, Switch sends the game sound to your phone to send to the headphones/headset along with voice chat using data? I can't wait until my phone rings and my game enjoyment and chat is interrupted by a phone call or I miss a call because I don't hear call sounds on my phone due to an app suppressing them.

Damn, I was hoping somehow we could plug headsets to system. I mean we can do that on goddamn DS.

 

[Draper]

What about kids that don't have cellphones tho?

Buy a Wii U or something, fuck faces!!