Reggie: Switch matchmaking and lobbies handled through phone app

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Nintendo has done everything they can to convince me I don't need or want a Switch at launch or even this year. As a Wii U owner, at least. And that's not good for them because Wii U owners might be the only people they could have counted on buying one.

I was so hyped after that trailer last year. They had everything lined up to make this thing highly desirable.

At every opportunity they have shit the bed.

They have created fuck ups I couldn't even have imagined.
 
guek said:
See, I don't know if it's idiotic yet even if that's actually what happens. You're right to distrust Nintendo but funelling people through a social media app, while completely a dick move, could be worth it for Nintendo if the app is actually good.

For the record, I don't think that's really likely, I'm just writing fanfiction like everyone else in here.
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You need to stop damage controlling.
 
I really think people are making this out to be a much bigger deal than it probably actually is (mostly because Reggie explained it terribly, but still).

The phrasing on the official website heavily suggests that the app is only for what would be OS-level lobbies on the other platforms and that individual games will most likely still handle matchmaking by themselves. Unless someone from Nintendo comes out and say otherwise, that's most likely how this is going to end up working.
 
family_guy said:
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This is pretty true. I always thought the 12-year-old COD kid thing was a stereotype until I visited a friend and their kids (like, 6 and 10 years old?) were playing COD online. Stabbing necks, mowing down people with death machines, normal childhood education you know.
 
Kebiinu said:
Y'all love to overreact, lmao. Nintendo will be fine, this will come down to options. That's all. The ride into March 3rd is going to be insane, lol.
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I'm worried if the Switch will be fine, not Nintendo. If it fails then I'm worried a good idea will be ruined because of Nintendo's shitty management.
 
Pokemaniac said:
I really think people are making this out to be a much bigger deal than it probably actually is (mostly because Reggie explained it terribly, but still).

The phrasing on the official website heavily suggests that the app is only for what would be OS-level lobbies on the other platforms and that individual games will most likely still handle matchmaking by themselves. Unless someone from Nintendo comes out and say otherwise, that's most likely how this is going to end up working.
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Even if that's true, needing a phone for voice chat is ridiculous at best.
 
guek said:
See, I don't know if it's idiotic yet even if that's actually what happens. You're right to distrust Nintendo but funelling people through a social media app, while completely a dick move, could be worth it for Nintendo if the app is actually good.

For the record, I don't think that's really likely, I'm just writing fanfiction like everyone else in here.
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I just...I'm struggling to understand how this could be a positive move, regardless of how good the app is. The PSN and XBL apps are great. That doesn't mean that it wouldn't be terrible if we HAD to use our phone to do all of that stuff.
 
BrownWalrus said:
I sincerely hope people are outraged over this to the same degree that they were during the whole Xbox One "no more physical games" debacle. We need to make it known that this is unacceptable - simple as that.
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God I hope people keep banging this drum even after the system is out. However, I think there's still a portion of people who are either waiting for final confirmation thinking there has got to be some confusion, or have the first MP game in hand before deciding whether it sucks or not.

The difference compared to the Xbox One thing, is that MS had time to reverse course before the system launched. Nintendo has less than 2 months. The games are probably already being put onto cartridges, or are very, very close to. I don't think there is any way they could design portions of the OS to add this in either at this point.

It's going out the door, and that's how it will be at launch. We can only hope Nintendo is active with post-launch OS updates and changes, and can figure out a way to keep the system, but make the smart phone aspect optional and allow you to use the system itself if you don't want to.
 
unbelievable, i can understand why they want the lobbies and invitations done through apps but voice chat? seriously? just let us use the small headphone and that's it, like ps4, seriously wth Nintendo.
 
I really wonder if phone app voice chat has to do with the small OS ram allocation on the switch. Maybe they didn't have the overhead to support everything so they figured they would be better off having it all in one place. Still is annoying but would make some sense.
 
The voice chat is really the thing that gets me. It's on a device that offers multiple free apps for voice chat. Also, they should've let you plug a headset with a mic into your Switch for that or Bluetooth headset with mic.

I'll wait and see what the exact details are, though.

I want to see if we take this at face value they're going to alienate a group of people who DON'T have a smart device at all. Idk why they would think that's a good idea. Everybody doesn't have a smart device.
 
Pokemaniac said:
I really think people are making this out to be a much bigger deal than it probably actually is (mostly because Reggie explained it terribly, but still).

The phrasing on the official website heavily suggests that the app is only for what would be OS-level lobbies on the other platforms and that individual games will most likely still handle matchmaking by themselves. Unless someone from Nintendo comes out and say otherwise, that's most likely how this is going to end up working.
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I'll go ahead and assume the worst after the bullshit with the 1-month VC game rentals was clarified.

Guilty until proven innocent with Switch.
 
HotHamBoy said:
Nintendo has done everything they can to convince me I don't need or want a Switch at launch or even this year. As a Wii U owner, at least. And that's not good for them because Wii U owners might be the only people they could have counted on buying one.

I was so hyped after that trailer last year. They had everything lined up to make this thing highly desirable.

At every opportunity they have shit the bed.

They have created fuck ups I couldn't even have imagined.
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They need to get Reggie away from the press ASAP, everyone knows this guy is just a PR clown.
 
The thing I keep asking is...WHY? Why do they need to make this shit so contrived? Is the tried and true system where everything is done via the console itself so bad? It works for everyone else.

Maybe they have a very important reason for doing this which is yet to be shared and will make all complainers look like stupid idiots. But I guess not, and it will be just a "because Nintendo" bullshit reason.
 
VanWinkle said:
I just...I'm struggling to understand how this could be a positive move, regardless of how good the app is. The PSN and XBL apps are great. That doesn't mean that it wouldn't be terrible if we HAD to use our phone to do all of that stuff.
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Hey I don't know either. Stranger things have happened though than Nintendo capturing success through a gamble.
 
I doubt I'll play online Nintendo games anyway (especially out and about with phone internet latency and a service I have to pay separately for) but they only specified matchmaking and lobbies. They didn't mention other online stuff like downloading mario maker levels.

That better not be gated.


Darklor01 said:
them bulky headsets..

Screen_Shot_2016-10-20_at_10.09.25_AM.0.png
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Is that wifi on a plane?
 
K' Dash said:
They need to get Reggie away from the press ASAP, everyone knows this guy is just a PR clown.
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You prefer they keep us in the dark rather than tell us the ugly truth?

Skyzard said:
I doubt I'll play online Nintendo games anyway (especially out and about with phone internet latency and a service I have to pay separately for) but they only specified matchmaking and lobbies. They didn't mention other online stuff like downloading mario maker levels.

That better not be gated.
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It's gonna be a long time before you gotta worry about downloading Mario Maker levels.

I wonder about trading Pokemon and trainer battles...
 
Osiris said:
I'm not sure what's funnier, the thought of Reggie's own internal dialogue about all the shit he is having to spin, or the poor fools trying *somehow* to see a positive in this.

Poor Reggie, I can only imagine the screams going on in his head.
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I really wanna see Reggie try to keep selling people on this "bulky gamer headphones" argument but then become more and more desperate about it as he realizes that no one's buying it.

"No but goddammit! I'm telling you these motherfucking big gamer headphones are massive! They're so big and bulky, you might as well be carrying a boom box on your head. Think about what those heavy things are doing to your children! Fuck, I'm just trying to help you out, why won't you pay attention?!"

Like the hat? said:
Not making excuses because I think it's fucking stupid but I wonder if this is Nintendo's way of keeping the eventual "pervert lures children with Nintendo switch!" Clicibait story from coming.
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I feel like this is a fear that has persisted since the old days of "oh my god did you see what was in that game?! Our children are being brainwashed!"

I think the only way people would really care nowadays would be if Nintendo actively went out of their way to make it incredibly easy for sexual predators to contact children on their console.

Otherwise it's really hard for me to see anyone caring. These are not the Mortal Kombat/GTA days or even the Mass Effect on Fox News days.
 
So if your phone has a low power setting (in terms of it runs out of juice and turns off) and isn't plugged in, you could be kicked from matchmaking or at the very least voice chat?

Hmm.
 
Shouldn't we know everything about their online service by now? I mean, the Switch comes out in like 43 days. If not the subscription price, at least the functionality and exactly how it works.
 
notaskwid said:
Even if that's true, needing a phone for voice chat is ridiculous at best.
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Paid voice chat. If the service was still free then whatever. It's astonishing that a company that has a spotty at best reputation with online services and infrastructure would decide to finally go pay for play with this as their gambit.
 
VanWinkle said:
Shouldn't we know everything about their online service by now? I mean, the Switch comes out in like 43 days. If not the subscription price, at least the functionality and exactly how it works.
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Yes, it should've been fully detailed when all eyes were on them at the presentation.
 
Hoping I am way misunderstanding this. Let's say I am at coffee shop. Has wifi there. To get this to work I still need to make my phone a hotspot to talk to the switch? Instead of using the free wifi I have to link the switch to my phone for this to work? My phone can't be a hotspot and use the shops wifi instead of the 4g service. Or do I connect them both thru the shops wifi and they find each other on the internet.
I still don't understand where the sound is coming out of. The switch, the phone or each of them at the same time??

They really need a direct on this crap now before it just gets worse. The whole online thing is amateur hour. I am not buying any games that could need online till I understand if there is another bill I have to pay beyond the cost of the game.

Having customers guess is a bad idea.
 
kevin1025 said:
So if your phone has a low power setting (in terms of it runs out of juice and turns off) and isn't plugged in, you could be kicked from matchmaking or at the very least voice chat?

Hmm.
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You could be kicked from custom out-of-game matchmaking and prolly all voice chat, yes.
 
It's like someone just told Nintendo about smartphones and they decided "Sounds great! Let's ruin the user experience with outside interference into something that should be seemless in the OS".

I preordered a Switch bundle but Nintendo is making it awfully hard to keep that preorder. I feel like I should just cancel it and wait at least until the 2017 holidays. It's really a shit show all over again.
 
VanWinkle said:
Shouldn't we know everything about their online service by now? I mean, the Switch comes out in like 43 days. If not the subscription price, at least the functionality and exactly how it works.
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We do know that nothing is really final with their online service and they're just kind of winging it until its official launch in Fall.

But like with the rest of the system there's still more questions than answers, and the answers we haven aren't satisfying.
 
I don't know if it's still sad, or if it's crossed the line into embarrassing for Nintendo with this and all we've learned in the past week.

It's interesting to see how, since the Gamecube, Nintendo has worked to move basic functions off of the main screen, use them to justify a second screen gimmick while trying to convince people these things couldn't possibly be better served within the same span of vision, and now moved them off the platform altogether.

There's nothing really left to say about Nintendo at this point. Calling them out of touch would be giving them too much credit.
 
Slayven said:
Says a lot about their company culture this got pass the suggestion stage.
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It is really truly shocking that an idea like this could make it out of a single meeting, let alone become the new system standard.
guek said:
Does anyone actually use those on their phones? I ask genuinely, I don't and don't know anyone that does so I wouldn't know.
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I don't think we have usage statistics that we've ever seen, but if you're talking anecdotally, than I can say yes.

I use the PS apps all the time (it's super boneheaded that they split the message app from the main app but whatever). It's super quick to reply to a message, and it's an easy way to check if my friends are online before I turn on my PS4 or go do something else. All in all it's a serviceable app that nicely enhances my experience and pairs well with the OS-level functionality. That's exactly what any smartphone app should be.
 
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