Reggie: Switch matchmaking and lobbies handled through phone app

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The more I read about this, the more I wonder if Nintendo have just outsourced large parts of their online infrastructure to a third party to create.

I think Nintendo have recognised the importance of this stuff to modern console gamers but they have shown in the past that they have struggled to implement unified online accounts, friends lists, team chat/parties etc. It would make some sort of sense for them to offload the task onto another company/subsidiary with more expertise in the area - maybe someone like DeNA, which would perhaps explain why this is a mobile app?

I fully expect the app to be officially Nintendo branded but I question the degree of their direct involvement in it's creation - especially with the seeming lack of any integration of any of this online component into the physical console.

Even then: what would stop Nintendo from offering this app via the eShop? This is why I don't see any reason to be in maximum negativity mode.

Regarding some other comments: this is far from "botching the launch", they have enough time to present all the facts before March 3rd. The pre-order levels don't indicate a problem with their approach.

Their first step was to show off the USP of the device - they did that quite well. It's about the console and being able to play in three different settings. Different things will be unveiled later on, like it oftentimes happens with them. You just have to able to deal with not knowing for now.

I mean: if Nintendo wouldn't have mentioned online play or lobbies or voice-chat at all, people would have directly concluded that the device would not offer online capabilities at all. By now, it's just a side aspect of the console and the hand-on events won't focus on that either. So they've decided to outsource it to an Online Direct.

What we know so far: there is party voice chat, you can schedule gaming sessions and manage your friend list - this is a big step up from the WiiU and the 3DS. What we don't know are the details, but this will come at a later date.
 
Its a good decision! Phones are more reliable

More reliable than what? What's the problem with being able to matchmake on your console? That was never a problem on any other console before...

I don't understand how some people in this thread try to twist this into something "good", if this was an optional app than sure, but the only way to be able to play online and voicechat? Just utter sheer incompetence from Nintendo.

I feel like this is just some way to gate kids off from adults.

But many kids nowadays have their own smart phones tho. Why not just have parental controls like any other console, instead of coming up with this moronic scheme to maybe have less kids play online? This is obtrusive and cumbersome for everyone, not just kids.
 
I'm not necessarily in favor of this, but Like it was quoted earlier, this app is slated for summer while the NS is coming outing 6 weeks. Do you guys really think that you will be unable to go online with the Switch until the app is out? I mean doesn't the Switch support 5GB WiFi?
 
Joycon has good battery life so charging not needed.

But does Nintendo give long enough cable to keep phone charged while lobbying & voice chatting thru phone?

Or does everybody have great battery in phone or short distance to power socket?

What happens when phone rings and you answer (miss call for example). Do you need to take new connection to voice chat, thanks to phone call?
 
I'm not necessarily in favor of this, but Like it was quoted earlier, this app is slated for summer while the NS is coming outing 6 weeks. Do you guys really think that you will be unable to go online with the Switch until the app is out? I mean doesn't the Switch support 5GB WiFi?

No. I think people might be overreacting to what very well could be a non-issue.
 
Sometimes I wonder when Reggie goes home what does he talk about with his wife. He's seeing all this and he knows NCL directs him to say this and that. I'm sure Reggie would love to tell us all the details, but he can't.
 
I'm not necessarily in favor of this, but Like it was quoted earlier, this app is slated for summer while the NS is coming outing 6 weeks. Do you guys really think that you will be unable to go online with the Switch until the app is out? I mean doesn't the Switch support 5GB WiFi?

I'm guessing that the initial launch will feature random match making and possibly no voice comms.

I'm praying I'm wrong though.
 
I'm guessing that the initial launch will feature random match making and possibly no voice comms.

I'm praying I'm wrong though.

I'm willing to bet it will all be available in the system, just they would rather you use the app becasue it might be easier and or do more. I could be wrong as well.
 
I can't wait for the promo ad that shows a guy jamming two sets of earbuds into his ears to get voice chat and game audio at the same time.
 
Sometimes I wonder when Reggie goes home what does he talk about with his wife. He's seeing all this and he knows NCL directs him to say this and that. I'm sure Reggie would love to tell us all the details, but he can't.

"My body is ready!"

Wife: "Sorry Dear, I used a non-Nintendo device instead".
 
Would that not mean to remove features in mario kart 8 deluxe that were in mario kart 8?
This is what I want to know because the beta app doesn't come until summer. Nintendo is going to remove the ability to play with friends and create rooms in the game in favor of the app?
 
this is just dumb. what are you thinking nintendo? not only do i need to pay for online access but also need to buy an app? forget it lol.
 
What we know so far: there is party voice chat, you can schedule gaming sessions and manage your friend list - this is a big step up from the WiiU and the 3DS. What we don't know are the details, but this will come at a later date.
No there isn't. Unless you consider that the SNES had voice chat too since if smartphones had been a thing I would be able to use Discord while playing ?
Other things you mentioned have been done by Sony and Microsoft for years, both on the system and on a companion app.
 
I take it none of these things will work on my Windows Phone?

Sounds like a mess. Why not do all this on the console and give the phone as an option.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a gaming company with such a poor and confusing explanation of their product. Many details not explained, many more ambiguously coming through from various interviews and then being contradicted from other sources.
It launches in a few weeks, why on earth are they not explaining these things clearly? Am I expected to just keep checking various games news sites over the next few weeks in the hope that Reggie or someone else drops a few words in an interview about the UI, Store and Online strategy?
 
So do we know that the switch cant do these things itself? And does it not support Bluetooth headsets?
Voice chat and online lobbies (as in with your friends) it won't. Of course you'll be able to play with randoms on MK like it was on Wii U.
We don't know if it supports Bluetooth headsets but I'm not expecting it.
 
Would that not mean to remove features in mario kart 8 deluxe that were in mario kart 8?

I honestly have no idea, and this is part of the reason I may well be cancelling my pre-order if this isn't clarified by the week before launch.

At the moment it just feels like PR is all over the place, when they announced that they intended to charge for online I think they should have announced exactly what we would be getting for that charge and not wait until later.
 
This is what I want to know because the beta app doesn't come until summer. Nintendo is going to remove the ability to play with friends and create rooms in the game in favor of the app?

I doubt it. My thinking is the Switch will have what you need to play online minus the chat. The app will have the same functionality but with the voice chat and more, most likely social media integration. Someone else posted earlier this could be a possibility so your friends could see you playing the Switch so that word of mouth got around that way.

Again I could be wrong, but I highly doubt it will be impossible to play online games until the app is released 3-6 months after the system comes out. Especially when there will be online games released in between.
 
I like the idea. It seems that we will use voice chat with the phone without using any headset, you just drop it near you and start talking. This is cool, I hate using earphones (never used the one on my PS4 and used a bluetooth one maybe 3 times on the PS3).

By using a separate app, they dont have much limitation in the console, they dont need to specify some memory and processing power (even if little) for voice chat and stuff.

I think its a nice way to move and I hope they implement it well - then in the next gen the other consoles might follow that trend.

Does speakerphone mode even work that well? I mean I dont use it but does it work that well from that distance. I've seen people walking around using speakerphone with the phone near to their face, I dont understand that, I guess they want everyone to hear their conversation, but are phone mics that good they can pick up and isolate you voice from that far away(beside you on the sofa)?

Wouldn't their voice be hard to hear over the TV audio as there's no proper mixing like a headset would have. And what if you have more than one person talking how would you know who it was? I dont see how its going to work and I dont see anyone using it for long.
 
What we don't know are the details, but this will come at a later date.

That's the problem. If they are really making the same app for Switch, then they should've started with that "DETAIL". I'm pretty sure that's not the case though because it's Nintendo. they are just too far up their ass, extremely ignorant and arrogant to realize that they are in the wrong here.

They will force the smartphone, Switch combo and none of the Nintenboys will complain about it
 
I'm not necessarily in favor of this, but Like it was quoted earlier, this app is slated for summer while the NS is coming outing 6 weeks. Do you guys really think that you will be unable to go online with the Switch until the app is out? I mean doesn't the Switch support 5GB WiFi?

http://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service/

Nintendo Switch Online Service
Paid service launching fall 2017
Free trial period starts in March
 
This is so preposterous that I am almost certain that something has been lost in translation. There is no way that matchmaking is done exclusively through the phone app, that makes no sense, even for Nintendo.
 
Either I'm explaining myself poorly or you're willfully misunderstanding me. I was talking about the scenario where you are playing multiplayer games away from home and using your phone to connect the Switch to internet. For the purposes of streaming audio to a phone a hotspot and a wifi router should be functionally the same as long as you share a subnet. You ping the subnet, check which one is a Switch, do a handshake, proceed with whatever communication you want. Perhaps this isn't possible, but a cursory google search leads me to believe it is. Either way, it's a niche case which they may not bother with considering few people are going to be gaming and doing voice chat over 3G.

When you are at home you would obviously not use tethering, your phone and Switch would simply communicate over local wifi to stream game audio. Smartglass already basically does this.
Ok, apologies for misunderstanding. Not wilfully so, just pretty sure its not an option. We'll see.

I do think having to connect to the same wifi network just to get game audio - to a smartphone app - would be incredibly silly (if that is what theyve chosen) but that's on them. Interesting to see the real outcome.
 
I can see the phone app being an option while you're playing in docked mode, and even at tabletop mode, only because the joy-cons/pro-controller doesn't have a phone jack. By the way why the joycons/pro-controller doesn't have the jack is beyond me...

But the Switch should have the same app to use while you're playing it in handheld mode. There's no excuse for that.

Again it seems it's a rushed launch because of the terrible WiiU situation.

By the holidays the Switch will be another machine, with the built in chat app, netflix, browser, youtube, etc.
 
So do we know that the switch cant do these things itself? And does it not support Bluetooth headsets?

Nobody knows, if Swicth cant do these things its because either

1. 2 contacts in head set connection - 4 needed for earpiece and mic. That would be a major fuck up

2. No CPU headroom to run party chat, OS, streaming sounds etc when running Game . But Xbox 360 managed it easily lol

Who knows, seems suspicious. More likely they are just behind schedule and offloaded to 3rd party.
 
Do we know if he means ALL matchmaking and not just the option to use the app as well? I find it hard to believe they would make you start Mario Kart > Online > "Please open your Nintendo Online App" > Syncing > Okay! > Matchmaking (look at your phone).

If it's all matchmaking, it's definitely an issue.
 
Again with this nonsense lmao. Not having basic online features such as voice chat or messaging your friends on a 2017 console is an issue, what are you on about ?

What I mean is, I think there's a very good chance that they're just going to be pushing this app really hard when it will all still be available in the system, OR it's not going to be nearly as cumbersome as we think it is. Point is, we just don't have enough info.
 
The more I think about it, the more I think they would prefer you to use the app. I think it would be a few nails in the coffin if you absolutely had to use the app to get online. This coming from someone who rolls his eyes over all the NintenDOOM stuff.
 
So children that take their Switch on holiday and don't realise mobile internet costs money, are going to piss off their parents. I can imagine the threads now "10yr old runs up £1000 phone bill playing Nintendo Switch"
 
I think its a chance that Nintendo might change this. Microsoft did it with Xbox One after all, changed the whole online requirement stuff. For Nintendo, maybe it wont change at launch, but maybe in 6 months or so?
 
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