Polygon - Nintendo confirms you will have to pay to use the Switch 2’s C button

Elios83 said:
Nintendo has truly designed the whole thing to try to milk their consumers from all angles, they're failing to realize that their success comes from the mainstream market, occasional gamers and kids that nowadays play free stuff on their smartphones.
The Switch 2 is perceived like a ripoff even by core gamers. They're not in a good position beyond the first 2-3 months where early adopters buy everything in any case.
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they have their "free trial" period of the chat function to at least correct course in this case, and I hope they will.

the core chat functionality should be free, the video streaming stuff can be a paid thing
 
Can you assign the button to other things, like screenshots or game recording?

Also I have a question. Can you connect the camera to the switch or only a TV?
 
SweetTooth said:
Bryan Cranston Hot Ones GIF by First We Feast
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EviLore EviLore I will pay 10 years of Neogaf GOLD upfront if SweetTooth SweetTooth is Ban for a year. 😂😂😂
 
Horseganador said:


:pie_diana:
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This makes complete sense. Not sure why you are reacting this way. Streaming video takes up resources, with an already power limited handheld, you run into constraints especially when streaming 4 other screens. Network , RAM , GPU and CPU bandwidth are all affected here. This can translate to other things like CCTV systems. 4 Streams at 10fps = 40fps of video processing and coming in over the network at the same time, while also rendering and interacting with an entire game world. Also take into consideration, that in this instance, you are also compressing and uploading video to your friends in this configuration. So really, on top of the 60fps you are generating, there's an additional 50fps load going up and down on the network.
 
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nial said:
I know this will sound like a big revelation, but... free-to-play games are a thing and they do not require an online subscription on any platform.
You are able to play these free-to-play games with party chat on PlayStation and Xbox without paying for any subscription, you won't be able to do so on Nintendo.
Also, having a damn paywalled button on a game controller is pretty fucking dystopian.
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I mean, you're not wrong but what I meant was that making us pay for rhis shit was something so like Nintendo to do. It's bad but it didin't surprise me one bit.
 
Remember when Xbox paywalled the headphone jack? It was a whole jack you had to pay for in the controller, even if you never signed up for Xbox Live. It was a conspiracy.
 
There's very good reasons to complain with Nintendo about pricing, be it the games or the introductory shit game that will bomb, but realistically this ain't one of them.
Completely expected from my point of view that they tie this feature with Nintendo online sub.

I'm even slightly confused about the fact that they give 1 yr for free... unless I'm missing something here, you could use it only with a handful of f2p games?
 
Similar to "share" button in dualsense, I will never ever gonna use those social features even they are free.

I have no use for them.
 
Sony has confirmed, you have to pay to use online multi-player, you have to pay for crunchyroll, you have to pay for the 3 FREE games every month, Xbox has confirmed, you have to pay for Xbox game pass and you have to pay for online multi-player, steam has confirmed, you have to pay for your digital games and no you cant borrow them, Apple confirmed that you need to pay for the new cool invention, no free update.
 
Punished Miku said:
I think people are taking their eye off the real problem and falling for clickbait. PS has a share button as well. You can technically use it for captures still, but it's kind of pointless without their sub.

The issue isn't the system price. The issue really isn't the controller having an "online" button. The issue is software pricing.

1) Raising the price of software
2) Sub only BC games
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I don't play any multiplayer, I don't even chat with friends over PSN and even I've used the share button plenty. It's just an easy to use button for whenever I want to capture a short video if I have a question about a game or if I want to show something to other people over the internet. You know how that worked with the Switch up until now? I had to link my Nintendo account with my facebook account, upload the screenshots through facebook, grab the screenshots through facebook and it was just a horrible complicated way to share some screenshots. For PS i'I just open the PS app to gain access to all my captured footage.

And now, instead of implementing Discord, like all the other consoles, Nintendo is cocky enough to think that they're better off with their own software. And we all saw that 20kbit 4fps videoquality during their reveal. Ignorance and arrogance is bliss in case of Nintendo.

But hey, it's better than using an app on the phone, right, RIGHT?

Wrong, Discord, from what we've seen and heard so far, has a far better audio quality over your phone than whatever Nintendo will deliver…
 
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DaichiChan said:
Sony has confirmed, you have to pay to use online multi-player, you have to pay for crunchyroll, you have to pay for the 3 FREE games every month, Xbox has confirmed, you have to pay for Xbox game pass and you have to pay for online multi-player, steam has confirmed, you have to pay for your digital games and no you cant borrow them, Apple confirmed that you need to pay for the new cool invention, no free update.
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You don't have to pay a dime if you simply want to communicate over PSN or XBL…
 
OctopusBox said:
Isn't that the whole point? It will be the only console where you can't chat with your friends without paying a subscription fee which is why everyone is rightly complaining about it. You're right though, pay walled chat IS the stupidest shit.
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They would rather be milked by a billion dollar corporation.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
"But unless you have an active NSO membership, you'll have a whole button dedicated to nothing on your Switch 2. It doesn't even sound like you can remap it to something else. It will just be a reminder of the $19.99 you may or may not be handing to Nintendo every year."
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Laughs in PC Master Race

On a more serious note; this is both expected of Nintendo and terribly disappointing.

Console gaming used to be a cheap way to enter the amazing hobby of gaming. But with console prices going up, every little service being locked behind a subscription, ridiculous prices of games at launch, and the dwindling of physical disc releases; console gaming is no longer "cheap" in any sense of the word. Even for someone like me who can afford to game on a high-end PC, it's terribly lonely because i can't ask my friends to spend the equivalent of thousands of dollars/euros just to join my hobby with me. Sad state of affairs.
 
ResilientBanana said:
This makes complete sense. Not sure why you are reacting this way. Streaming video takes up resources, with an already power limited handheld, you run into constraints especially when streaming 4 other screens. Network , RAM , GPU and CPU bandwidth are all affected here. This can translate to other things like CCTV systems. 4 Streams at 10fps = 40fps of video processing and coming in over the network at the same time, while also rendering and interacting with an entire game world. Also take into consideration, that in this instance, you are also compressing and uploading video to your friends in this configuration. So really, on top of the 60fps you are generating, there's an additional 50fps load going up and down on the network.
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You do know modern GPUs have dedicated HW to do video encoding pretty much for free? If on very good internet connections (surely Nintendo did not choose an outdated WiFi chipset too right ;)?) then the resolution of the stream should be higher then?

Video streaming does not work with full unique frames so you are over estimating bandwidth costs here (few key frames and enough data to interpolate between them). The bottleneck is upload and download speeds and in theory on great connections full 60 FPS looking streams at decent resolutions should be possible especially if you bake support for this into the system.

People play with PS Portal at decent resolutions should and at decent framerate today, depending on the connection of course :).
 
RickSanchez said:
Laughs in PC Master Race

On a more serious note; this is both expected of Nintendo and terribly disappointing.

Console gaming used to be a cheap way to enter the amazing hobby of gaming. But with console prices going up, every little service being locked behind a subscription, ridiculous prices of games at launch, and the dwindling of physical disc releases; console gaming is no longer "cheap" in any sense of the word. Even for someone like me who can afford to game on a high-end PC, it's terribly lonely because i can't ask my friends to spend the equivalent of thousands of dollars/euros just to join my hobby with me. Sad state of affairs.
Click to expand...

You don't need to spends thousands to get into PC gaming, right? Sure if you want a monster rig, but you can get a mid range which will still top any console.

I understand the cost of hardware is still more expensive, but with free online gaming and the games being cheaper on PC, I think it balances out over time. I say this as somebody who is considering going PC only in the future.
 
You can clearly see in this thread why gaming has online play under a sub. Why there is so much nickel-and-dimming everywhere from dlc that give you a couple of weapons to mtx to early access to play games (or really pay not to get the delayed version of the game). Fans will just not only take it but ask for more. Every single time.

God forbid people push against these companies and work for their own good instead of the multi billion dollar companies.
 
WaterOnix said:
Paywalling a controller button is beyond the pale. But people will defend it
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Doesn't it open chat? The option is to include it or make people click home then something else to activate it. Seems pretty benign to me. Now if it is easy to accidentally hit and cause bad shit to happen in game, then maybe its a problem. It would have been better if it was a rubber button that could be pulled out with a knife if you don't want it.
 
a literal "pay up or shut up" button, on the console you just forked $450 + possible tariff for.
tells you all about the type of sheep they are herding at ninty
 
Panajev2001a said:
You do know modern GPUs have dedicated HW to do video encoding pretty much for free? If on very good internet connections (surely Nintendo did not choose an outdated WiFi chipset too right ;)?) then the resolution of the stream should be higher then?

Video streaming does not work with full unique frames so you are over estimating bandwidth costs here (few key frames and enough data to interpolate between them). The bottleneck is upload and download speeds and in theory on great connections full 60 FPS looking streams at decent resolutions should be possible especially if you bake support for this into the system.

People play with PS Portal at decent resolutions should and at decent framerate today, depending on the connection of course :).
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I mean, clearly you are wrong, otherwise Nintendo would have 60 or 30 fps streams rather than 10.
 
kevboard said:
they have their "free trial" period of the chat function to at least correct course in this case, and I hope they will.

the core chat functionality should be free, the video streaming stuff can be a paid thing
Click to expand...
100% this. Basic ass chat should be free while the rest of the bells and whistles that go along with video could be part of NSO. It may not seem like a big deal, and it honestly isn't by itself. As an accumulative affect of nickel and diming so many damn things for this new generation after just having a massively successful one though is gross. The insulting PR to justify it is that last little knife twist. It's dumbfounding just how much goodwill they pissed away with what should have been the easiest fucking slam dunk announcements ever.
 
IDKFA said:
You don't need to spends thousands to get into PC gaming, right? Sure if you want a monster rig, but you can get a mid range which will still top any console.

I understand the cost of hardware is still more expensive, but with free online gaming and the games being cheaper on PC, I think it balances out over time. I say this as somebody who is considering going PC only in the future.
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Right, you don't have to build a monster rig from the get go, but even a decent entry level rig with good peripherals will go into the range of $1200 equivalent. Which makes the entry price point of PC still more expensive compared to consoles. It balances out over time with cheaper games but the cost of entry is still high. I always saw consoles as a cheap way for someone to enter and try out gaming for a few years. Then whoever likes it can save up to build a PC. That may no longer be the case if consoles (and console games) keep getting so expensive.

Our hobby is just pricey now, no point in sugarcoating it. It doesn't affect me, i'm already middle-aged and have saved up a lot. But it bothers me that young kids can't get into proper gaming unless their parents are able & willing to pony up a lot of cash. And i don't consider the various mtx-filled crap available on mobile as proper gaming.
 
People proudly and confidently stating that everyone has always paid for voice chat is some the funniest shit on this forum.
 
You mean the button to pull up the paid chat doesn't let me chat for free? Shit I thought I figured out a loophole. Thanks Polygon.
 
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