Voice chat on the Switch will consist of a paid app on "smart" devices (your phone)

I promise you, people NOA and NOE agree with you guys that this approach is crazy (and they'll never be able to tell you otherwise)... this has Japan written all over it.
 
GuitarAtomik said:
Frankly, it doesn't matter how good the app is. If it's the ONLY way to do those features (or even access them), that is a reason to call them out. Again, as a companion option it's actually a really cool idea, but as the ONLY option it is bonkers.



I think bolded is best case scenario as of right now and entirely possible. But you're forgetting possible scenario 3 where headphone/mic has to be plugged in to the phone and the headphone jack on the Switch is purely for headphone audio with no mic functionality. Nothing in that commercial suggests anything contrary to that.
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The Switch WILL support mic functionality through the console. I can confidently say this because I went to the Tokyo event and was given a booklet. On the last page, it details the jack saying it supports microphone. Surely they would not have just written this for the sake of spec talk would they? If you need a picture I can take one in a little while.
 
VlaudTheImpaler said:
Sigh, for the third time,

Anyone who thinks this is forward thinking to require a separate off console smart device app for chat instead of as an option to supplement on board chat... you might be having a mental break and might want to sit back and contemplate your life for a bit.

Like I asked earlier, what if you are like me where my wife and I share a phone since I don't need a smart phone and she does? I won't be able to chat with friends in MP games when she is gone and then when she is here what if someone calls for her while I am playing or she just needs to use it like she does all the time?

Or what if you can't afford smart phones for all or any of your kids?

What if they have one phone to share between each other? What if someone calls or texts for the other? Are they supposed to be tied up to the Switch while others are playing? Lol that ain't happening.

What if I want to use my nice headphones because it's what I use every single time I game? How will I hear both chat and the game at the same time?

What about my "Smart devices" battery life? Do I really need to attach yet another cable to keep my phone charged as well?

I could list tons of scenarios where this is a problem.

This shouldn't be an issue at all really because it should be native to the console. I really hope this is just poor wording on Nintendo's part and it isn't actually restricted to a flipping separate "smart device."
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Have you considered getting a second job? I mean it's obvious you should be buying a smartphone just for your switch just like we buy a dedicated headset for consoles now.....
 
hmm... I'm just now going through all the Switch features... and I went from hyped to confused to slightly sad that Ninty is doing this to itself :(
 
I can't think of any situation in which having the voice chat managed via a phone app is better that directly on the console.

You're playing Splatoon and you need to mute then what? You stop playing, put your controller(s) down, take the phone, unlock it, open the app, mute, put the phone down, get the controllers. Instead of just pressing a button. That's like have of the match wasted right there.

Or to set up a lobby? Why would you want to go back and forth between your phone and your controller? People were complaining about having to look town at the Wii U Gamepad. This is like 3 times worse.
 
Anyone who can read Japanese, what does the highlighted part say?
al30nKT.png
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We know the console has a mic. Not really relevant.
None of the controllers do so unless they somehow think you're more likely to use voice chat on the go rather than playing on your TV, that doesn't solve anything.
 
bryt said:
Anyone who can read Japanese, what does the highlighted part say?
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That is what I was referring to earlier. The yellow part says 'headphone jack' basically. But the following text underneath states that you can use any commercial headphones, a microphone, or headphones with built in microphone.

I guess this is all we can hope for at this point. The real issue here is the lack of information..
 
buzzth said:
That is what I was referring to earlier. The yellow part says 'headphone jack' basically. But the following text underneath states that you can use any commercial headphones, a microphone, or headphones with built in microphone.

I guess this is all we can hope for at this point. The real issue here is the lack of information..
Click to expand...

Here's hoping for the best...
 
I love the hardware, and i'm quite optimistic for the upcoming games, but this..

Who is DeNA, and could they potentially get money out of this kind of detour to have Nintendo go through mobile apps for nearly all their online features? It's one thing to ask help for online services, it's another to let your full online strategy in the hands of a mobile company.
 
Haha. We'll see how people cope. It kind of makes sense in a weird Nintendo way. It's not like it won't work.

Using your phone to talk to people? Pfff.
 
buzzth said:
The Switch WILL support mic functionality through the console. I can confidently say this because I went to the Tokyo event and was given a booklet. On the last page, it details the jack saying it supports microphone. Surely they would not have just written this for the sake of spec talk would they? If you need a picture I can take one in a little while.
Click to expand...

That is great to hear because I don't think they've officially confirmed that anywhere. Not clearly at least.

jeenaudx said:
The real question here is who the fuck uses voice chat in 2017?
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Every single one of my friends on PSN and Xbox lol. Including pickup GAF groups.
 
buzzth said:
The Switch WILL support mic functionality through the console. I can confidently say this because I went to the Tokyo event and was given a booklet. On the last page, it details the jack saying it supports microphone. Surely they would not have just written this for the sake of spec talk would they? If you need a picture I can take one in a little while.
Click to expand...

thanks

we need something to counter Reggies bizarre spin zone comments
 
buzzth said:
The Switch WILL support mic functionality through the console. I can confidently say this because I went to the Tokyo event and was given a booklet. On the last page, it details the jack saying it supports microphone. Surely they would not have just written this for the sake of spec talk would they? If you need a picture I can take one in a little while.
Click to expand...
I don't think this totally assuages fears though.

What this could amount to is allowing for microphone functionality within games. Whatever that functionality might be. That doesn't tell us that they have party chat functionality onboard the system though, and that's the main concern. Whether or not party chat requires an app or not.
 
buzzth said:
The Switch WILL support mic functionality through the console. I can confidently say this because I went to the Tokyo event and was given a booklet. On the last page, it details the jack saying it supports microphone. Surely they would not have just written this for the sake of spec talk would they? If you need a picture I can take one in a little while.
Click to expand...

But how would that work when docked? Run the audio cable across the room? What the Switch needs is the headphone jack on the Joy-Con.
 
KingSnake said:
Oh, the lovely "we don't know anything yet" always used when what is known can't be argued against.

We know what Nintendo posted on their new page for online services for Switch:

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

This is the whole paragraph dedicated to Online lobby and voice chat:

This is what we talk about and not wishes.
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I'll admit to using slightly inflammatory language in that post, but my point was to not get angry about details we don't yet have. I didn't mention "wishes", just that we don't have all the details aside from a few key points. I'll gladly have a discussion with you about it if you can lower the anger level a bit.
 
Being able to plug in headphones to listen to game audio doesn't mean voice chat. They are likely offloading the voice chat/party management stuff to a separate mobile device for resource management reasons, so that the OS doesn't strain on the CPU.
 
Burdmayn said:
I'll admit to using slightly inflammatory language in that post, but my point was to not get angry about details we don't yet have. I didn't mention "wishes", just that we don't have all the details aside from a few key points. I'll gladly have a discussion with you about it if you can lower the anger level a bit.
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Here is a very calm tone how Reggie doubled down on it:

The bigger vision is that we are going to provide an overall online service, subscription-based, that not only will capture the multiplayer opportunity, but also the voice chat capability that we're going to provide through a global app.
Click to expand...

Instead of having some sort of bulky gamer headset, you'll be able to do it right off your smartphone, put in your earbuds that you use for your standard mobile device. We think that's a pretty sweet solution. That's part of the overall opportunity that we see in a subscription service.
Click to expand...
 
Icarus said:
I promise you, people NOA and NOE agree with you guys that this approach is crazy (and they'll never be able to tell you otherwise)... this has Japan written all over it.
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Its just Nintendo being Nintendo.

Making everything convoluted and non-user friendly just because they can.
 
The bulky gamer headset comment is just asinine. Not sure if he's being deliberately disingenuous there or if he's just clueless.
 
KingSnake said:
Here is a very calm tone how Reggie doubled down on it:
Click to expand...

I see now that I have some egg on my face. I had confused the issue at hand and thought that Reggie was somehow referring to just Party chat via a mobile app. Based on his comments, it seems that he solely mentioned voice chat which would be much more general.

I'm interested to see how this ends up working for games like Splatoon. Is the app synced up with your game, or does it stream from your Switch to the phone app? This also doesn't really clarify whether or not we'll have dedicated party chat with a set group of people.

Time will tell and I'm really interested to see what they offer. For the right price I wouldn't complain about this implementation, but I can see why some would dislike it.
 
sugarhigh4242 said:
You're talking about slow parties in a thread about an external smartphone app to do console voice chat?

The only way i can approach justifying this is if Nintendo is just pushing off the parental responsibility of 8 year olds talking to strangers online off of them and onto Apple. But that's a big stretch.
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Read my post again.
 
To be honest, this is probably just a launch logistics/scope thing especially if they won't have it up until fall anyway. Like DeNA has probably got lots of mobile developers on this thing and it makes sense that if they can get an app going that this sorta covers all the ground of being wherever whenever. I would expect that on device chat would follow as a phase 2 project or if there are system resource constraints, the game will just tap into a provided chat/matchmaking API at developer discretion. I would be highly surprised if games don't provide it on the device.
 
Burdmayn said:
I see now that I have some egg on my face. I had confused the issue at hand and thought that Reggie was somehow referring to just Party chat via a mobile app. Based on his comments, it seems that he solely mentioned voice chat which would be much more general.

I'm interested to see how this ends up working for games like Splatoon. Is the app synced up with your game, or does it stream from your Switch to the phone app? This also doesn't really clarify whether or not we'll have dedicated party chat with a set group of people.

Time will tell and I'm really interested to see what they offer. For the right price I wouldn't complain about this implementation, but I can see why some would dislike it.
Click to expand...

The Switch supports Bluetooth, so I'm guessing the app and your iOS/Android device syncs with your Switch and would technically be capable of sending game audio through your phone as well as sending commands to your Switch.
 
Schnozberry said:
The Switch supports Bluetooth, so I'm guessing the app and your iOS/Android device syncs with your Switch and would technically be capable of sending game audio through your phone as well as sending commands to your Switch.
Click to expand...
But if that's the case, why not also allow us to use a Bluetooth headset?
 
If I do keep my Switch order, I won't be touching this (or any kind Nintendo online service) with a pole for as long as they make stupid things like this a thing. The service is shockingly bad, I'll use my XB1 for online gaming, ta!
 
Paid online service means I won't be using the chat app at all. Chances are (I haven't done the research), the chat will be limited to emoticons or eight preset phrases like they always do.
 
Schnozberry said:
The Switch supports Bluetooth, so I'm guessing the app and your iOS/Android device syncs with your Switch and would technically be capable of sending game audio through your phone as well as sending commands to your Switch.
Click to expand...
That makes no sense. Why not just allow a Bluetooth headset?
 
Schnozberry said:
The Switch supports Bluetooth, so I'm guessing the app and your iOS/Android device syncs with your Switch and would technically be capable of sending game audio through your phone as well as sending commands to your Switch.
Click to expand...

That would be interesting, hm. But it would still be kind of awkward to be really stuck with the battery life of your smart device instead of the console itself.

I see the appeal of the app *if* the Switch also offers at least some aspects of the functionalities by itself. And since you'll still have to log in with your account and everything, I suppose that displaying the friend list and basic messaging should be open without a paywall.

For me, the app is still more of an "organizer" ("scheduling" etc.) and a gateway to communicate with your gaming friends on the go without the console around. The Switch itself has a headphone / mic jack on the device (which clearly contradicts Reggie's weird wording) and they even advertize the "bulky headphone" as well.

Now, we just have to know what happens with the TV mode since there is no way to connect your headphone to the headphone jack in front of your TV. I suppose that bluetooth will still be an option, but I think that this is the real question here.
 
DrROBschiz said:
lmao what are we paying them for again?

Are we literally subsidizing the development of this shitty phone app they are making with our subscription?

my god they have lost it
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You pay them a subscription, and you get to manage all of your friends, party chat, game appointments, etc through the app. Without the subscription, you still can use the app for free, but it's features become limited.

You're paying for Nintendo's back end costs. Bandwidth, dedicated servers, app development, plus a little extra for their trouble. Same thing with Sony and Microsoft.
 
Literally just do what sony and microsoft does and have an integrated party chat system. Why is this rocket science in 2016?

I understand that nintendo wants to be different but being different JUST to be different often leads to cumbersome implementation of ubiquitous features such as this.

If they wanted to be "different" have a smartphone app that can join in on the console chat in addition to the console chat itself. Integrate parental controls in the app so mom and dad can see that games little Jonny is playing at any given time and shut it down if they choose to.

This shit is standard because it works.

I hated using a third party device to chat during Smash matches on Wii (xbox 360 chat) and I won't like using my phone any better.
 
Schnozberry said:
The Switch supports Bluetooth, so I'm guessing the app and your iOS/Android device syncs with your Switch and would technically be capable of sending game audio through your phone as well as sending commands to your Switch.
Click to expand...

If I had to guess, I would say that this is the most likely scenario. Doing this through the internet would increase the likelihood of audio lag.
 
The only benefit I could think of with this is if you're playing something online locally with a friend and both want to chat.

This could have been solved with having 3.5mm jacks on the controllers though. So far, the potential annoyances far outweigh the benefits.
 
Mammoth Jones said:
Literally just do what sony and microsoft does and have an integrated party chat system. Why is this rocket science in 2016?

I understand that nintendo wants to be different but being different JUST to be different often leads to cumbersome implementation of ubiquitous features such as this.

If they wanted to be "different" have a smartphone app that can join in on the console chat in addition to the console chat itself. Integrate parental controls in the app so mom and dad can see that games little Jonny is playing at any given time and shut it down if they choose to.

This shit is standard because it works.

I hated using a third party device to chat during Smash matches on Wii (xbox 360 chat) and I won't like using my phone any better.
Click to expand...


Rumor is that they don't have the reserved memory footprint on the console itself to run much system.level in addition to the games.

We shall see.
 
DrROBschiz said:
lmao what are we paying them for again?

Are we literally subsidizing the development of this shitty phone app they are making with our subscription?

my god they have lost it
Click to expand...

To be fair it's too early to judge the quality of the phone app.

Not saying the service will be worth it, but for all we know the app could be good.
 
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