Nintendo Switch: Smartphone App REQUIRED for Online? - The Know Game News

I was super excited for the switch for an hour or two after the conference, but the more I've thought about the thing, the less excited I've been. Definitely gonna need to get my hands on it at some point before I buy one.

Put Ryan into a video about Nintendo.  Results are as to be expected.

What i feel no one is thinking about is Nintendo has consistently been a family friendly console. Many games are meant for the kids as much as they are for the teen and adults.

Yes voice chat in multiplayer games is a very needed thing when trying to coordinate with teammates. However those chats in shooter games in particular are very very toxic environments. People cursing at and belittling each other.

By making the chat work through a phone then one would suspect that only mature users that have their own phones are the only ones able to use the service thus limiting children's exposure to the negativity that comes with people that take the games far to seriously and allowing them just to enjoy their games.

Yes for us older gamers it may be a tad inconvenient but i personally would rather my daughter is not getting harassed because she is not as good as the other people playing and simply gets to have fun whether she wins or loses.

Nice shirt Ryan.  

An app that handles matchmaking and chat.  Doesn't sound too good, but wonder how it will be when it is in use. I'm with Ryan on this.

Love Ryan in the video.  

Can Nintendo just not try to be innovative? Is it really that hard?

Nintendo's online service seems like a total disaster to me but I'm not too upset about it because I barely ever play Nintendo games online anyway. At least they're trying though? Who knows, they may even get it right, eventually.

So, the main concerns I have with this are as follows. You don't just have to pay the cost of the switch, but if you want to play online then you need an additional $200-600 piece of hardware. Granted, most people have smartphones, but also granted that unless you have a higher end one, you're going to have major problems. I have a low end $200 one, and as a result of me not paying even more money to get a high value one, it has occasional bugs and software crashes even when running simple software like an internet browser, so there's no telling if it'd be able to even run the app for long enough for me to play the game. The next concern is with how well we'll be able to use our phones if we're having to run the app. If I get a phone call during the middle of it, will I suddenly be kicked out of my game and party chat because my phone puts the app into hibernation in the background? Will it run entirely in the background or does it have to be actively open with the phone on, draining our battery life? Also, back on the topic of the phone itself, will it even work with older model smart phones or do you have to have one that is running the most recent software version?

Those are just some of the more basic concerns, and I can see a lot more problems with all of this. Also, it really doesn't help the "headset" problem, because it means you either have to have a headset for your phone, or have your phone on speaker annoying everyone around you. The only benefit I can see to this at all is that you can use the app to stay in touch with your friends outside of actually playing the game, but between apps for a hundred other messaging services like Skype and Facebook, it's really something that isn't needed for that purpose. There's also no reason it can't be built into the Switch with the app being an alternative method for communicating outside of it, like the Playstation Messenger app is......

I've always been a Nintendo fan, I even still own one of the first Game Boy—which still works! I didn't check any facts about the Switch yet, but I am strongly looking forward to a new Nintendo portable console (I missed out on the GBA and DS for reasons). I hope it will be affordable.

As to the required app for online communication, that seems to be nonsense. If I understood you guys correctly, the Switch will still require an external (Wi-Fi) connection for online gaming functions, and a little bit of extra data transfer should not be a major problem I'd guess. But I really don't know how much that would drain the battery. However, I have no problem at all with Nintendo providing an app on top for users who want to stay in touch with their gaming friends while not playing.

But my thought was: 'Will I really need online multiplay when I'm on the go?' I mean when I'm out and about, I'll probably not have the time to play with other people because I might need to quit the game quickly at a random point, let's say when my train arrives at the station or something like that.

So, to me, multiplayer online gaming is fine when I'm home, ideally with the Switch in its docking station and playing on a nice big screen, but then needing an app on the smartphone would be immensely cumbersome. When on the go, I'll probably not need anything else than my console and headphones.

Well, since the app will most likely only be on Android and Iphones I personally wont be able to use it; since I use a Windows based device. If Pokemon Go and Mario Run couldn't entice me to switch to a different Mobile OS I don't see the Switch doing it. Also the games I'm looking forward to are either singleplayer or have local co-op. Hell whats the point in voicechat if you can link up to eight Switches locally anyways? 

On a side note if they could somehow get Goldeneye working on a switch that would be great; if licensing wasn't an issue that is. Also is it Micro SDXC or standard SDXC cards being used? 

if they are gonna make it clunky like this, i might as well use discord. (which is probably going to be a better communication platform, anyways) honestly, it makes way more sense that its a community app rather than communication. i get the feeling somebody in marketing miscommunicated or mistranslated the intent of the app.

I wish Nintendo would just blatantly say that this, and all internet social gimmicks they've had leading up to this point, is designed to let the parents have control over who their kids talk to online. I mean, that IS what they're actually doing, right? Hasn't that been the actual point this whole time? They should just go and and say that instead of pretending that all these ridiculous communication & friending gimmicks have ever been good systems for gamers/adults who actually know what they're doing.

And don't get me wrong, I like the fact that at least one major gaming system is intentionally more kid-friendly and safe than the others. When I have a kid, this is the kind of online social ecosystem that I would like to start them on, so that some crazy online stranger doesn't suddenly start yelling at my kid and advancing his/her vocabulary by a decade. 

I like that this safer, kid-freindly place exists in the gaming world, but Nintendo, buddy, stop pretending it's functionally better or even as good as the standard methods of online communication/friending in the adult world. It's not, and you're embarrassing yourself.

It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for em