Nintendo: Switch Smartphone App "An Elegant Solution" To Bulky Gamer Headsets

[Saltyk]

Bulky? You can just get a small earbud and it'll work fine.

Maybe one of the betas of the console had this function, but the addition of voice chat put too much strain on the system's hardware while running games at the same time, and so was cut.

So the Switch can't handle something last gen consoles did without a problem?

Nintendo should just shut the fuck up. every piece of news that come out of them makes the switch look worse. just shut the fuck up and let your fucking presentation speak for itself.

I dunno, the original idea for the Xbox One was a nightmare. Had they not bragged about it, everyone would not have known how terrible it was, and they would not have freaked out, and Microsoft would not have changed all that terrible stuff, and Don Mattrick would still be working at Microsoft.

He is currently unemployed after resigning from Zynga, so even they could not stand his terribleness. I hope he didnt infiltrate Nintendo though, cause this is that kind of stupid.

You know what? You might be on to something. Has anyone seem Don Mattrick in the last year or so?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

So the Switch can't handle something last gen consoles did without a problem?

It's most recent 3rd party game is the 6 year old Skyrim. I think that is a fairly harsh indicator of this consoles power.

 

[Kajin]

The Nintendo Switch. Dead on arrival.

The XBone had a launch that was worse than this by several orders of magnitude and they still sold truckloads of the things to gullible assholes.

As for the article... Couldn't they just... you know, NOT have voice chat? Splatoon was one of the best multiplayer games ever and it didn't suffer at all from the lack.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I don't even know what N is thinking... How can you fk up basic functionality so badly. Seriously how hard is it to put in media streaming apps, and basic online stuff at least akin to original xbox. How can your games lineup at launch look so bad. You couldn't get a smash port and mario kart port available on release day? After I play breath of the wild then what? Heck to play breath of the wild will run about 473$ after tax if I want to use the pro controller(I would want to). You couldn't bundle 1-2 switch? You couldn't take your huge effing backlog of nes-n64 games and make a 9.99-14.99 all you can play subscription model?


Here is how you launch the switch.
Day one release BotW and a mario game. Tease pokemon/metroid/new smash/Fzero
Announce "nintendoflix" subscription service for old games
Announce basic online functionality (friends list, party chat, and the usual media streaming apps is all you need at launch to keep 99% of everyone happy) It also shouldn't need to be said that this should be on the actual system...

Instead of articles everywhere going "well it doesn't do this or that" you get "top ten games to download from the NES era". Instead of people not seeing value in your online service you suddenly look like you have so much more value than PS or xbl. Your games shortage is instantly cured all because you threw up a bunch of few MB roms we've been emulating for 15+ years.

But no we have breath of the wild, a 60 dollar 6 year old game thats infinitely better on any other system, and splatoon over the summer and fk all for online service.

EDIT: also 32gb memory and making us use sd cards? Another 50ish bucks to spend if we want to download much of anything.

 

[Creator002]

While I get the point (most everyone has a smart phone, which come with a mic/earphones, and takes it everywhere), I do distinctly remember some headsets where "bulkiness" isn't an issue.
The Xbox One headset is quite small and thin. I'm more worried about breaking it by carrying it around than it being bulky. The Xbox 360 wireless headset was basically a Bluetooth earpiece like for a phone, if I remember it correctly.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

nintendo should just shut the fuck up. every piece of news that come out of them makes the switch look worse. just shut the fuck up and let your fucking presentation speak for itself.

Every bit of news that comes out makes me want to abandon Nintendo and that's really depressing since Nintendo was part of my childhood.

Is there any particular reason why these features couldn't have been integrated into the Switch itself? Maybe give it Bluetooth capability?

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

The XBone had a launch that was worse than this by several orders of magnitude and they still sold truckloads of the things to gullible assholes.

I kind of resent that statement. How was I to know Halo 5 was gonna suck? Sure I was gullible, but asshole? I already regret not getting a PS4, no need to add insult to injury. =P

OT: Ehhh... I wanna root for Nintendo. I really do. But they refuse to modernize and are always trying to find some weird way around it. I already hate having to hear the background noise of people that forget to turn their Kinects off - having to get all the background noise of a bunch of people using smartphones and such. Plus, there ARE people that don't have smartphones, ya know.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I dunno, the original idea for the Xbox One was a nightmare. Had they not bragged about it, everyone would not have known how terrible it was, and they would not have freaked out, and Microsoft would not have changed all that terrible stuff

To be quite fair, the XOne had some really great ideas on digital distribution that would have made Steam blush. But it was like Vista. Way too ahead of its time. Constant internet connection may not be a problem in the old valley of silicon, but everywhere else in America, internet connections are a steaming turd ruled by monopolies. Also, voice commands were quite awesome, but the camera on the Kinect just really shouldn't have been there. The cost and panic factor to convenience was just too high. And the worst thing was, Microsoft did a TERRIIBBLEE job marketing these pros and everyone just saw the bad and ol' Mattrick was just gasoline to the fire.

Now, do I think they should have sold the XOne as it was originally intended? No. But still, let's not be too quick to condemn it either. I know I would have and still would pay hard money to have some of the digital distribution features on Steam that the XOne was gonna have originally.

 

[Naldan]

Nevermind the fact that if you want to have a decent-sounding "conversation" without holding that fucking thing infront of you while also holding and handling the damn controllers, you'll need a headset for the phone. How about making yet another $70 accessoiry like a bluetooth pair of earphone and a decent microphone that has a range that gathers all the sounds your mouth makes ok-ish? Nope. That's not enough decadence.

That's so bold. Nintendo is what Apple is to the smartphone market.

"App is only compatible to Android version 5 and higher." incoming.



Assuming it won't be Apple-exclusive for half a year...

What? That would be dumb? We're talking Nintendo here. You know, the more potential for success, the more potential to fuck it up needs to be created artificially.

 

[TheMajesticSpaceDuck]

Okay so between the N64 controller, Kid Icarus on the 3DS and now this I'm going to go ahead and assume Nintendo don't know how many hands a person has.

 

[Mortuorum]

This does seem like a dumb way to go about with Online Multiplayer, and it might be a slight bit of hassle for people to work with both the Switch and their Phone. However, that already sounds a lot better then the Wii and WiiU's "Push a bunch of Random Letters and Numbers and maybe get the person/game you want". This also reminds me of how Valve decided you needed a Phone App to "authenticate" any in game action you wanted to do, from trading to befriending people, which I first thought was stupid, but it hasn't been bad for me. I think it's also a way for Nintendo to keep in touch with it's growing Phone-based gamers.

I'm going to reserve judgement on this idea until it's actually implemented. I will say that it looks stupid on the surface, but it could actually be great for all we know...

The Nintendo Switch. Dead on arrival.

Not with a new Legend of Zelda, it won't be.

So, the audience for the Switch is for:
1) Diehard Nintendo-philes; and
2) People who don't know any better.

I, for one, won't be lining up on launch day even if the Switch is the only way to play the latest Zelda. Everything I read about the Switch tells me it's a poorly-conceived, overpriced gimmick. This news certainly does nothing to reassure me.

Maybe it's time for Nintendo to get out of the hardware business and focus on games. I'll bet the new Zelda could be developed to run just fine on a PS4.

 

[Laughing Man]

I see what he's getting at. It's more portable. You can't put a headset in your pocket.

Sony's solution

So yeah this guy is full of it. If you are paying to get on their online service then the very basic feature they can provide is voice chat and matchmaking as part of that service, having to download another app to use these features and I assume pay the roaming charges for using the app online is a fucking joke and as the image above shows it isn't saving you from anything. Sony managed to include a headset that is less bulky than any smart phone and it works, yeah not the best in the world but it does the job.

It's like Nintendo have decided to see how much stupid they can force on their customers before they get fed up call bullshit and go with someone who at least seems to have half an idea what the hell they are doing.

 

[cikame]

It's a nice option to have, but it really shouldn't be the only option, i don't own a smart phone.
I'm fairly certain the console will have that functionality built in, otherwise that's a real silly move.

I go out of my way to avoid battery issues in my life, it's not something i want to deal with, Switch ownership currently involves the charging of, the console (depending on use, mine would just stay docked forever, i'd rather buy a cheaper non removable Switch), two Joy-con (minimum), an optional pro controller (minimum) and your smart phone... If there are lots of people in your house playing locally, you could end up with 10+ devices which need charging.

The more i think about the Switch, the less appealing it becomes.