Nintendo is a strange company. On one
hand they create one of the best and most addicting Online Games in
Splatoon 2 and on the other they actively try everything to keep you
from playing online with your friends. On one hand they are stuck in
the past and on the other they try to forcefully implement
Smartphones and anything new and exciting into their products.
So this time let's talk about the
absolute idiocy that is the Nintendo Online Smartphone app.
One Step Forward, One Step back:
With the launch of the Switch Nintendo
also announced their new plans for their Online infrastructure.
Originally it was planned that it would start in the fall of this
year, but now Nintendo has pushed back the start to earyl 2018. But
what are the key data of their new Online service?
Well first and foremost it's not free
anymore. Like with X-Box and PlayStation Nintendo will now charge a
yearly fee for Online Play. It's considerably lower than the
competition, with only 20$ a year, but the value is also not the
same. Of course you'll get to play online, but instead of an big
title from a year ago or an actual Indie Game for free, like on X-Box
or PlayStation, Nintendo will only offer a NES Game each month.
Originally you couldn't even keep the games. It was planned that
after, for example, July ended, you'd loose access to the game of
that month even though you were still paying for the Online Service.
Luckily Nintendo changed that after a lot of complaints. So not
everything's bad I guess.
But that's only half of their new
online infrastructure. The other half is, to put it bluntly, stupid
as hell. Because thing like Online Lobbies or Friendlists have been
outsourced to a smartphone app. That means that if I want to play
Splatoon 2 with my friends I have to download the smartphone app,
start it on my phone and then add my friends there. It's needlessly
complicated. Totalbiscuit released a sceenshot of what is necessary
if you want to play with some of your friends.
That's is ridiculous.
Another thing is that as long as the
app is running you can't do anything else on your phone. Got a
message and want to check it? Not possible.
I'm sorry, but there is no
justification for this. Especially as fans we should not put up with
such lackluster execution.
Sadly this proves once more that
Nintendo has absolutely no idea how online is working. To me it seems
like if they tried to lessen the load on their Online Infrastructure
via outsourcing. Still they want us to pay for it.
Splatoon 2 is a great game, but this
online nonsense has really damped my enjoyment of the title. Sadly
there isn't much we can do except for telling Nintendo directly how
we feel about the situation. Maybe the listen.
Maybe...
and as always
thanks for reading
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