This is pretty wild. Nintendo made a platform with a really cool core concept, cultivated one of the absolute best libraries for it so far, yet keeps dragging it down with some of the worst features.
My cousin and I were texting while playing Animal Crossing, and he flat out asked "how do you voice chat with Switch?". I had to explain to him that it's not native to the device and that you have to get a separate dumb app. I realize that we were already on our phones when we're texting, but we were only doing this because VC is glaringly absent on Switch itself. I dunno if this is all cause of a DeNA deal, some higher-up being out of touch or what, but their "solution" to VC here is dumb, awkward and unappealing. Maybe they've updated and patched the app so that it's not the mess it was when it first launched. That's still a moot point because locking VC behind an external phone app is an absolute non-starter. The must-play games on Switch are great with or without VC, but it's a massive shame that they're unnecessarily held back when they could be an even better gaming experience had VC been offered in a sensible manner. Here we have Animal Crossing Wii offering something that New Horizons can't.
I know Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum, and I usually love that about them. But this is one instance where I wish they'd just follow the industry standard.
That aside, when I bought this hybrid in 2017, I never thought that it'd be 2020 and I'd still be waiting for basic stuff like themes, (including rotating themes), folders, messaging features on friends' profiles, eShop music, Netflix, an actually competent activity log that doesn't report with arbitrary and vague estimations, etc.
I'm just hoping enough players make enough noise so that Nintendo listens sooner rather than later.
My cousin and I were texting while playing Animal Crossing, and he flat out asked "how do you voice chat with Switch?". I had to explain to him that it's not native to the device and that you have to get a separate dumb app. I realize that we were already on our phones when we're texting, but we were only doing this because VC is glaringly absent on Switch itself. I dunno if this is all cause of a DeNA deal, some higher-up being out of touch or what, but their "solution" to VC here is dumb, awkward and unappealing. Maybe they've updated and patched the app so that it's not the mess it was when it first launched. That's still a moot point because locking VC behind an external phone app is an absolute non-starter. The must-play games on Switch are great with or without VC, but it's a massive shame that they're unnecessarily held back when they could be an even better gaming experience had VC been offered in a sensible manner. Here we have Animal Crossing Wii offering something that New Horizons can't.
I know Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum, and I usually love that about them. But this is one instance where I wish they'd just follow the industry standard.
That aside, when I bought this hybrid in 2017, I never thought that it'd be 2020 and I'd still be waiting for basic stuff like themes, (including rotating themes), folders, messaging features on friends' profiles, eShop music, Netflix, an actually competent activity log that doesn't report with arbitrary and vague estimations, etc.
I'm just hoping enough players make enough noise so that Nintendo listens sooner rather than later.
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