Nintendo Switch Online, a Paid Subscription Service Required For Console Owners To Access Internet-Enable Features Like Multiplayer Mode, To Launch This Evening (variety.com) 86
Nintendo announced Tuesday that its paid Nintendo Switch Online service will launch "later this evening," and that to prepare for the launch it will be taking the Switch eShop offline starting at 8 p.m. ET. From a report: It's expected to be unavailable for up to three hours, it said, putting the launch of Switch Online about 11 p.m. Tuesday night. Nintendo Switch Online comes with a seven-day free trial for all Nintendo Account holders. The official website for the service notes that it will cost $4 for a month, $8 for three months and $20 for a year. A family membership, which supports up to seven others in a family group, will run for $35 for a year. The Nintendo Switch Online service, which will be free to users to try for seven days, will be required for console owners to access any internet-enable features, including multiplayer and cloud saves. It will also grant them the ability to play 20 different Nintendo Entertainment System games at launch, although Nintendo hasn't revealed the entire lineup yet.
Re: (Score:3)
How is [console lock-in] different from being locked into windows?
Consider two differences between a PC running Windows and an Xbox One running the Windows 10-derived Xbox One system software:
Re: (Score:2)
Do you have to pay a fee to Microsoft in order to find patches for your games?
Re: (Score:2)
So where can I buy a copy of FFXV that will run on a PC not running Windows?
Though I concede that this is not practical for all or perhaps even most, you could improve Wine to be able to run it, or hire someone to improve Wine to be able to run it. Valve is offering a customized version of Wine for select games on Steam, though I don't know whether Final Fantasy XV is or will soon be among them.
But this discussion is about very specific use cases. "I am locked in because I want to play games $x, $y, and $z"
If you want to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate once it is released, you are locked into Nintendo Switch. Is it common for someone to buy a console just to run one game?
Re: (Score:2)
Anecdotal evidence proves that something exists, but not that it is common.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention holding your save games at ransom. "Oh, you've got a 99% complete save file? Would be a shame if you stopped paying for a couple of months and something ... happened to it."
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you missed the part where this is an optional service. You can still save locally.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you missed the part where this is an optional service. You can still save locally.
Optional, as in it's optional to play Fortnite, which *requires* an internet connection?
This is a Fortnite tax, which is unfortunate for my son as he now has no portable options from the Xbox One when we travel. Whatever happened to the good ole days of being able to own hardware without an ongoing subscription for the right to use it?
How do you get online during travel? (Score:2)
When you travel, how do you have an Internet connection on devices other than your smartphone in the first place? Do you pay the tethering surcharge that many cellular ISPs in the United States charge?
Epic Games can choose to provide a Fortnite experience against bots or not. If Epic Games refuses, then play a game other than Fortnite. This might even be a non-electronic game in your son's waiting place bag [screenfreeparenting.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Servers? Isn't it just like most games and only transmits location info to other people and uses one of them as the server?
Re: (Score:2)
If they ever stop making money, whatever update they are about to release would then require Nintendo Online to play.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm willing to bet Epic makes more money off skins than they would if they received a portion of the Nintendo Online subscription proceeds.
Re: (Score:2)
"Optional, as in it's optional to play Fortnite, which *requires* an internet connection?"
Well take that up with the developers of Fortnite, as in, not Nintendo.
I do very much agree with your final point in a general sense but Nintendo has no role in what you're bothered about here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention holding your save games at ransom. "Oh, you've got a 99% complete save file? Would be a shame if you stopped paying for a couple of months and something ... happened to it."
Nothing will happen to it. It will still be right there on your Switch where you left it.
You may not have a backup of it though, so I suggest not hitting your Switch with a sledge hammer while your subscription lapses.
$35 a year (Score:2)
Obviously they mean 7 different accounts, but using the same Switch, not 7 accounts on 7 different Switchs*, because otherwise that's one hell of a deal.
* Switches? Switchs? Switchi?
Re: $35 a year (Score:2)
No I believe 7 people with 7 different Switches can chip in $5 each and get a yearâ(TM)s service.
Re: (Score:1)
No, they actually do mean 7 accounts across as 7 different Switches. The family plan is the way to go if you have friends and/or family who also own a Switch.
Also worthy of note: only one account on a Switch has to have a paid online subscription in order for all accounts on said Switch to access the online service.
I don't interpret their language the same as you do for the second part. Each online subscription is tied to a separate nnid. If each local switch account has a different nnid, you have to pay for each one. What reference do you have to assert your second statement?
Re: (Score:2)
Nintendo's FAQ about Nintendo Switch Online says you can link multiple accounts to a family account and you can log into multiple switches.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, I agree.
That is not what the AC said.
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously they mean 7 different accounts, but using the same Switch
No. Nintendo's primary aim is to get multiple Switches into each household. We're close to buying a second one in ours since someone often takes it with them when travelling.
We are actually going to try and stretch this relationship and see if their service is locked to country ala Amazon Prime Family, or if we can include our relatives in the $35 ... who live so far away that if you travel any further they'd start getting closer to us (despite what flat earthers will have you believe). Time will tell if we
Re: (Score:2)
I'm hoping that now they have internet functionality they release a new Mario Maker for Switch... But also hoping they don't because the Wii U version is pretty good but will die off if a new one comes out and the Switch is not cheap.
Behind mobile (Score:3, Interesting)
Emperor's New Toad (Score:2)
Since we're talking about Nintendo and video games, and this is a site for nerds, I guess it's technically not off-topic to mention that for some reason, the character Toad from Mario Kart is trending on social media. I'm not sure why. Anybody want to google it and find out?
Re: (Score:2)
It's a 3D puzzle based game. IIRC, the Switch version has some Mario Odyssey inspired levels.
Re: (Score:1)
I don't know if you are being serious or not......
The Stormy Daniels book is the reason.
Re: (Score:2)
So, Toad is trending because Ms Daniels likes to play Mario Kart? Nothing else to it?
Re: (Score:1)
So, Toad is trending because Ms Daniels likes to play Mario Kart? Nothing else to it?
She says Trump's penis looks like "that mushroom guy from Mario Kart" Skinny with a large head.
Subscriptions make me quit (Score:2)
I quit street fighter because it turned into a monthly fee on my Playstation. I will quit other games that turn into a monthly fee. Recurring fees are just too annoying.
Re: (Score:3)
While I am mostly against fees for Online play in general, I do understand that the infrastructure (servers, what-not) has to be maintained somehow. MS charges $120/year for Gold and the PS4 Online charges are similar. The N is charging 1/3 that for up to 8 accounts ($35/yr). Gold gives[1] you (theoretically) 1 AAA game for the One and 1 AAA[2] for the 360. The N gives you 20 NES games (that re-authorize monthly) and online save storage.
[1] The XB1 games are only licensed. Once you drop your gold, they
Re: (Score:2)
MS charges $60/yr for Gold, not $120. Most of the time you can find discounted codes that are closer to $45 / yr. You get 4 games / month with Gold (2 for 360, 2 for Xbox One), but I agree that usually they aren't the best or newest games (but neither are 30-year old Nintendo games).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Except that the servers are not run by Microsoft/Sony, for games with many players publishers run them and for games with a small number of players often one user will end up as host (hence consoles wanting upnp to open ports).
Your math is also way off on Sony & Microsoft - they charge $60.
Can you even play games solo? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I've never had and never will have game consoles. Can you even play single-player games on this thing at all?
You can, but there's no way to back up your saves. The only backup is to Nintendo's cloud, and not all games even support that. Nintendo has been criticized for only making games and systems for non-serious gamers before, but it was always only half-true at most. This time, it's completely true.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Much as I suspected. Glad I got all the video gaming out of my system in the 90's through early 2000's, it sound like an expensive shitshow now.
IMO the best single-player console experience available to cheapskates (like me) today is from the Xbox 360. Lots of great games available cheap all over the place, and it's easy to plug your HDD into your PC with a USB cable and make backups, hack save files, etc.
Full disclosure though, I sold all my console game stuff to a local shop that paid top dollar for everything (even a top-loading NES with a crack in it, but with the original rounded controllers) and I only play PC and mobile games now. Because I
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I love my Switch, and you not only CAN play single-player games, but there is no shortage of amazing single-player experiences out there. These are pretty much the only sorts of games I play and enjoy. If you are assuming all console gaming now is online multi-player, you're sorely mistaken and grossly out of touch of the reality of the game market.
One of the main reasons I'll be buying the online service is for the save game backups, honestly. However, I'm furious about the fact that the feature is left ou
Re: (Score:2)
Animal Crossing for Nintendo GameCube had the copy protect bit on its 57-block save file, even though it had no online aspects. It was presumably to limit duplication of rare items and circumvention of the Mr. Resetti flow. A file could be moved to another memory card, but not copied.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm worried that Animal Crossing (which I genuinely love) will get the same treatment.
I'm sure that it will. I kinda skipped City Folk so I don't know how it handled saves, but New Leaf (at least the digital release) you effectively could not back up your save. I mean, nothing stopped you from copying the file, and as long as you never ever opened New Leaf again it was fine. But the moment you did that backup became useless. I don't know how it worked exactly, I guess there was some system value that got compared, and if the value on the save file did not match it was considered corrupt.
Re: (Score:2)
It should have been either a free service to do backups, or include local backup media. The fact that the player base didn't go immediately into a rage when learning that there weren't local backups says plenty about the types of players using that device.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you do a local save? If not, what sort of good single player games don't have a save game feature?
Re: (Score:2)
Can you even play single-player games on this thing at all?
Most games out there are single player. There's only a few true mutiplayer only games. And the lameness factor is highly dependent on the game in question.
How you say...INSTAFAIL? (Score:2)
Fuck them and their mandatory paid sub service.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They are instafailing by implimenting all their competitor's processes for a small fraction of the cost?
Hacks and Mods inbound.... (Score:2)
Nintendo is notoriously bad at device security. Piracy is rampant, and the pirated content is downloaded directly from Nintendo servers. Now we're talking about paid services...... This will not end well.
If you want to buy a new console every few years.. (Score:2)
If not ... you're going to find out that in a few years, they'll shut down access to the online service for your console. If you want to keep using an online service, you'll have to buy the newest whiz-bang. But it won't play the old games that you have enjoyed playing. (They did that to the Wii online games.)
And I just bought it... (Score:1)
Isn't it nice when they change policies like that? The Switch is essentially worthless to me now.
Re: (Score:2)