Looking at the announced games, I think a case could certainly be made that they already are. And it makes sense, right? Online subscriptions offer a stable flow of sweet, sweet cash, and it's definitely in Nintendo's interest to keep you off the wagon. They're calling the launch period a 'trial', but, really, Nintendo's just giving you the first hit for free.
Maybe Mario Party will be the ultimate litmus test?
That seems about right if you don't think about it too much. But the emphasis on the portability of this thing... it's almost weird that it'd rely on Wi-Fi only.
I suppose the 3DS is Wi-Fi only and we all know that's a portable.... Still. Maybe it's the home console aspect that's throwing me off. We're in uncharted waters here, the expectations are all screwy.
You understand that even if it had those things you have to pay for data access on it? I'm 99% sure the intended usage is either through WiFi or using your phone as a hotspot and playing through that.
To be frank I don't use this stuff enough to know the details. Obviously I know that if you're downloading stuff on your smartphone, you pay data charges to your service provider. Which in this case is...Nintendo? And we'd be paying their online fee there.
Clearly I've got something wrong. Like I said it's not something that I ever really used.
...I get that, but you were talking about IF it had those things then we'd be paying data charges. That's what I figured the online fee would have been for.
Even if that was the case you don't pay Nintendo you pay whoever is your data provider. It's like having a cellphone contract. Nintendo isn't a data provider.
To be frank I don't use this stuff enough to know the details. Obviously I know that if you're downloading stuff on your smartphone, you pay data charges to your service provider. Which in this case is...Nintendo? And we'd be paying their online fee there.
Clearly I've got something wrong. Like I said it's not something that I ever really used.
I swear to god every conversation I have with you is like pulling teeth even when I'm genuinely trying to learn things.
My suspicion is that they'll start with some weird-ass features nobody asked for and after that flops it'll evolve into Xbox Live by the middle of the generation. Switch 2.0 will be pretty awesome, though.
Well explain to me how Nintendo isn't the provider here? It's their device, and their multiplayer network and their games...isn't that what we're paying for with the online fees?
First time I posted this, you repeated the part about it not being 3G which we already went through. Then you went back to data providers which was what prompted my initial assumption. Can we try moving forward instead of going around in a circle?
It's the same thing as how you pay for internet at your house and then Xbox Live or whatever on top of that. Your Xbox Live subscription doesn't give you internet access it requires it in order to function.
You can't just get a 3G device and just use networks as you want. You have to pay for the access through a data provider.
This is what I mean by missing stuff. See I know the telcos control that on the phones. But that's because, well it's part of their phone service. In addition to making calls and whatnot. And outside of the standard call/text stuff it's as pricy as heck so I don't bother. Figured this would have tapped into the 'Nintendo' section of the network infrastructure. Clearly not. (I'm guessing there is no Nintendo part despite our access fees?)
FYI from what I've seen the App and your Player/User Account on the Switch are the same and play nice together. So if you don't want to use the App, you can still do Mario Kart matchmaking and stuff on the Switch. So that's good.
They should allow this paid sub to give users access to Pokemon Bank and other future cloud services - Animal Crossing, for instance. You could opt to have a persistent town that users can access when you're not online.
That would be really cool! I don't think it would happen, but it would be nifty. I was always curious about Bank, but not going to pay a fee to use it.