What did Nintendo Feed think of the Splatoon Global Testfire?

Following yesterday's hugely successful Splatoon Testfire, the Nintendo Feed team sat down to scribble down our initial thoughts around Nintendo's online shooter.

[hduce]

I was a little skeptical when I first saw this game but I have heard so many positive things about it. I am definitely getting this game on day one.

[Baka-akaB]

Sounds cool , but maybe someday , when they stop deciding for us , if we should or not be allowed to voice chat while in a game session .

[hduce]

The voice chat issue is my only gripe that I have seen with this game. Not having voice chat is really killing the social aspect of the game and Wii U. Hopefully Nintendo reverses their stance on voice chat with the NX. I know there are a few bad apples in online gaming but that is what the mute button is for. I met alot of people by chatting and playing with them on the Call Of Duty games on Wii U.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

one producer =/= Nintendo

[hduce]

@OtakuDJK1NG It may be one producer but he represents the Nintendo philosophy. How many 1st party games have limited or no voice chat. Although The Gamepad has a mic, show me the 1st party headsets. @EDMIX You are spot on.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

Smash and Mario Kart has it
Pokemon XY and ORAS has it

As these are the only big online community Nintendo games out now people play

And no it not Nintendo philosophy. As the co producer didn't want it because of his personal reason and experiences not because Nintendo philosophy.

[Gohadouken]

You're being completely disingenuous . You know very well it's not present in a satisfactory fashion , given what people are discussing here .

Players are limited to talking to one another in the “lobby area” while waiting for a race to start. So no it doesnt really have it .

Smash Bros ? voice chat is only available before and after matches . So no it's not really there .

And you're mixing 3DS games even to have a point ? Well at least that one let you actually activate it once parental lock is removed . Which is what they could have done all along , just like plenty are saying .

Oh and 3d party titles like Monster Hunter 3U , Tekken tag 2 , Mass effect 3, Creed3 Black ops 2 , NFS , did have ivoice chat , even if sometimes with users unfriendly setups . So yeah it's quite an habit from Nintendo itself actually , or in this instance for Splatoon a decision they happily supported

[_-EDMIX-_]

They need staple features for their online. Its so bad its not even funny.

PSN in early 2007 was BETTER then Wii U is right now....

They need to have a network team step in and do their infrastructure to have those settings on the SYSTEM BY DEFAULT, not by a game by game basis.

Games must be linked to an account and not to a physical system like how MS and Sony have it.

Friends list, messaging, voice chat all by default need to be set up to be used on the system before any game factors in.

They have a long way to go, they can do it, look at Sony. PS systems went from this being a new thing, to being on pair with XBL in terms of features.

Early PSN still had the basic functions, play online, send friends request, messages etc.

When they get there, they will be fine, as they can just build from that.

[Gemmol]

I beg to differ, I do not think this game need voice chat, and for the people complaining, its Nintendo so they go a little harder to complain. I also bet the majority who did not try the game out this week are also the people complaining it need voice chat.

The reason I say it do not need Voice Chat because the GamePad shows you everything, it show you where your teammates are, it show you which places have ink and which places do not, it even show when people are under fire. Since it show everything, its just common sense to go another route to paint the areas that your people are not in and if they need help you can tap on their character on the gamepad and your Squid character will jump to their area, where you can help gun down the people in the area who bothering your teammate or you can just help them with the painting.

This is not call of duty or whatever game people think, this is Splatoon, it is using the gamepad in a way that you really do not need voice chat. If you honestly do not know where to go when you have a big map on your Gamepad you need to be hit in the head. You do not need to follow your teammates everywhere they go, the goal is paint as much areas as possible in turf war mode. So paint as much areas as you possible can, get your points up and in mean time check your gamepad to see what your teammates are up to.......

All the people who post this game need voice chat need to get their head examine.

I do not mean to contradict, but the only way I can see this game need voice chat, is maybe if you bring in someone new to the game and they have no clue if they should look at the map on the touch screen or should they follow the teammates.

Other then helping a new person to understand the GamePad Map I do not see voice chat being important.

People ask for more games that take advantage of the GamePad and now that you get a unique way of playing with people with the Gamepad, you want to get voice chat so the gamepad map become useless, well not useless but it will not be much of a focus as it is now.

For the game posting about playing with randoms, in August they sending update to play with friends and etc and other features, with new maps and etc for free

[Gohadouken]

Except that's not even the entire point made here . At least a few brought up games when you're limited in interaction or where it's not the point ... and with people still able to socialize vocally , even because of the consoles' features .

Voice chat is in no way just limited to be used as a method to play games or understanding what to do .... it's a social activity and feature , part of the fun for plenty people . It's not about needing it to complet a game or succeed at it . So what if i already know where you are via the map , when i just wanna have fun with a teamate joking about what's happening within the game ?

As for the restritive and control freak nature of the whole thing . Just imagine an horror game , where it's decided that you shouldnt be allowed to fix the constraste or luminosity of the game , because some argue that it would affect the gameplay or the artistic vision , with you not supposed to see a damn thing .

It's a silly example , i know , but it kinda feels like that .

And while it's a design choice here , it's not only one people can disagree with , but most of all it has been to much of an habit with online Nintendo games lately , which is why some people are lashing out

[Baka-akaB]

I obviously agreed with everything said above .

Besides you can play any online game and win without actually voice chatting with your team. Despite having implemented visual cues and signs which they had to do then ,this isn't some unique selling point of Splatoon that Nintendo has ingeniously crafted into the games design .

[Nodoze]

Fun game. Just struggling to justify a 59.99 price tag. If it were 39.99 and even digital only I would bite...but 59.99 seems steep for what is on offer.

[desolationstorm]

$60 but with a big DLC drop come August. I agree what is offered day 1 seems a bit small for $60 but the added material down the road seems fair.

Me personally I'd rather have it now with added free content down the road then wait until August.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed. No way is that game worth $60. It looks like a fun downloadable game, but no, not for full price.

Same situation with The Order, if they know they are making a game that is short, interactive action, etc I'm fine with that....not for $60. The Walking Dead, Wolf Amoung Us etc both were near 15 to 20 hours.....$20 with a season pass for all for them.

But from what I've seen, it looks like an interesting game, but not a full price one. They are trying a bit too hard to try to sell this as this MAIN experience, like their other IPs.

Except it as a smaller title and price it accordingly.

[TripC50]

Go to IGN and everyone and their mother thinks it needs voice chat to the point people won't buy just because it doesn't have voice chat.

In my opinion it would be nice to have the option to chat with people in your friends list. But "problem" solved by Skype.

[Baka-akaB]

Good for you . But the principle of the thing is still irking for some of us . I dont need hand holdings for matter that should up to everyone's discretion , and concerned and/or lazy parents could still have a way to police those things via parental controls , if Nintendo wasnt so obstinate .

It's even weird to see people defend that , when ultimately it's the one thing preventing online mp games to feel a bit like local multiplayer , when surrounded by vetted friends .

Good for the game if it succeed , but the game doesnt seem local multi oriented , and while visuals allow some modicum of communication , nothing should prevent discussion with friends when it's clearly technically possible and a standard feature now . I'd only play it online , so it's a pass for me , others will do what they want

Even in "autistic" mp games like Destiny or the Souls/Borne stuff , people could somehow freely chat , via the defaut console services when ingame session chat wasnt or isnt available .

[vickers500]

Using outside sources is not an acceptable solution. Sorry, no matter how great nintendo is (or no matter how great people THINK they are) this is one issue that you cannot defend.

No voice chat option built into a primarily mp experience, a mp shooter none the less, in 2015, is unacceptable. Want to make the game inherently family friendly? Turn it off by default, make it something you have to opt in, something you have to activate. Tie it to parental controls where it's not even possible to opt in on if parental controls are enabled. Removing the option all together because of some selfish philosophy based on ones negative personal experiences with online voice chat is ridiculous, selfish and stupid.

[Baka-akaB]

It indeed makes no sense to me . We constantly got people accusing the nintendo consoles of being for kids , something i dont always agree with , and then you've got debilitating and unilateral decisions like that that treats everyone like kids .

Stuff like voice chat restrictions and little smaller irritating stuff that accumulated , in the past , like the way Wii U owners in Europe could only purchase 18+ rated games on e-Shop from 11PM until 3AM — a ridiculous setup no matter how you cut it .

Of course it was lifted , but facepalm worthy nonetheless ...

Anyway i've said my piece on the matter . And i cann't agree with people so against getting better services for everyone , as if they were losing anything in some trade off and process

[jholden3249]

Voice chat or not, I'm definitely buying this game. Never in my life have I NOT played a great game just because I couldn't blather while playing it, and that's not about to change now. I'll get over it.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Might change your mind when you play TF2 or a BF game. Communication is key in those games.

Someone merely saying "tank", has me change my class to stop that tank knowing its in our base. I'm preparing for something I didn't see, but heard another that saw it.

It very much changes the outcome. You can prepare better for a situation faster then the enemy base expected.

[Baka-akaB]

Well it depends on the games , but here , it is a deterrent for me and some others , when you can't actually play it locally at least with split screens .

Back when Nintendo (and fanboys ) defended their lack of online play it was all about how having fun around with your friends in local multiplayer was better.

Now, in defense of no voice chat, it doesn't matter if you can talk to your friends or not. The irony being that online multiplayer with voice chat is the closest you can get to recreating local multiplayer while playing online .

So anyone still defending no voice chat... go get 3 friends to play Mario Party or Kart on your couch, but make it a rule beforehand that nobody can talk or make any noise. See how much fun you have playing in dead silence. Then those people might start to understand.

[captainexplosion]

I was excited about this game when I thought it had split screen MP & wasn't a full priced retail game, but now I've lost almost all interest. All games like this should have split screen MP.

[Reeze]

I really don't think it needs voice chat, but it definitely would be a nice option for those who really want it.