[Switch] Nintendo Online

[Kurth]

I may have missed it, but I didn’t see a thread here on this. Any impressions? We just signed up for a free 7 day trial, but so far, only had a chance to play five minutes or so of Mario Bros. Pretty cool, so far, although the buttons on the Joycons and our Pro controller are taking some getting used to. May have to spring for the new Nintendo NES-style wireless controllers if we get into this.

[Skinypupy]

I spent most of Thursday night playing Ice Hockey and Techmo Bowl. While it was kinda fun, retro nostalgia wears thin pretty quickly, especially for NES-era games. Certainly isn't something I'd pay $4/month for, especially with that extremely limited number of games.

I don't play anything online MP, so that doesn't really factor into any decision.

[Kurth]

For me, the fun of Nintendo Online has actually had nothing to do with online play. I’ve been having a great time playing Tecmo Bowl and Tennis with the kids, who are strangely into it, despite their aversion to anything retro.

[GreenGoo]

So my daughter tried to play splatoon today, and lo and behold, no dice without an online subscription.

I realize that the other major consoles have been like this for a long time, but it's frustrating to have played the original splatoon on the Wii U, and having free multiplayer on the Switch for almost a year as well, to suddenly be dinged for money for stuff that we've been doing for year(s) without paying.

It's a stupid money grab, just like the xbox and the ps networks, but up until now I've managed to avoid the frustrations of them.

Adding insult to injury, they want money on a per account basis, instead of a per machine. That's completely uncalled for and clearly more money grubbing. Sure I can pay for a family subscription, but I don't want to, there is no technical reason for it to exist, and it's almost twice as much as a single account for a year.

I don't like paying for things that have been free for years. Who does? I curse Sony and MS for making this the new (years ago, obviously) norm, and I curse Nintendo for following suit.

Grrr.

[JCC]

I believe you can share your online subscription with "family members" across systems. I know a friend of mine added me to his family and I was able to play some NES Donkey Kong. I am just not very interested in their VC game lineup right now.

[GreenGoo]

I believe you can share your online subscription with "family members" across systems. I know a friend of mine added me to his family and I was able to play some NES Donkey Kong. I am just not very interested in their VC game lineup right now.

The family subscription allows up to 8 accounts.

Send me your friend's email. I'll get him to add my daughter's account too.

[naednek]

costs money to run the servers that allow you to play online...

[Blackhawk]

It costs money to buy the hardware and costs money to buy the games, too. It costs every multiplayer game server on the PC money, and very few of them charge (and those that do are a quickly vanishing market.)

The question is whether people feel that the money already being paid is enough to justify being able to play online. Xbox and PSN do it, but they focus more on mainstream multiplayer games, too. They also include significant value add things like relatively recent games for 'free' that are worth as much or more than the subscription fee. Nintendo is giving away games that appeal mostly for the nostalgia, have been emulated for decades, and don't have nearly the draw.

One way or another, it's par for the course. It's how the rest of their competition does it, and is revenue they were ignoring. They have a different audience (families vs dedicated gamers), a poor record of internet support, and don't offer nearly as much incentive to have the service as their competitors. Of course, they also charge about half as much as their competitors. They'll lose some customers, but they'll gain some revenue. Whether it is a good idea or not... time will tell.

[GreenGoo]

costs money to run the servers that allow you to play online...

They can dip into their profits, not my pockets, tyvm. It's not like they haven't been doing exactly that for at least a decade.

Somehow PC games manage to do it.

It's a cash grab, as simple as that. They try to pretend like they are providing additional services, bonuses, and special deals, but that's all crap.

It's a complete scam, but one that we're stuck with. Don't try to put lipstick on this pig, it ain't gonna help.

[Kurth]

A family account is $20 a year. That’s hardly a crazy price tag for online play and a library of classic NES games.

But I do get the frustration of having online play completely free one day and at a cost - even a modest one - the next.

[GreenGoo]

A family account is $20 a year. That’s hardly a crazy price tag for online play and a library of classic NES games.

But I do get the frustration of having online play completely free one day and at a cost - even a modest one - the next.

It's 35 bucks for us north of the border which is like an additional 10 dollar surcharge after currency conversion, but your point is still valid. 3 bucks a month is nothing. I misplace more than that each month. It absolutely is the principle of the thing. The idea that they've put their hand in my pocket after the price of the console and especially after the price of each game (which are extremely expensive as compared to my PC gaming habits) is certainly annoying.

I understand that this is here to stay, and if I want to play the Switch (or my kids, more likely) on the internet, I need to pay Nintendo for the privilege.

I'm just getting my complaining out of my system.

[Kurth]

Don't let me stop you, by any means!

On a brighter (maybe) note, you still playing Into the Breach?

[GreenGoo]

Don't let me stop you, by any means!

On a brighter (maybe) note, you still playing Into the Breach?

Not lately, no. I just haven't had much time on the switch at all recently.

I see that Dark Souls is coming to the Switch. If I can get it a good enough price (doubtful) I might pick that up and play it there. I have it on the PC, but I could definitely see me playing it on the switch, big or small screen.

[GreenGoo]

A family account is $20 a year. That’s hardly a crazy price tag for online play and a library of classic NES games.

But I do get the frustration of having online play completely free one day and at a cost - even a modest one - the next.

It's 35 bucks for us north of the border which is like an additional 10 dollar surcharge after currency conversion, but your point is still valid.

Surprise! Nintendo says that the 35 dollar price doesn't match my region (it doesn't. It has US in the URL), so the price is now $44.99 (plus tax) for a family membership.

So the pricing is:

US Family: $35
Can Family: $45 + $5.73 = $50.73

All the same arguments for and against still apply, it's just 10 bucks more than I thought it was going to be. At least I get an $0.88 gold points discount.

You can turn off automatic renewal, but of course you can't do it from the purchase screen, you need to do that separately, because of course you can't.

[naednek]

easy solution... move to the US