Online
Online is going to prove to be an interesting arena for Nintendo and the Switch. None of the most recent consoles in the family really had an online focus, nor did they cater to parties and competitive play. This time, the company seems to finally be taking a page from its competitors’ books. The Switch will have a paid online service that provides online play, access to a smart device app (phone, tablet) that allows for chatting and party management, discounts, and free NES and SNES games each month. Oh, and you’ll be able to take screenshots with the push of a button, and be able to share them on social media.
While there’s still some confusion on whether or not you absolutely need the mobile app to use all the features or not, this is still a big step for the company. Unfortunately, like with the hardware, there are still some details that aren’t exactly known. Are there dedicated servers? What kind of features do we get for online play? How much will we be able to share? These are important to know, but thankfully the service will be introduced in a trial. While the service won’t be free, the subscription fee won’t go live until the fall of this year. That means we’ll get to try it out, share our thoughts and concerns with Nintendo, and hopefully help them reach a reasonable price-point for this Switch service.
So far, it’s sounding like it falls right in line with what is offered by Sony and Microsoft, although how reliable it is remains to be seen.
