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Forums - Nintendo - Wii-U: No "system based" voice chat

Proclus on 21 October 2012
happydolphin said:
Proclus said:

Sorry, but irrelevant, and I have no trouble understanding it, Nintendo is a game publisher and hardware maker that just got of a high with the Wii and DS, lack of money is no excuse.

6 years on and their are plenty of services, companies and employees that have done it years ago, it's not like voip is a gargantuan monster that's extremely hard for any hardware company to tackle anymore, especially when they've had 6 years to contemplate and work on it.

No bro, you don't understand it. First of all it has nothing to do with the time it takes to contemplate.

VOIP has a kick-off cost that Nintendo may not want to spend, for what return it gives. The servers cost a lot of money, and the service is high-bandwidth, so they need some very solid infrastructure there (networking equipment, geo-scattering and all). It's not something Nintendo CAN do I don't even think.

For such an insignificant feature, I don't think they are interested in the costs.

I do understand mate, that Skype (7 years before acquisition by MS), steam (Never been a hardware company so far, way smaller than Nintendo) etc have done it for quite a while now.

Nintendo didn't do it because they didn't care to.



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Moren on 21 October 2012

Nintendo is disgusting.



IamAwsome on 21 October 2012

OK, let me just chime in here. 

The voice chat is on a game-by-game basis. It's not forced in all games like the other two do. If the developer wants VOIP in their games, than they can have it, and since voice chat is in just about every retail PS3/360 game that supports online, than why wouldn't they have it in the Wii U versions of the game? The only thing that the Wii U won't have that the others do is cross game chat, but it DEFINITELY has the RAM, so who's to say they won't include it in an update. 



happydolphin on 21 October 2012
Proclus said:

I do understand mate, that Skype (7 years before acquisition by MS), steam (Never been a hardware company so far, way smaller than Nintendo) etc have done it for quite a while now.

Nintendo didn't do it because they didn't care to.

You're basically saying the same thing I just said, you're just using a more vague and blame-baggaged term ("they don't care to").

The verb I used ("That they are not ready to spend for that") is much more factual and highlights the fact that it is a reasonable decision, not just a "I feel like it or not" kind of thing.

So mill, I still think you don't understand. If Steam does it, they are the exception. Live requires a monthly fee, and Skype has a premium service. As again how long it has been that they have been doing it has nothing to do with Nintendo's decision and the fact that still, 7 years later, they are faced with the same up-front costs.



Scoobes on 21 October 2012
happydolphin said:
Scoobes said:
happydolphin said:
This is some of the more retarded design directions of Nintendo. They still haven't shaken off certain habits...

You remember in that other thread how I said Nintendo would improve their online infrastructure significantly over the next two years. This is one reason why

I was afraid you would say that :)

I honestly think some gamers are over-reacting. Examples:

1) The pro controller mic jack. Maybe the headset doesn't need a jack, maybe it's bluetooth or super wifi or whatever the U uses.

2) It's possible that Nintendo can't invest in a VOIP service at the moment. Remember guys, these are not just features, many come at a cost.

3) It's possible that the API allows the dev servers to communicate with other dev servers in case gamers want to cross-game chat. It seems to be up to the devs for the U.

Lol.

Gamers? Over-reacting? Why that never happens

For what its worth I agree with you, but when demand for these features becomes clear, I think Nintendo will try an implement them. They have a Gb of RAM to work with and if it becomes clear that customers want these features, then the implementation costs won't seem so big anymore.

I also wouldn't trust devs to push cross-game chat. It's really not in their best interests considering it's not their platform and the costs/effort is not really worth it for them.




Get your Portable ID!

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thekitchensink on 21 October 2012

Why does everyone seem to forget that Microsoft has a patent on cross-game chat for home consoles? The Vita gets away with it because it's a portable, but Nintendo doesn't really have that as an option for the Wii U. Obviously the company will make use of voice chat, as evidenced by their showing of video chat capabilities, it's just that they wouldn't legally be able to have it go across games.



Could I trouble you for some maple syrup to go with the plate of roffles you just served up?

Tag, courtesy of fkusumot: "Why do most of the PS3 fanboys have avatars that looks totally pissed?"
"Ok, girl's trapped in the elevator, and the power's off.  I swear, if a zombie comes around the next corner..."
Scoobes on 21 October 2012
thekitchensink said:
Why does everyone seem to forget that Microsoft has a patent on cross-game chat for home consoles? The Vita gets away with it because it's a portable, but Nintendo doesn't really have that as an option for the Wii U. Obviously the company will make use of voice chat, as evidenced by their showing of video chat capabilities, it's just that they wouldn't legally be able to have it go across games.

How does that patent count as not-obvious? Steam, which is a gaming platform, has had the option for years. How is it not obvious to transfer that concept/software to home consoles?




Get your Portable ID!

Lostplanet22 on 21 October 2012
Mr Khan said:
I still never understood what was so important about this feature, tbh. It's similar to Achievements. People get in these screaming fits about how essential it is to the gaming experience, but i just don't see it.

Get (gamer)friends (we are literally talking hours on XLBA together about a lot of stuff, the kind of rambling and nonsense that you see in soaps like the comic book men, I love the experience and would miss it a lot if it was not available).  Honestly not sure how you can not understand this.



 

Mr Khan on 21 October 2012
Lostplanet22 said:
Mr Khan said:
I still never understood what was so important about this feature, tbh. It's similar to Achievements. People get in these screaming fits about how essential it is to the gaming experience, but i just don't see it.

Get (gamer)friends (we are literally talking hours on XLBA together about a lot of stuff, the kind of rambling and nonsense that you see in soaps like the comic book men, I love the experience and would miss it a lot if it was not available).  Honestly not sure how you can not understand this.

Usually when i'm playing, i'm... playing. When i want to talk, i talk.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

thekitchensink on 21 October 2012
Scoobes said:
thekitchensink said:
Why does everyone seem to forget that Microsoft has a patent on cross-game chat for home consoles? The Vita gets away with it because it's a portable, but Nintendo doesn't really have that as an option for the Wii U. Obviously the company will make use of voice chat, as evidenced by their showing of video chat capabilities, it's just that they wouldn't legally be able to have it go across games.

How does that patent count as not-obvious? Steam, which is a gaming platform, has had the option for years. How is it not obvious to transfer that concept/software to home consoles?

It doesn't matter how obvious a feature it would be.  Steam can use it because, once again, Steam is not a home console.  Microsoft has a patent on using such a service for a home console, hence why it is not an option on either Wii U or PS3.



Could I trouble you for some maple syrup to go with the plate of roffles you just served up?

Tag, courtesy of fkusumot: "Why do most of the PS3 fanboys have avatars that looks totally pissed?"
"Ok, girl's trapped in the elevator, and the power's off.  I swear, if a zombie comes around the next corner..."