Gaming Producer of Splatoon - "Voice Chat Isn't Needed to Communicate Strategy"

[Slartibartfast42]

Perhaps on systems that provide voice chat out of the gate this isn't an issue, on systems that don't it is. I don't think I'm familiar with a single modern squad/team-based shooter that doesn't have voice chat.

You can go play those other shooters. The charm of Nintendo is that they are different. Why can't Nintendo fanboys have this one shooter? Go play all the other ones. Why must you insist on ruining Splatoon for the fanboys who don't normally play shooters?

 

[stomp_442]

Yes.. Remember, you pay for voice chat on the other systems.

All the call of duty games on Wii U and Wii that have voice chat there is no additional charge, as a matter of fact there is no charges at all for online gameplay or voice chat.

 

[Tigran]

All the call of duty games on Wii U and Wii that have voice chat there is no additional charge, as a matter of fact there is no charges at all for online gameplay or voice chat.

Yes.. But you are using Activisions Servers for those games. Most of the other games on the Xbox and Playstion are using Live and PS+ which -are- paid for services.

 

[Foxi4]

You can go play those other shooters. The charm of Nintendo is that they are different. Why can't Nintendo fanboys have this one shooter? Go play all the other ones. Why must you insist on ruining Splatoon for the fanboys who don't normally play shooters?

I don't want it ruined, I want it fixed.

Yes.. But you are using Activisions Servers for those games. Most of the other games on the Xbox and Playstion are using Live and PS+ which -are- paid for services.

Is Steam a paid service too? How about Origin? Ah, right, this issue is only relevant on consoles, we have to abstract and create a very specific context in order to make your argument hold water. We should also probably narrow this down to current gen home console systems since PSN on the PS3 and the PSVita is free of charge.

 

[stomp_442]

Yes.. But you are using Activisions Servers for those games. Most of the other games on the Xbox and Playstion are using Live and PS+ which -are- paid for services.

Not quite sure what servers are being used, I thought it was all peer based connections with call of duty games. Isn't that one of the complaints about that game is that activision doesn't have dedicated servers for it?

Regardless, it probably don't take much to add voice chat, and an option for the parents to turn it off if it offends them. Nintendo already has a video chat service that is compatible with the gamepads video camera and mic, so the Wii U already has voice chat capabilities, for free.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Voice chat would cost Nintendo a lot of money. Voice chat would cost them sales. A lot of people, mostly parents, wouldn't even buy the game if voice chat was allowed. Voice chat would causes more disconnects and more lag and more instability. Voice chat would cause people to quit in the middle of a game because they don't like who they were teamed up with. It would be utter chaos. Only a minority of users would use the voice chat, so what are your chances of being randomly paired with the minority you want to be paired with? You'd only form a decent team once per gaming session at those odds, if that much at all. What good is voice chat if every time you play, you have to mute it, or your team mates muted you? Voice chat scares away casuals and softcores, and those are the people I want to play with. I don't want to play with hardcores who demand voice chat.

God forbid a multi-billion company actually gives a quality online service for their paid customers.

Yes.. Remember, you pay for voice chat on the other systems.

Yes because Dreamcast and PS3 didn't have voice chat.

But you see.. we are all communicating just fine without voice chat.

You are communicating here so while it isn't by voice it's still chatting something which you can't really do in this game until they decide to.

Luck it a good thing. It allows everyone to have a chance to win. If the game was all skill, then many people who never win, it wouldn't be fun, and they would just end up not even buying the game in the first place. The demo was fun. But I feel like after people had time to get good at it, it would stop being fun, so I won't even buy it.

If it were like Mario Kart 8 where players have their rank increase (or decrease) then you only play with other players of 5k, 6k, 7k or higher. I can't remember when it was the last time I played against a 1k or 2k player unless he/she was playing co-op with someone else of a higher rank.

So if they really wanted to have Splatoon as the "Mario Kart Shooter" then they're going to have to rethink it.

A multiplayer game with no voice chat is OK but when the game is 60 usd, 1 mode , 5 maps, dlc, and heavily relying on multiple player mode is not ok

1 mode and 5 maps.. I wonder how long it'll last me before I get bored of it. Well, I could always try to play with a different style so there's some variety to it.

You can go play those other shooters. The charm of Nintendo is that they are different. Why can't Nintendo fanboys have this one shooter? Go play all the other ones. Why must you insist on ruining Splatoon for the fanboys who don't normally play shooters?

Since when is voice chat going to ruin when it'd be optional to have ON or OFF? O.o

 

[RevPokemon]

God forbid a multi-billion company actually gives a quality online service for their paid customers.



Yes because Dreamcast and PS3 didn't have voice chat.



You are communicating here so while it isn't by voice it's still chatting something which you can't really do in this game until they decide to.



If it were like Mario Kart 8 where players have their rank increase (or decrease) then you only play with other players of 5k, 6k, 7k or higher. I can't remember when it was the last time I played against a 1k or 2k player unless he/she was playing co-op with someone else of a higher rank.

So if they really wanted to have Splatoon as the "Mario Kart Shooter" then they're going to have to rethink it.



1 mode and 5 maps.. I wonder how long it'll last me before I get bored of it. Well, I could always try to play with a different style so there's some variety to it.



Since when is voice chat going to ruin when it'd be optional to have ON or OFF? O.o

If you play by your self it will get old in an hour.
With friends it will still get old fast (imagine kart with only 5 tracks and 1 mode. It would be awful)

 

[Deboog]

If you play by your self it will get old in an hour.
With friends it will still get old fast (imagine kart with only 5 tracks and 1 mode. It would be awful)

To be fair Mario Kart 8 does have one mode. I mean who even touches battle mode am I right?

 

[thorasgar]

Watching the testfire I noticed there is no coordination in weapons selection, so it is like rock, paper, scissors. You can end up with all rollers or snipers on a team and that is not good.

As I parent of boys I am painfully aware every day how they just don't have filters and are so very easily influenced by their environment and I am not at all comfortable with unrestricted voice chat. Sure I could turn it off but the reality is if I did so the boys would be angry and resentful. No parent has the ability to supervise all their kids video gaming time.

I really see both sides in this debate. I don't like dumbing things down "for the children" or trying to make the Internet a giant sandbox. There certainly are technological solutions to all these issues but they cost money to implement. The NSA has shown us the technology exists to mass monitor voice data for unacceptable content.

In the end, I see this game as an acceptable shooter for kids and maybe us adults just have to learn to accept the limitations imposed in this case even though it hobles the game and makes it not as good as it could be.

 

[Deboog]

Watching the testfire I noticed there is no coordination in weapons selection, so it is like rock, paper, scissors. You can end up with all rollers or snipers on a team and that is not good.

As I parent of boys I am painfully aware every day how they just don't have filters and are so very easily influenced by their environment and I am not at all comfortable with unrestricted voice chat. Sure I could turn it off but the reality is if I did so the boys would be angry and resentful. No parent has the ability to supervise all their kids video gaming time.

I really see both sides in this debate. I don't like dumbing things down "for the children" or trying to make the Internet a giant sandbox. There certainly are technological solutions to all these issues but they cost money to implement. The NSA has shown us the technology exists to mass monitor voice data for unacceptable content.

In the end, I see this game as an acceptable shooter for kids and maybe us adults just have to learn to accept the limitations imposed in this case even though it hobles the game and makes it not as good as it could be.

If Nintendo wants to stop us from yelling at randoms online fine I can accept that. I should be able to talk to my friends though, and not by sitting next to my laptop with Skype.

 

[Osha]

Meh, I don't really care about the no voice chat deal. Voice chat in games is usually trash in terms of audio quality, or even in terms of quality in general, as others have said, 12-years old screaming around, "grown-ups" going "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT ME", or micspam. I'd rather set a Teamspeak up and talk to my friends this way. Better quality all around.
I'll be called a Nintendo fanboy for that but whatever.

 

[thorasgar]

If Nintendo wants to stop us from yelling at randoms online fine I can accept that. I should be able to talk to my friends though, and not by sitting next to my laptop with Skype.

Agreed. Unfortunately I think the real problem is Nintendo is not willing to deploy the resources necessary to satisfy both sides so the solution is to just not offer chat. They make some really great decisions and some really poor ones, it will be interesting to see the results of this one.

Oh, and mk8 battle mode is unplayable. I refuse.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Agreed. Unfortunately I think the real problem is Nintendo is not willing to deploy the resources necessary to satisfy both sides so the solution is to just not offer chat. They make some really great decisions and some really poor ones, it will be interesting to see the results of this one.

Oh, and mk8 battle mode is unplayable. I refuse.

Battle Mode truly is garbage. This alone just proves MK8 is an incomplete game while also being great.

 

[FAST6191]

Sure I could turn it off but the reality is if I did so the boys would be angry and resentful.

Isn't that just called "tough shit"?

 

[Foxi4]

Isn't that just called "tough shit"?

How dare you, FAST! Don't you know that the only way to stop online bullies is to create a big hug circle? And no talking, talking is bad, you might trigger someone and we can't have that. I also suggest that games shouldn't have losers - everyone's a winner! We should have medals for everyone participating, that's the way to go. Throw scores out the window, gone with the old, in with the new! Being competitive is bad, Nintendo Teddy Bear* Simulator coming soon!

*Made with fake fur, synthetic stuffing and other non-conflict materials

 

[Sakitoshi]

Yes.. The rollers are -SO- OP... That teams without rollers can easily beat teams with rollers. They are -SO- OP.

Spoiler

I ended on a team full of rollers 3 matches in a row. we steamrolled the other team composed of two rollers, one jr. and one charger.
but I must admit I got used and learned the strong points of the roller and at least one other member of my team did too.

ontopic:
I'm on a "don't care but would be nice" stance. I don't use voice chat that much in multiplayer games, I just do my best and analyze the situation to see what should I do and I do just fine doing that. and the times I have used voice chat I do the same thing only announcing what I'm gonna do to keep my team informed. I don't play complex games online, so that can explain it, but Splatoon isn't complex, so I don't think voice chat is essential, but can be very useful. being able to give orders with the D-pad could help too.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Battle Mode truly is garbage. This alone just proves MK8 is an incomplete game while also being great.

We can agree there. I'm really hoping the next DLC is fixing Battle Mode. They should give us like 6 battle modes, plus bring back arena stages, not that crap they have now.

 

[thorasgar]

Isn't that just called "tough shit"?

Yes it is. Parents also tend to avoid bringing as many "tough shit" situations into their homes as possible. The path to least resistance. Does a parent want to lock it down with parental controls that the kids very well may be able to circumvent with advise from sites such as GBATemp and deal with the constant complaining because Johnny's parents let him do voice chat or just not buy the game all together?

I have done very well in reasoning with my kids and they realize they are not mature enough for rated M games and such and don't really bug me about it. Voice chat would not stop me from purchasing Splatoon but I know it would stop many parents and Nintendo knows that. I am sure that is just one of many other factors in their decision.

In my old neighborhood a large percentage of the families were Air Force and they had no problem letting their 3rd and 4th graders play COD or other "war" video games, but absolutely had a fit over shows like SpongeBob(language) or anything Disney (to secular). I had a hard time understanding that one.

 

[Deboog]

or anything Disney (to secular).

I don't mean to derail this thread, but what? I've never thought of Disney as particularly secular.

 

[pBullet]

Yes it is. Parents also tend to avoid bringing as many "tough shit" situations into their homes as possible. The path to least resistance. Does a parent want to lock it down with parental controls that the kids very well may be able to circumvent with advise from sites such as GBATemp and deal with the constant complaining because Johnny's parents let him do voice chat or just not buy the game all together?

I have done very well in reasoning with my kids and they realize they are not mature enough for rated M games and such and don't really bug me about it. Voice chat would not stop me from purchasing Splatoon but I know it would stop many parents and Nintendo knows that. I am sure that is just one of many other factors in their decision.

In my old neighborhood a large percentage of the families were Air Force and they had no problem letting their 3rd and 4th graders play COD or other "war" video games, but absolutely had a fit over shows like SpongeBob(language) or anything Disney (to secular). I had a hard time understanding that one.

While I agree with your points with parents not purchasing a game that could potentially lead let their kids talk to strangers, the problem is that Nintendo has already created an application called Wii U chat, in which all you need to do is easily swap nintendo network ids. And that's not just voice chat, it's also video chat.