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Nintendo's solution for online voice chat feels half-baked
From the moment you pick up a Nintendo Switch, it feels like a magical device. The company nailed the hybrid TV / portable concept and created a genuinely fun console that seemed to shed the awkwardness of the Wii U. Indeed, Nintendo has a habit for making fun consoles -- but for the last three generations, it's failed to build online communication options on par with Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Rather than baking voice chat into the Switch itself, Nintendo's new console relegates the feature to a companion smartphone app. We just tried it out and it works, but it's messy, confusing and completely unintuitive.
The 'Splatoon 2' multiplayer web portal heads to the Nintendo app
Splatoon for the Wii U made a strong argument for competitive multiplayer gaming on Nintendo consoles, but in a lot of ways, it was half baked. It had great characters, fun maps, ranked modes and tournaments -- but failed to integrate any kind of official voice chat. It also had a companion web portal, but it offered only the barest of functionality. The game's Nintendo Switch sequel is trying to fix both of those problems with SplatNet 2: a smartphone app that lets players view match and player stats, buy in-game gear and organize voice chat with teammates.
