Two generations after it was popularized, Nintendo still won’t implement full voice chat in its games.
I will never forget the two or so years that I obsessed over Halo 2. Late at night, after work, school, and other non-galaxy saving tasks were completed, I went over to my friend Adam’s house so we could play Halo 2 online via split-screen. With our headsets on at all times, we coordinated plans on capturing flags, revealed goddamn sniper locations, and surely talked a lot smack in the pre-game lobbies. Yeah, people frequently crossed the line and we’d hear some pretty heinous things, but the good far outweighed the bad. Annoying young punks as were, Adam’s username had something to do with going vegan, while mine was the title of a Bad Religion song – “Atheist Peace,” to be specific. Every now and then, in a lobby before a match, someone would chime in “oh hey, I’m vegetarian,” or “Dude I love Bad Religion.” Our friends lists steadily expanded over time with each of these connections, and soon it wasn’t just the two of us getting together late at night to play; we had a Halo crew. And it was all thanks to being able to talk while we played.
That was 2004. Since then, voice chat has grown into a more robust and absolutely standard feature for Microsoft and Sony platforms. System-level chat and party systems allow you to talk with your friends while you aren’t even playing the same game, creating a feeling of simply hanging out each time you sit down to play. At nearly 30 years old, I’ve found this system to be a pretty good facsimile of how I played games back in my early 20s.
Unfortunately, Nintendo hasn’t placed the same focus on voice chat. Or really any focus, save for some hackneyed implementation and a very, very bad accessory. That trend looks to continue, as today it was revealed that Splatoon, Nintendo’s upcoming multiplayer-focused shooter, will have no voice chat in random matches with serious questions marks regarding voice chat anywhere in the game (we have reached out to Nintendo for clarification). 11 years after I spent endless nights organizing attacks and talking about punk albums, Nintendo still hasn’t implemented voice chat in a substantial way.
The Wii era certainly set Nintendo well behind its competitors. While Sony and Microsoft brought online gaming to the forefront of the home console experience, the Wii never made online play a priority. I laugh about it now, but I remember getting excited in 2006 thinking “man, I can’t wait for Adam and I to be able to play Wii Sports online just like Halo.” That, of course, didn’t come to fruition until some eight years later with the release of Wii Sports Club on Wii U. The Wii’s lifespan was spent wondering, after a game was announced, if it would actually feature online multiplayer, let alone voice chat.
Then came the Wii Speak. I really can’t figure out how this accessory was ever approved. Forsaking the headset model, Nintendo opted instead to create a microphone that sat atop the TV, across the room. Not only was the microphone closer to your TV’s speakers than your mouth, it also picked up any background or ambient noise in the room. This move is particularly bizarre given that Nintendo was actually supporting voice chat on the Nintendo DS; they even sold a headset so you could chat during matches and trades in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl! Meanwhile, the Wii was given no such support.
The Wii U fixed most of these shortcomings. It features a much more reliable online infrastructure, and video chat – yes, something potentially much more dangerous than voice chat – is actually a key feature that was highlighted during the Wii U reveal at E3. Launch games like Call of Duty: Black Ops II featured voice chat right out of the gate, using either a headset or the microphone built into the GamePad. It seemed like online play was going to finally become a focus for Nintendo.
And really, it has. Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. both run flawlessly, and Splatoon is poised to be Nintendo’s first foray into creating a competitive online shooter. But still, voice chat doesn’t appear to be a priority. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. both support lobby chat, but once the matches start, it is pure silence. We know the hardware can support voice chat during games, as seen in Call of Duty, but it’s still omitted. Why?
I can live without talking during games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros., but Splatoon absolutely deserves the feature. Like in 2004 with Halo 2 or today in Destiny, being able to coordinate attacks with your teammates is crucial. Given that one of the major goals in Splatoon is to cover the field with as much of your team’s ink as possible, voice chat seems paramount in deciding what areas of the stage need to be focused on. Without the ability to do so, I’m worried that Splatoon is instead going to be a chaotic, mostly singular experience. That isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s far different from the game I thought we were getting.
Today’s news has certainly put a damper on my excitement for Splatoon. I had visions in my head of grand Nintendo World Report matches pitting readers against writers, but without the ability to talk both before and during matches, it’s hard to look forward to silent matches with no strategy or shit-talking, which are basically the core tenants of good-natured online play.
