Splatoon! Bow to your immortal queen, and indisputed best girl- Marie

[Willsy]

The game looks great but the lack of friend lobbies at launch and the content locked behind Amiibo (which will be fucking impossible to find thanks Nintendo) is disheartening. I will still be buying it day 1 regardless, but I'm beginning to think that Nintendo are latching on to some very questionable industry practices that I honestly didn't think they would adopt (patching basic things that should have been in the game from the get-go, paywalls, etc).

The free DLC is nice though.

[Blue Blood]

This is the dumbest demo I've ever heard of.

[TrueBlue]

I'm assuming it's a stress test demo? To make sure the servers can handle peak times come full release?

 

It is weird though, I have to say.

[Willsy]

Going to have to second what Blue Blood said. The limits that Nintendo already have on their games are ridiculous, but three hours in total? You can't even call this a beta test, let alone a demo. Battlefield Hardline was available constantly for the space of a week during its beta, and that was an EA game.

It's nice to be able to play it early, but come on, 3 hours in total? I just hope to god that they don't make the only available times at the wee small hours for Europe or US (which they probably will).

[Carbo]

Stress tests only available at limited hours of a given day. Stop the presses.

This isn't some unprecedented thing folks. Dark Souls 2 had the very same and that was a single player game.

[Junko]

4-5am isn't exactly peak hours

Stress tests only available at limited hours of a given day. Stop the presses.

This isn't some unprecedented thing folks. Dark Souls 2 had the very same and that was a single player game.

DS2 had some multiplayer elements at least. And wouldn't a stress test be better for longer periods and actually at peak hours?

[Carbo]

4-5am isn't exactly peak hours

Because those are worldwide times tailored for Japanese and European timezones.

[Junko]

PT is seven hours behind? Soniko, Blue Blood, Ringo, help me out pl0x

Just got this email.

[Carbo]

For reference of how it translates to BST.

It's the same general period as Pacific Standard and Japanese Standard. Everyone gets one period in "early morning" because those are peak hours for the other time zones.

[Willsy]

The first test will be taking place at 04:00 in GMT time zones. Hahaha no.

Edit: Ninja'd

So people in GMT in actual fact only get 2 hours? That's even worse....

[Junko]

It's the same general period as Pacific Standard and Japanese Standard. Everyone gets one period in "early morning" because those are peak hours for the other time zones.

Annnnd now it kinda makes sense.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Stress test make sense, I mean does everyone want this to come out, the entire Nintendo online network to go down, and all Nintendo games to be effected? Its pretty standard protocol

 

Also in regards to the spacing out additional content, well first off it is free, and second this looks like a game that Nintendo wants to be evergreen and support most likely until the end of Wii-u, and they are adding stuff as they can optimize it, also the lack of friend servers at the beginning means more players in the general pool, and more people joining in, instead of half the user base disappearing into private matches, which is actually quite Tactful

[Junko]

Also in regards to the spacing out additional content, well first off it is free, and second this looks like a game that Nintendo wants to be evergreen and support most likely until the end of Wii-u, and they are adding stuff as they can optimize it, also the lack of friend servers at the beginning means more players in the general pool, and more people joining in, instead of half the user base disappearing into private matches, which is actually quite Tactful

Excuse me, Mando, you appear to have typed the word "additional" in place of the word "essential".

[Milo]

NA commercial.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oynGf9-T1UA

[Carbo]

I will say that omitting the ability to create friend lobbies against other friend teams was a stupid thing to omit and vindicated at least my own suspicions that it's clear how Splatoon is a game that only grew in scale after the immensely positive feedback it's been getting ever since reveal. It's clear that this was originally intended to be a much smaller title to accommodate the sales expectations they could get from the Wii U, that they chose to re-evaluate in time after realizing that it would probably cause a bigger splash than they expected.

But taking a page out of TF2's notebook is always a good thing and they completely knocked that one out of the park. It's some really forward thinking coming from a first party console developer and not something you see a lot of at all. This Direct easily solidified my confidence for Splatoon's longevity and I'd like to think that it was the best argument Nintendo has had for the game's existence thus far.

[Willsy]

Stress test make sense, I mean does everyone want this to come out, the entire Nintendo online network to go down, and all Nintendo games to be effected? Its pretty standard protocol

But what harm could longer stress tests do? If anything the small amount of allocated time makes me skeptical.

Also in regards to the spacing out additional content, well first off it is free, and second this looks like a game that Nintendo wants to be evergreen and support most likely until the end of Wii-u, and they are adding stuff as they can optimize it, also the lack of friend servers at the beginning means more players in the general pool, and more people joining in, instead of half the user base disappearing into private matches, which is actually quite Tactful

There's nothing wrong with the free DLC, it's the content locked behind Amiibo that people are upset about (and quite rightly too). While they are adding free DLC it's scummy for them to be locking content on the actual game disc. As for friend lobbies, the lack of them isn't tactful, it's downright lazy and there is really no defending that. Its a standard in multiplayer shooters and the fact that they are pushing it to a patch doesn't make them look much better. This is the kind of thing developers pull with AAA games and now Nintendo are doing it. It's seriously disappointing that I have to wait until August, over two months after the game launches to be able to jump into a private lobby and just have fun with my friends.

[Junko]

The first test will be taking place at 04:00 in GMT time zones. Hahaha no.

Edit: Ninja'd

So people in GMT in actual fact only get 2 hours? That's even worse....

Back to this for a sec, it's still 3 hours.

[Carbo]

But what harm could longer stress tests do? If anything the small amount of allocated time makes me skeptical.

Stress tests are markedly different from Beta / Alpha testing. The latter are held mostly to garner general game play and balancing feedback. Stress tests are usually no longer than an hour, and Splatoon is no exception. The reason they are limited in time is because they're there to encourage heavy server load. This doesn't happen if you extend the general times. By having a short stress test you maximize the likelyhood of players joining in during the given timeslots because of less opportunities to do so.

Again, refer to the aforementioned Dark Souls 2 which saw it's original Japan only stress test to encompass one hour while it's first Worldwide test encompassed two hours. Since it required more time in the oven though there were additional longer periods announced after it's original testing.

If Splatoon requires additional testing there will be more periods announced over time.

[Autosaver]

 the content locked behind Amiibo (which will be fucking impossible to find thanks Nintendo)

From the inventory levels posted, the Splatoon Amiibo should be common enough.

[Willsy]

Stress tests are markedly different from Beta / Alpha testing. The latter are held mostly to garner general game play and balancing feedback. Stress tests are usually no longer than an hour, and Splatoon is no exception. The reason they are limited in time is because they're there to encourage heavy server load. This doesn't happen if you extend the general times. By having a short stress test you maximize the likelyhood of players joining in during the given timeslots because of less opportunities to do so.Again, refer to the aforementioned Dark Souls 2 which saw it's original Japan only stress test to encompass one hour while it's first Worldwide test encompassed two hours. Since it required more time in the oven though there were additional longer periods announced after it's original testing.If Splatoon requires additional testing there will be more periods announced over time.

Oh, that makes more sense then. Thanks.

From the inventory levels posted, the Splatoon Amiibo should be common enough.

That's a relief because I wanted the Amiibo (seriously they look really cool) but the on-disc DLC still rubs me in the wrong way. I guess the free DLC does make up for that though, so it's not all bad.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

I thought people wanted Amiibo to do more stuff, though?

[Milo]

By the by, Smash Bros. Wii U (unsure about 3DS) is getting Inkling Mii costumes. They are *prepare to collectively groan* a Gamestop exclusive pre-order.

 

They look...erm....

 

 

...well, at least Villager has some competition in the uncanny valley face contest.

 

Also, the 3DS is also getting Splatoon-themed faceplates (New 3DS only I believe; and exclusive to Japan) and a Splatoon-themed Home Menu theme (IDK the status on this one).

 

 

 

European members who download the Splatoon Global Testfire demo get a 10% discount off buying the game on the eShop until June 6th.

[Thigolf]

The faceplates are coming to Europe too, actually

[Willsy]

I thought people wanted Amiibo to do more stuff, though?

People didn't want meaningful content like missions locked behind them though. Smash Bros and MK8 handled them well, and honestly costumes for Splatoon were fine too. Nintendo should be finding ways to incorporate Amiibo without locking things like missions behind them. I think so,etching like Smash Bros where you could train your own Inkling would have been a lot of fun, and it wouldn't take anything away from the game.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

IDK, missions look more fun in the always available Octo campaign thing. This is subjective of course, but I'd think people would care more about costumes than the little missions.