To allow for a live avatar. For example when playing Mario Kart online you can see the reactions of your friends your playing with. When you hit someone with a red shell and they make a mad face, you get to see it.
Microphones have been in gaming for a while, this is just the next step.
Now... Is any of that necessary? No, not really. Is it kinda neat? Maybe for some.
You're right! I'm not paying extra until they provide proof.
then you lose half the users and perhaps half the communities
As a thought, do you really lose them?
For example the "Television" community previously existed on the lemm.ee instance. The lemm.ee instance is scheduled for shutdown. The "Television" community is now hosted on the piefed.social instance.
It has the same users and has the same topics of discussion. Were the users really lost? Did the community really go away?
Let's pretend Reddit decided it would no longer allow discussion on "Television". What if BlueSky no longer allowed discussion on "Television". You'd have to leave those platforms completely. You really would lose those communities. Those users (at least in part) really would be gone.
Is Lemmy.World a big instance? Sure. Would the users and communities really be lost if it went away? I don't think so.
That's a fair point. I also have a SteamDeck so indie games I previously bought on the Switch 1, I would now buy on the SteamDeck.
If I only had a Switch or Switch 2, there are advantages to buying handheld versus a PC/Xbox/PlayStation.
With the new Xbox handheld thing that likely further cuts into the handheld market and unique feature of the Switch.
Are there lots of non Nintendo games exclusive to the original Switch?
Nintendo consoles are for Nintendo games. Non Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles are a nice bonus, but only when looking at the lifetime of the console and not the launch.
I'm not surprised, but I agree with the hot take, so maybe it's only warm.
I think they keep interest in ActivityPub in order to keep regulators concerned with Antitrust at bay. The Fediverse isn't a real threat in Meta's view and keeping an engineer or two on it in order to stay invested is worth the cost.
Threads can say they are making an honest effort to work with the larger open source community and open federated internet. As an added bonus, it isn't actually a lie. Now the effort they're putting in is the absolute minimum, but it's there.
Now I still do think this is a positive. While most people on Threads will probably never leave, it does introduce them to the wider Fediverse. It makes the Fediverse a less scary thing.
...because the author is an investigative journalist?
We all know it's a scam, but it's their job is to prove it. To prove it you have to (attempt to) buy it.
I agree any actual people trying to buy it are morons.
Google Image Labeler apparently, but I don't actually just remember the game. Looks like it's called Crowdsource now, and you can get points, but it isn't a competition.
Search also sucks because people suck.
If I post a picture of a flower with the caption "Look what grew in my garden!", that's a terrible post from a search point of view.
Later on someone will search for "flower" but I didn't use the word "flower" so now search sucks.
Of course a much more common post is someone posting a picture of text, from Twitter, Tumblr, etc. with, once again, a vague caption. You remember the picture, but not what the poster actually said.
Searching comments will sometimes help, but that depends on the comments being related.
I suppose the reason I'm so forgiving of the online features, is that I don't use them. They're a nice little addition for sure, but I do not see them as core to the game.
I think it's embarrassing that they're sooooo far behind. Definitely if they're a thing you're expecting, it's going to sour your view of the game.
Performance is a personal thing.You're not alone, it's a common complaint, I won't deny that. I've played all three of those games, Kirby, Zelda & Mario but never remember having an issue. I'm sure I did, but it never stuck with me. I remember Arceus looking like an GameCube game. But I also remember completing the Pokedex 100%.
I was burned by Super Mario Party, so that franchise is dead to me. Maybe others will burn me too.
I think the Switch 2 launching with just Mario Kart was a huge mistake. No Mario. No Zelda. I can't remember the last time that happened. Donkey Kong is coming soon, and it's supposedly similar to Oddessy... But we'll have to see. There are great DK games, but he's no Mario and it's been a while.
Oh I absolutely agree there are plenty of criticisms about the company itself and their other offerings, but the games are absolutely top tier.
Their online is miles behind, games from Smash Bros to Mario Maker to Mario Kart could all be improving with better online, but since they were terrible at online I never used them, but those games were still excellent.
A lower powered system or poorly optimized game has some frame rate dips or stuttering, but never in a way that gameplay was affected. I know people will disagree but I've never had an issue with it.
Yes, joycon drift is a real problem. But that's a hardware problem. We should absolutely give Nintendo shit for hardware problems.
Suing fan projects or being aggressive about YouTube/Twitch take down, all fair. Fuck Nintendo for all that.
But all of that is different from their games being solid. I don't blame people who choose to emulate their games, they're awesome games.
I'll give you that Sony might be competitive, I don't see Xbox/Microsoft anywhere close. I think Valve and the SteamDeck are probably 4th in the race, but Valve has to actually make a game. They made great games and should continue to do so.
You also have to keep track the site and how you spell it. For example is it "Microsoft" or "microsoft"?
And keep track of the current name of the site vs the old name. For example am I signing into Microsoft or Live.com or Xbox?
And keep track of my username. Is it my email? Which email? Which username?
I understand the concept but I think if falls apart fast.