Nintendo Switch Is Removing Integration for X, Formerly Twitter

ZeroCool@vger.social to Technology@lemmy.world – 770 points –
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And nothing of value was lost

I remember it being convenient for getting screenshots off it to pc quickly, but I don't know if there's a better method of doing so. I rarely, if ever, use the share function to begin with.

This is something that Nintendo should have had a better fix for years ago. With my PS5, I can access my screenshots and video clips from the app and save them directly to my device. I can't believe that Nintendo hasn't managed to do something as simple as this, they're just so unwilling to make a modern product.

Nintendo has always treated online as an afterthought.

except when selling 30 year old game higher that it was and you can only play it online

And it is attached to a subscription service that rotates games on a whim.

Have any NSO games been removed before? I've only ever heard of them adding new ones

You're right about the classic games like NES, SNES etc., but I know for one that they took down Super Mario Bros. 35 permanently which is a part of the NSO subscription.

Yea, last time I tired, you have to connect to its personal wifi hotspot and download them via the app. It’s so backwards!

Good news, they have had a better fix for several years now. About a month after the PS5 came out, so what you described was possibly an actual factor in it.

"Better" is such a strong word. It's a kludge where you have to connect your phone and switch to a virtual wifi and then you can send up to ten photos at a snail's pace. I kept using twitter because it's such an annoying process.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on PS5 you'll need to send individual images to a friend, to be able to download them from your chat session on the mobile app. Or on Xbox, you'll need to pay for OneDrive or it'll be removed after 90 days. Both more annoying from my perspective.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on PS5 you'll need to send individual images to a friend, to be able to download them from your chat session on the mobile app.

That's the way on PS4. PS5 automatically sends all photo and video captures to the PS app on your phone. They disappear after 14 days, so if you don't save them within two weeks, then you have to get them with chat posts like PS4.

You can actually go on your PS5 and re-send those photos or videos if you need to. Just hit select when you've got the photo you want to re-send highlighted, and an option to send it to the PS App will appear.

For PS5, the last ~2 weeks of screenshots are accessible directly from the app, as well as video captures under a certain size (I think generally a 3-5 minute max). The console automatically backs them up to your PS cloud account.

You can directly connect to the Switch over a wifi network it creates. You can select up to 10 photos to share at a time. It'll create a one-time-use wifi network (the connection details are different every time) and generate a QR code so you can connect to it. After your phone is connected, it'll generate another QR code that'll direct you to a webpage (a local IP address, specifically) where you can browse and download the photos from.

Make sure to turn off data on your phone while you're trying to do this. Some phones use data as a fallback if the wifi network they're connected to isn't connected to the internet.

This is a newer function though, wasn't always available

It's been a function for at least a few years. And they didn't mention whether it had to be new or not.

Yeah it's so cumbersome, especially if you forget data being on.

At least you can bookmark the second QR code because it's always the same IP address. So once you're connected you can just directly navigate to 192.168.0.1/index.html and you're in.

Honestly, it's easier for me to just double-tap the power button to open the camera and scan the QR code than to have to open my bookmarks.

And I don't mind that the SSID for the wifi changes every time. Again, it's simply faster to turn off data and scan the QR code than it is to force my phone to connect to a network that isn't connected to the internet.

Yeah, there's more convenient ways this could've been done, but it's not a horrible design.

Edit: fixed a typo ("eventually time" -> "every time")

Again, it's simply faster to turn off data and scan the QR code than it is to force my phone to connect to a network that isn't connected to the internet.

You have to connect to the network in order to transfer anything, so what do you mean? I'm talking the second QR code that's simply a link to the IP address I linked. I can just open my browser (after being connected to the Switch's WiFi) and type a 1 to let it autofill to skip scanning it at all.

With the second paragraph, I was mainly referring to your first comment about it being cumbersome (sorry for doing that out of order), which I took to be referring to the whole process. I probably could've phrased that a lot better.

If you have a hacked Switch you can use mtp-server or ftpd. I like the MTP approach, it works just like DeckyMTP on the Steam Deck.

Classic Nintendo, making simple things like copying screenshots so complicated hacking your switch is a reasonable thing to do....

I do think there should be more easy official wireless options, but it isn't actually difficult to transfer your screenshots & video's over to a PC. All you need to do is put your microSD card in an SD card adapter, and plug it into a PC. Although that worked better back in 2017 when it released; most computers don't have SD card slots anymore.

Do you know if

  1. Having switch is without hardware modification of any kind? And
  2. Can i play my "downloaded" copies of owned games on modified switch?

I used the Facebook posting feature back in 2018 before I had an SD card because I was running out of space. I regret it now though because it severely compressed the video & audio and entirely wiped the date/time metadata. Even though I don't recommend it, I feel that Facebook would be a better option than Twitter, because you can private posts.

The site should now be just called "Formerly Twitter"

I don't think anything could possibly chide him more than simply forgetting and continuing to call it Twitter.

Rare based move from Nintendo.

No point in expending resources to support a dying social media platform people barely had reason to use from a game console when it was popular.

Yeah because Twitter is very popular in Japan.

What the fuck u talking about?

that is why I mean it is very popular in Japan. it is in top 3 right? the highest in Asia?

Japan has 1/3 the population vs the US so that means that nearly every man, woman, and child has Twitter in Japan vs 30% of US people.

OP's username does not check out, these are actually Cool news

I believe that Zero Cool is a character in the movie Hackers, though I haven't seen it.

googles

Yup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film)

Cast

  • Jonny Lee Miller as Dade MurphyΒ / "Zero Cool"Β / "Crash Override"

Apparently it's the main character.

That was my first thought and the second one was "dang I'm old".

That movie will be 30 next year. I’m old with you buddy.

I'll join this.

I commented on a motorcycle thread a few days ago where the poster said "bike from 1982, over forty years old" (or something to that effect) where I had to do the math and realize... Shit... That was forty years ago.

Someone recently told me they bought a "vintage truck". I asked them what year the truck was made, expecting something from the 60's or so....but apparently 1985 is vintage now. 😟

I will refuse to call most cars made in the 80s or later "vintage" even though that's the technically correct word. "Garbage", yes. It's just not the same when it's just a shitbox full of dry-rotting composites and plastics. Older cars were something you wanted to keep around. Modern "old" cars are something you're embarrassed to be driving around in.

I will refuse to call most cars made in the 80s or later "vintage" even though that's the technically correct word.

It was easier to reach the 1980s than most for TimeSquirrel.

Maybe they delete enough code to be able to give us a third β€œtheme”.

No can do. All the removed code is replaced with stability

I don't want stability. I want gaping holes where I can put more homebrew.

Can't they at least update the localisation files too?

It's been nearly a year and we're still calling it "X, formerly Twitter". XD

Musk probably thought calling it "X" made it sound edgy and cool. I bet it really annoys him every time it's called "the social media platform formerly known as Twitter."

2 more...
2 more...

This would be great if Nintendo was genuinely concerned about encouraging the usage of a hostile platform. Sadly odds are that it cares about its brand way more than "those things" playing their games.

Nintendo didn't provide one [reason], but it's likely due to X's increased API costs

I don't think so. Even with the abusive costs the price would be rather small for Nintendo, in comparison with the advertisement of its games in Twitter. I think that it's mostly a "eeeeew, Nintendo has X integration? Nintendo must be fascist."

Either way it's a positive.

More like "Joanne got a promotion for integrating X!", followed by "Mike got a promotion by saving the company 2M/year!"

I think that it's more like "Mike got a promotion *for saving our brand from unnecessary damage". The whole thing stinks "muh brand" from a distance for me.

If you are absolutely locked in to someone else's service, then there really isn't anything you can do if they do something object able, better to rip off the Band-Aid now than later.

X Formerly Known As Twitter isn't functionally irreplaceable, and I do hope the higher up at Nintendo will realize the only way that the only way to make sure they have full control of their publishing platform is by owning it and start a Misskey instance or something.

What? What type of integration? I just wanna watch Plex and Netflix on there.

Posting photos and videos from the Switch directly onto Twitter.

I don't understand the mindset in this thread. Functionality is neutral. Withdrawal of it is not a good thing - people should be able to comprehend that even if their vision is partially blocked by their hate boner for X/Musk.

If you assume:

  1. X is a bad thing (either because it promotes bad ideas, or because it crowds out better platforms, or some other reason)
  2. The more users and functionality X has, the more powerful it will be.

Then removing functionality from X is a good thing.

Is it neutral? Nintendo integrating with X both advertises X and Nintendo

Everything has a cost. I would have cheered them removing twitter from a game console before it was ruined. Nobody really needs that. And the resources can go to something that supports the core functionality of the device.

Put it this way: If you took a thread talking about some tech from a joke community, and a thread about the same topic from a generic technology community, you won't be able to tell them apart. People will bring the same energy and mindset to both. Jokes and "lol get rekt company I hate" will be pushed to the top, because they totally contribute to the discussion, while basic observations like "removing functionality is bad" will be pushed down. πŸ‘

I'm aware of that, but it's worth highlighting the double standard anyway.

*strokes hate boner while blocking tregetour. Mmmm, yea, you like it like that dontcha.

I see what you're saying. As an isolated event it's pretty meh. Maybe it sucks for the two people who used it.

In a sense, Musk was betting that Twitter's API was undermonitized, and by raising the price, he'd make more money than he'd lose in people leaving the platform. He bet Twitter's relevance against some money. Yeah, not a lot of people used it on Switch, but every rejection of his bet, that Twitter isn't worth the price, hurts Musk's bottom line. And it's kinda on him; Nintendo isn't defying him, he was just wrong.

Brand integration definitely is not neutral. Functionality to make it smooth and easy interact with nazi-central lends Nintendo's credibility to that platform. It's not a neutral feature.

Remember that the next time a service you like removes a function you use due to maintainer bias or pressure from a particular audience.

Yeah, I will. These decisions don't just come out of nowhere, and I think its always a good idea to try to understand why things happen. By understanding the reasons for things, the world is less likely to feel arbitrarily hostile and unfair - and I can make better informed choices for my own life.