Update: The focus of this op-ed is largely directed at the total lack of voice chat options. In priority order being able to chat with known friends, whether via cross-game chat or in-game chat, is the biggest need. For those with smaller community resources, an opt-in chat would be a great service.

After playing Nintendo's first round of public, online Splatoon

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“ This opt-in approach solves for Amano's concerns. He doesn't have to hear players if he doesn't want to.

Celebrate in silence.

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In an interview with Edge in April, co-director Yusuke Amano quantifiably ruled the function out: "This is coming from personal experience. When I played online games, I didn’t like the negativity I got and people telling me, 'You’re crap. Go away.' So we wanted to focus on the positive aspects of online gaming." Amano admitted online chat contributed to the fun, but he indicated Nintendo hopes they'll "grab new players" with this voiceless strategy.Are you kidding me? It's 2015. A voice chat option is standard in most online team-based games, and it doesn't have to be active with the entire map of tea-bagging grade-schoolers, but rather can just be limited to your team at will. We can have our cake and eat it too if Splatoon supports opt-in team voice chat. Nintendo has never been shy about prioritizing its family values, but the DNA of Wii and Wii U's online experiences have mostly suffered from the lack of online features. There is currently no cross-game voice chat functionality on Wii U. Whether you want to call Splatoon a team conquest game or a shooter with paint bullets, its needs are no different than that of a game like Destiny -- a game which, by the way, only supported cross-game chat via Xbox and PlayStation hardware at launch, but later added opt-in in-game voice chat, whether due to community outcries or delayed game features. party matchmaking comes in August this will be even more important. The teams that are able to coordinate with voice over Skype, Google or other means are the teams that will be victorious. Going back to Destiny as an example, the difference in success was no small margin when I was able to communicate with a team. Frankly, there is no argument that coordinating with your voice is the best way to play; it's hard to get a sense of a team without it. All we need are the options to control what's bad, and there is plenty of precedent for it at this point.I believe Nintendo's lack of online experience and fear of unknown profanity is taking priority over the gameplay. I also believe it's cheap and lazy. Splatoon is a lot of fun and there's a ton of strategy that will go unrealized if you can't communicate. For example, one super-shooter ink gun allows you to charge up and fire a far-reaching ink stream. It's effectively a river for players to swim through and quickly move ahead. The game changes very fast, so players that can coordinate the strengths of weapons and uses will dominate. Likewise, there are shortcuts and hidden jump paths that you can imagine would give you a lot to talk about as you meet new players and teams. So, while you can absolutely enjoy playing the game without voice chat -- my intention here is not to say the game is unplayable -- it is a plead for a reasonable and common solution from Nintendo.If these features haven't been under development as Amano indicated, it is unlikely we'll see a solution any time soon and certainly not by launch on May 29th. It's possible cross-game Wii U voice chat is out there somewhere, but even that wouldn't easily solve for teaming up with new players. For now, when August's supported team matchmaking is working in Splatoon, the community's best option is probably Skype or Google Hangouts. What are your thoughts and ideas on Splatoon's lack of voice chat? If you want voice chat options, sound off and be heard, or Nintendo is unlikely to ever make it a priority. Share the article, Tweet at Nintendo and its staff, and make an effort.For me, this is a call to arms, because I continue to be driven further away from a game maker that's defined my career and view of games. How can such an innovative company continue to ignore something so important in gaming today? Splatoon's got potential, but I worry it might only hold my attention for weeks instead of months without the community chat aspects that are so crucially important in today's games.

Fran Mirabella III made a clay GameCube controller before it was fully revealed, is accredited in the Urban Dictionary for giving Mario Kart: Double Dash a 7.9, and is the co-host of IGN's Destiny show, Fireteam Chat. Follow him on Twitter

@FranMirabella