We’ve had a few days now with (most) of the answers we wanted: the release date, the price, and what games are coming out.
Now it’s time for your review: what do you think of the Nintendo Switch?
The general reaction I’ve seen so far has been underwhelming. Anyone who was on the fence about buying certainly wasn’t convinced by the price, particularly once comparisons are drawn to the cheaper Xbox One S and PS4 bundles available. Nintendo would argue that you can’t play those consoles on the go, although that line of attack hasn’t really been appreciated a great deal so far.
I’ll have my fuller thoughts from the Nintendo preview a little later today, including what games work, what didn’t, and what the hardware was like to hold. I’m interested in what you think of the hardware too: the size of the JoyCons, the battery life, and the various modes.
Speaking of which, here’s a bit of it in transition:
Nintendo announced that they will have 2 million Switches available worldwide for the first month, in a bid to correct the supply issues that plagued the NES Classic Mini. Do you think that will be enough? And have you pre-ordered one already?
Comments
120 responses to “Community Review: The Nintendo Switch”
I think they missed the mark a bit as far as the announcements were concerned.
Where were the announcements for:
– new Metroid
– new Donkey Kong
– new F-Zero
– new/port of Smash
– new/port of Pokemon
– new Animal Crossing
– new Pikmin
– new Kid Icarus
We got none of those – and a few of them would have been definite system sellers. I mean you didn’t need to even show any footage, just *announce* that they are coming at least. But nothing.
I’m not rushing out to preorder one…especially given Zelda is also coming out on Wii U. I’m adopting a “wait and see” approach, just as I did with the Wii U. I was eventually convinced to buy a Wii U and the same might happen here but I’m not interested just yet, at least not until Xenoblade 2 comes out.
Battery life is kind of a non issue for me, as I imagine 90% of the time it’ll be docked.
Nintendo wouldn’t want to release new games for all their popular franchises all at the same time, it doesn’t make good business sense. But, I agree they should’ve at least announced if any of those titles are in development.
I think there’s a big distinction between releasing everything at once and announcing everything at once. Even if they confirmed a crazy load of titles at once, they could have release dates sprinkled through 2017 and 2018. They’d hardly be in a bad position from that.
Yeah I didn’t say they need to release them all at the same time. But for goodness sake you need to at least *announce* that some of these are in development.
Like, when asked specifically about Metroid (and Mother 3) Reggie played the whole “we know what our fans want” card and said “let’s see where we are in a year”:
http://au.ign.com/articles/2017/01/14/reggie-fils-aime-hints-at-a-future-for-metroid-mother-3-on-switch?abthid=587979acd4bd55f835000037
Dude, seriously, if a new Metroid is in development, you need to tell us NOW. Remember you’re trying to promote this thing so it sells well on launch day.
Agreed. But Nintendo like to play their cards very close to their chest.
I will say it seems like a catch 22. Whereas Sony and Microsoft announce games years prior to their release (with differing levels of success in actually releasing.) Lately they’ve been announcing games closer to the release with the exception of franchises that have a big draw. I think it was good on Nintendo to hold back on the port announcements, it just would have been something else to complain about.
Exactly. Just look at Scalebound.
Fast RMX.
Is deliberately not F-Zero.
Between the high price, small internal storage and almost non-existent launch line up it is DOA for me, which is a shame because i was excited by the concept.
Also as a Wii U owner, who has suffered the drought of games apparently caused by this console, to see it launch with so few games is almost insulting
This. The combo of small lineup and price has made it a no go for me.
I’m definitely interested but not at that price point. I can wait to play Zelda and the new Mario until the end of the year when it’s (hopefully) a bit cheaper. I must say though I’m pleased with the direction they’re taking the new Mario, much more 64 and none of that baby easy 3D World stuff which just wasn’t for me.
dont hold your breath for a price drop, sure you will get sales that might save you 50 bucks or so but look at the wiiU. Released for $430 and its still the same price today with a few free games added in
There was the odd crazy sale which discounted the Wii U by like 50%, but they were few and far between.
I know they won’t but id like to see a non-portable version for a cheeper price then I’d probably get one for the few exclusives I’d play.
No screen, no seperate dock, no joy pads, Ps vita thing i have hiding somewhere forget the name.
I love it! Cannot wait to get my hands on one. Loved the games announced for it and it looks like a lot of fun. That said, there are two things I don’t like 1) non-replaceable battery, and 2) only 32GB internal memory.
Also, a note to anyone that pre-ordered the Master Edition of The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild from EB Games. Somebody in TAY mentioned that it’s been cancelled and replaced by the Limited Edition, which doesn’t include the Sheikah slate case. But they’re still charging the same price.
Wow only 32GB? I must have missed that. That hurts…
Everything I’ve read indicates that it’s 32GB (expandable with micro SDXC cards with a maximum size of 128GB). My guess is they didn’t think we needed a lot considering there’s no mandatory installs like with Xbone and PS4. Will definitely be buying all my games on cart though.
Game Informer confirmed with Nintendo, it supports SDXC up to 2TB. The largest SDXC right now is 256GB, 2TB’s aren’t yet available but will be later this year. I’ve also heard rumblings of HDD support, but can’t find any confirmation of that just yet.
http://au.ign.com/articles/2017/01/16/nintendo-switch-will-support-up-to-2tb-micro-sdxc-cards-once-they-exist
Considering it’s like 150 bucks for a 128GB Micro SDXC card, I’d hate to think what a 2TB one would go for.
I guess we will find out when they drop, a lot no doubt, but JB are good for sale prices on memory card every once in a while. I’d be happy with 128GB, considering I’d be using the Switch as a secondary system to my XB1.
wow $150, I’ve seen a few brands at a local computer store for $70
I was looking at this one.
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/cameras/sandisk/sandisk-ultra-microsdxc-128gb-class-10-memory-card/618843/
Cheapest one I can find on JB is this one for just over $100.
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/cameras/samsung/samsung-microsdxc-evo-memory-card-w-adapter-128gb/318601/
Ebay kinda rules for these sorts of cards at the moment. Much better than JB, and even better when they have a 20% off sale.
$69 at PC Byte for that sd ultra.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/161986843610
Edit: ha, there actually is a sale on! So $55.20. Dang, now I’m tempted!
you can add storage, plus its a cartridge console. Who knows if you need to even install games.
does anyone actually know?
Haven’t heard anything about mandatory game installs, but I’m pretty confident that it won’t have them and everything will just run from the carts.
Cheers, i also wonder if the load times will be super small due to cartridge?
That’s my hope. But if that’s the case, it’s probably something they should’ve mentioned in the presentation.
Didn’t exactly help the 3DS…
I saw a post saying that the the Zelda game came in at around 19GB. With an eshop and then enticing indie developers with Unity and Unreal support digital storage will be an issue.
Does the Dock’s USB ports support USB hard drives? To allow a home library.
13GB I believe, for Zelda on Wii U. And the Switch one was only slightly larger, like 13.4 or something.
If you don’t want to buy everything on physical media – regardless of whether the console uses cartridges or discs or whatever – then storage is definitely an important issue.
Fair point. It wont ever be an issue for me, I hate not having a physical copy but its more about every single game being WAY cheaper when buying physical copies. Plus you can just buy an SD card if storage really matters to you. its a portable console, its got limitations like a phone does.
Anyway, not enough games out at release for it to be an issue for anyone 😉 :0 🙂
What about digital downloads though? 32GB is hopeless. Even Iphones come in 64GB varieties.
yep, and they cost $1200. You could probably pick a 256gb SD card on ebay for $50. Its seriously not an issue
I imagine that storage is one of the areas where they felt like they could afford to cut costs. As much as it sucks, I can kind of understand it; in between the joy-cons, dock and miscellaneous components that make a handheld work, they’d probably struggle to keep the price down.
For a home console it’s piddly, but what more can you do for a mobile product?
You can’t put a spinning platter drive in it for power/space/reliability reasons, and how much time will 64 or 128gb buy you before having to go to sd anyway?
Look at the price differences in storage on phones. I’d take a 32gb + SD any day over spending 200 more for the same result.
I don’t see the problem with the 32GB. My Wii U still has tonnes of space on it, and unlike that you can actually use an SD card to get more space on here if you need it (Wii U let you do the USB thing, but having to plug something into it externally isn’t as good as a set-and-forget internal thing especially if you’re in the habit of moving around the place with it).
I’m not big on digital stuff so I’m happy to not have the price raised by extra storage I’m not gonna need.
Non-replaceable battery is a shit though.
The only games I won’t be buying as a physical copy will be the ones that are only available as a download.
I bleed Nintendo, and swore up and down I’d keep my expectations in check. I’m 50-50 on the presentation itself, but am interested in the console. Yes I pre-ordered one but that was the day before the presentation when it was still a dollar away from being a fucking $1000.
Having read the amount of digital ink spilt that I have over the past two and half days, whether it be hot take or forum comment, the consensus is exactly what I thought was going to happen. Over-hyped and under-delivered, if you take everything into consideration from the first ad (with the catch song) until the end of the presser and that new Zelda trailer.
It’s clear that Nintendo is now comfortable and nestled in its position of ‘not really competing with anybody’ and ‘competing from everybody up to and including other tech companies not involved in gaming’.
This is what I have always liked about Nintendo. It’s their house, you either learn to live in it or you move out. There’s a vision there, and I respect that.
I feel that the biggest perk of the Switch is that Nintendo now has a relatively beefy handheld. In spite of their great libraries, the DS was a potato and the 3DS was a toaster. The Switch, however, looks like a handheld that can reasonably exist in the year 2017 at that price point. Sure, it’s not a top-of-the-line system, but it’s not disappointing at all. Their home console/handheld hybridization strategy is a miracle for the processing power that they were willing to put into it compared to their regular handheld standards.
I’m in complete and total agreement here, that’s so much more eloquently put than my rabid foam.
I like the core concept, honestly. Nintendo does well in the handheld market and, unlike the 3DS, the Switch isn’t a toaster. A 720p Nintendo handheld with moderate grunt is a-okay in my books, especially if it’s going to get titles like Monster Hunter on it.
The thing I’m less pleased with is their continued focus on gimmicks. They’ve clearly put a LOT into the joy-cons, but I just don’t think it’s a good fit with the switch. Most of the functionality will be nonexistent when you’re using it as a “normal” handheld (for example, Arms will be totally unplayable in portable mode unless they have a full suite of button controls that make the motion controls obsolete) and, generally speaking, waggle controls are unappealing to me. I didn’t like it on the Wii and I don’t like it now.
This does end up having some impact on the overall build of the system (for example, the left joy-con has directional buttons instead of a proper d–pad, which is a MASSIVE loss for 2D platformers and the like) but hopefully they’ll have enough common sense to keep that stuff out of major titles. I’m not aware of LoZ: Breath of the Wild having any major gimmick controls (which is incredible for a mainline Zelda game!) but I do worry that they’re going to try and keep the gimmick train alive at the expensive of the slightly more traditional gaming experience that people were hoping for Nintendo to provide.
The 3DS should be a cautionary tale; the hardware was heavily invested in a gimmick, but virtually no-one liked or used it. Instead, people used it just like a DS with more recent hardware, but the consequence was that it wasn’t as cheap/powerful as it could have been. Nintendo does vanilla handhelds well, and they always have – the Switch would do well to avoid going gimmick-crazy.
As an aside, I hope that some kind of “Joy-con Pro” set comes out eventually. If I can replace my left joy-con with something that has a d-pad, I’ll be happy, especially if it’s a first-party peripheral with Nintendo’s generally great d-pad design.
In spite of my reservations, I might be getting one at launch for Zelda anyway. I’m not too worried about the possibility of it being a “wasted” console ala Wii U, because Nintendo would have to mess up spectacularly for their combined handheld/home console solution to have no games in the long run.
Probably should start by saying i was going to buy this console no matter what they did. I just love Nintendo games
I don’t really care about hardware specs. They made some good changes, no region locking, better online service and i don’t think we can complain with the price. I know the xboxone was $650 on release.
The problem is that i don’t think they convinced anyone that they will more games for the switch than they did for the WiiU. The wiiU had about 10 AMAZING high quality games all made my Nintendo. The problem is that that was over 5 years. Its simply not enough and i really don’t know if they will change.
But is it though?
I pre-ordered one, it’ll be the first console i get on launch (mainly because i’ve never been able to afford one on launch before)
Mainly because i want to play the best version of Zelda, but also i love the docking concept so much, considering i have a vita and a PlayStation TV for the same reason of “i can use my TV for it and also take it with me if needs be”
Splatoon 2, Ultra Street Fighter 2 and Mario Odyssey help make the purchase more worth it, and the promise of a No More Heroes 3 and the inevitable Monster Hunter game that comes out on it meant that i was always going to get the console at some point.
It does have a launch title problem but hopefully the games pick up pace later on in the year.
Also, i hope more sports games come on it, NBA 2K18 will be great to play on the go, and i’d love to play NHL on it as well, but considering that EA only announced the very safe Fifa i doubt we will get any of the fringe sports any time soon.
Super Bomberman R is also a launch title.
Im giving it a pass (at least on launch day). I may pick it up 6-12 months later, but Nintendo lost me with the Wii U, littler only about 3 or so titles that were released at the time where console specific.
My main interest in the Switch was its ability to be a handheld gaming system comparable to the Vita but it doesn’t really feel like handheld gaming was the primary focus with the limited battery life and bulky size. Second to the handheld capabailities was a strong library and while there are some titles that pique my interest, most of them are coming to platforms I already own. Overall, it’s somewhat disappointing but also more or less what I expected to happen. I have a feeling that in the coming years, Nintendo may become like Sega and start focusing on games rather than hardware.
In all fairness, this thing was never going to have great battery life. It’s a very different ball game to any of Nintendo’s prior handhelds when it comes to size versus power consumption, and even the Vita was using a different playbook. 2.5 – 6 hours seems more consistent with most tablets/phones/laptops that I’ve used, at least when looking at continuous usage.
I’m not sure if they announced this or not, but I do wonder whether it can be charged via USB like most phones. That would provide a few more recharging options on the go.
It seems to be confirmed that is uses a standard USB-C charger.
So it seems that Phone-style Battery Packs and Car Charges should actually work.
A very good move
Handheld gaming was never supposed to be the primary focus of the system. It’s a home console first and foremost. It just happens to be the case that you can take it with you. It’s a replacement for the Wii U, not the 3DS. Nintendo have stated that the 3DS’s successor is still to come.
My understanding was that the 3DS successor statement was since found to be unreliable. That makes sense, after all – it’d be madness for them to jeopardize the Switch’s fortunes with a device that might cannibalize sales.
Besides, there’s not much that a 3DS successor could actually do that the Switch couldn’t; it’d inevitably have weaker hardware, and I doubt that they’d want to reduce the size significantly given that the Switch XL’s sizing was more popular. The only thing they’d feasibly want is a lower hardware price point, which is a dangerous move if it means that they’ll fragment their software base again.
Yeah they said that the DS wouldn’t replace the GBA and look how that turned out.
It helps that the DS basically printed money.
Yup easy to see why it’s underwhelming, the only game that I’m interested in is Zelda besides that the Wii U left a sour taste in my mouth.
I’ve been a fan of the big N since I was a kid but lately the games haven’t done it for me, mario kart I thought was ho hum and even smash bros was average……maybe I’ve just grown up and my tastes have changed or maybe Nintendo isn’t as thoughtful or innovative with their games anymore. The case with 3rd party devs too, I mean Nintendo is getting Skyrim 5years after the game launched, graphically these guys have been on the back foot since the wii and genuinely feel like they are 5 years behind. They do make gorgeous stylistic games ala breath of the wild but I’m not sure if it’s enough maybe if I had kids of my own, my thoughts would be different and they’d grow up the way I did with the snes, who knows…
You shouldn’t be eating your video game consoles.
I had a sour zooper dooper on saturday it was sour 😉
I think the price point is great, I mean a 3DS XL is $250, so $200 more for the switch seems like a steal to me.
The two games I want most are Zelda and Bomberman, and they are both launch titles, so that will keep me busy for plenty of time.
I think like the PS4 and XB1 launches, there aren’t a ton of titles in the next 6 months, but it looks like 3rd party support is genuinely there this time, so by the end of the year there will be more games than I can afford to buy anyway.
Being able to just take the console and link up with friends in the same physical space is awesome, as is the ability to play when the TV is in use, and to be able to take something on the train that can run the Unreal4 engine is amazing.
Battery life is what I expected, thouhg I was hoping it might be better, but it is longer than most commutes, so not a big issue.
All in all, I think they nailed it, more games would be good, but I will be busy with the launch titles and the backlog on my PS4 anyway.
I feel like the Switch is trying to be a jack of all trades gaming system but ultimately is a master of none.
The draught of exciting titles from release until the end of the year also means that you won’t have much to play.
By Nintendo’s own standards, it’s sort of a master of handheld power. If Nintendo held to their handheld pattern, their next one would’ve been around the level of the Vita. The Switch, on the other hand, has rocketed past that point, which is sort of exciting.
The launch lineup isn’t great, but the upshot is that Breath of the Wild is a bona fide system seller. If Nintendo have their ducks in a row, they’ll announce more things over the course of the year and release them in time for the 2017 holiday period. Christmas will be the do-or-die period for building their install base, provided that they don’t have an unusually amazing mid-year trump card.
Splatoon 2 is a mid-year release, with Mario Odyssey due before Xmas. If both of those hold their dates, that should be a great starting point for pushing sales.
If they had a couple of smaller titles alongside each, it’d definitely go a long way to shoring up the games line-up.
Happy that there’s a Mario Kart game coming out close to launch, but was kinda hoping for Mario Kart Double Dash 2 instead of just a port of MK8.
Also it appears that’s is 4 Players on the one console, which I worried that the console would only ever support a max of 2 controllers.
The lack of detail on online services, and the few details we dud get didnt sit well with game critics Free for a short time then $5US per month with a monthly rental game. If Nintendo wants to encourage ecosystem engagement they need to offer free access and offer better premium incentives like Games for Gold. Multiplayer only titles will suffer immensly.
Nintendos copyright strike policy on youtubeand twitch is still outdated that gane critics couldnt post their comentaries… while Nintendo USA was hosting social media “influencers” who dont normally do Nintendo content cause they would be asking them about their anti sicial media policies… also why a Capture button when you have a bot that can ban content in less than a minute?
Can the base station support secondary storage via USB ?
No specifications?
No additional functionality betond games… communications, media player, web browser or other apps? Could it replace my android tablet ?
It supports SD cards I believe up to at least 2 terabytes. There will also be support for external hard drives, much like the Wii U already has.
Has this actually been confirmed?
There’s a USB port on the Dock, so… maybe?
Not to mention their utter refusal to stick to The Plan and go third-party so we get F-Zero on Xbox. Finally.
Why do that when they still manufacture their own console? Sega only licensed their properties to other consoles after they bowed out of the console game, so why would we expect any less from Nintendo?
It is interesting how they went different directions. Sega stopped home consoles and still make arcade hardware, whereas Nintendo stopped arcade hardware and still makes consoles.
Colour me intrigued – though that’s more due to a financial windfall coming at that time than any massive desire to play it.
I’ll probably wait a few months and grab one. Really lacklustre launch titles definitely soured me to grabbing one at launch
I’ve had the chance to play the Switch in Melbourne yesterday, so here are my thoughts:
The first thing I will say is that despite my large hands, the joycon on its side was quite comfortable, and actually felt better to me than having the joycon attached to the sides of the tablet itself. I played only a handful of games because I had to queue a long time to get to play Zelda, and I unfortunately missed 1 2 Switch, which is probably the game that most needs to be played to understand the appeal. So I can’t really speak for that.
I played a few rounds of Splatoon 2, which is fantastic and was being played in the local wireless mode since I played both docked and undocked. I didn’t see any kind of stuttering that might have been caused by wireless interference, which bodes well for future big in-person events for Splatoon tournaments. It seems Nintendo is quite serious about making an esport out of Splatoon, since they seem to also finally have added a spectator mode, though I have no idea how the details of this will work. The new special weapons are pretty exciting and interesting, except for one specific one (the sting ray) that nobody thinks is any good at all.
Snipperclips is a game that everyone on my Twitter feed raved about, and it definitely lived up to the hype for me. It’s a physics based puzzle action game that involves achieving simple objectives in two-player co-op. The main gameplay mechanic is using your own character’s body to cut out shapes in your partner, and using the new shapes to help with the objectives. It’s completely freeform and the game never hints which shapes you should use for a particular level. It encourages active communication throughout the game with your partner, which is fun. The real-time physics adds a layer of franticness though I don’t think there are time limits in the game, unless maybe there is an additional challenge mode.
I played Zelda as well, like I said earlier, but I think most people know what’s, up with that. It had a lot of aliasing on the TV I played on, but I briefly switched (haha) to the handheld and it was very sharp and smooth. The screen in general is very vibrant, and I can imagine myself playing a lot of games on the handheld alone. In any case, Zelda doesn’t seem to be a significant improvement over the Wii U version so I’m sure I’ll just pick that one up, and not get the Switch on release.
I also didn’t get a chance to play ARMS which is a shame, but I watched two of my friends play and it looked really fun, though as I expected, tilting the controllers to move your character is a bit difficult in the heat of battle. Having different types of arms and different characters go a long way into making this feel like a full-fledged game and not just something that feels like it belongs in a minigame collection, though.
Anyway so I like Splatoon too much not to buy its sequel when it comes out, and of course I am excited for Mario Odyssey, but until then I doubt I will buy a Switch. Snipperclips is fantastic, but I don’t think that’s a launch title either anyway.
Not enough launch titles. Not everyone is excited about Zelda. Price point is high especially because you will need another 80 bucks for a game to play, since it doesn’t come with any!
External storage is not as a much of an issue since their carts, unless you like digital, in which case it’s confirmed you can put up to 2tb micro SD in the expansion slot (not that they exist yet and they would be pricey as hell). Still, it’s a high price for not a lot of content, reminds me of the PS3 launch.
Looks great. Have to say I was genuinely surprised to see the amount of negative reactions after the presentation, I thought it was really impressive (maybe I’m just easily pleased!). Price is a little high I guess, but this is something I plan on using quite regularly for a number of years, and besides it’s a portable piece of tech, not a happy meal.
As far as games go, Zelda looks incredible, and I’m looking forward to some of the other ports Japanese games announced so lineup for the year looks pretty promising.
I pre-ordered immediately after the announcement video last year, because I thought it looked like a great concept, and the recent presentation has only reinforced that too me.
I’m pretty keen on getting the Switch on release. I’m hoping for a Switch and Zelda bundle. But if not already annouced, I doubt it’s coming or I’ve not been looking hard enough.
I’ve got a Wii and spent a lot of time and money on some good times with it. I skipped the Wii U and after reading a few comments above, it seems like it burnt out a few people on availability. Likely they’ll flesh out the Switch list of games with Wii\Wii U Ports.
I pre-ordered. Do I have concerns re: battery/undocked performance/lineup? Yes.
Do I care? Hell no…gimme gimme gimme.
As a father of two it’s a guaranteed eventual buy to replace the Wii U.
Overall my only concern is the 32gb internal storage.
At this stage Nintendo against USB external drive storage as it reduces the portability of the unit and 1tb card for expansion is around $350ish.
DLC plus the current trend of 3rd party games needing more patches than Hetfield’s jacket, storage will become an eventual issue.
Maybe the Game Cards have additional space on them for updates and DLC?
Maybe. I suppose they could be partitioned like a traditional hard drive and the game code protected behind a security wall.
That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. I’m guessing game saves will be on their respective carts rather than the system as well.
I have two kids as well.
The question is, will one Switch be enough?
This and the current price has me waiting and hoping for a good future bundle or sale at some point.
Otherwise…..The kids can play Crash Bandicoot on ps4 and our raspberry pi retro console.
I was disappointing by what they’ve shown, the presentation was one of the worst i’ve ever seen with low energy barely any info given not enough games shown etc.
I just don’t see how this thing is meant to succeed at this point, it’ll release with barely any games and zelda being the big draw but that’s also on wii u (some hands on people seemed to think it runs smoother on the wii u?), it doesn’t have any big surprise titles for it’s first year planned either, it’s over priced, the specs are weak for a home console (even by nintendos standards) and it’s battery life/size/fact you need to charge controllers and console make it hard to market it as a 3ds replacement.
On the games front what have nintendo been doing the last few years? 3ds and wii u big games dried up from nintendo and everyone said they are saving games for the nx launch?
Some places are speculating that the ps5 will launch 2019 too, if that’s the case we’d get info in the 2018 which is going to mean the switch will start being compared to the next gen consoles and third parties may start thinking it is too below spec like what happened with wii u.
I feel like thats just silly thinking as it seems to be a trend being set for console revisions that add extra performance more than the usual smaller console redesigns (New3ds, Ps4 pro etc), so i wouldn’t be surprised if we get up to 2020 and only start hearing about newer console generation concepts.
Yeah, the way things are going I reckon we’ll slight hardware revisions every 2-3 years, so we’ll probably get a PS4 Pro 2 in 2019, PS4 Pro 3 and PS4 Pro 2 Slim in 2021 before the PS5 launches around 2022-2023.
Well i dont think revisions will be that severe. 1 or 2 revisions to reduce console size and add features is fine.
After the next Xbox SKU, i don’t think we will see any more until a new console generation is announced.
Except for maybe a slim PS4 Pro.
My God, where to start with this abomination? AS a gamer for over 30 years, Ninetendo has continually stayed on their well trod path, with ever changing hardware, but the same freaking games. WTF?? And why??
Gaming has matured greatly in recent times, but Nintendo seems to want to stay aimed at the younger market. Hence the dinky controllers and portability. We all play games on the hoof, but we have smart phones for that. Do you want go carry your phone, tablet and another screen with you?
They have missed the mark once more (release titles confirm this) and hopefully this will be the death nail for Nintendo and their console capers. Keep making DS crap and stuff aimed at the younger market.
And with the titles on offer, clearly not ready, but Nintendo had to “get this out” ASAP as the Pro is already here and Scorpio around the corner and if they waited, they would be left well and truly behind.
SD cards, Cartridges?? We’ve moved on from that crap, well, clearly not everyone.
Whoever buys it, enjoy, make the most of it while you can.
I don’t think we have moved on from cartridges. Solid state memory has seen massive improvements in the last decade. 1tb sd cards are available now while the other two still use 45gb blurays.
A lot of people (myself included) actually love them.
Are you suggesting that Nintendo start adding blood, gore and sex into their games and become just another Playstation or Xbone clone? I for one would lose all respect for them if they went down that route. Nintendo don’t compete with Sony and Microsoft, they play their own game, and that’s why I love them.
If you don’t like the “stuff aimed at the younger market” then it should be pretty clear by now that Nintendo consoles aren’t for you.
They have tried those paths a few times with ports of mortal kombat and their own IP killer instinct
I realize that, I still have the soundtrack CD that came with the Killer Instinct SNES cartridge and a copy of Mortal Kombat Trilogy on N64. Nintendo has, and still does release games with adult content on their systems (Zombi, Devil’s Third etc). However, they are not first party. Everybody knows that Nintendo develop games mainly aimed at families and kids. To my knowledge the highest rating first party Nintendo titles get is M (Zelda, Metroid, Fire Emblem etc).
Edit: To clarify, Killer Instinct was developed, and owned by Rare, not Nintendo. Nintendo did not own Rare, and Rare have since been bought by Microsoft, and they still does own the Killer Instinct IP. And yes, Rare did make Donkey Kong games for Nintendo, but Nintendo did and still does own the DK IP. Hence why you don’t see DK games on XBox.
More second party then. Nintendo owned 49% of rare.
Well there was Geist on GameCube, that got MA. Not quite first party though 😛
Was surprised to see how few little red squares there are across my Wii, DS and 3DS collections (5, 2 and 2 respectively), and yet the Wii U has ten! Plus a black! Take into consideration that my Wii U collection is only slightly larger than my 3DS collection, and Wii and DS are each about triple the size of either of them, that’s a ridiculously high proportion. “Kiddy console” indeed.
I agree, Nintendo don’t make “kiddy consoles”, but the vast majority of content released for them is family oriented. Just did a search on EB Games to see just how many MA15+ games there are. Granted they wouldn’t have every game ever released and it will only show pre-owned Wii U games that are on special, but the results are pretty staggering.
Wii is just under 3 percent and
DS and 3DS is less than half a percent
And let’s not forget there’s at least one game that was refused classification in this country, Manhunt 2.
“Nintendo caters to a market that I am not a part of and they should stop doing this and cater to me like the other guys do.”
Why don’t you just go and stick with the other guys then, and leave those of us who are actually served by their presence in peace to enjoy what they do? Or would you like us to come along and start complaining that those you prefer aren’t catering to us and how they should change?
Preordered and paid for mine on Saturday, along with Zelda. I was sold on the idea initially, but the presentation really sealed the deal. I’m concerned about the lack of games/concrete info on what’s coming for it – but the console and technology itself is enough to make me preorder.
I think it has some really interesting potential – whether that potential is ever fully realised, we’ll have to wait and see, but it’s enough for me at the moment.
Anyone complaining it’s too ‘gimmicky’ obviously hasn’t looked at a Nintendo console since the SNES. Gimmicks are what Nintendo does, and have done since the N64 and sometimes it pays off. The last thing I need is another generic console to go alongside my PS4 and Xbone. You go Nintendo because you want something different. Sometimes it’s hit, sometimes it’s miss. We’ll have to see how this one pans out.
I disagree. I would like another generic console that’s as powerful as the PS4/Xbone, but allowed me to play Nintendo games. If I got that, it’s an instant purchase. The problem is the constant gimmick shit means we either end up with no 3rd Party support, or cheap casual games like what flooded the Wii.
Nobody says you have to buy the cheap flood games, just stick to the gems 😛 Didn’t seem to be a problem for the PlayStations with their “thousands of games!” libraries, most of those were garbage and yet people still thought highly of the consoles.
Fair comment. However, the difference with a Playstation is, I dont have to get up and dance around like I’m at a rave for people with boneitis to play those games.
Don’t have to with Wii either. We’re avoiding the floodware remember 🙂
No but that’s my point entirely. How many games on the Wii/Wii U that are quality games actually use the motion controls/extra screen effectively? How many can be quite comfortably played on a regular controller?
Why do you think billions of people constantly buy Playstations (i.e. when was the last playstation that actually failed)? They are familiar, they have a solid library every iteration, they dont try to be too clever with what they’re doing.
I’ve always thought the problem with the Wii U has been the complete lack of 3rd Party support for it. Think about it, if you’re a developer, and you’re creating a game for 3 consoles, and you have to cater 1 version to a controller with no/1 thumsticks, or only 2 trigger buttons, or a screen in the middle of it, or whatever, it requires extra work. The other 2 consoles have controllers that are basically the same. Unless there is enough market to justify that extra work, then there’s no point doing it. Just look at how many games came out for the Wii U that were dedicated Wii U versions with different content and everything. Nintendo created a decent lineup of 1st party titles, but when they found out that the console wasnt selling because hey, their own games weren’t carrying it, they bailed on it and rightly so. You cant expect a company to prop up a loser, when they could be making something new that might be successful. This is the problem with creating gimmicky consoles like Nintendo have been doing. You either get lucky like they did with the Wii and hit the motion control market right as it gets popular, or you bust out like the Wii U because nobody wants to utilise your pointless LCD screen.
I admit, the switch has some great ideas here. But again, if a 3rd party dev is making a game, they are again going to have to make a choice. “Do we really want to create a game that supports the joycon that only has one thumb stick? Do we want to create a game that CAN run at 720p on a handheld? Do we want to create a game that supports multiplayer in the first place?”
Loads? Most of the effective ones you can play seated with minimal gross movements, it’s generally only the crap that makes you get up and jump around. And in terms of the Wii U, even the ones that didn’t make special use of the screen were still aided by it because you could do off-screen play with them (eg DKC Tropical Freeze).
Even outside of the unique control schemes, we still saw the same thing you’re describing last generation. The PS3 was notoriously difficult for devs to create for with its exotic architecture and the smaller memory it had to work with (can’t remember if it was just video memory or system memory or the one lot was used for both), which saw a lot of ports with huge disparity between versions. I think it’s kind of/more a problem that people are wanting generic solutions that work everywhere instead of specialised solutions that leverage the most out of the hardware they’re being created for. It’s like the old saying, if you try to please everybody then you’re going to please nobody.
I’m not overly impressed by it. It feels like they’re trying to do too much with it and end up sacrificing too much to get that done.
The portable side of things looks so weird to me. First off, the thing is tablet, and even without the joycons attached, you need a bag to carry it around. The beauty of handheld gaming is that it’s easy to take with you. This seems like it isnt. Then there’s the battery. Nintendo have suggested it has a 6 hour battery life, but high end games could drop that to 3 hours. That’s not a whole lot of time.
As far as being a home console, it’s not beefy enough and it seems like they’ve decided to lag behind everyone again just to fulfill their handheld requirements. Sony and Microsoft are already moving into 1080p/60Hz with their new consoles, and even talking up 4K. Zelda will run at 900p/30Hz. Wow.
The Controller looks messy as well. So, when you combine the joycons into the puppy controller, or you attach them to the screen, you get 2 analog sticks right? And then when you remove them, each joycon only gets one? How does that work when you’re playing a game that uses 2 analog sticks? Does it require a separate game mode to be created? Or are we getting completely dedicated games to the joycon? Yes it’s handy for mobile multiplayer, but then again, you need a surface to put the screen on then, which makes it awkward in some situations.
They are really dropping the ball with the launch titles though. Only 3 on release, and 7-8 2 months later? This includes a showcase game for the joycons, a silly boxing game, and a port of Mario Kart 8, which has been out for 3 years already…The Zelda game is the pick of the bunch, but it’s also being released on Wii U, and it seems unnecessary buying an entire console for 1 game (I’m also not a Zelda fan).
I think I understand why they made the Switch. I just dont think it’s a good enough attempt, and I wont be surprised if in a year-year and a half we are talking about how disappointing this console ends up being.
A very solid, resounding “meh” from me, but then I’ve never been a big Ninty fan to begin with. I don’t particularly like Zelda, didn’t “get” Splatoon, I get over Mario pretty quick, never played Monster Hunter etc, so yeah, easily ignorable for me.
I’ll pass on this.
Nintendo fan since 1988 but I find the Switch uninspiring in this day and age. Seems to me like they are totally focusing on a young audience.
Not sold.. once you step back from the hype it feels like history repeating itself already;
Wii U:
– High launch price compared to competitors (PS3/360 at the time).
– Only a few launch titles.
– 3rd party ports of older games that never sold on the console, 3rd party publishers give up sooner than later.
Switch:
– High launch price compared to competitor current prices.
– Only a few launch titles.
– 3rd party ports of older (or by the time they come out) games that will likely never sell well on the console, 3rd party publishers give up again (probably).
Other things;
– Why make the consumer buy an additional joy con just to colour coordinate. Packing a blue left and red right joy con unit into an SKU makes my eyes bleed.
– Zelda on Wii U being treated as a footnote. This for some reason makes me really angry, Wii U owners who have waited forever for this title, aren’t even getting an L.E. of the game.
– I’m curious if the switch will support dolby surround sound over hdmi/arc, or if we’ll need a dedicated expensive surround sound system again like the Wii U. Please be the former.
Only a few? Wii U had a good 20 launch titles or so, way way waaaay more than Switch.
I think the dock is pretty useless since is not that hard to stream 1080p to any tv nowadays and 32 GB internal memory is a joke for a tablet that runs small apps, imagine for a gaming device?!?
Hope they would launch we different sizes like iphones (32 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB), space is never enough…
Just for those two points I’ll (probably) not get it on day one, maybe after a few months…
They’re only launching with two SKUs – one with grey joycons, one with coloured.
If you want more storage you can just get an SD card, you’ll get one for much much MUCH cheaper than the price difference any hypothetical 128GB Switch would have had with the 32GB model. 32GB may be “a joke for a tablet that runs small apps”, but that operates entirely differently to a videogame system which has all its games delivered via cartridge. You don’t need that storage unless you choose to download them all instead for some reason, in which case the solution is right there as a cheap and easy fix. It really isn’t a problem at all.
Are you talking about sending a 1080p video stream to the TV wirelessly from the Switch, instead of through the dock? Because that would drain a craptonne of power (both in terms of scaling – it only does 1080 when it has the boost in power from being docked otherwise it’s 720) and also you’d need some kind of dongle or receiver for the TV anyway, which would also add a terrible amount of latency. Low-latency wireless HDMI transmitters are only just now becoming a thing on the market, and are quite expensive. Again nothing anybody would actually want when it comes time to foot the bill.
What do you mean you need a dongle? Most new TVs have network/bluetooth capabilities. Streaming content over wifi is easy. If you dont have a TV capable of that, all they need is a USB-C or mini HDMI or whatever cable to plug in. Phones and tablets have been doing this for ages.
Irrespective of the fact that data is stored on the cart, 32GB is still pretty small. In reality, you’re not going to get 32GB anyway, you’re going to get some fraction of that after the OS and everything preinstalled is factored in. You do realise that Ninty have an online store with downloadable games, some of which you wont be able to get on cartridge, and also, they will have that free game every month thing with their online subscription. Therefore, it will operate exactly like “phones running small apps” and 32GB is somewhat limiting.
Well, exactly? They can’t guarantee that the wireless connection is there (I don’t think bluetooth would be anywhere near adequate for 1080p@60Hz btw), thus they need a dongle or some form of guaranteed connection to the TV. IE, the dock. And streaming video content wirelessly is easy, because you don’t care when it gets there just that it all gets there in order. Games are a two-way street which means you don’t want one of those directions to take orders of magnitude more time than the other, and most wireless streaming things have not been built with this in mind.
A tablet is designed to run everything from within. All the apps you use come from an installation on the storage from the get-go. The Switch is designed like a console or handheld, it’s primarily made to run things from removable media. The monthly games take up negligible space – the entire NES library only takes a couple hundred megs and the SNES library is under two gig, plus you’ll only have them there for the month. And if the 32GB is not sufficient for how much downloadable content you are going to get, then you can get more space easily with an SD card. The only limitation is the size of the SD card you want to get.
Granted, the dock isnt a big deal. It’s probably one of the best features of the console to be honest, since it charges it and everything. My point was moreso that it’s not hard to do, evidenced by phones/tablets doing the same thing for ages.
“A tablet is designed to run everything from within. All the apps you use come from an installation on the storage from the get-go. The Switch is designed like a console or handheld, it’s primarily made to run things from removable media.”
I dont agree with this statement. First of all, a tablet is a tablet, whether you choose to add a cartridge slot or not. I think you’re speculating a bit on what people actually download onto their storage. I have a 3DS, and a bunch of stuff on there is downloaded from the Ninty store, wasn’t preinstalled, and isn’t on a cartridge. Even the cart games actually place data on the console storage invisibly. Hence why when you put the cart into another 3DS, and you have to update the game and have no saves available. Also, who knows what people will be getting from Nintendo’s online service down the track. I think the problem here is that you can buy a PS4/Xbone for the same or lesser price, and get 500GB of storage, which means you dont then have to buy an extra SD card, irrespective of how much that may or may not be. Yes those consoles install to the drive, but at the same time, Nintendo can and do do that as well, since everything’s self contained in the tablet. At the end of the day, whether its the right way of thinking about it or not, there may be a lot of people who simply look at it and go “Hey, 32GB is rubbish, and I have to buy an extra SD card for it, on top of the $450 I already have to pay for the thing?” It may be a dealbreaker for some who were on the fence, and thats lost sales that Nintendo could have avoided pretty easily.
The 3DS only came with what, 512MB of internal storage and a 2GB SD card? And for those who don’t do much downloading, that was plenty while those who download tonnes of stuff were able to get a larger card and be on their way. The Wii U was a little more fiddly in that the SD card was only for the virtual Wii and backwards compatibility, while any expansion to its 32GB storage had to be done by a USB drive that was specially formatted. Nowhere near as easy as popping in a larger SD card.
I’m someone with far too many games. I’d have more on any platform than just about anyone else in any of my social circles. I say this not to brag, but to point out that even with so many titles and the various save/update data they require, I’m yet to run out of space on that base internal storage. And to me that’s exactly how it should be, if you’re not going to download much then you’re not going to need all that extra storage space, and you’re not going to want to pay for another hundred odd gigabytes that you’ll never use. The price of a larger SD card is always going to be cheaper than the price difference for an SKU with larger inbuilt storage, even the most boneheaded consumer should be able to notice this.
Another difference with the PS4 and Xbone is that yeah, you get 500GB there. But that’s a hard drive. Everyone knows those are cheap, large, heavy, and far more prone to failure from physical movement/being dropped/whatever. When’s the last time you saw a tablet with a hard drive? Also, “a tablet is a tablet, whether you choose to add a cartridge slot or not.” – a tablet is a general computational device. The Switch is a games console. It may have a similar form factor, but it is not the same thing at all, just as the PS4/Xbone aren’t “just a PC, whether they have a special disc drive or not”.
Ok, I had replies for both of our discussions, but for some reason Kotaku errored out whenever I tried to post them, and now I dont have time to retype them. Thanks for the discussion either way…agree to disagree.
I got hit with that too just before, cookie/login expiration. Still isn’t showing properly when your session’s expired.
Until the next round of comments section *nod* 😛
Just kind of meh for me. Not disastrously bad or anything, but nor is it even remotely tempting at the moment.
I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t pre-ordered yet, was thinking I might wait and see but I was wondering, will this cannibalise the 3DS market at all, both portable, cartridge based etc.
The design and business plan for online services needs to be explained and improved.
Online services are what engages customers and improves multiplayer only titles… limiting it to a subscription service with lackluster rewards (one month free game demo) is lame.
The indie developers will thrive in an open platform store with integrated server netcode… stufling customers behind a paid access may ve detrimental.
Especially when your Parental Control app video joked about parents rewarding their kids with new games… which is positive reinforcement and commercialism… with a paid subscription service they are more likely to cancel subscriptions to punish children and lose you money hahaha 😛
Free service and rewarding membership programs please nintendo.
Two things – the price is a complete turn-off and whats worse thats what they charged for the WiiU a system that would’ve sold better if they could’ve reduced the price (which they never did)
Point two – the western support which appears to be Just Dance, FIFA, Skylanders and Skyrim is even worse than the opening offering of the WiiU which at least had COD and Splinter Cell
While i appreciate a Bethesda game on a Nintendo system is symbolically huge it very much feels like a test for Nintendo to pass in order for them to have support this generation
I guess my two cents are here if anybody is interested: I own a business and am never home before 10.30pm. Home consoles simply do not suit my personal situation anymore.
I have transitioned to portables and the Switch offers me the ability to enter the current gen (I am not fussed about specs), while playing in bed, with my headphones in without disturbing anybody. We are due to get some great games and cannot wait to see what it can offer down the track.
As a side note, I cancelled my EB preorder and reordered the Neon bundle. I love the mismatched colours.