At 3:00pm AEDT today, Nintendo will finally start to answer some of the questions everyone has been asking about the Nintendo Switch. The day after that, I’ll be able to get hands on with the Switch in Melbourne.
We’ve got a bunch of hopes and dreams for the consoles, as well as plenty of concerns. And so ahead of the official trailer, I asked my colleagues from various walks of the technology world: what did you want to see from the Nintendo Switch today?
Mark Serrels, Kotaku/Gizmodo/Lifehacker managing editor
At base level I want what I expect we’ll get: a release date and a reasonable Australian price point.
I want a list of launch titles I find compelling. I want to know when that Mario game is coming or — at the very least — see it in action.
(I suspect we won’t get the Mario thing.)
The launch titles thing is most important. I’m already sold on the hardware and I couldn’t give a shit about the specs. Seriously. The Wii U held its own last generation and not once did I find myself screaming about processing power.
That’s never been the issue with Nintendo. The issue has always been the games.
Drip feed scheduling has always relegated Nintendo to ‘second console’ status, and that’s okay, but I’d like to see more commitment to bringing indie games to its platform at a reasonable price. I’d like to see a definitive idea of what Nintendo itself is developing for the console. Many will wonder about third party support. I don’t think that’s as important as you might expect. People buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo video games. Nothing will change that.
But if you’re asking me for pie-in-the-sky dreams? How about a Switch subscription service that gives me access to everything in the Virtual Console? I’d pay for that. I’d pay a lot of money for that.
Campbell Simpson, Gizmodo editor
I want one of those horrible plastic steering wheel controllers that the Wiimote had.
Tegan Jones, Kotaku/Gizmodo/Lifehacker commercial editor
I’m hoping that Breath of the Wild will turn me into a Zelda fan. I didn’t grow up on the franchise, so I’ve never understood the hype. But I want to. I have always laboured under the assumption that without the nostalgia I just wouldn’t feel it. Perhaps the Switch will prove me wrong.
I also have all of my appendages crossed for a Super Mario Galaxy 3 announcement. That would make me incredibly happy.
There’s also a strong chance that we’ll be seeing Stardew Valley come to the Switch as a third party title. I would absolutely buy that for a third time.
Lastly, I’m still holding out for digital backwards compatibility. I think the insane popularity of the Mini NES is evidence enough that fans place a tonne of importance on retro titles. Goldeneye forever!
Chris Jager, Lifehacker editor
All I really want to see is an Aussie price tag. We already know what the Switch does and have a pretty good idea of how powerful it will be. Most prospective buyers are going to view this as either a secondary console or a suped-up DS – hopefully the RRP will reflect that.
Also, I reckon there could be a big retro announcement. Imagine if all first-party NES/SNES titles were downloadable for free. Just do it Nintendo.
Alex Walker, Kotaku editor
Tomorrow will have a fair amount of basics. I’m not expecting Nintendo to turn their presentation into a AMD/NVIDIA style tech breakdown, but I do expect some clarity on the technical details. What’s the difference between the Switch on the go and when it’s docked? Is the screen a touch screen or not? What storage options are available, and for how much? What’s the battery life like?
And for God’s sake, the price. Put us out of our misery.
But more importantly, what’s the online infrastructure going to be like? Having all of the virtual console games available – if not immediately, then hopefully not before too long – would be a huge plus. Being able to play Nintendo’s back catalogue has always been a huge help in getting over the lack of third-party titles.
That’s especially true if Nintendo wants to get into esports. They can’t just allow the Switch to stream to Twitch/YouTube/Facebook – presuming its capable of all three at launch – and leave it at that. There has to be a community, a way for people to find this content, a better ecosystem.
I want Nintendo to show me that they understand the internet, and how gaming communities function online. It’s possible all of this filters through the Miiverse, although it’ll need a substantial upgrade to handle a world with Twitch/YouTube/Facebook Live.
Hell, can you imagine Miiverse having to deal with Twitch chat?
In terms of actual games, I remember an interview with Miyamoto once where he said Nintendo likes to use Mario to headline their major releases. But if you look back at the Wii, it didn’t ship with a Mario title at launch. Twilight Princess was there, Wii Sports was a big drawcard, and Iwata originally wanted Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be a launch title.
And that’s the situation I think we might get today: Zelda confirmed as a launch title, with a second launch or a bundling with the new 3D Mario later in the year (possibly around September/October). A Zelda/Smash Bros. port would make for a decent launch, but Mario Kart (or some form of Mario Kart) is a much safer option.
Everyone on Kotaku is keen as mustard for Zelda. But families turn out in droves for Mario Kart, and Easter isn’t far away.
Xander Addington, Allure Media research and insight analyst
I just bought a 3DS a few months ago, which I am thrilled with, so I’m am slowly turning into a Nintendo fanboy. If there are some great RPGs for the Switch, I will certainly be in line to buy one. But tell us the price, Nintendo!
What do you want to see from the Switch presentation today?
Comments
19 responses to “What We Want To See From The Nintendo Switch Today”
Region-free.
However….
People are setting themselves up for disappointment by thinking we’re going to get something we can’t even get from Steam or Netflix – one eshop to rule them all with every country able to utilise the same online portal.
The physical software should hopefully work wherever I buy it from, that’s on par with Sony and Microsoft at least.
The online store hopping is of course do-able, but I’m just lazy and can’t bother with making a third set of multiple console accounts just so I can get access to games only available to Japanese (or wherever) customers.
At the very least, with a proper account system it should be possible to log into the store for your account’s region, and the system to be able to run anything. It was possible on the PS3, PS4 and Vita (though Vita only allows one account per system) and it works that way for Microsoft’s current store and most other platforms too. It’s the correct way to do it.
But this is Nintendo, the company that invented the current regioning system for games, and a company which won’t even let me say on my profile that I live in the USA on my Australian/EU 3DS.
That’s the beauty(!) of digital rights management.
The wondrous, lovely, beautiful beauty.
Before streaming was introduced, iTunes was gleeful in enforcing its DRM ways. Before that, you couldn’t get DVDs to work depending on region (Nintendo are only aping this method – it didn’t invent it).
Account systems are long over-due, and what we have now (the one they bolted-on to the Wii U, 3DS, and the Mario iOS game) is what we are stuck with. Still not perfect, but it’s ‘on par’ with most other entertainment mediums these days.
I’d like to see a vote somehow of which service is the gold standard. Across music, films and tv, and gaming.
As far as I know, Nintendo were the first company to region lock their games – it goes way back before iTunes! Physically, there were tabs inside the NES that stopped NES games from being moved between US and Japanese systems. Region locking sort of made some sense because of the PAL/NTSC divide, but Japan and the US both use NTSC so they had to stop importation of cheaper US releases into Japan.
Price
Zelda and Mario
Specs
Reggie doing something Reggie-like
Fin
There doesn’t seem to be a Nintendo Australia YouTube stream as there is for Japan, Europe, UK and America, but the Nintendo website (http://www.nintendo.com.au/) says it will host a stream, just so we hopefully get the region-specific pricing.
Imagine if they region locked their streams so you could only watch the one for your region – that would be the most Nintendo thing ever 😀
Don’t give them ideas!
I just want to see, local price, launch games and peripherals. Read an interesting article on Vooks’ website last night about a Virtual Reality headmount that the Switch tablet just slots into.
http://www.vooks.net/opinion-nintendos-switch-fully-featured-console-yet/
Also, a proper account system and an achievement/trophy system would be nice.
Also also, There’s a rumour going around that Zelda will only be a launch title in Japan and the US. I really hope it’s not true, but if it is they better at least give us a 3D Mario.
I would assume that a 6.2″ 720p display would look awful in virtual reality. There would have to be some serious voodoo to make that look good I think.
Price and region locking policy are the big things for me. I expect the latter not to be answered in a good way though. My expectation is they’ll remain mum on it until right before or just after the thing launches and then find out it’s region locked, and probably in ways that are just as retarded as the 3DS regioning (eg region-locking Ad-hoc multiplayer, because no one with a portable system will ever use it outside their home region)
Price
Launch Titles
In development titles expected within first 12/18 months
and I know it won’t happen but Id like to see something other than a grey unit haha.
As far as I’m concerned, the jackpot would be a Monster Hunter announcement, preferably with a release date within 6 months of the Switch launch. Not only would MH work really well on the Switch (because, unlike the 3DS, it has better display resolution than a toaster and it doesn’t require genetically engineered crab hands to be comfortable) but it’d also go a long way towards securing the Switch’s place in the market early on, thanks to Japan’s ravenous appetite for all things Monster Hunter.
As neat as things like “no region lock”, “Gamecube virtual console” and “good account system” are, this thing needs software, and it needs it fast. Unlike previous consoles, it’s not going to coincide with a new Playstation/Xbox generation anytime soon – instead, it’ll be competing against their respective Pro/Scorpio hardware revisions and their strong, built-up libraries. The pressure is on to build a good library of quality games, and to do it fast.
Price. Price. And price.
I have already preordered, but want to know which games and how many I can afford at launch.
I couldn’t care less about specs, I just want them to show they are serious players again.
Price and games.
Also, my unrealistic wish: compatibility with 3DS library.
Price and launch titles, really needs to have a solid line up of good games at launch or in the first 3 months. They can’t just say look, here’s Zelda, and expect it to carry them. They need to get back with the majority of gamers and while having zelda as a launch title will definitely sell units it wont draw in the majority for whom a single game isn’t worth buying a console for.
Price, Region Locking, and most importantly, will there be a Monster Hunter game on it?
being able to play monster hunter on a (rumoured) 720p screen instead of the garbo 3DS screen will be my dream come true. Also being able to play it on my big screen at my house then being able to bring it along to my friends for local hunts, Monster Hunter is the perfect game for the switch.
Edit: and by having a monster hunter game i meant as a launch title, i have no doubt it’ll make its way to the switch at some point, but considering that XX is coming out on 3DS in japan around the same time the switch is meant to launch gives me hope.
One of the corporate calls a while ago when NX was more a rumor than substance the President of Nintendo stated the success of the product will be in its Digital Network / Distribution… and thats the one thing we dont know about what will be the Switch Network / eShop will be.
Have they learnt from their mistakes?
Have they learnt from Playstation and Xbox on what to do / not to do ?
Monthly Subscription?
Free Games for Membership?
They sit on a back catalogue of the greatest games in history… will they release them for a reasonable price?
Hardware wise… if its android based tablet does it support android apps? Or come with additional suite of apps. Web Browsers? Media Players?