Nintendo Switch

[Hero!]

Rajah friend codes


Fro: SW-8345-8567-7689
Hero: SW-0048-3227-4230
Psycho666Soldier: SW-0933-6669-1297
Randolph: SW-0491-0521-9144
Jarrod1983: SW-3769-7560-4887
Gangers: SW-1325-6329-7701 (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-07-26-nx-is-a-portable-console-with-detachable-controllers)
BBF: SW-0215-8809-4209
Mikey_Jones: SW-4796-4253-3118
Wardy: SW-6859-1690-8490

[Fro]

Where are you seeing that it also hooks up to the TV? That's the part I'm confused by... does it also function like a console, and if so, how? I'm not really a portable gamer (the last portable system I owned was Gameboy Advance) so I'm more interested in the home console aspect and the rumors that it would be as powerful as PS4. I love Nintendo's ingenuity but they can outsmart themselves at times. And Nintendo already owns the portable market with 3DS anyway. I'd prefer a regular console that can have all their amazing exclusives AND the big cross platform games. Wii U should have been that, and I still love my Wii U, but their abandonment of cross platforms was a huge bummer. Obviously we won't know the full scoop on NX until they unveil it but this news is pretty underwhelming. But I will be eagerly awaiting the September reveal.

Side note, Mario Kart 8 is still the tits.

[Hero!]

Good spot, i copied and pasted wrong. Fixed it now. :yes:

Here's the bit about connecting to the TV?:
A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX - within the controller - to display on your TV.

[Fro]

Got it, so there will be a docking station for tv use. So this is the true console/handheld combo that's been rumored about. Being able to play your console-quality games on the go would be sweet but I wish they would have arrived at this function for the Wii U since they were knocking on the door with the gamepad controller. That was like a half step to this.

This is a fine idea but ultimately the catalogue of games will determine how popular this gets. If they put out the same grouping of games Wii U did I can't see Nintendo getting back to competing with PS4 and X-bone

[G-Fresh]

I really wish Nintendo would quit fuckin around and give us a regular console with decent controllers. I don't want to exercise or any other stupid shit. I just want to get high and chill and play some Mario or whatever.

[BBF]

don't we all.

[Fro]

I loved the Wii U controllers. The Gamepad was dope, the Wii U Classic Controller was basically the same as an Xbox 360 controller, plus it allowed you to use your Wii-motes from the previous generation. Loads of controller options.

[Rancid_Planet]

If this winds up being true it basically means Nintendo is finally giving up on the home console market and retreating to the portable market that they still dominate. This makes me sad.

[Hero!]

How is this giving up on the home console market? This is both a handheld and a home console.

[Fro]

Yea the specs and all that will tell a lot of the story but Nintendo has already confirmed the new Zelda will be on NX and that it'll look better than on Wii U, and that game is going to be huge. So based on that, this system should be able to support big console games not just handheld-quality games.

[Rancid_Planet]

How is this giving up on the home console market? This is both a handheld and a home console.


Yea the specs and all that will tell a lot of the story but Nintendo has already confirmed the new Zelda will be on NX and that it'll look better than on Wii U, and that game is going to be huge. So based on that, this system should be able to support big console games not just handheld-quality games.

First off, I think this might be bunk. So this whole conversation may be entirely pointless. And yeah we'd need to see some actual specs before we can make a real assumption. But as for my concerns were it to be the real deal.

There isn't much of a home console element to this outside of it being a way suped up 3DS that can plug into your tv. For Next Gen that doesnt cut it. It wont have the processing power of its competitors. The sources Eurogamer pointed to have this as a handheld first and foremost with it running on a mobile chipset. As friend-of-the-site NWR Syrenne pointed out in her twitter thread (which I dont follow but some guys I know at the site do) "you're either looking at a Vita-like 540p resolution on the handheld with an HD upscaler inside the dock or the handheld runs everything and can natively output 720p or 1080p and now you're looking at Pokemon Go levels of battery drain." And Zelda would probably run better on a system that was just as powerful as the WiiU but running at lower resolutions.


Either way its going to be a major compromise. This system will have to gimp its specs in order to remain handheld which will once again piss the developers off and short dick the software library. Further harming its home console market but "Hey thats ok because this system is also our new handheld, the market that we own the shit out of". Which feels like sliding out the back door of the home console market and retreating to the saftey of the handheld gaming world. A world I generally just dont give a fuck about.

The system can't be that powerful or flimsy because it will be a handheld. But then again the dock could be some kind of amazing upgrading hardware dock. But I doubt it. That would really start turning the system into two systems and Nintendo wouldnt want to sell one system that can only play certain games at home when the concept is that the system is both. Nintendo doesnt half ass concepts like that. They go all in or they dont go at all. Everything will be paired down to the basic power of the handheld device only with better resolution.

But hey. What the fuck do I know? I am by no means a hardware guy and technology advances blow me away all the time. But Ive been following Nintendo as a fan and for a time as a writer for a long while. I know what to be scared of when it comes to them. But I'm going to hold out hope that either this concept is bogus and isnt the NX or that I'm simply totally underestimating the "dock" part of the equation and Nintendo may be about to change gaming all over again.

They can do it. They've done it before. I'm just expressing my concerns.

[MikeHunt]

when can i get this?

i want it right fucking now.

give me it now.

[Hero!]

First off, I think this might be bunk. So this whole conversation may be entirely pointless. And yeah we'd need to see some actual specs before we can make a real assumption. But as for my concerns were it to be the real deal.

There isn't much of a home console element to this outside of it being a way suped up 3DS that can plug into your tv. For Next Gen that doesnt cut it. It wont have the processing power of its competitors. The sources Eurogamer pointed to have this as a handheld first and foremost with it running on a mobile chipset. As friend-of-the-site NWR Syrenne pointed out in her twitter thread (which I dont follow but some guys I know at the site do) "you're either looking at a Vita-like 540p resolution on the handheld with an HD upscaler inside the dock or the handheld runs everything and can natively output 720p or 1080p and now you're looking at Pokemon Go levels of battery drain." And Zelda would probably run better on a system that was just as powerful as the WiiU but running at lower resolutions.


Either way its going to be a major compromise. This system will have to gimp its specs in order to remain handheld which will once again piss the developers off and short dick the software library. Further harming its home console market but "Hey thats ok because this system is also our new handheld, the market that we own the shit out of". Which feels like sliding out the back door of the home console market and retreating to the saftey of the handheld gaming world. A world I generally just dont give a fuck about.

The system can't be that powerful or flimsy because it will be a handheld. But then again the dock could be some kind of amazing upgrading hardware dock. But I doubt it. That would really start turning the system into two systems and Nintendo wouldnt want to sell one system that can only play certain games at home when the concept is that the system is both. Nintendo doesnt half ass concepts like that. They go all in or they dont go at all. Everything will be paired down to the basic power of the handheld device only with better resolution.

But hey. What the fuck do I know? I am by no means a hardware guy and technology advances blow me away all the time. But Ive been following Nintendo as a fan and for a time as a writer for a long while. I know what to be scared of when it comes to them. But I'm going to hold out hope that either this concept is bogus and isnt the NX or that I'm simply totally underestimating the "dock" part of the equation and Nintendo may be about to change gaming all over again.

They can do it. They've done it before. I'm just expressing my concerns.

youre complaining about what is essentially a concept at this point. Nintendo systems are always underpowered compared to their peers, yet they always sell well. Nintendo dominates the handheld market, even with the rise of mobile gaming. Nintendo has great IPs and combines them with an affordable means to play (console or handheld) and it works brilliantly for them.

[The Doc]

youre complaining about what is essentially a concept at this point. Nintendo systems are always underpowered compared to their peers, yet they always sell well. Nintendo dominates the handheld market, even with the rise of mobile gaming. Nintendo has great IPs and combines them with an affordable means to play (console or handheld) and it works brilliantly for them.

Incorrect. The Wii was the first. The Nintendo and Super Nintendo were simply superior to their competition. We can argue specs if you like on the PS1 vs N64 since that really deals with more with the memory on a CD than a cartridge, sheer power wise it wasn't a competition. The Gamecube was stronger than the PS2 and I believe either on par or a tad stronger than the Xbox.

We're not gonna go into the handhelds since Nintendo doesn't honestly have competition there and if we did the Game Gear was stronger than the original Gameboy.

But if 2/7 means always I can't complain. I'm not always precise with my language either.

[Hero!]

N64 was good, but not as capable of storing data as PlayStation/Xbox with their disks, which caused the certain game makers to shift their games to the Xbox/ps (Final fantasy, metal gear). Then with the GameCube, it suffered from being solely a gaming console. PS2 and Xbox were both DVD players and their online play (coupled with high speed internet a growing availability) made them the preferred systems. Then PS3 had the Blu Ray player, which helped it move a lot of units. With the Wii, Nintendo ended up doing so well with an under power system through its combination of innovative gameplay (the motion gimmick), strong IPs (smash, metroid, Mario, Zelda), -and affordability. The NX looks to be another system with innovative play features, the same characters people love Nintendo for, and it will likely cost less than a PS4/Xbox...maybe. XbOnes seem to be dropping quickly in price with their awful sales numbers.

and game gear was cool, but that battery life...yuck. Nintendo was weaker, but they knew what the people wanted was play time versus fancy graphics when the battery life technology just wasn't there yet.

[RuneEdge]

But hey. What the fuck do I know? I am by no means a hardware guy and technology advances blow me away all the time. But Ive been following Nintendo as a fan and for a time as a writer for a long while. I know what to be scared of when it comes to them. But I'm going to hold out hope that either this concept is bogus and isnt the NX or that I'm simply totally underestimating the "dock" part of the equation and Nintendo may be about to change gaming all over again.
As someone who follows tech advancements with PCs, mobiles, etc, I can tell you now that all of this is entirely possible, and maybe affordable too. It's just never been attempted before. At least not put together in this way.

One of the new advancements with laptops is external GPUs, which I'll try to explain here in layman's terms (At least with my general understanding. Feel free to correct me).
If you didn't already know (and I don't mean to patronise), the main reason why you can't play graphic intensive games on laptops is due to the lack of power in the "graphics processing unit" or GPU. PCs have graphics cards you can plug into the motherboard, with huge cooling fans and power supplies to maintain its performance. When it comes to handhelds (and cell phones), the CPU is never an issue. We have cell phones today that have 8 core CPUs and 6 gigs of RAM. What's letting it down is the lack of a powerful graphics processor. And usually when games are made, their performance is influenced roughly 70% by the graphics card (GPU), and about 30% by the CPU. So in theory, it's probably possible to recreate most console games on handhelds, providing they look like dog shit visually.

Now here's where it gets cool. Most external accessories today use USB 2.0. I imagine most people will be familiar with the newer USB 3.0 which comes with the blue connector. And some people (especially Mac users) will be familiar with Thunderbolt connectors. These are all industry standard connectors for external devices, that have been gradually improving and upgrading over the last 10 years, where today we have Thunderbolt 3.
Thunderbolt 3, as you'll probably guess, is ridiculously fast and has much higher bandwidth compared to the USB a lot of us still use for most of our devices. Inside our PCs and laptops, components like your graphics card, RAM, etc are plugged directly into your motherboard (as in they don't use cables, they just directly slot into the motherboard somewhere) so that there's very low latency when it communicates with the CPU. Thunderbolt 3 is actually faster than this. Meaning a Thunderbolt 3 hard drive with a cable running to your laptop would run faster than the hard drive that's actually inside that laptop.
What some companies like Razer have done is create an enclosure that holds a desktop graphics card inside, and then plugs into laptops via Thunderbolt 3, basically giving desktop gaming performance on laptops.

So going back to the Nintendo NX, it's actually possible to have a handheld that plays "console standard" games with a lower resolution, but then also have some sort of dock at home that houses a much more powerful graphics card that improves the visuals for when you want to play on your TV. The idea is perfectly in line with what's happening today with laptop gaming advancements, and as we all know with PC games, you can change graphics settings at will, to best suit your PC hardware. So it's not that hard to imagine playing a game on your handheld with these lower settings, that would then be ramped up the moment you sit that handheld on its dock.

[LOCONUT]

That would be tits if correct.

[Fanny]

Rune you're brilliant. What a ruddy, bloody great post, thanks for that.

[LOCONUT]

Yeah the tits

[LOCONUT]

RuneEdge2k2

[The Rosk]

Paint me like one of your French girls, Rune.

[Fanny]

Rune is in a basement somewhere fellating himself with a SNES controller reading all of the reps for that post

[MikeHunt]

GIVE ME GIVE ME GIVE ME GIVE ME!!!!!!!

[RuneEdge]

Rune is in a basement somewhere fellating himself with a SNES controller reading all of the reps for that post

It was a good post to be fair.

[wardy]

Make love to me Runedy!

[RuneEdge]

Show me where your USB port is.

[wardy]

From now on you're going to be known as the guy who made that great post in the video games forum. Not the guy who doesn't understand how the lottery works.

[Fanny]

oh God I forgot about that. Christ. Oh fucking hell Rune you're a moron. Jesus.

[RuneEdge]

It was a thread where we were supposed to ask stupid questions. :dunno:

Only thing wrong with that thread was how there's less amnesty now. Feel kinda betrayed.

[Fro]

Is there no amnesty in this world

[The Rosk]

Oh tuck was that him? Stop fucking painting me Rune you stupid thick pervert.

[son_of_foley]

Imagine if she had given the goal

[RuneEdge]

Ah well. Being cool on here was fun while it lasted.

[The Doc]

Rune is in a basement somewhere fellating himself with a SNES controller reading all of the reps for that post

Which means we have failed him. There shouldn't be room for him to get past the rest of us.

[RuneEdge]

Something I came across a while ago, which might be worth showing here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATdauIY2Agw
Here's a video of The Witcher 3 running on a very low spec PC (we're talking ultra low), using tools, mods, etc, to lower the visual details and textures. As you can see, the visuals are very poor but the gameplay is still intact. Bare in mind this is a current gen console game and one of the top mainstream titles out at the moment. The difference between this and the game we see on the PS4 and XBONE is basically down to the graphics processor. It's kinda crazy to think that this PC, which is far inferior to the specs we see in today's cell phones (by quite a bit), actually has a game like The Witcher 3 running on it.
Now if you had this game running on a little laptop, you could in theory take it back home, hook it up to one of those external GPU docks I mentioned earlier, and play that same game as if it was visually a next gen title.

Here's an image of what Razer have in mind with their dock.
http://www.dmag.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/img_razer_1.png
The idea is to have a portable laptop that has decent gaming capabilities, but you can then hook it up to that big block to the right, which houses the graphics card, a built in USB hub so you can attach extra gaming controllers, an ethernet port for online, and a cable that then runs to the monitor in the background that you do your high end gaming on.
Swap the laptop for a Nintendo made handheld, and we might be looking at what the NX will turn out to be.

[Fanny]

That portable GPU is fucking enormous

[RuneEdge]

It's big to allow you to swap in large graphics cards. The idea is for you to be able to take it apart with ease and just swap out the graphics card.
http://gazettereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1-8.jpg
It's just for the sake of accommodating the different sizes you get with consumer GPUs.

It doesn't have to be big if the dock came with its own built in GPU that wasn't removable. The GPU itself physically is quite small and very thin. The bulk of it is just heat sinks and cooling fans. You take all that away and it looks like this.

http://i.imgur.com/AmXkD8V.jpg

So that, with a heat sink, some fans, and you're looking at a casing that's probably even smaller than the size of the Wii U.

[Judas Iscariot]

How much do these GPU companies pay you to convince me that I actually, in fact, need a GPU thing? Because it does look like a nice gadgey.

[RuneEdge]

They're not cheap, and your laptop needs to have a Thunderbolt 3 port. The dock thing is about $499 and that's without a graphics card inside. Razer are the first to release such a device so huge price drops are expected once other people start making their own. At the end of the day, this is basically like paying for an external hard drive enclosure without a hard drive inside. You'd expect the thing to be cheap since the real hardware thats doing all the work is the hard drive, not the casing.
You'd be paying an early adopters premium right now.

[RuneEdge]

Nintendo doing their first reveal of the console later today.

[Fro]

Nintendo Switch


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI

[RuneEdge]

So it's exactly what people expected. I love how the single controller could turn into two wiimote style controllers for instant multiplayer on the go.
The whole concept looks really fun. I'm just hoping the game devs get on board with this. If this had cellular capabilities for online play on the go, this could be amazing.

[MikeHunt]

OH MY FUCKING GOD GIVE ME IT NOW!

when can i actually get this?

[Marlon Dingle]

The changing between playing at home and on the go looks cool. But surely there is no way you can be playing a next gen game on a handheld console and not eat though the battery power. Interested to see what the battery life will be like, or what it sacrifices when playing it on the move to save energy.

[Fro]

Some initial thoughts having just watched the trailer:

-System looks cool overall, it's exactly what was rumored, and it's a cool concept. Being able to play games at home and on the go (with home console level graphics) is a nice feature. I wish they would have done it last generation with the Wii U gamepad since they were knocking on the door (I probably said that already in this thread). Cartridges confirmed.
-That looks like a new Mario game and I'm hyped because it seems from the brief footage to possibly be Mario 64 style where you don't have to move linearly like you did in Super Mario World 3D. I would love this. I badly want a new M64 open world style Mario game. It was only a few seconds of footage though so I could be wrong (it might have been footage from SMW3D).
-Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon will be ported to the new system. Both great games. MK8 was the best Wii U game for me and best MK game ever made IMO. These ports don't do anything for me personally since I have my Wii U but for the 96% of gamers who didn't own a Wii U, these ports are a plus.
-Obviously the system will only be as good as the game lineup and that remains the biggest concern for a Nintendo console. This could be a great system but please please give me the cross-console games (like sports games etc). Showing what I believe was NBA2k was a great sign.

Battery life and online capabilities on-the-go are good questions like you guys said.

[MikeHunt]

New;

Zelda,
Mario,
Mario Kart...

This is a serious no brainer.

[Fro]

For Mario Kart, it looks like you can hold 2 items which you couldn't do in MK8. So while it looks like a port in that the tracks are the same, it will likely have new features/enhancements. Fingers crossed they re-vamp the battle mode which was lame in MK8.

[RuneEdge]

When you think about how good some cell phone games look today, and the battery life those have, I think we could expect something decent here.
If they implement some kind of hotswapable battery pack, they'll make a ton of money on battery packs alone.

[Fro]

http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nintendo-Switch2-630x840.jpg
http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/951a2537ec153bd982ef9eda3d403c6b195b033c4c87104ce5 1d91f2cd426b16.jpg?w=600&h=397

[Hero!]

Yeah, i'm all about this. Gaming on the go is more my thing than a console anyway and this looks like the perfect split for me.

[Fro]

great console name btw

[Alf]

Was that Skyrim?!

Sold.

[Fro]

The 3rd party support/partners list is maybe the most exciting thing. EA and Take-Two (which owns 2K Games) being on the list, plus Skyrim/Bethesda, is very encouraging. Obviously a lot TBD in terms of game lineups but at least early on it seems like some of these developers are coming back on board after they jumped ship on Wii U.

[Mr McGregor]

Presumably that would suggest the graphical capabilities and processing specs are comparable to current gen. Can't have the developers working too hard.

Genius how the handheld controller snaps apart to make two mini ones. Doubt I'd be taking it to many parties though.

[RuneEdge]

As always, dev support will be the key. But what Nintendo need is for them is to get proper multi format titles on the console. Usually with certain games like say COD or Batman, we get the "proper" releases on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and then you get a separate Nintendo version that's either scaled down or has its own unique features to justify the use of Nintendo's hardware.
If Nintendo could provide the hardware to play the kind of games the PS4 and XboxOne can put out, I'm confident that they could steal some of their sales.

[Zyphlin]

As always, dev support will be the key. But what Nintendo need is for them is to get proper multi format titles on the console. Usually with certain games like say COD or Batman, we get the "proper" releases on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and then you get a separate Nintendo version that's either scaled down or has its own unique features to justify the use of Nintendo's hardware.
If Nintendo could provide the hardware to play the kind of games the PS4 and XboxOne can put out, I'm confident that they could steal some of their sales.

^--- This. If it can run the same 3rd party games as the Playstation and Xbox, while also being able to get those sweet sweet Nintendo exclusives, I'm sold on my next console.

[JP]

I was going to be getting a PS4 in the next few weeks. Might hold off on that now, this looks flipping brilliant.

[Fro]

and the fact that it's only 5 months away is nice... I don't remember off hand what the lead time was for other current gen consoles but I feel like 5 months from announcement to launch is short

[RuneEdge]

^--- This. If it can run the same 3rd party games as the Playstation and Xbox, while also being able to get those sweet sweet Nintendo exclusives, I'm sold on my next console.

Imagine a console that plays all the major third party releases like GTA, COD, FIFA, Elder Scrolls, Destiny, Dark Souls, Fallout, Batman, The Witcher, etc, and then also plays all the Nintendo exclusive franchises like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon. Then imagine the Virtual Console library on top of everything.

I'd gladly pay £500 for the console. Nintendo could kill the competition if it opened itself to the 3rd party market instead of trying to do its own thing.

[Rancid_Planet]

Imagine a console that plays all the major third party releases like GTA, COD, FIFA, Elder Scrolls, Destiny, Dark Souls, Fallout, Batman, The Witcher, etc, and then also plays all the Nintendo exclusive franchises like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon. Then imagine the Virtual Console library on top of everything.

I'd gladly pay £500 for the console. Nintendo could kill the competition if it opened itself to the 3rd party market instead of trying to do its own thing.

I feel like that's kind of a dream scenario for Nintendo fans that just won't ever totally happen. However if they can just get some support in a real way from third party developers then this system can take over the world. Seeing it in action wins me over. The concept seems to be executed quite brilliantly.

[Fro]

first video has a Mario Run demo then the Switch/Zelda demo complete with Jimmy Fallon's unbridled enthusiasm. second video is just plain fun.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJ7IUNWGl4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17tXBePgfo

[Marlon Dingle]

Jimmy Fallon is insufferable in that first video.

[Fanny]

just in that first video, or all the time in every single thing that he's on? Because that.

[mth]

Jimmy Fallon is insufferable in that first video.

:yes:

[Fro]

He's super talented, one of the all time great SNL cast members and his show is great, don't @ me

[Marlon Dingle]

just in that first video, or all the time in every single thing that he's on? Because that.

He actually doesn't bother me most of the time. But that clip there is just so over the top. There is no need for a grown adult to be acting like that unless they have Aspergers.

[Rancid_Planet]

Conan forever. Fallon never.

[Fro]

Nintendo's big Switch reveal is tomorrow night at 11PM Eastern. We should find out launch titles, price, specs, etc. Likely a $250 console price.

[Hero!]

$250 would be an awesome price.

[Fro]

https://youtu.be/uuC4YLLkqME

Live presentation

[Fro]

This presentation is awesomely cheesy. I love it. I gotta go to bed but can't wait to watch the rest tomorrow.

$300 for the console though so a little more than the $250 we hoped for. Still reasonable. The features of the console/controllers seem great from what I saw so far. If this thing has good games, looks like a winner.

[Beer-Belly]

They're fucked. Ain't nobody gonna pay $300 for a console with just a Zelda game at launch.

[Bill Casey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kcdRBHM7kM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7s3UB_8dFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKlRN2YpxRE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJuiTw6nk7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw47_q9wbBE

[Beer-Belly]

But just Zelda will be available at launch, right?

[Reech]

But just Zelda will be available at launch, right?

Yup, as well as 1-2-Switch and a couple of other games. MK8D looks like April and the rest are "2017" at various points.

I pre-ordered the console and Zelda but I expect to cancel them as that's currently £340 and that's a bit much.

The accessory pricing for the UK is a fucking joke. £75 for another set of controllers. £75.

[Fanny]

I think I'm getting this. I'm all over the UK right now and nights in hotels bore me to absolute tears, this would be amazing. In fact it would be brilliant for on trains and in airports as well.

[Reech]

Looks like it's only got a small battery life though. Reported at 2.5 to 6.5 hours.

[Marlon Dingle]

All the games look dead cartoony. Not that there's anything wrong with that but makes me think the performance power can't be that great. Show me something with shit hot graphics being played at a high frame rate on the Switch as a handheld device and I'll start to get interested.

[Fro]

I still need to watch the rest of the presentation but... Mario Odyssey is exactly what I wanted from the next Mario game. Open world. And putting it in the "real world" instead of Magic Kingdom should be a nice change of scenery. For that I will almost definitely be buying a Switch. But good chance I wait until Holidays 2017 rather than buy it at launch.

I'm sure I've said this before but Mario Kart 8 is the best game in that series and for anyone who didn't have a Wii U, MK8 Deluxe is an absolute must buy. I may have to buy it myself even though I still play MK8 here and there and the online mode has held up wonderfully. I'm seeing it has a release date of April 28th? Very nice.

Splatoon 2 being a sequel not a port is good to hear. I never really embraced Splatoon and only got about 15-20 hours out of it. I should try to get back into it - I know a lot of people still adore it.

[Defrost]

I preordered it.

[Morrison]

that presentation was hard to watch. so much filler and awkwardness. having random third party reps there to go 'yeah this looks cool, we're totally gonna make a game for it' was just an odd choice and provided no excitement. the insane overuse of 'switch' puns. the console only launching with one major game, even if it is zelda. the over-explaining of the joy con controllers and how you can play with them. could've been so much tighter.

zelda does look phenomenal, and mario odyssey as well. shame they couldnt have mario ready for launch. a launch of mario and zelda wouldve been perfect.

[Randolph]

The thing that killed me for the Wii U was the lack of games on it. I played it more than any other console, but that is because my love of Super Mario Maker has not been extinguished yet. I will wait until I see that it will have a decent library and hopefully some good third party stuff. The new Mario game looks fucking awesome though.

[RuneEdge]

I own a Wii U and one of those "New" 3DS handhelds. And seeing how soon both of them were abandoned is kinda worrying. I want to buy the Switch, and I had money put aside for it a while back, but this to me for some reason looks and feels like something Nintendo will quickly forget about within the next 3-4 years.

Mario and Zelda are the only two reasons to get this at the moment, and right now that's not enough for me. I already have Mario Kart and Smash Bros on the Wii U, so there's no need for those from me.
A new Metroid could probably sell it for me though.

[Fro]

I disagree that this looks like something that will be forgotten. The premise of the Wii U was always fairly meh, and the gamepad was never utilized well. This console on the other hand, it looks like a winner. Granted the the game lineup is weak so that could still cause it to be a failure. But from the pure concept of what the console is, this could theoretically replace both the Wii U and 3DS and become a mainstay if it catches on.

But yea, more games please.

Also someone play me in Mario Kart 8

[Atty]

I actually loved the Wii U with the exception of the shit range on the gamepad. It didn't have enough third party games, but the concept was solid. The Switch furthers that concept.

I haven't touched my Wii U in months, but after surgery it was my go to console. The gamepad made it easy to play on when I couldn't move around or when I go to bed before passing out. I have spent more time on it playing NES and SNES than actual Wii U games, though.

[Fro]

being able to play off screen was a nice feature. and agreed on the range, it doesnt reach my bedroom from my living room which sucks. and I love the Wii U too, I got way more than my money's worth out of it, but in terms of actual game functionality the only games where the gamepad actually made a difference was Mario Maker and Pikmin 3, at least that I can think of. not like I played every game tho. for the most part, Wii U was just a good system because it was a nintendo system with nintendo games and that's my bread and butter video games-wise.

[Morrison]

I disagree that this looks like something that will be forgotten. The premise of the Wii U was always fairly meh, and the gamepad was never utilized well. This console on the other hand, it looks like a winner. Granted the the game lineup is weak so that could still cause it to be a failure. But from the pure concept of what the console is, this could theoretically replace both the Wii U and 3DS and become a mainstay if it catches on.

But yea, more games please.

Also someone play me in Mario Kart 8

the battery life will be a big problem when it comes to replacing the 3ds. my wife has played marathon sessions of monster hunter and gotten am eight hour charge off the battery. they say the upper limit here will be 6, and that's what, if you're playing splatoon or a virtual console game? two and a half hours for intensive things like zelda? it makes the 'on the go' aspect a little encumbered.

[Bill Casey]

But just Zelda will be available at launch, right?

Fuck launch and think Christmas...
Launch is for hardcores...

If things go well, they can sell to the diehards early, and then be sold out around the holidays...

[Fro]

the battery life will be a big problem when it comes to replacing the 3ds. my wife has played marathon sessions of monster hunter and gotten am eight hour charge off the battery. they say the upper limit here will be 6, and that's what, if you're playing splatoon or a virtual console game? two and a half hours for intensive things like zelda? it makes the 'on the go' aspect a little encumbered.

tru nuff. 3DS is so successful that I'm sure Nintendo wants to keep it alive anyway.

[Atty]

Fuck launch and think Christmas...
Launch is for hardcores...

If things go well, they can sell to the diehards early, and then be sold out around the holidays...

Yep.

And Zelda being on Wii U will let me hold off until Mario and/or Metroid comes out. Zelda's the only title in the near future that interests me for it. And motherfucking Mass Effect is right after. Not the time to splurge on a new system.

[LOCONUT]

I actually loved the Wii U with the exception of the shit range on the gamepad. It didn't have enough third party games, but the concept was solid. The Switch furthers that concept.

I haven't touched my Wii U in months, but after surgery it was my go to console. The gamepad made it easy to play on when I couldn't move around or when I go to bed before passing out. I have spent more time on it playing NES and SNES than actual Wii U games, though.

Agreed and agreed. The WiiU has become my daughters console as she is just getting into mario. If I were a lazy piece of shit then once in a while I would plop her down with Mario maker and she can play for an hour like no one else is there. Babysitter Mario suit.

[RuneEdge]

I disagree that this looks like something that will be forgotten. The premise of the Wii U was always fairly meh, and the gamepad was never utilized well. This console on the other hand, it looks like a winner. Granted the the game lineup is weak so that could still cause it to be a failure. But from the pure concept of what the console is, this could theoretically replace both the Wii U and 3DS and become a mainstay if it catches on.
Of course I could be entirely wrong. I mean, who thought adding a second screen to the handheld would work out so well?

Now when I say that this new console could be forgotten or abandoned by Nintendo, I think back to the original Wii. The concept at the time was out of left field, but it caught on and people went nuts for it. The whole industry thought "motion controls" were the future, and both Sony and Microsoft pushed out the PS Move and Kinect stuff to try and keep up with it. But even though the Wii sales were through the roof, everyone moved on from the concept and Nintendo went back to the drawing board to come up with something new. So even though the Switch looks like a cool idea, I'm totally expecting Nintendo to come up with something new for the following console. For some reason, I can't picure them making a second Switch console. I've come to think of Nintendo as a company who'll always try something new every time, regardless of how well the last idea worked.

And why is this a problem? Come to think of it, I don't know. Maybe it's because I don't want to have to buy another console, but I know I will since its the only place I can play Nintendo's exclusives. And ideally they'd make that console that could entirely replace the PS and Xbox brands, but we know that won't happen.
And now Nintendo have gone and adopted a paid online subscription model, to make matters worse for me.

[Bill Casey]

http://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch/2017/1/15/14280604/nintendo-switch-pre-order-gamestop-ebay-gray-market
https://www.vg247.com/2017/01/16/nintendo-says-theres-wont-be-supply-issues-but-the-switch-is-already-sold-out-at-major-retailers-on-both-sides-of-the-pond/


Looks like the 2 million units scheduled for launch are sold out...
They are reportedly not being sold at a loss...

[Peter Griffin]

After being a Mega Drive/Saturn/Dreamcast - Ps1/2/3/4 man, I think I may finally pick up a Nintendo console (well my bro had a N64). Seems reasonably priced and will give me a alternative to the PS4 as I didn't much care for the Xbox One and flogged it.
Obviously the 'franchise' games I have heard of are Mario Kart/Super Mario/Zelda and Metroid with the latter being the only game not scheduled for this as best I can tell?

[Peter Griffin]

Though I'm not sure why they are re-releasing a 3 year old Mario Kart title for this when I would think they would bring out a new one.

[Ramsay]

Though I'm not sure why they are re-releasing a 3 year old Mario Kart title for this when I would think they would bring out a new one.

Quicker, easier and cheaper to release a port than is is to make a full game?

[Peter Griffin]

Wel yeah, I just figured new console new game to show off what I assume to be a significant hardware upgrade.

[Rancid_Planet]

http://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch/2017/1/15/14280604/nintendo-switch-pre-order-gamestop-ebay-gray-market
https://www.vg247.com/2017/01/16/nintendo-says-theres-wont-be-supply-issues-but-the-switch-is-already-sold-out-at-major-retailers-on-both-sides-of-the-pond/


Looks like the 2 million units scheduled for launch are sold out...
They are reportedly not being sold at a loss...

Would make sense. Nintendo hates taking losses on hardware.

[Fro]

Switch OS Walkthrough (LEAK):

https://vid.me/oQkO

[RuneEdge]

Like the look of the menus. Looks very clean and simple. Kinda like the Wii menus but more "mature". Having said that, it does make the whole thing look like an Android tablet.
Which got me thinking earlier. Is this really a console? or a handheld marketed as a console? As more info on the Switch has started to leak out, I'm starting to wonder how I'd be using this device if I purchased it. Initially it was speculated that we'll have a tablet-like handheld that did most of the work internally, and then you would place it on a dock that would contain additional components to boost the graphical power of the handheld to turn it into something that resembles a home console. I think I read in a few places that Nintendo have said the dock itself will cost around $90 on its own. But it's now been revealed that the dock is nothing more than a charger and TV-out cable. It does no work of its own. If anyone here is familiar with those HDMI cables you can buy for your iPhone/iPad, it's literally like one of those, packaged as a dock. Digging a little deeper, I found someone who learnt that the Switch in its handheld form actually underclocks it's processor to improve battery consumption when you're on the go. So in other words, instead of the Switch receiving a boost when you play at home, its actually a case of where at home you're seeing its standard performance and then when you're on the go, it's intentionally scaling it back to allow it to last longer. Sitting on its dock, the Switch receives enough power from the mains to let it run how its supposed to.
So it seems to me that what we really have is a very powerful handheld. The kind that would blow any other handheld out of the water. But is it a console? Well lets say Sony released a dock for the PS Vita that let you hook it up to a TV and then let you plug PS4 controllers to that dock to play those games, and then Sony packaged all of that together in a big retail box. Would you call that a console? or a handheld with some cool accessories?

[mr sabu]

so i just ordered a switch for the entire purpose of breath of the wild

i have no regrets

[Rancid_Planet]

Like the look of the menus. Looks very clean and simple. Kinda like the Wii menus but more "mature". Having said that, it does make the whole thing look like an Android tablet.
Which got me thinking earlier. Is this really a console? or a handheld marketed as a console? As more info on the Switch has started to leak out, I'm starting to wonder how I'd be using this device if I purchased it. Initially it was speculated that we'll have a tablet-like handheld that did most of the work internally, and then you would place it on a dock that would contain additional components to boost the graphical power of the handheld to turn it into something that resembles a home console. I think I read in a few places that Nintendo have said the dock itself will cost around $90 on its own. But it's now been revealed that the dock is nothing more than a charger and TV-out cable. It does no work of its own. If anyone here is familiar with those HDMI cables you can buy for your iPhone/iPad, it's literally like one of those, packaged as a dock. Digging a little deeper, I found someone who learnt that the Switch in its handheld form actually underclocks it's processor to improve battery consumption when you're on the go. So in other words, instead of the Switch receiving a boost when you play at home, its actually a case of where at home you're seeing its standard performance and then when you're on the go, it's intentionally scaling it back to allow it to last longer. Sitting on its dock, the Switch receives enough power from the mains to let it run how its supposed to.
So it seems to me that what we really have is a very powerful handheld. The kind that would blow any other handheld out of the water. But is it a console? Well lets say Sony released a dock for the PS Vita that let you hook it up to a TV and then let you plug PS4 controllers to that dock to play those games, and then Sony packaged all of that together in a big retail box. Would you call that a console? or a handheld with some cool accessories?

This is a great point. I think basically it wasn't really designed to be primarily handheld because of it's short battery life. The home dock may not improve power but these days I'm not sure how important power really

[Reech]

What games is everyone getting?

I'm literally just getting Zelda and likely Mario Kart in April (I didn't get a WiiU so missed out).

[RuneEdge]

so i just ordered a switch for the entire purpose of breath of the wild

i have no regrets

I didn't order a Switch, and I have no regrets.

Here's why:

http://i.imgur.com/EeE8T6O.jpg

:D

[Fro]

what am I looking at... you got a Switch early?

I will get this console eventually. I think it'll be great once it gets more games and a Virtual Console and web browser/Netflix. Rumors of the next Pikmin game titled Pikmin World are exciting. Pikmin 3 for Wii U was the best.

[RuneEdge]

I'm playing it on the WiiU, using those ways we must not speak of.

[Morrison]

what am I looking at... you got a Switch early?

I will get this console eventually. I think it'll be great once it gets more games and a Virtual Console and web browser/Netflix. Rumors of the next Pikmin game titled Pikmin World are exciting. Pikmin 3 for Wii U was the best.

ive got no attachment to my wii u, so I'd love you trade that in and put it toward the switch, but there's no way I'm doing that until probably mario odyssey comes out.

[Randolph]

I have done some research and it just doesn't look too good for rural folk. No CDS? 3 games out? I like party games, but that 1 2 switch game seems limited.

[mr sabu]

I didn't order a Switch, and I have no regrets.

Here's why:

http://i.imgur.com/EeE8T6O.jpg

:D

was never bothered to buy a wiiu


anyway i hope my switch arrives tommrow, ive avoided nearly all info released on botw so im coming in clean

[Fro]

Apparently Nintendo Switch game cartridges are coated with Denatonium Benzonate to make them taste terrible so kids won't eat them. Bravo.

[Reech]

Based on experience, they must've ground up game developer and coated it with the powder.

[Defrost]

Downloaded Fast RMX today. Fun little F-Zero clone. For $19.99 it's worth it.

[Fro]

how's the console?

[Defrost]

I like it. It's bare bones right now. I mean just a game machine at the moment with few games. I like the ability to go handheld with it. Looks good too.

[GeezaTap]

Ouch - low activity in this thread.

I got one at a midnight launch last Friday - so far I have Zelda, Snipperclips, Fast RMX and Blaster Master Zero.

Compared to the Wii U, the load times are a LOT better. You don't have to worry about long load times for booting up games, accessing the e-shop etc.

As well as this, the fact that nearly every game is essentially cross-buy (tv and handheld-playable with the exception of Voez so far) means it's great value for money. Nintendo are advertising well (for once), although it really must be held and played with to be appreciated.

Being able to play 2-player Fast RMX pretty much out of the box is astounding.

A worthy purchase says I.

[Fro]

I want to see what the Virtual Console is like. On the Wii U VC, they finally added a lot of N64 games I'm interested in buying at $10 a pop. Mario Kart 64, Mario 64, Wave Race, some others I'm forgetting. I will gladly pony up $50 to get a handful of those. But I'm waiting to see if I can get them on Switch. Having those games to play on the go would be baller. So I want that announcement to come soon. Wii U began the same way, I believe, where the Virtual Console didn't get added until 4 months in or something like that. Nintendo essentially releases a beta version when they launch a console now. Makes sense to wait rather than be a day 1 adopter.

[RuneEdge]

I'm interested to see if there's any kind of discount for VC games you've purchased in the past. They had a deal where any VC game you bought on the Wii, was transferred over to Wii U. And any game that required an update, you could get at a discount price of $1.
Nintendo really need to work out some kind of universal account system that tied all your VC purchases together. I think it's ridiculous that they haven't already done this in this day and age, where it's so easy to get emulators and stuff on your phones and not pay for anything anyway.

[Ozanne]

so i just ordered a switch for the entire purpose of breath of the wild

i have no regrets

I'd feel massively regretful paying £400 odd just for one video game.

[RuneEdge]

It's more like £280. But still, it's a lot for one game.
But then again, if you don't have a WiiU, then you might as well get Zelda with the Switch instead.

[Ozanne]

I mean for the console and the game it's nearer the £400 mark isn't it?
I'm going against the grain here but I really think the Switch looks poor when you consider how much it is, no game with the console and the lack of launch day games that are available. I feel for the hardcore Nintendo fans that paid for the WiiU and now this.
Ok you won't be able to play Mario or Zelda but just pay the same amount for a slim PS4 and get a much better console with an amazing library of games.

I also don't see how on IGN they rated Zelda 10/10 and Horizon Zero Dawn 9.3/10. Come on, it's obvious the better game would be Horizon there. Just look at it for a start. It seems that just because it's Nintendo everyone has to lose their shit over it, I don't get it.

[RuneEdge]

The only thing better about Horizon are the graphics.

[mr sabu]

It's more like £280. But still, it's a lot for one game.
But then again, if you don't have a WiiU, then you might as well get Zelda with the Switch instead.


i enjoy my zelda, infact the only one ive really hated was sprit tracks


plus theres also mario coming and garatenee theres going to be a new smash game


so atm it was for one game

[RuneEdge]

My gripe with the whole thing is how even for a habitual spender like me, they're giving me no logical reason to buy this. I like the device, and wish it had more games to make me want to buy it. But it just doesn't.
I already have Zelda on the WiiU, Mario Kart 8 is also a port, and I'm not really into 3D Mario games so Mario Odyssey doesn't appeal to me . I grew up playing Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3 on the original NES. Loved the hell out of Mario World on the SNES, but never played (and still haven't to this day) Mario 64 or Mario Sunshine, or Mario Galaxy, even though I've now bought those games off of eBay over the last 5 years for the sake of collecting. Plus Bomberman is ugly as hell in 3D. That game should always be 2D.
As for the Virtual Console, I currently have a n3DS that does everything I need, in a smaller form factor. It plays NES, Gameboy, SNES, Game Gear. The only console it doesn't do is N64. But lets look at the N64 VC games that the WiiU has. The 3DS can (between its own library and the NDS backwards compatibility) play Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and it has a better version of Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Smash Bros. The only other N64 games I'd want to play are stuff like Goldeneye, or WWF No Mercy, but those aren't on Virtual Console either. So between the WiiU and the 3DS, for me it does everything the Switch does, if not better. If I had neither of those, then I'd definitely get the Switch instead. But in my situation, it's pointless.

That could all change if they released a new Smash Bros, Metroid and a Pokémon game for it though.

[Peter Griffin]

The only thing better about Horizon are the graphics.

Horizon is a fantastic game.

[Ozanne]

Yeah it really is, to say the graphics are the only better thing is over-looking everything about the game. It's more worthy of a 10/10 than Zelda imo.

[RuneEdge]

How's that not the same as overlooking Zelda and everything Nintendo do? Like you said yourself, you "don't get it".

[Nash Diesel]

Not sure if Switch to take off or not. Seems like it'll be no different than Sega Saturn, Kinect, stuff like that where if you have the money and you are that into the product, snatch it up it'll be fun but I don't see it being something that really blows up and we're all sitting around talking about how great it is and we should all have one. It does look pretty sweet but yeah I'm not really trying to crack open the wallet when A-I already have a WiiU and B-I'd rather spend the money on more games.

[RuneEdge]

As a device, I think it's a great concept. But the way its been marketed, how its been positioned alongside the other Nintendo devices and the price, are all the things Nintendo have got completely wrong IMO.

[Fro]

If this had the games to go with it I would peg it to do Wii-like astronomical sales numbers. But without games, yea, it could be a niche console.

[RuneEdge]

Even with a handful of games, it would be hard to sell IMO. Most importantly, it needs games that you can't already get on another device, and then the exclusive games it does have, need to be good enough to convince you to spend £280 on a handheld device.

And that's the problem in a nutshell. This is a handheld device, that's being sold like its a console. First of all, you know Nintendo clearly want you to believe this is a new home console, or else they would've kept the WiiU in production (another clue is that Nintendo are supposed to be offering a paid online service for the Switch. Which handheld does that?). So then if it's supposed to be a console, it needs to give you an experience that competes with whatever Sony and Microsoft are offering. The WiiU could barely keep up with the PS4 and Xbox One, and now with the Switch we have what's basically a portable WiiU (when you look at its graphical capabilities and whatever). Which means even with the Switch, Nintendo still don't have something that's as powerful as the PS4 and Xbox One, which also ignores the fact that we now have a PS4 Pro and the upcoming Project Scorpio. How are you going to release a "console" in this day and age that does 720p when everyone else is getting ready to move to 4k?
This has been the story with Nintendo for a few years now. With the current trend, four years from now when we have the PS5, Nintendo will finally release something they should've given us today. This is almost like Microsoft getting ready to unveil their new console that succeeds the Xbox One, while Sony come out and unveil a PS5 which is literally nothing but a PS4 that's shrunk down to portable size.

The next thing that's ridiculous is the internal memory. In an age where consoles come with 500GB, and 1TB, Nintendo are telling us that we get nothing (:lol:) and that there's a micro SD card slot for us to help ourselves. The largest micro SD card you can currently get is only 256GB, and cost anywhere between £120 for a cheap brand to about nearly £170. Which I guess Nintendo expect us to pay for on top of the £280 for the Switch. The smart thing to do here would've been to have a 500GB hard drive sitting inside the dock that held all your games, and you were given the option to move some of them to the Switch itself (like cache memory) for when you want to play certain games on the go.
Now one argument against this would be that the Switch's games are going to be small in memory size. Which is true. Zelda is only about 10GB in full, where as something like the last Call of Duty was around 50GB. Which I guess explains why we might not need so much memory after all. But then that begs the question, how are third party developers going to make the kind of games on the Switch that we also find on the PS4 and Xbox One? One of the reasons why Nintendo fail to get enough third party support is because no one wants to spend years of effort and resources working on making a game, and then having to almost do it all over again to tailor fit that same game on Nintendo's device.
Barring contractual obligations and exclusivity deals, there's never been any game on the PS4 that couldn't in theory be ported to the Xbox One, and there wasn't one on the PS3 that wouldn't work on Xbox 360. Nintendo have always distanced themselves from the rest and made things awkward for devs, and it seems like nothing's changed with the Switch. Nintendo might tell you they've got many more third party devs on board this time, but all this will mean is that when a team like Konami come to release Metal Gear Solid 6 on the PS4, they'll give us MGS 5 on the Switch. Or when EA make FIFA18 on PS4/XBONE, the Switch will get some bullshit FIFA "Legacy Edition" or "Classic Edition", which basically means a last gen port. I mean, haven't Capcom just done this with Street Fighter on the Switch?

Now all of this would be excused if Nintendo just came out and said the Switch is the new handheld that's replacing the 3DS. Now all of a sudden people are looking at it as the greatest handheld ever made. It plays games that look as good as Zelda and Mario Odyssey, it plugs into your TV, and you can even detach the controllers and play with your friends. How cool is that for a handheld?

[Peter Griffin]

No memory? I'm out.

[Fro]

I have to disagree. If they came out and said the Switch which lasts about 3 hours without a charge is replacing the super popular 3DS system, people would be pissed. The whole idea of "Switch" is that it bridges the gap between portable and living room. Having it replace 3DS would be a colossal mistake.

[RuneEdge]

Ok, I lied. There's actually 32GB on board, some of which is used up out of the box for system files and stuff.
But still, 32GB. That's less than what you get on some phones these day.

[Pablo Diablo]

It's that third party support that worries me. I'm going to hold off on getting it. I have a Wii U so I can get Zelda there. Maybe when super MARIO comes out there may be other titles.

Excuse the random capitalization. My phone thought that was appropriate.

[Fro]

Ok, I lied. There's actually 32GB on board, some of which is used up out of the box for system files and stuff.
But still, 32GB. That's less than what you get on some phones these day.

The advantage of more memory being you don't have to take the effort to switch out discs/cartridges? The disadvantage of course being a higher console price. I'm okay with them letting people do their own SD cards if they choose.

The only time I ever had an issue with Wii U memory (which I want to say has 32GB) was when I went to see if I could download Breath of the Wild from the e-shop. I didn't have enough space.

[RuneEdge]

I have to disagree. If they came out and said the Switch which lasts about 3 hours without a charge is replacing the super popular 3DS system, people would be pissed. The whole idea of "Switch" is that it bridges the gap between portable and living room. Having it replace 3DS would be a colossal mistake.

Well, the Switch's battery life is supposed to be around 2.5 hours to 6 hours depending on usage according to Nintendo. The 3DS gives you 3.5 hours to 6 hours depending on usage, also according to Nintendo.
And sure, replacing 3DS would be a mistake when it makes so much money. Which is why they tell you its replacing the WiiU instead, which didn't make much money. But Nintendo telling you what this is or what it's replacing, doesn't change the fact that the Switch is still a handheld. I'll still buy one, but I'll get one with the price resembles the cost of a handheld.
Nintendo have bullshitted us on many occasions. I can totally see a scenario where some future 3DS games will also come to the Switch as well. Then slowly we'll see the supply of 3DS games being cut off in favour of the Switch, around the time when Nintendo start to unveil a proper home console in the future.

[RuneEdge]

The advantage of more memory being you don't have to take the effort to switch out discs/cartridges? The disadvantage of course being a higher console price. I'm okay with them letting people do their own SD cards if they choose.

The only time I ever had an issue with Wii U memory (which I want to say has 32GB) was when I went to see if I could download Breath of the Wild from the e-shop. I didn't have enough space.
I'm not even bothered by the 32GB on the WiiU. The WiiU had multiple USB ports that allowed you to plug in a couple of external hard drives. I currently have a 500GB one in my WiiU that only cost about £40.

The issue with the Switch is that its apparently also a console, so I'm gonna need some memory for that as well. Only this time I can't use a hard drive (which are cheaper to buy). I have to use micro SD cards which are more expensive when you start looking at the larger sizes.
The only reason I see for not needing to spend over £100 for them is if the games are small themselves, which then leads me to assume that these Switch games are going to be "lite" versions of what we get on the proper home consoles like PS4 and XBONE. Like I said before, with Call of Duty at 50GB, that instantly rules that game out for the Switch unless you some how scale it down.

[Ozanne]

Even with a handful of games, it would be hard to sell IMO. Most importantly, it needs games that you can't already get on another device, and then the exclusive games it does have, need to be good enough to convince you to spend £280 on a handheld device.

And that's the problem in a nutshell. This is a handheld device, that's being sold like its a console. First of all, you know Nintendo clearly want you to believe this is a new home console, or else they would've kept the WiiU in production (another clue is that Nintendo are supposed to be offering a paid online service for the Switch. Which handheld does that?). So then if it's supposed to be a console, it needs to give you an experience that competes with whatever Sony and Microsoft are offering. The WiiU could barely keep up with the PS4 and Xbox One, and now with the Switch we have what's basically a portable WiiU (when you look at its graphical capabilities and whatever). Which means even with the Switch, Nintendo still don't have something that's as powerful as the PS4 and Xbox One, which also ignores the fact that we now have a PS4 Pro and the upcoming Project Scorpio. How are you going to release a "console" in this day and age that does 720p when everyone else is getting ready to move to 4k?
This has been the story with Nintendo for a few years now. With the current trend, four years from now when we have the PS5, Nintendo will finally release something they should've given us today. This is almost like Microsoft getting ready to unveil their new console that succeeds the Xbox One, while Sony come out and unveil a PS5 which is literally nothing but a PS4 that's shrunk down to portable size.

The next thing that's ridiculous is the internal memory. In an age where consoles come with 500GB, and 1TB, Nintendo are telling us that we get nothing (:lol:) and that there's a micro SD card slot for us to help ourselves. The largest micro SD card you can currently get is only 256GB, and cost anywhere between £120 for a cheap brand to about nearly £170. Which I guess Nintendo expect us to pay for on top of the £280 for the Switch. The smart thing to do here would've been to have a 500GB hard drive sitting inside the dock that held all your games, and you were given the option to move some of them to the Switch itself (like cache memory) for when you want to play certain games on the go.
Now one argument against this would be that the Switch's games are going to be small in memory size. Which is true. Zelda is only about 10GB in full, where as something like the last Call of Duty was around 50GB. Which I guess explains why we might not need so much memory after all. But then that begs the question, how are third party developers going to make the kind of games on the Switch that we also find on the PS4 and Xbox One? One of the reasons why Nintendo fail to get enough third party support is because no one wants to spend years of effort and resources working on making a game, and then having to almost do it all over again to tailor fit that same game on Nintendo's device.
Barring contractual obligations and exclusivity deals, there's never been any game on the PS4 that couldn't in theory be ported to the Xbox One, and there wasn't one on the PS3 that wouldn't work on Xbox 360. Nintendo have always distanced themselves from the rest and made things awkward for devs, and it seems like nothing's changed with the Switch. Nintendo might tell you they've got many more third party devs on board this time, but all this will mean is that when a team like Konami come to release Metal Gear Solid 6 on the PS4, they'll give us MGS 5 on the Switch. Or when EA make FIFA18 on PS4/XBONE, the Switch will get some bullshit FIFA "Legacy Edition" or "Classic Edition", which basically means a last gen port. I mean, haven't Capcom just done this with Street Fighter on the Switch?

Now all of this would be excused if Nintendo just came out and said the Switch is the new handheld that's replacing the 3DS. Now all of a sudden people are looking at it as the greatest handheld ever made. It plays games that look as good as Zelda and Mario Odyssey, it plugs into your TV, and you can even detach the controllers and play with your friends. How cool is that for a handheld?

Great post, I agree 100% with this. Nintendo won't say it's a new handheld console because they know if they did it would alienate people even further. All they want to do is flog their hardcore fanbase some more, because they know they can. The fact that it's practically a last gen console for current gen console prices (and then some) kinda proves this.

[Ozanne]

Well, the Switch's battery life is supposed to be around 2.5 hours to 6 hours depending on usage according to Nintendo. The 3DS gives you 3.5 hours to 6 hours depending on usage, also according to Nintendo.
And sure, replacing 3DS would be a mistake when it makes so much money. Which is why they tell you its replacing the WiiU instead, which didn't make much money. But Nintendo telling you what this is or what it's replacing, doesn't change the fact that the Switch is still a handheld. I'll still buy one, but I'll get one with the price resembles the cost of a handheld.
Nintendo have bullshitted us on many occasions. I can totally see a scenario where some future 3DS games will also come to the Switch as well. Then slowly we'll see the supply of 3DS games being cut off in favour of the Switch, around the time when Nintendo start to unveil a proper home console in the future.

Exactly, it's a fuck you to their fan base.

[Fro]

idk man I think you guys are being harsh. Nintendo is the biggest innovator in the industry and probably the top game maker. they emphasize making a unique and fun gaming experience over everything else. sure they won't get Annual Call Of Duty Game Version 568 on their system, or Annual Sports Game Version 1789, but they will give you something you can't get from either Playstation or Xbox. Because chances are if you want Call Of Duty Version 789, you own one of those systems already.

[RuneEdge]

That fine. But then why are they charging me £280 for this handheld, telling me to pay even more on top for an SD card, and telling me the online will now also be a paid subscription? Charge me according to what you're providing.
The original Wii was a massive success, but people quickly forget that it launched with a price of £180, at a time where the PS3 and Xbox 360 were £400+ and £280 respectively.

[Fro]

Why do you need an SD card? Am I wrong in thinking if you buy most of your Switch games as cartridges you won't need more than the memory provided?

Paying for online does stink though but hopefully it won't be too pricey.

[RuneEdge]

Nearly half of my game purchases over the last couple of years have been digital. I never trade in or sell any of my games, so resale value isn't something that concerns me. And this is especially important with my 3DS where I own about 6-8 games but only have one of which on a cart, which always sits inside the handheld.

So if you only use carts, then fair enough. But this goes back to a point I made earlier. If don't need the memory, then that tells me the games themselves are going to be smaller than the kind you find on PS4 and XBONE, seeing how the Switch carts hold about 16GB. That's not something I want to believe if I'm paying £280 for this.

[Nash Diesel]

That fine. But then why are they charging me £280 for this handheld, telling me to pay even more on top for an SD card, and telling me the online will now also be a paid subscription? Charge me according to what you're providing.
The original Wii was a massive success, but people quickly forget that it launched with a price of £180, at a time where the PS3 and Xbox 360 were £400+ and £280 respectively.

The Wii was the hardest console to find in the history of my video game playing in terms of a major console. The 3DS is a bitch to find. My gf took my youngest son on Saturday to get a new one and Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, Toys R Us, all sold out. Target didn't even have a section for the 3DS just the games and where you would normally find the 3DS it was just a bunch of games lol. Ended up getting a used one at Game Stop because they were all out of new ones lol.

[Ozanne]

idk man I think you guys are being harsh. Nintendo is the biggest innovator in the industry and probably the top game maker. they emphasize making a unique and fun gaming experience over everything else. sure they won't get Annual Call Of Duty Game Version 568 on their system, or Annual Sports Game Version 1789, but they will give you something you can't get from either Playstation or Xbox. Because chances are if you want Call Of Duty Version 789, you own one of those systems already.

I appreciate that, but I'm not one of those gamers anyway. You have a point that those gamed aren't setting the world alight and are hardly innovating. But the games I'm more interesting do much more than these Nintendo ones or at least look like they will. Take Witcher 3 for example, widely recognised as one of this generations best games so far, you can get that game including a brand new PS4, which has better specs plus a much bigger HDD for LESS than the Switch plus Zelda. Zelda isn't unique it's one of many good open world games, and the Switch is arguably a Vita/3DS morph. I wouldn't say they are really innovating here, they have launched a 720p console in 2017 for the same price as a 4K console near enough.

[RuneEdge]

I dunno why the both of you need to take shots at specific games like its personal. :lol:

Zelda's a brilliant game.

[Ozanne]

It just annoys me the love Nintendo games get, when I don't think they really deserve it. To the extent they get anyway.

[RuneEdge]

As a gamer, I'd like to think I'm unbiased considering I own pretty much every console from 16 bit era onwards. And I have all the recent consoles like PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, etc. Out of all of them, my Nintendo ones get played the least, by miles. 95% of all my gaming time over the last 10 years has been stuff like FIFA, Halo, Gears of War, GTA, Destiny, Dead Rising, Far Cry, Batman Arkham series, that kind of stuff.

But even then, I play Zelda and I could confidently say its one of the best games I've ever played. Ever. You made that comparison with Horizon Zero Dawn earlier but what's funny is that (besides the fact that reviews are rating Zelda higher anyway), if you read the actual reviews for both games, there's a common theme. While reviewers say Horizon Zero Dawn is an amazing game and already "Game of the Year", the Zelda reviews say "One of the greatest games ever made" or "Nintendo's greatest creation".
I don't even like Nintendo as a company, haven't enjoyed any of the Mario games they've made since Super Mario World in 1990, I've probably played Zelda OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, etc for a combined game time of about an hour, and still I think Breath of the Wild is an amazing game.

Which basically tells me that these highly rated Nintendo games are every bit as good as people say. It's just that I've never given them a chance before. If you're too narrow minded to see that, then that's your loss.

[Reech]

Ouch - low activity in this thread.

I got one at a midnight launch last Friday - so far I have Zelda, Snipperclips, Fast RMX and Blaster Master Zero.

Compared to the Wii U, the load times are a LOT better. You don't have to worry about long load times for booting up games, accessing the e-shop etc.

As well as this, the fact that nearly every game is essentially cross-buy (tv and handheld-playable with the exception of Voez so far) means it's great value for money. Nintendo are advertising well (for once), although it really must be held and played with to be appreciated.

Being able to play 2-player Fast RMX pretty much out of the box is astounding.

A worthy purchase says I.

Been a while, sir.

I still only have Zelda and frankly, that'll keep me going for a while. It's not £300 worth but I've ordered MK8.

Zelda is great. It's not without flaws (e.g. I wish there was a saved recipes bit and teh Gerudo Divine Beast quest was awful). It's huge, it's inspiring, it's entertaining and I'm having to space out my playing sessions with Pro Evo so I don't over do it.

The console is equalling, great. I can play it in various situations, it's stupidly fast to load up out of Sleep mode so I can instantly play it when I fancy. The console may not be the fastest, the games may not be the prettiest but it's doing more than I expected.

[Reech]

Also, Zelda's weapon degradation is a bit poop and I wish they'd either reduced how fast weapons break or at least had it auto-switch to the next one.

[Fro]

After seeing some footage of the new Mario Kart 8 battle stages, I may have to buy that game again.

[Ozanne]

As a gamer, I'd like to think I'm unbiased considering I own pretty much every console from 16 bit era onwards. And I have all the recent consoles like PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, etc. Out of all of them, my Nintendo ones get played the least, by miles. 95% of all my gaming time over the last 10 years has been stuff like FIFA, Halo, Gears of War, GTA, Destiny, Dead Rising, Far Cry, Batman Arkham series, that kind of stuff.

But even then, I play Zelda and I could confidently say its one of the best games I've ever played. Ever. You made that comparison with Horizon Zero Dawn earlier but what's funny is that (besides the fact that reviews are rating Zelda higher anyway), if you read the actual reviews for both games, there's a common theme. While reviewers say Horizon Zero Dawn is an amazing game and already "Game of the Year", the Zelda reviews say "One of the greatest games ever made" or "Nintendo's greatest creation".
I don't even like Nintendo as a company, haven't enjoyed any of the Mario games they've made since Super Mario World in 1990, I've probably played Zelda OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, etc for a combined game time of about an hour, and still I think Breath of the Wild is an amazing game.

Which basically tells me that these highly rated Nintendo games are every bit as good as people say. It's just that I've never given them a chance before. If you're too narrow minded to see that, then that's your loss.

Maybe I am being narrow minded, so please can you tell me why exactly Zelda is one of the greatest games of all time or why it's better than Horizon. (I'm already expecting the same to be said about Mass Effect too). I'm not trying to pick an argument I genuinely would like to know.

[RuneEdge]

I haven't played Horizon, so I can't tell you that. Read the reviews yourself and take their word for it.

[Bill Casey]

Also, Zelda's weapon degradation is a bit poop and I wish they'd either reduced how fast weapons break or at least had it auto-switch to the next one.
I think auto switching would defeat the purpose of the mechanic, which is coax the players to select and use weapons carefully and strategically based on the situation, and find/use alternative methods to defeat enemies...

And not just go in gung ho and spam the attack button...

The best weapons become a precious resource...

[Reech]

True. Not sure how much strategy I need when taking down my 20th Mobgoblin in 10 minutes and my clubs are breaking in 5 swings.

[RuneEdge]

I try to use other methods of killing mobgoblins to save on the weapons. Bombs are infinite (but weak) so I'll hide somewhere and throw a whole load of them. Maybe use some high ground where I know they won't reach me. Arrows are another good way to kill monsters. Headshots do critical damage and any missed arrows can always be picked up again, so nothing goes to waste.

The whole durability mechanic is difficult to work with but things get a little easier when you can start increasing your weapon slots and learn to manage what you carry. One of my biggest mistakes was I would carry a bunch of stuff I thought I might eventually find a use for (but didn't). I always had an axe for cutting trees, but learnt that its not something I need. I kept this huge leaf thing with me cuz I thought I might need it to blow air in different directions to control a raft or something, which again I realised I'm not finding any use for. I had a boomerang which I thought looked pretty cool, but eventually accepted I'll never use. So that frees up a lot of space for just attacking weapons. Once you progress through the game, you start to pick up stuff that's more durable so that helps a lot too.
So yeah, the rule is to only use weapons when you really have to, and then like someone here mentioned, work your way through them starting with the weakest one and saving the best for last. I'm not that deep into the game and I pick up plenty of swords, spears, and a whole bunch of other random stuff that's miles better than the clubs.

[Reech]

I too carried that fucking leaf for hours thinking I'd have a use for it.

[GeezaTap]

There is a use for the leaf though.

If you 'attack' with it while on a raft, you'll be able to move and steer the raft

[RuneEdge]

That's what I assumed it was for since it explains that in the loading screen tips. But I carried it far too long without ever using it, and have also seen a couple more of them on my travels. So yeah, throw that away until you reach a point where you can afford the weapon slot space for it.

The boomerang is another one (unless someone here can tell me a better way to use it), that I kept for a while and never used. Thought it might be a cool weapon but having to manually throw it like an object (rather than using the attack button), and also having to manually catch it, makes it very awkward to use.

[mr sabu]

wish they would hurry up and update the store


on a plus side no more heroes is getting a new game on the switch.. 2 very underrated games on the wii

[Fro]

Sales of the Switch are pretty strong so far. 2.4 million consoles sold globally in the first month. While it's too early to call it a success, hopefully these strong early sales will nudge 3rd party developers to get more involved. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe comes out in a week which should boost sales as well.

[Pablo Diablo]

So was gifted one of these today and I already have to send it in for repairs. When I connect the dock to my TV I get no audio. Fan fricken tastic Nintendo.

Nevermind somehow fixed it.

[Fro]

Nice, what games did you get?

E3 is next week. Nintendo will be focusing on Mario Odyssey and I'm looking forward to that reveal. That game may get me to buy this system but I really want a virtual console on there too.

[Pablo Diablo]

Got Zelda with it. Which is probably all I have time to play at the moment anyways.

[Alf]

I really want to play that Zelda.

[Bill Casey]

Nice, what games did you get?

E3 is next week. Nintendo will be focusing on Mario Odyssey and I'm looking forward to that reveal. That game may get me to buy this system but I really want a virtual console on there too.
If you're sure you're getting it,
It might be worth getting the console before Mario Odyssey comes out. It may or may not become a nightmare to find once Mario and Christmas show up...

This is kind of a post launch, pre Mario sweet spot when it should be easy to get...

[RuneEdge]

I got a Switch about a month ago with Mario Kart and Zelda. Didn't expect to get one so soon but I was able to get a £120 discount using coupons, promotions, etc, so it seemed like the right time. I probably won't get it cheaper even with official price drop in the future, so there was no point in letting this pass me by.

I love the convenience of it. Being able to take it around with me means I don't have to stop playing if I ever have to leave the house or even the living room. The best thing is being able to sit in my bed and play, and the fact that its just like a little tablet that turns on in an instant. It literally just sits besides my bed, plugged into the charger next to my phone. With Nintendo pricing their online service at €20 a year and the freebie games that come with it, its looking promising in that sense.

However, there's a few things that people need to bare in mind when buying this.

1. The pricing for the accessories are ridiculous. It's £40 for one single joycon. Who the hell just buys one joycon unless its to replace a broken or missing one? One joycon is fine if you're playing something simple like Mario Kart, but to play the more complex games, you're going to want the whole joycon set for multiplayer. So that's 2x £40 and then another £20+ for the joycon charging grip. So you pay over £100 for a full proper controller. That's just mental.
And speaking of the charging grip, why isnt one boxed with the console? They give you a grip that literally does nothing but hold the joycons together. To charge them, you have to attach them to the console and have them draw power from it to charge itself. So basically in console mode, if your joycon batteries die, you either have to stop playing or switch to handheld mode for a while. Unless you pay the £20+ for the charging grip, which does nothing but add a charging port to the standard grip. There's no additional batteries or features to justify why this needs to be a separate purchase.
Of course you could go with Pro Controller, which is cheaper but also £20+ more than what a PS4 or Xbox One controller costs. Why? :dunno:
I've bought a carry case, two additional Joycons and a Pro Controller, so I've already spent over £160 on accessories alone. And still have stuff to get like a screen protector and a charge grip, which is going to bring the total to nearly £200. :dead:

2. The OS is still very basic and needs some work done on it. And the main issue with this is the lack of data management. You have no control over your game installs or the save data, except the ability to delete stuff.
If you install a game from the eShop, it would naturally install to the handheld's internal memory. If you have an SD card inserted, it automatically installs all the games there by default. There's no control over the movement of the data. So lets say (like in my case) I have a 64gb card inserted, and I go and buy a 128gb card in the future, I can't do something where I move things to the handheld, swap the cards over, then move the games back to the new card. I'd basically have to format the card and then re-download everything again from the eShop.
Now that's just game installs. The bigger issue is the save data. ALL save data apparently saves to the handheld's internal memory. Whether the game itself is installed on the SD or even if its the actual game cart that you're playing off. Your save data is locked to the Switch and can't be moved, backed up, transferred to the SD card, backed up to the cloud, nothing. In other words, if something happens to your Switch, all your saves are gone. Even if you sent your Switch to Nintendo for a repair of some kind, even Nintendo can't help you. I've seen many people moan about this, and no solution has been found. I've clocked up over 50 hours on Breath of the Wild. I'll be fuckin' pissed if anything were to happen to my save. :scared:
Then there's all the little things that make the OS seem very basic. The home menu is just a row of all your games and demo, and there's no way to reorder the list. There's no non-gaming apps in the eShop like you have on things like the 3DS or the Wii U. I'm talking things like YouTube, various social media stuff, video streaming services, web browser, etc. There's not much you can do with your friends list other than see what game they're playing. You can't voice chat, invite to play multiplayer, you can't even send them a text message, nothing. Which makes me wonder why the friends list is even there.
Now all of this could be excused if all of these (especially the save data issue) were going to be improved and fixed, but Nintendo have shown no indication of this being the case. We would very well be stuck with this until 2018 when the online service goes live.

3. There's still a serious lack of games, and the inferior processing power is very apparent. We're currently in the middle of E3 where Microsoft just announced their new "Xbox One X" console, which blows the fuckin' shit out of the Switch. Watching how amazing Metro Exodus and Anthem look, and then coming back to the Switch, you can see that this isn't the future of gaming. Far from it. Now Nintendo have always (at least the last few generations) had the "weaker" console in terms of power, but then they also sold the console for a much cheaper price as well. £280 for this kind of hardware is not good value for us. I'm thinking the only reason I still pay for Nintendo hardware today is because of their IPs. They're the only people who can give me Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc. So if I have to purchase some hardware that I don't quite fancy, then its either that, or no Nintendo games for me. :no:
Now regarding the upcoming Switch game library, its clear to most that there isn't much to look forward to as of today (besides Mario Odyssey). Game Freak's decision to not bring the new Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon to the Switch was a real bummer for fans. And judging by what's currently out, I bet if we do get a Smash Bros, its going to be a port of the Wii U version. Nintendo claimed that they have a lot more developers on board and that the Switch will be easier to make games for, but I'm starting to think (and this is just a theory) that this was probably an assumption based on the fact that so many games today are built on the Unreal Engine. Which is an engine that scales very well to other devices and handhelds with ease, thanks to the way it was built by Epic Games.
To give you an idea, this video showcases a few mobile games for iPhone and Android phones that were made on the Unreal Engine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXILi3gud4
It's plausible that Nintendo could've looked at the potential here and assumed devs could easily bring these games over to the Switch. Judging by how those games in that video look (and I stress that these are running on a phone, let alone the Switch), its entirely possible. But being able to do it, and devs having actually committed to bringing these games, are two different things. So far we haven't seen many games confirmed for the console, just a list of "developers we have on board".

So anyone still on the fence regarding getting a Switch, IMO you should keep these things in mind. Only reason I bought one is because I got it cheaper than what I'd get maybe even 12-18 months from now. And also, Zelda Breath of the Wild is amazing. One of very few games I've ever played where I'm looking for ways to avoid the main quest, purely because I don't want this game to end. :(

[RuneEdge]

OK, so there is a new Pokemon game coming to the Switch now. Along with Rocket League and...Metroid Prime 4! :panic:

[Fro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2mZS_p4A7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM45NsEzlro

Top video is the spotlight - the 25-minute prerecorded reveal. Bottom video is still live and now they're doing a round table demo of Mario Odyssey.

The reveals:

Metroid Prime 4 announced (no footage - no release date)
New Pokemon core RPG game announced (no footage - 2018?)
New Yoshi Game - 2018
New Kirby Game - 2018
Fire Emblem Warriors - Fall 2017
Rocket League confirmed - Holiday 2017
Zelda DLC shown
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Holiday 2017
Mario release date - October 27, 2017

[Bill Casey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGQHQc_3ycE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc3PAAije0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqH-iwA0ZmU

[Atty]

Metroid will make me finally get a Switch. Would like a release date or timetable for it though.

[Bill Casey]

If there's no trailer or release date, I'm going to assume years...

[Fro]

Pure guess but I would say Holidays 2018 is a reasonable target date for Metroid Prime 4.

Mario Odyssey looks tremendously fun. I haven't been this hyped for a Mario game since Galaxy 1. I actually might whip out Galaxy (or Galaxy 2) for a re-play now that I'm thinking about it. But while the spherical levels were cool, I'm so ready for another open (flat) world game a la M64 and Sunshine. I thought Cappy was cheesy at first but now seeing his functionality (how Mario can take control of certain items and bad guys), I'm all for it. And the 2D platformer parts seem cool as well.

ARMS is getting pretty good reviews btw.

[Bill Casey]

Arlo's thoughts on Nintendo at E3...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5vtHkd4jI

[RuneEdge]

https://youtu.be/x-TUvASL-qY?t=11m41s
@11:45
:lol:

[Atty]

Pure guess but I would say Holidays 2018 is a reasonable target date for Metroid Prime 4.

Mario Odyssey looks tremendously fun. I haven't been this hyped for a Mario game since Galaxy 1. I actually might whip out Galaxy (or Galaxy 2) for a re-play now that I'm thinking about it. But while the spherical levels were cool, I'm so ready for another open (flat) world game a la M64 and Sunshine. I thought Cappy was cheesy at first but now seeing his functionality (how Mario can take control of certain items and bad guys), I'm all for it. And the 2D platformer parts seem cool as well.

ARMS is getting pretty good reviews btw.

Mario looks so good, but he's always great so that's not a surprise.

The Switch is weird to me in that I feel no incentive to get one until Mario and Metroid come around. I would have found a way to have gotten one on day one had Zelda not been on Wii U. The decision to release on both systems made and still makes sense, but with such an epic game with perfect reviews, it could have really pushed system sales further if it were exclusive.

Going back to the Prime line for Samus is such a great move. Just ignore Other M and act like Adam never gave it permission to be released. It also gives them the option of, again, re-re-releasing a Prime Trilogy set for the new system/controls as those games still feel fresh and could be great hooks for new players.

[Fro]

https://i.redd.it/49h621zo564z.jpg

First year line up, not too shabby

[Psycho666Soldier]

Has anyone played ARMS yet? I went over to a friend's house yesterday, and I had an absolute blast. I could see myself dipping a lot of hours into it, especially multiplayer.

[Alf]

Did anyone get a switch? I got one.

Mario Kart is awesome. Playing Zelda in bed is the bestest.

[mr sabu]

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle!


even though ive only played a wee bit of it it's quite enjoyable

[Fro]

Just ports but it's big that Switch is getting Doom and Wolfenstein 2. That's the kind of 3rd party support they need to keep this momentum going into 2018.

[RuneEdge]

:yes:

The key thing here for me will be the price of Doom. The game's been out for a bit and it will need to be affordable to get in the sales that convince other devs to jump on board. I had my doubts about what the Switch's hardware is capable of but it's starting to seem like the real issue might be convincing devs that making games for it is worth their time, money and effort.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I still haven't played DOOM more than at a friend's house for a few levels, so this could be the thing that officially sells me on getting a Switch soon. DOOM, Mario, and Xenoblade Chronicles alone is enough to make me want it.

[RuneEdge]

I'm curious to see how the game looks on the Switch. DOOM on PC is very well optimised to make the most of your hardware and is easy to get running on even low end PCs. I'm picturing the Switch version looking very close to how it looks on PS4 and XBONE.

And speaking of upcoming games, I read something recently online about future cartridge games could require some data to be installed on the internal memory (or SD card). That's kind of worrying. Having to use SD cards for storage was an issue that many people complained about due to their price and the fact that they don't come in large sizes (a 256gb card is well over £100). Initially the counter argument was that people could always buy physical copies of games so that they wouldn't need to use up storage, especially since digital games aren't really any cheaper these days.
That point kind of goes out the window if physical games also need extra storage in the future.
I know it's a little early to be panicking since we don't know any details regarding how much space we'll need and what games will require it. But I'm hoping it's not something devs start to get comfortable with.

[GeezaTap]

If I hadn't already played Doom, I would be up for it on the Switch. If it gets decent reviews, I may get Wolfie 2 on it.

Did any of your guys play the Octopath Traveller demo? I played the Dancer's demo and I must say I rather enjoyed it. A lot of demo for your (free) money as well.

[Morrison]

just played a demo of super maro odyssey at gamestop for about ten minutes. feels great. loved the open world take on the 'levels.' you see a moon, you figure out a way to get that moon, it does a typical mario style celebration and then unpauses the game right back into action so you can keep going. i said i was gonna wait to get a switch until this game came out, and after playing it, even briefly, my excitement is high.

[MrGrim]

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle!


even though ive only played a wee bit of it it's quite enjoyable

That game really surprised me...finished it last week. I'm playing Golf Story now.

[Morrison]

bought my switch last night in advance of odyssey to release in a couple weeks. bought breath of the wild with it and downloaded stardew valley off the e-shop. it is an incredibly satisfying little device. i haven't put a ton of time in yet, but the joy-cons feel nice, even in my larger size hands. really looking forward to mario.

[Reech]

That game really surprised me...finished it last week. I'm playing Golf Story now.

Golf Story is really good, glad I bought it although it was a bit pricey for my usual purchases (i.e. it's as much as I paid for FFXV). Bought Picross S for the holiday to America, quite enjoyed No Assisting everything.

Mario + Rabbids has had it's time after 2 worlds, I'm just not enjoying the battles anymore. Am I to blame?

[Fro]

Many people are saying this is the best Mario game ever made

[mr sabu]

it's pretty dam good the best is a long shot

[Morrison]

ive put in probably four hours or so since midnight. im absolutely loving it. some of the plot and visuals are so absurd and out there, its very refreshing. the 'open world' aspect of each kingdom, where its essentially a big sandbox for you to run around in and explore and find moons, is amazing. i love how my gameplay is hardly ever interrupted. i get a star, it does a little celebration, and im right back to running around, unless ive triggered a story cutscene. it doesnt throw me out of the world and force me to go back in. kingdoms have a ton of moons. sand kingdom has over 60 itself. i believe there are 800 or something in the whole game, and some of them dont become available until later in the game or even after the end game, which gives an interesting replay value to it. like there's this big silver block in two of the kingdoms ive visited, and cappy made a comment about it when i first encountered it, but i havent been able to figure out what they do or what i have to do to them, so ill have reason to go back and revisit these early levels once i learn what the fuck they are.

super mario world and super mario 64 are very firm beloved video games from my childhood that can't really be compared to now because of a number of factors, most emotional. but im giddy playing this game. i could sink a ridiculous amount of consecutive into it when time permits. i know the galaxy games were critical successes, but this just feels different.

[Fro]

I NEED to play this game, but it's really the only thing I want on the Switch at this time so I can't justify a purchase yet. $360 for one game is too much (though still tempting given how amazing Mario looks). If I didn't have a Wii U it would be a no-brainer purchase for Zelda and MK8 Deluxe as well.

[Morrison]

i had a bunch of best buy gift cards that i never used from last christmas, so i put them toward the console. the system and zelda ended up costing me less than the system usually costs.

did you play zelda on the wii u?

[Fro]

no, lol, so my comment was a tad misleading. I'm not a big Zelda guy. I want to play it at some point since it's supposed to be so good. I could get it on Wii U at any time but might wait for when I get the Switch.

in general though (for people other than me who enjoy Zelda), Switch seems like a great purchase if you didn't have Wii U. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Mario Kart 8 is the best racing game of all time.

[Morrison]

i have a wii u as well and i've probably played my switch more in the two weeks i've had it, with only three games owned, than i ever did the wii u. now that's obviously not a comparison to really take into account since you obviously have put a lot of time into your console, but still. it was insane propping the tablet up on my nightstand next to my bed and being able to lay in bed, on my side, with the joy-cons and play zelda perfectly.

speaking of, i'm a really big fan of the detached joy-con control scheme. i didn't feel a need for the pro controller right away, and i have yet to put them in the grip for tv play. i love being able to sit and move around in ways i've never been able to before and still have my hands and fingers in perfect, comfortable position on the controller. it's not something i ever would have been like I NEED THIS on my own, but once getting your hands on it and enjoying the practicality, it's a revelation. at least it was for me. the majority of people i see playing on twitch/youtube are using the pro controller for everything.

[mr sabu]

slowly making my way through mario, my only complaint about it is i wise the kingdoms were a lil bit bigger.


other than that the game is great

[Morrison]

slowly making my way through mario, my only complaint about it is i wise the kingdoms were a lil bit bigger.


other than that the game is great

im only up to the forest kingdom so far, but i feel like the sizes are pretty good, especially when you factor in all of the in-kingdom subsections you end up finding.

my biggest complaint so far is some of the controls are wonky, along with the camera, at times. there's one section where you capture a bullet bill and have to navigate him around an obstacle to get a star and then through these water mills to get to the end of the section, and the camera at some point just locks and once you turn far enough a certain way the controls change direction or something, which is annoying as hell.

[mr sabu]

just finished odyssey, such a great game one of my top fav mario games ever


now for the post game

[MrGrim]

I'm about halfway through Odyssey...one of my favorite Mario games already. That 2D section at the end of New Donk City was awesome.

[Atty]

Got a Switch yesterday. Phenomenal system. I was one of the biggest Wii U fans (some fantastic games are on the system), but this seems to have fixed most of the hardware problems that system had. The limited range as a handheld was obviously a huge issue that's gone now, but switching (pun not intended) between handheld and tv is so easy now. With the Wii U, each game would do it differently and some wouldn't support the handheld at all for anything more than a controller. It really feels like it's what the Wii U should have been hardware wise.

Mario Kart on the system makes perfect sense and I hope more of the Wii U's best titles find their way over. I'd pay full price to get the likes of Bayonetta 2, 3D World, Wind Waker HD and Mario Maker on the system. Nintendo isn't one to let their games disappear, so Mario and Zelda should find their way over at some point, but I hope Bayonetta doesn't get lost in the failures of the Wii U as that was one of my favorite games of the past few years and feels very much "this gen" to me.

I figure a virtual console will come over eventually, though that is less of a deal breaker with an SNES Classic on my desk than it would be without.

So far, I've only played Mario, but Zelda is on its way from Amazon and I can't wait to revisit that from the start after the DLC comes out. If Nintendo releases titles every few months (even if done by porting Wii U games) this console could have a very bright future. Metroid is still a ways off and they need to avoid the draught that the Wii U went through waiting for BotW, where there wasn't much coming out for the system.

The one thing I'm pondering is if buying the pro controller is worth it. For me, it seems like it will be as I'll drop hundreds of hours into Breath of the Wild alone and I still have birthday gift cards to spend.

[RuneEdge]

As a owner of pretty much every modern console available, I'd say the Switch Pro Controller is the most comfortable controller I've ever held. If you're put off my the price, don't settle for a third party one. Just wait and get the Pro Controller later if you have to.

When I think about the game library, I think my Wii U collection is probably the only set of games I'd gladly rebuy at full price for the Switch. Normally it would sound stupid to buy the same 5-6 games all over again, but I think I love my Switch that much that I'd probably do it.
I think Mario Maker really needs to be ported over. IMO its too important of a game for Nintendo to abandon along with the Wii U.

[Atty]

The price actually doesn't bother me at all on the controller and I'm likely to buy it at some point tonight.

Mario Maker will be on the Switch. It just has to. It may be a new version, but it'll show up. I can't imagine it not. It should be on every Nintendo system for as long as they make systems.

[Morrison]

i am really quite surprised how much the switch has dominated my gaming since i bought it a month and a half ago. outside of booting up the ps4 to play my madden league games, it's been nothing but the switch. zelda up until mario came out, then mario took over my life for a couple weeks and now i'm spending an insane amount of time with stardew valley, and i still have zelda to go back to cause i hardly even scratched the surface of that before mario came out. and i haven't even broken open all the moon rocks from odyssey yet. so it looks like that thing is gonna be planted firmly in my hands for the foreseeable future. i do hope they port over mario maker. despite having a wii u, i hardly ever touch the thing and have no desire to start, for whatever reason. i was excited for the 3ds version, but then the limitations they placed on it cooled that off quick.

as for the pro controller, it's probably worth it. but i say that mostly because anyone i see online talking about the console goes on about how you gotta get the pro controller so you don't have to use the joy-cons. i personally love the joy-cons, like i mentioned in a previous post. i never noticed until i had the joy-cons just how tense i would get playing a game with a standard controller.

[Atty]

Using Mario's hat as a weapon is remarkably fun. It didn't look nearly as satisfying as it is in any of the let's play I've watched.

Mind raping enemies has been a great surprise each time so far as what you can do.

What's sad is I had been on a wicked Skyrim run before getting the Switch for my birthday. Now I want to get it for Switch and start over. I love the hardware that much so far.

[Atty]

A few days in and I'm amazed that I haven't had some weird hardware hiccup yet. It works seamlessly switching between a 60 inch tv and going to handheld without interrupting gameplay. The dock is also portable enough that I can move it between my tvs without any real effort or hassle. I even kind of love the joycon controller when it's linked up like a regular controller. I've ordered the pro one, but the linked joycon is amazingly comfortable.

Mario is fantastic so far. The open world (not jumping into different levels) feels totally natural and fresh. I was a huge fan of 3D World, but can definitely see this ranking higher in the end.

The PS4 has more power and all but, going forward, I may end up opting for the Switch versions of games if they're on both.

Has anyone played with Skyrim on it yet? I am really leaning towards getting that. I know mods aren't on it but, even with my current PS4 run, I'm not using mods because I didn't want trophies disabled so that doesn't feel like a big loss to me. Would be a bigger loss on X-Box where they have real mods.

[Morrison]

odyssey is my favorite mario game ever and probably one of my favorite games of all time. it was so utterly enjoyable, charming, at times challenging. i don't typically get those 'brings me back to being a kid' kinda feelings about stuff, but this laid it on me thick, but not in a pure nostalgia injection. this took the sense of wonder of super mario world and 64 and updated it, brought it into the current generation and made it speak to me as the (barely) adult that i am, all while tingling those same senses i had as a kid staying up late trying to progress through each world in SMW with my brother and best friend.

i have skyrim on the xbox. haven't played a ton of it, but was tempted to rebuy it for the switch. i doubt i will, but that's how powerful the console has gripped me. i had stardew valley on steam since sometime last year and hardly got past the first week of in-game time. i wanted less intensive game to counteract BOTW so opted for that, and it's surprising how the portability the switch provides got me to completely drown myself in a game, even in a way that the 3ds never has. granted, maybe i'm in a different mood or mindset from the last time i tried playing it on the PC, but laying in bed and knocking off a few days worth of a season before putting it into sleep mode, so that i can go into sleep mode, cannot be discounted.

[Atty]

Odyssey and Breath of the Wild alone justify the console purchase for me. When I played through BotW on Wii U, I left thinking it might be the best game (for me) ever. I had no hesitation in rebuying. Can't wait until all the DLC is out, as I'll wait for that to start my next run.

Odyssey is so great and it's amazing how much better it is playing it than watching it. I watched a ton of streams with people playing it before having it and it looked nowhere near as amazing as it was once I got my hands on it. Whenever it switches to Mario 1 style, I know I'm smiling ear to ear.

The crazy thing about me now wanting Skyrim on the Switch (and this is a huge endorsement of the console) is that I north of 100 hours on the PS4 playthrough I have going and I'm considering starting over just to have it on the Switch. I may wait for the eventual price drop, but it seems like a perfect fit for the Switch to me. Bethesdia actively working with Nintendo is also a VERY good sign for the system going forward.

[RuneEdge]

Megaman 11 was just announced for multiple platforms including Switch. They need to make cheaper SD cards cuz my 64gb is gonna fill up fast.

[Morrison]

Megaman 11 was just announced for multiple platforms including Switch. They need to make cheaper SD cards cuz my 64gb is gonna fill up fast.

i got a 200gb one for $45 over the thanksgiving weekend. you done missed out.

[Fro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aSC5A726f0

looks awesome

[RuneEdge]

i got a 200gb one for $45 over the thanksgiving weekend. you done missed out.

:eek:
Thats an awesome deal. I think I paid roughly that much for my 64gb.

EDIT
Actually its a 128gb one, but still.

[RuneEdge]

Nvidia have announced that Nintendo will be releasing Wii and Gamecube games on their "Nvidia Shield TV" device exclusively in China.
Why is this a good thing? For those who don't know, Nvidia are the leading graphics processor manufacturers in the world, who specialise in graphics cards for PCs and also graphics chips for various other devices. What's important here is that they have a Android powered "smart TV box" called the "Nvidia Shield TV" that basically runs android apps on your TV such as YouTube, Kodi, various Android games, etc. People have seen many of these on the market in the past. The most popular ones seem to be the Amazon Fire sticks or Fire TV boxes. This here is basically the exact same thing but made by Nvidia, and now its going to get Wii and Gamecube games running on it (exclusively in China, for now at least).

But the interesting part here is that the processor chip inside the Nvidia Shield TV (the chip itself is called Tegra X1), is the exact same chip that powers the Nintendo Switch. Which pretty much confirms that the Switch is fully capable of running Wii and Gamecube games also, since in theory both devices are the same. So really all this comes down to whether Nintendo want to pull the trigger and release these Wii and Gamecube games.
For those interested, the games that are going to be releasing on Nvidia's smart box are New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and PUNCH-OUT!!, and have been confirmed to run at full 1080p. So there's a good chance these will be coming to the Switch eventually.

And a side note, Capcom announced that the Megaman X collection is also coming to the Switch. :hyper:

[Atty]

Gamecube games on Switch would be great. Prime 1 and 2 are basically givens to me (with Prime 4 looming.) Sunshine, Wind Waker HD and Luigi's Mansion would be great. Really want to play Sunshine again. It's been a decade.

[Psycho666Soldier]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aSC5A726f0

looks awesome

Super stoked for this, and a brilliant next logical step. Keep it old school, but update the graphics and freshen up the gameplay elements in a minor way. I can't help but feel this is a direct response to the failure of Mighty No. 9, and well-deserved. Can't wait for this one. Still need to play 10.

[Kneeneighbor]

Thinking about getting a Switch for my son for Xmas.

What do I need to know?

[Pablo Diablo]

Mario Odyssey and Zelda Breath of the Wild are must haves.

How old is your son again?

I've not played it myself, but I've only heard good things about Splatoon 2.

[Kneeneighbor]

He is 10 In 4th grade.

[Pablo Diablo]

Then yeah, any of the above 3 I mentioned would be a great start for him. Maybe more the Zelda and Mario since those are full single player.

[Fro]

I don't own a switch but I think one thing to know is the possible need for an SD card. I think if you plan to buy games as cartridges, you may get away without one, but if you are going to buy games digitally you probably need to look into an SD card.

[Morrison]

Then yeah, any of the above 3 I mentioned would be a great start for him. Maybe more the Zelda and Mario since those are full single player.
mario kart 8, as well. minecraft is also available and some lego games.

[Atty]

Mario Kart would be more essential than BotW at 10, but both are "musts." Zelda's so massive that I could see it almost being too much for some. Odyssey is basically a video game orgasm and should be great for any age.

Mario Kart is so much fun for everyone and is a game that you can pick up and play with him at anytime.

[Pablo Diablo]

I had forgotten MARIO kart since I already had it on Wii U that I didn’t get it for the switch. But yes I agree with Atty. it is more of an essential than BotW

[Atty]

Mario Kart is still on my Wii U, but will definitely be a double dip by Christmas. It's one of those games that I just have to have and being on a system you can take anywhere makes it perfect. Go camping and blue shell a friend. That's the dream.

[Fro]

MK8 is the best racing game of all time, IMO. I think I have over 400 hours on it.

[Atty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE0CeNCLYRY

YES!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkMoRufEWQo

If some form of virtual console comes soon, this may be enough to get me to trade in the Wii U. That will be strange though as I have my full Wii library and then Wii U, but I haven't touched the Wii in years and it seems enough Wii U titles are coming to where I won't "lose them" on the new system. Totally surprised by Bayonetta coming this soon.

[mr sabu]

new breath of the wild dlc is out


adds a motorbike


tempted to reboot it up

[Atty]

I'm playing BotW on the new system from the beginning after my Skyrim run is done. They're similar enough that I don't want to do both at the same time or one right after the other. I'll need a palette cleanser.

[Atty]

Actually, thinking about games to port over, Wii 1 games are tricky because of the motion controllers, but something like a Mario Galaxy Collection could be fairly easy to adapt. Skyward Sword will likely be forever lost to the system.

[RuneEdge]

Many games didnt actually use the infrared sensor bar to point and click. Most games used the gyro controls that the JoyCons also have. Porting should be fine for most games.

Like Wii Sports for example can be easily ported over since you can do all the same motions on the JoyCons. The problem comes with games like Metroid Prime where you had to aim the Wiimote at the TV.

[Atty]

Prime will be converted over, I'm sure. The first two were not Wii-mote based and a limited run Prime Trilogy release between now and Prime 4 is exactly the type of thing Nintendo would do.

Just limited enough that the game prices go crazy on resale, so they can bring it back again after 4 and have more people buy it.

Skyward's the only big one that I can't see being able to be transferred over. At least not without redoing all the gameplay and reworking puzzles to not require precise motion strikes. Prime 3 had a few motion things (switches, grapple beam, etc), but nothing that couldn't be easily changed to a single button prompt.

[Kneeneighbor]

Mario Kart would be more essential than BotW at 10, but both are "musts." Zelda's so massive that I could see it almost being too much for some. Odyssey is basically a video game orgasm and should be great for any age.

Mario Kart is so much fun for everyone and is a game that you can pick up and play with him at anytime.

Excellent. Thank you everyone for the advice. We currently have Mario Kart for the Wii and our whole family plays it together. He also loves Minecraft for the XBox 1.

[RuneEdge]

New Nintendo Direct Mini today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_u7g5BlfiY

Lots of cool little stuff in there for the Switch.
Dark Souls Remastered, Hyrule Warriors port, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze port, new Mario Tennis, and a bunch of new DLCs for other existing games. The Switch library is looking great now. Just wish I had more money to buy all of it. :lol:

And also, they need to figure out something for expandable storage cuz all these games are gonna need to go somewhere. I'd rather buy digital than physical carts.

[Atty]

Great news all around. Bringing Wii U games over is such a no brainer to me. That was going to be their entry to the PS4/One era before the WII U failed, so nothing is really old at all and there were some absolutely fantastic games on it. The moment they announce Wind Waker, I'll have no real reason to keep the Wii U. Well, I guess for past gen games like Ocarina and old Marios.

Dark Souls is the crown jewel for me. I've been meaning to play the original for years, but don't want to dick around on the 360 or install Windows on my computer, so that'll be a day one buy for me. Will buy it on Switch over PS4, barring something unexpected.

As far as storage, I put a 128 gb card in the Switch so I'd have room if I needed it, but it's becoming the one system I'm buying physical games for. I go almost exclusively digital on the PS4 as mandatory installs made me feel that the discs were a waste of shelf space. My Switch case has a compartment for games, so taking them all with me isn't really a hassle.

[RuneEdge]

For me, the Switch is the only console I'd prefer to go all digital for, purely because its a handheld and I wouldnt want to have to carry so many carts around and switch them around all the time. Having said that, I'd love it if they made USB expandable storage available via the dock. At that point it would only be a matter of time before we saw third party docks with hard drives built in.

Going back to the games, I really want that Mario Tennis one. Apparently they've brought back the story mode from the previous GBA version, which according to some people is almost like an RPG with boss battles and stuff. Looks really fun.

[Hero!]

Found $150 worth of Toys R Us gift cards that we were given back when my daughter was born. Don't really shop there since their toys are so much more expensive, but I figured i'm gonna put it all towards a Switch in a few months. Can not wait, this system already has a shit ton of games I wanna play and that's before they've even announced Smash or a new Pokemon.

[RuneEdge]

You have to get Breath of the Wild. If you like action RPGs, you'll love it.

[Morrison]

For me, the Switch is the only console I'd prefer to go all digital for, purely because its a handheld and I wouldnt want to have to carry so many carts around and switch them around all the time. Having said that, I'd love it if they made USB expandable storage available via the dock. At that point it would only be a matter of time before we saw third party docks with hard drives built in.

Going back to the games, I really want that Mario Tennis one. Apparently they've brought back the story mode from the previous GBA version, which according to some people is almost like an RPG with boss battles and stuff. Looks really fun.

so any time you'd want to play in handheld mode you'd have to transfer over downloaded games and saves from a dock HD or USB? i don't see how that's practical or any better than using the SD cards.

[Atty]

Finally starting to play around with BOTW again and I must say, the Switch Pro Controller feels perfect.

As for storage, sd is the way to go. It's easy, goes right in and you're done. The carts are so small that I have no problem carrying them around. Also loving how simple the dock is as I can quickly move it between rooms if needed.

[Morrison]

doom and skyrim are both about 14gb downloads. BOTW is the only game i know of that is an insane file size on the switch so far. odyssey was only 5 or 6 gb. if i'm downloading every game instead of going physical, on my 200gb sd card, i'll be able to fit 13 games or so if they're all at that 14gb size, which they all won't be. both bayonetta games are only going to take up 24.5gb combined. i doubt we're going to get a ton of games with huge file sizes outside of annual sports titles, which you're probably better off buying physically anyway so you can trade them in for credit towards next year's edition when that comes out.

[RuneEdge]

so any time you'd want to play in handheld mode you'd have to transfer over downloaded games and saves from a dock HD or USB? i don't see how that's practical or any better than using the SD cards.
Its better because its much more cheaper. You can get a 1tb USB drive for the cost of a 128gb micro SD card. For a little more money you can get a 2tb drive, which is 16 times the size of that SD card.
I know in most cases at the moment, people arent going to need all that space right now, but this is more about where we'd be in a few years time regarding storage space. And also, this is a suggestion as opposed to having to delete games when you run out of storage, and then redownloading them all over again in the future.
I've mentioned before in this thread (at least I think I have), certain games in the future will require data to be installed even when you have the physical copy. NBA2k18 and Doom both already need downloads of 16gb and 9gb to play even if you have the cart. And also every now and then (as I have with previous consoles I've owned), you'll come across discounts and savings on digital versions of retail games (Nintendo themselves have down promos where you buy a physical game and get a free download of another with it), meaning more space being eaten up. Full games like Zelda, Doom, etc are around 15gb-25gb. So in a couple of years time, assuming you regularly buy games, there's a good chance that you're going to run out of room. And then there's post release game patches, fixes, DLC, etc. Those will slowly eat away at the storage as well. Having to download a random 1gb patch is normal in this day and age.

On the flip side you could suggest using only retail carts to save storage, but then there's the issue of having to carry all the carts around with you. If I'm being honest, I'd argue that most people wouldn't need to carry ALL their games with them and naturally would only play a few at a time. But this is where if you had a hard drive at home, you'd probably have your main games on the device itself and your older games stored on the dock, so you're in the same situation.
The hassle of not being able to play your hard drive games in handheld mode (to me) isn't much worse than having to carry all your game carts around with you. The ideal and perfect solution would be to use a very large SD card, but currently they only go up to 256gb and they cost around £180. Enabling USB expansion would cost us or Nintendo nothing, and it'll be an option you can choose to use, not forced on you.

[Morrison]

Its better because its much more cheaper. You can get a 1tb USB drive for the cost of a 128gb micro SD card. For a little more money you can get a 2tb drive, which is 16 times the size of that SD card.
I know in most cases at the moment, people arent going to need all that space right now, but this is more about where we'd be in a few years time regarding storage space. And also, this is a suggestion as opposed to having to delete games when you run out of storage, and then redownloading them all over again in the future.
I've mentioned before in this thread (at least I think I have), certain games in the future will require data to be installed even when you have the physical copy. NBA2k18 and Doom both already need downloads of 16gb and 9gb to play even if you have the cart. And also every now and then (as I have with previous consoles I've owned), you'll come across discounts and savings on digital versions of retail games (Nintendo themselves have down promos where you buy a physical game and get a free download of another with it), meaning more space being eaten up. Full games like Zelda, Doom, etc are around 15gb-25gb. So in a couple of years time, assuming you regularly buy games, there's a good chance that you're going to run out of room. And then there's post release game patches, fixes, DLC, etc. Those will slowly eat away at the storage as well. Having to download a random 1gb patch is normal in this day and age.

On the flip side you could suggest using only retail carts to save storage, but then there's the issue of having to carry all the carts around with you. If I'm being honest, I'd argue that most people wouldn't need to carry ALL their games with them and naturally would only play a few at a time. But this is where if you had a hard drive at home, you'd probably have your main games on the device itself and your older games stored on the dock, so you're in the same situation.
The hassle of not being able to play your hard drive games in handheld mode (to me) isn't much worse than having to carry all your game carts around with you. The ideal and perfect solution would be to use a very large SD card, but currently they only go up to 256gb and they cost around £180. Enabling USB expansion would cost us or Nintendo nothing, and it'll be an option you can choose to use, not forced on you.

transferring a 16gb download from dock storage to sd card in the tablet storage isn't as fast as just switching the game cartridge.

[RuneEdge]

The task of switching the carts wasn't an issue I mentioned.

[Hero!]

You have to get Breath of the Wild. If you like action RPGs, you'll love it.

Yupp. I’ve been building credit at my local Game Xchange with a bunch of DVD and old Nintendo game trade-ins. Planning to pick up BOTW, Odyssey, ARMS, and Mario Kart once I buy the Switch.

I play ARMS every time I go to Walmart and it’s such a blast. Big Zelda and Mario guy too, so I can’t wait to tear into those games.

[Morrison]

The task of switching the carts wasn't an issue I mentioned.

you say the issue of not being able to play games from your hard drive in handheld mode isnt much worse than carrying cartridges of those games around instead. it's a lot worse, cause it literally take three seconds to exhange game cartridges, whereas transferring the game from dock to tablet is going to take significantly longer, all when you want to play in handheld mode, which is a huge perk of owning the switch.

beyond that, youre still going to need decent internal storage on the tablet unless you're fine only having a couple games installed on it at a time or you have no plans to regularly play in handheld mode(which would be insane, i feel), otherwise you'll have to delete and retransfer games a bunch over time anyway.

[RuneEdge]

you say the issue of not being able to play games from your hard drive in handheld mode isnt much worse than carrying cartridges of those games around instead. it's a lot worse, cause it literally take three seconds to exhange game cartridges, whereas transferring the game from dock to tablet is going to take significantly longer, all when you want to play in handheld mode, which is a huge perk of owning the switch.
If you take what I said out of context then yeah, of course it sounds stupid.
The argument is carrying multiple carts around plus having to constantly redownload games you've deleted to clear storage space, vs having a hard drive at home that stores everything, not having to pay crazy amount of money on a large SD card, but having to do game transfers for handheld mode as a compromise. The comparison shouldn't be "switching carts vs transferring games from HDD to handheld". It should be "redownloading games off the eShop vs transferring games from HDD to handheld". Even if I couldnt play the games off the hard drive, it would be better purely for archiving compared to redownloading the games all over again. That alone makes it a good idea, especially considering the fact that USB storage is something Nintendo could simply enable in a firmware update and come at no additional cost to us.
And also, you're ignoring the point that this idea was only thought up as a way to deal with running low on memory. At which point, switching carts might not even be an option for some games that require data installs to play, or if the only version you have of a game is the digital version.

[Morrison]

I'm not ignoring anything, i just literally have zero idea what youre even going in about at this point or why you think it's in any way better.

[RuneEdge]

I literally just explained it twice. Not sure why you find it so hard to understand. :dunno:

[Morrison]

what im not understanding is why you think its any better of a system outside of potentially costing less, cause all of your reasoning beyond that doesnt sound worth it.

[RuneEdge]

It doesn’t potentially cost less, it does in fact cost less. And redownloading a game for most people would probably take longer than transferring from a hard drive to the SD card.